The office was flooded with the dull and slow monotony of typing and subdued chatter that ricoched through the air and, in contrast, was unbelievably dull compared to the glutaralon of the gala that still haunted Mia like a shattered dream on the fringes of her consciousness. The sterile light of fluorescent lamps filled the room, and their humming was an undercurrent, and the aroma of coffee and sharp odor of printer ink mixed to give a feel of familiarity and suffocation. Mia sat at her desk, and the fingers which had been expectantly in the air over a pile of case papers, the edges of the paper snapping against her, an unsuccessful effort to set herself in the storm which was rising inside. In addition to the floor to ceiling windows, the neon heartbeat of the city, crimson and sapphire veins running through the cityscape, cast a faint and airy light over the polished wood of her desk, reminding her of the dive bar where her life had first started to unspool. This was days after the gala, but time seemed to have lost its usual measure, and every hour seemed to be years, as the frailty of her deception with Lucas increased to such extent that it compressed her chest like a weight. The image of the smirk Jace was a blade of black promise cutting through the light, a phantom burn she could not extinguish, the warmth lingering in her, a reminder of the tightness of her hips she had not intended to have until the moment Emma had glimpsed her earlier that morning. The chandelier had been a tight-fitting wrap and the material was smooth and a little tight, a business decision she was now finding difficult to forget, this tightness accentuating the line of her hips in a manner she had not planned to experience until the moment Emma had pe She sat up, the gesture was slight but very much purposeful, in crossing her legs, and a glow rose up her spine in response to it, a response that she could do nothing about. The coat she was in, a sort of ivory, which contrasted the coat, clung loosely to her figure, the button of the top unbuttoned, showing the sensitive dip of her collarbone--of which she had never been conscious until Lucas had peered down it, during one of his passing visits to the coffee-machine. The idea raised her pulse, a traitor's beat, the forbiddenness of the heat Jace had kindled, a ghost of an obsidian stare that followed her every movement. Lawyers in tailored suits stalked round her, their tones a low moan of planning and contrivance, and yet in their hearts they were all knives, but Mia felt picked like a chicken with the invisible eyes of all who looked at her, and the most apparently casual movement she performed was her leaning back as she saw Emma lean over the partition that divided their desks, with her auburn hair floating over her shoulders like silky light, and a smile that concealed a dagger sharper than a courtroom brief. Her arms were crossed over her chest, emphasizing the tight-fitting blazer which made her figure look good, and her green eyes were gleaming with a calculated interest which made Mia's stomach clench. You and Lucas had been mighty in the ball, she said, and there was a honeyed tone in her voice that reeked of innuendo, and the words fell like a caress. Mia twitched the pen in her fingers, which were gripping it on the desk, and the cold metal served as a calming influence to the storm of anxiety and she struggled to smile, the expression being painful on her lips. Just we are playing around, she said, the falsehood bitter on her tongue, her heart racing at the thought of Emma with her lips all curled in a knowing expression that would trouble. The office went on with its rhythm about them: phones were ringing, papers were rustling, yet the world of Mia was limited to the space between them, and the air was heavy with unasked questions. The voice of Lucas came back to her, a memory of the gala, the crystalline light of the chandelier glittering off her black dress, its deep-cut neckline a bold decision that had made Lucas reach his hand to her lower back. Is it a casual inquiry of Emma, or an attempt to break the finely crafted facade that gives her life its cohesion? She had felt a constant warmth in his touch, which had contrasted with the cold silk, and it had caused a shiver to run up her spine, causing her nipples to be hardened to the material she was wearing, her breath catching as his lips had brushed against her ear with a soothing murmur. The memory fought with the presence of Jace in the most violent way, his tailored suit a sharp contrast to his leather one, his eyes exposing her nakedness through the smelling flowers. She disliked the rush that was running up her neck now, the pains in her stomach that were betraying her determination, and she held her thighs to her, trying to stop the undesirable glow that was glowing in her veins. Emma interrupted her dream like a knife thrust. Funny how friends fall in and out, and I wondered, how the pages of a file rustle like an irritating insect, and Mia hid her grey eyes behind the pile of paper she was working on, and everything skipped along her pencil scraping and flicking on the whitish paper. It was an attempted distraction, a pointless effort to silence the uncertainty that was eating away at her at the rate of one moment every time she struggled. Lucas entered the room by her side, and his broad shoulders blocked out the room, and his presence was a quiet power that made her tension in her chest. His eyes were hazel, softened with worry, and met hers, and he said, You okay? and his voice was low and rough, a sound that shook through her. She said the word, but the lie seemed more grievous this time, a burden she felt settle in her throat and his hand touched her arm, a momentary touch, and it sparked in her, setting off a glow that was incompatible with the feeling of guilt that filled her stomach. She bent into it, and was missing the feeling of safety that he provided, although her mind was playing the whisper of Jace, You can never hide forever, and his voice was a velvet trap that was coiled tighter with every memory. The juxtaposition between the tenderness of Lucas and the threat of Jace were the source of her panic and she wondered how long she could continue this balancing act, teetering on the edge of revealing herself. The lunch break has provided a moment of reprieve and Mia runs out to the courtyard of the office, as the damp and cool air sweeps over her flushed skin as she sits on a bench, the neon veins of the city a faint gleam beyond the glass walls. She drank water out of a bottle of plastic, which was colder than the heat that was accumulating within her, the drops that ran on her fingers like the droplets on her forehead. The courtyard was some sort of a refuge, the vegetation a gentle contrast with the office sterility, and the calmness did not last long. She was shadowed, and an ominous one, and looked up to see Jace standing there and his leather jacket shining in the gray sky, and the drops of water on the coarse black strands of his hair glittering like jewels. The obsidian eyes were fixed on her with such intensity that it took away her breath, and held her in a spell as though he had cast a spell. Miss me, angel? he purred in his velvet trap of voice, and wrapped her round in it she shuddered, the desire she was forbidden to touch coming back to her, the feel of him in the rain a burn that remained on her skin. He came nearer, it smelled of rain and leather and a perfume that made her head spin and his fingers touched her knee, and it was a burning touch that shot through her dress and sent a wave of instinctive passion to her heart. Her legs were drawn in, she felt flushed all the way through her chest, her nipples piking under her blouse, and she despised her body reacting in such a manner, the guilt tasting bad in her mouth. Go away, she said, her voice as tremulous and as thin as she felt it lacked the conviction she was trying at, but Jace smirk spread his face and looked her over in a way that made her feel sick. You do not, you do not, he said, his breath on her cheek and she had the lure, the magnetic pull that was going to lift her off her feet, his nearness was the temptation she could not resist. He kept his hand on her knee, and his thumb made a lazy, deliberate circle, and the feeling caused a flash of heat to run through her, her breath catching as she struggled to hold back. A sudden sound, a laugh of a colleague in the building, broke the spell and Jace withdrew, leaving the place blanketed by the temptation that his presence had brought. Sitting there, shaking, she felt the quiet of the courtyard in contrast to the storm in her and the damp bench was chilled against her thighs. She questioned whether Emma was poking at the very bottom of her problems, whether Jace was coming back to tell her it was more serious, and the idea made her feel a shiver which a cool breeze could not describe. When her fingertips touched the water bottle, the condensation was a reflection of the perspiration on her hands, and she sipped it, her mouth trembling, the liquid making very little difference in easing the fire that Jace had fanned, her auburn hair shimmering in the sunlight like a judgmental lighthouse. Back at the office, the afternoon was dragging on with a slowness that was the reflection of her tiredness, with Emma present, the air at the office was a constant thorn, her appearance an almost constant reminder, with her words flicking like a The phrase remained, an insult that gave Mia the sense of insecurity and she buried herself in work, the tediousness of legal briefs a buffer against the uncertainty that she was feeling that was eating her up. Lucas came later and his hand was on her shoulder, a gesture of reassurance which aroused a feeling that was incongruous with her sense of guilt. We will, said he, which gave her a shiver that heaped in the sound of his voice, a rumbling low voice which shook her as he leaned into her, and she said yes, by bending into him, as her body deceived her into a shiver, with his fingers at the back of her neck. It was unlike possessive Jace and she wondered whether Lucas felt the war in her, the attraction of his safety in the face of the attractive darkness Jace desired. The office was emptying, the neon outside making long shadows on the desks. Mia was packing up her stuff, her hands numb, and a small envelope slipped onto her desk with edges that were sharp and unmarked. Her breath was taken as she opened it and found a coded message in large, slanted, capitalized handwriting, several words she could not understand but they were certainly written by Jace; a promise or a threat. Her heart ran high, the paper in her hands shaking and she looked round half hoping he should come out of the shadows. There was no sound in the office now, and the clatter of the machines was but a faint echo and she was conscious of the heaviness of the lie, her heart, and her passion on the brink of failure. The voice of Lucas called her name in the passage, a voice that was a lifeline in the increased darkness, but the presence of the note was better than giant, a shadow of doubt that threatened to redefine her world.
