****
The reunion was exactly what Natalia had expected it to be: awkward, boring, and far too long to be enjoyable. The whole thing started at 3 PM and wasn’t due to finish until midnight. It had barely been two hours since it began, and the young woman was already wishing she had played hooky and just showed up at the very end. She had even entertained the idea of visiting her parents instead of sticking around for much longer, but that was easily disregarded when she pictured how her mother would react.
No. If she was going to visit, it would be right before she had to leave; that way she could avoid unnecessary ‘bonding time,’ as her mother liked to call it.
The only good thing that came from the whole event was that they had an open bar, with all the free vodka Natalia could possible want. It was there where she had taken up temporary residence while their class presidency struggled with setting up the commemorative slideshow of all the good times. The music was dull and those who recognized Natalia stayed far away; this wasn’t a problem for her at all.
Until Brad showed up.
“You look really pretty in that dress, Natalia,” he said; the dark-haired woman had to pause from swirling her martini glass to glance over to his large figure. He was dressed in an old gray suit and his floppy hair was slicked back over his large head, exposing a rather unattractive receding hairline.
“Thanks,” she said, noncommittally. “I made it myself.”
Brad’s eyes blinked wide open, unsure of whether to take her words seriously or not, and gave her a half smile, shuffling awkwardly to stand next to her. “So, uh…you doing anything later?”
“Yep,” Natalia replied, reaching behind to grab an olive from a tray to plop it into her mouth. “Real busy.”
Brad appeared somewhat disappointed before he tried to fix her a very sad version of a sultry look, “Might I tempt you to...change your mind?”
“Afraid not, Bradley,” she said, her eyes never leaving her drink.
Brad glanced up, eyes crinkling with confusion when Jace appeared from the other side of the counter. Jace looked absolutely pleased with himself. “Our plans can’t be rescheduled. You’re looking nice, though. Sharp suit.”
“You look familiar,” Brad muttered curiously.
“Bye, Brad,” Natalia said quickly, knowing full well the consequences that would explode around them once the bigger man recognized Jace’s smirking face. The dismissal was taken with some surprise and unexpected disappointment, and sure enough, Brad was slinking off into the crowd.
“Poor guy,” Jace sighed dramatically. “You’re as brutal as I heard you’d be.”
Natalia wasted no time jumping to the point. “What do you want, Jace?”
He faced her with mischievous green eyes and sly smile, “If we’re being honest, you.” Natalia heaved a heavy sigh, dragging her fingers down a lock of her black hair away from her face. She would not look at him, especially now that his words had started a strange tremor in her chest. She should’ve tested her luck with her family.
“Bye, Jace,” she said before leaving her half-empty martini glass on the counter. A warm and coarse hand gripped around her wrist; gentle, but with enough tug to stop her.
“Alright, I won’t play around,” Jace said, and when she dared to face him, his demeanor had sobered up. She could see a muscle in his jaw work as he seemed to be genuinely struggling for something to say. The very implication of what was about to transpire next made her freeze completely, incapable of pulling away. “But, I wasn’t lying when I said I do want you.”
A bright flush erupted beneath her skin, and for the weirdest moment, Natalia could feel her body react almost violently to the sincerity in his words. This was…new. For years, men tried to make contact with her, only to disappear moments later; but this guy wanted to stick around? She didn’t get it.
“You’re joking, right?” she asked, a tinge of panic in her otherwise composed voice. Jace shook his head, and his thumb traced over the skin of her palm, making electric shocks buzz with every caress.
“I’m serious, believe it or not,” he said. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since you walked off that morning.”
She couldn’t take it anymore. Firmly yanking her wrist away, Natalia took a step away from him and nearly stumbled over her own heels. Jace’s face contorted to one of wounded surprise before it disappeared behind a wall of casual stone.
“That isn’t funny, Jace,” Natalia stated, her voice hard.
“I’m not laughing, Nat.” There it was again. What gave him the right to call her that?
“Let me make something clear to you,” she hissed, taking an angry step forward. “That was a one-time thing. I’m not a doll you can collect or some conquest you can drape on your arm. We drank, we had fun, and we had sex. That’s all. It meant nothing.”
Jace looked genuinely taken aback, but his face had hardened swiftly before she could make anything of it. A familiar smirk appeared over his lips, “Alright, Ice Queen, I get it. But let me ask you just one question before we go on our merry ways.”
Natalia felt one of her eyebrows twitch, “Spit it out, then.”
He moved before she could attempt to figure out what he was doing. His mouth rammed firmly into hers, pressing a fiery current against her tongue and setting her skin alight with pleasure. Natalia couldn’t help but melt into the kiss, her mind blanking completely when one of his hands curled around her neck to tilt her chin further toward him. It wasn’t at all like the kisses they had exchanged that night when they were drunk, and even though there was some inhibition spooling warmth in her blood, Natalia was perfectly aware of what was happening.
So, it made no sense whatsoever when she let out a soft moan and pressed a little harder against him, wanting to taste more—feel more—she wanted to drag him deep into her chest and make him do wonders over her heart. She had leaned upwards, her fingers beginning to tighten around his tie and dig wrinkles into his shirt when suddenly Jace broke away, peeling his mouth from hers with an obscene little pop.
She was gasping, her mind reeling and her knees shaking.
He began to speak; she could feel his breath against her lips, “Are you absolutely sure that meant nothing?”
And just like that, Jace ripped himself away from her and sauntered off, leaving Natalia to stare after him, lips kiss-stung, and body trembling as if she had been electrocuted.
It wasn’t until after he left that Natalia remembered that he knew something about her brother, but by the time she realized that, Jace was nowhere to be seen for the rest of the night.