In a way, it pleased Nicole to know Harry had been waiting for her. Of course, he’d lain in her chair with a look of apathy that would certainly have fooled a layman’s eye. But she knew better. She knew every inch of her brother’s soul – and had dreamed of every inch of his body more times than society would allow her to admit—and so it took no more than a glance to confirm her suspicions.
And a shiver of pleasure ran down her back knowing that part of him was still hers.
“Ah, yes… I had heard such a rumor.” She teased back as she brushed golden locks away from her face and rolled her eyes behind the Ray-Bans she’d recently acquired. “What was it? Hopelessly incapable of learning and… destined to live a life of debauchery and sin.” A gentle grin crossed Nicole’s lips. “Sounds like a good time, actually. Mind if I join you?”
The question was said jokingly, but if Nicole was honest with herself—it was everything she ever wanted. A life far away from this place with no one but Harry at her side. Perhaps only trouble would follow them and perhaps they’d be knee-deep in the mire of sin, but at that moment, as she gazed down into his beautiful face, Nicole knew she’d fling herself into the pits of hell for him if he asked.
She was shaken from her thoughts, though, at his teasing of what his life would become after her impending marriage.
It’ll be my job to reel in some unsuspecting heiress and do my utmost to deplete her trust fund.
Instantaneously Nicole’s hands clenched into fists. One bunching in the fabric of the chair next to Harry’s head, the other driving perfectly manicured nails into the flesh of her thigh.
“I suppose that is true.” Her voice was low and carefully controlled. Nicole’s jaw clenched tightly for a moment as she swallowed and looked away from her brother. “And, certainly, I’m sure you won’t lack for options. A few of the girls at the party were asking after you… All of them idiots and not worth your time, but they all have more than enough money to spare if that’s what really matters to you.”
The words spat out of her like poisoned darts. It wrung her heart to think of Harry with any of them. She couldn’t breathe when the realization that it was a fate not to be avoided pressed upon her lungs. It was his job to marry one of those floozies and spend their money and rub the nose of her father in his success. Hers was to marry her American prince and fade away into oblivion.
Still Nicole found she would rather the sin than nothingness.
So when Harry asked her—so casually, of course, as if it were not the stuff of her dreams—if he would catch her eye were he a stranger, Nicole nearly laughed at the absurdity of the question. As if he didn’t know. As if she had not embarrassed herself enough the way she threw herself at him every time he was allowed to return to her presence.
“Of course you would…” She said truthfully. Her hands slowly unclenched, voice quiet, careful not to say the words he didn’t want to hear. Nicole knew this too. Knew the line he did not want her to cross. Whether because he did not feel the same and merely liked to torture her or because he did and could not bear to think of the consequences if it were admitted aloud… Nicole knew better than to speak her true feelings to him.
“You would catch my eye. Though I doubt I’d let you know it straight away.” Nicole forced a grin, then, trying to couch this in terms of a game—of teasing. They could talk this way if it meant nothing. She leaned closer to Harry, nearly laying atop of him as she lowered his sunglasses upon her nose and turned his head so he would look at her. “I’d make you want me first. I’d make you come to me. That’s how the game works. Or, at least, how it’s supposed to work. Perhaps, in your case, I might have made an exception, being as handsome as you are.” She winked at him once, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek before sitting up once more and stretching languidly as the sun hit her face.
A gentle laugh bubbled forth from her lips as Harry admitted that perhaps inviting him to her afternoon tea would not have been the best idea. “And what if I had wanted things to be a bit more indecent, hmm?” She lifted an eyebrow in his direction. “I’m getting tired of being so prim and proper for all these society grannies. Could have given them quite the show had you been sitting by my side.”
For a moment, Nicole’s face fell a little, her brow furrowing in frustration. “Maybe for once I would have had the courage to fly in the face of Father. I should have done something to sabotage the whole thing… I had so many plans. So many ways I could have made a mess of it all. But I didn’t. I played my part like a good little doll and then fled as soon as the coast was clear.”
Slowly she took off the sunglasses and turned to gently place them back on Harry’s face. “I should have been braver. I need to learn to be brave without you. After all, as we both know… Soon enough, I won’t be able to lean upon you anymore.” Her lips twisted into a sad smile as Nicole’s gaze flickered over his face before turning to look out across the pool towards the ocean. She didn’t like to think about how quickly that time was rushing towards her. How soon she would actually no longer have Harry close at hand to provide comfort and joy in her life.
Lex certainly would try his hardest, of course. He wasn’t a monster. They both knew he was trapped in the same churning gears as she was. Yet that did not change the fact that Lex was just a dim replacement. Enough for her to close her eyes and imagine he was Harry. That if she just believed enough he would transform before her with enough wishing. But she could not live the rest of her life in the dark. And sooner rather than later Nicole would have to resign herself to being truly alone.
Yet, thankfully, now was not such a time. As she turned her gaze back to Harry, another warm shiver ran through her body as she watched his gaze slowly trace her curves. For as much as Harry knew he was handsome, Nicole certainly knew for a fact that she was beautiful. It was what she was bred for, after all. Meant to be desirable and unattainable so that only the best would be allowed to even think of touching her.
So then what was to be said for how desperately this marble goddess wished to be touched by the man of dust beside her.
“I seem to make everything sparkle, you say?” She replied with another small grin. “Perhaps it would not be so hard for me to make you want me, then. Maybe I don’t need to make this fictional stranger version of yourself an exception to my rules.” A sparkle appeared in Nicole’s eye as she gazed down at him. Harry was the only man in the world she truly wished to want her. It was a need she hardly ever dare speak of for the fear it would push him further away. But this was something he had offered of his own will. Without prompting. Without being asked he had pronounced her beautiful…
And that was a small treasure that Nicole would protect with her very life.
Yet she still wondered what sort of game the two of them were playing at when Harry picked up the sunscreen that had been sitting next to him and cautioned her against ruining the ‘precious jewel’ that was to be offered in sacrifice to the great Porter name. His phrasing was vague and so Nicole, being as clever as she was, knew better than to let such an opportunity pass her by.
Perhaps he would not touch her in the way she wished for whatever reasons of his own, but this could become a close enough approximation. Enough at least to color her dreams of him at night with the memory of his hands upon her skin.
“Ah, yes… I suppose you’re right. We do have another photoshoot in a few days. It’d be terrible if I were to show up looking like a freshly cooked lobster.” She smirked at the young man, blinking innocently as she tied her golden locks up into a messy bun and pulled at the straps of her suit to expose her shoulders. “Though I wonder if you wouldn’t mind putting some on my back for me? The dress dips rather low in the back. I’d hate to miss a spot.”
A smile gilded Harry’s lips as he chuckled. “How could I leave out my favorite part?” he responded, eyes twinkling. “I can’t imagine why he’d say so as though it were a bad thing. I anticipate my sordid future with nothing short of glee.” It was a lie. Oh, Harry could bask in any earthly pleasure, and would, but the future was to him an executioner’s axe which hovered with cruel judgement just above him. He could feel the whisper of its breath already upon his skin any time he thought of what would await him. He suppressed the shiver that ran its death-cool finger down his spine. “You must,” he said softly, but there was something of desperation of his tone, even as he tried to smile with some glib fondness. “You must join me.” The contemplation of a life without her would be his ruin.
He rolled his eyes away from her. “Why, sis, I think we both know that my opinion has little bearing on the question. It’s your father’s will that really matters, as always.” He closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on his skin as a form of comfort. “I feel confident he will have much to say on the subject.” He turned to look at her. “Don’t worry, Nic, I mean to shame him publicly as much as possible for the rest of my life. I can’t think of a better opportunity, can you?”
Yet, he could feel her anxiety rolling off her in waves. Anxiety and...something else. He knew good and well that his petty jabs would do nothing to bring anyone any real comfort, but it was the only weapon he had, and he’d be striking at the heart of the beast for the both of them. Taking one of her hands, he folded it into his and drew it to his lips. Her fingers were warm and, giving her hand a small squeeze, he placed it over his heart. Harry said nothing for a moment, letting the small gesture say what it could. They would both need this, he thought, to think back on. Little moments took on lives of their own, particularly when he was looking into her fathomless eyes.
Breaking the eye contact, he gentled his grip on her hand before releasing it and sitting upright. His laughter was joyless. “Rich and hopelessly stupid, wonderful.” He arched a brow at her. “I could get away with almost anything. Whatever should I try, sister?” he asked, indigo eyes fixed on her own as though she were oxygen and he were a drowning man. He felt her anger, the little jabs, but he looked past them to see what was in her heart. He felt the twisting pangs in her heart as his own, for they had twins in his. He lied back again.
As the conversation turned back to whether she’d want him as a stranger, he allowed himself the ghost of a smile, yet there was something dark in his eyes as though he were a flame left in a draft, flickering and faltering. She hovered above him, suspended as though by some breeze. Harry half believed that the god Zephyrus loved her and meant to steal her away on her wedding night to his fortress amongst the clouds where the sun’s radiance might be eclipsed by the heat of her eyes. Her hands were on his face, then, commanding his gaze: tender, yet an authority he didn’t dare question. Her eyes were a maelstrom and he was a sailor clinging to life beneath the storm. He knew he ought to surrender, drink deep of the cup she offered, but life was all he’d ever known and he clung to it with a fool’s desperation.
She spoke of the game and Harry smiled. “Go on, Nic,” he responded, voice oddly thick. “Toy with my heart. I wouldn’t blame you, you know,” he added. “You know I play games, too, and I fear I’d enjoy playing any game with you far too much to reason. I expect you’d have me begging for mercy before you were finished.” He smiled. “Good. Someone has to teach me a lesson.”
Harry chuckled, after she’d moved away from him and spoke of her desire to be more indecent. “I can’t promise you much, sis, but you can always count on that. They’d talk of little else for months, between the two of us.”
As she sobered, so did he. He watched her face shift, the little traces of regret in the cool orbs. “You don’t need to defy him, sis,” he said, softly. “That’s what you have me for, isn’t it? You know what happens when...” Harry could misstep - and often did - because Frederick was not overfond of the notion of going toe-to-toe with him, now. Nicole lacked that luxury. “Besides, your husband-to-be will knock enough shame into him for you, when he appears.”
Harry hoped he didn’t have much in common with Lex Porter, but there was that. They both would have been reprobates, were it not for the cash in their pockets. Lex had no regard for Frederick’s feelings and appeared to enjoy flaunting them. Harry did enjoy, himself, the notion of Frederick willingly chaining his family name to a man who would forever humiliate him. It was Lex’s one virtue. Of course, Frederick would no doubt ultimately hold Nicole accountable for Lex’s conduct, since Frederick could hold no sway over Lex and could do so over Nicole, which made the whole affair all the more lamentable, but at least Nicole would be safe in Lex’s house. Harry envied him that: the ability to take Nicole away from it all, keep her safe.
“Don’t say that, sis,” he added, softly. There was comfort in his voice and in his eyes, though he didn’t truly know how to assuage her anguish. It was his own. “You’ve only a little time left before you can go anywhere in the world to escape him. Your husband will not forbid you that.” That much, at least, could be said for him.
As she spoke further, Harry sat up and pulled off the sunglasses she’d put back on him, so that he could look her in the eye. Impulsively, he touched her face with his left hand, brushing unruly curls away with the other. “Don’t imagine you can shake me loose so easily, sis. His left hand diverted from its course, moving to gently rest just beneath her breast where he could feel the pulse of her heart. “It’s as we’ve always promised one another. I’ll always be here. Besides,” he added, softly. “We both know, deep down, that you’re the brave one. You won’t need me anymore once you’re free of him. All you’ll need is here,” he added, applying the softest pressure to her chest.
His eyes were fixed on hers, indigo matched with cerulean, and his breathing felt a heavy charge. Her heart beat against her ribs, against his hand, her breath stirred her golden locks. Neither moved for a prolonged moment before Harry slipped his sunglasses back on and reverted to his earlier pose, turning his face back towards the still waters of the pool.
Harry’s lips twitched into a smile when she said she’d need not bend for him. “I don’t play by any rules, anyway, sis,” he responded, teasingly. “So you’d never have to break them for me, in that way, would you?” Yet, that wasn’t entirely true either. He had one rule, and it kept them apart.
Pouring a neat glob of suntan lotion into his hand, Harry smirked softly. “Of course,” he responded, promptly. “I wouldn’t dream of letting you bake.” He watched as he pulled down the straps to reveal bear shoulders. “You ready?” he asked. “It’s cold.”
areudirty
izzy806
ellievsbear
pixelskylines
titsay
andulkaphoto
stormborns
theartofmadeline
sugurugetos
