Queen

I rocked on my heels, clutching my purse to me as if it were going to be snatched from me any second from now. Syn's black card weighed heavy in my bag as I waited for Paris. Generally, I would be through the roof to go shopping, especially with someone else's money, but I couldn't muster it up. As good company as Paris was, the person I wanted to go with was Syn.

If he wasn't so busy, I would've asked him.

From the moment he handed me his card, he had been on the phone. Even now as I waited in the bedroom, he was on call with somebody. A rather futile call, it seemed.

"Do you want to die?" I heard him ask someone as he stormed out of the closet. His deep voice flat, leaving no room for any humor at all. He passed me and I got a whiff of his cologne. My legs almost went weak at that alone, but he absentmindedly reached out and steadied me.

He lowered his phone to his chest and I could hear the other man on the phone screaming. His fingers remained loosely around my arm as he looked at me with concerned eyes. "Are you alright? Did I scare you?"

I shook my head. "I'm fine."

He nodded, lifting his phone back to his ear. "I'll lower my voice," he whispered and I smiled. I should've been frightened, any other reaction except being aroused probably would've been acceptable, but I liked seeing him in his element.

He let go of me, returning his attention back to the man and I cleared my throat. "Enough. You're dead. Tell me where you are," I heard him grit out and I chuckled. He looked over his shoulder at me and I held up a thumbs up. He looked me up and down, speaking into the phone before taking a few steps toward me. "I suggest you say goodbye to your family, Milton."

He hung up the call and pushed his cell into his pocket. "Something funny to you?" He took a few steps toward me.

I shook my head, biting the inside of my cheek. "No, not at all."

"I'll have you know...I terrify people." He wrapped his arms around my waist.

I moved my arms to his shoulders. "I'm sure you do."

He smiled at my words, rubbing soothing circles into my back before looking at me closely. "Are you sure you're up for today?"

"The shopping or the dinner?"

"Both," he replied. "If you don't want to go and just want to stay in bed all day, that's okay. If you ask nice enough, I can say fuck it all and stay with you."

"It's okay. I should go out a little anyway. I just wish—"

A knocking at the door interrupted, but Syn still hadn't let go. "You wish what?"

I glanced at the door and looked back at him. "That you weren't working so you could come with me," I admitted to him before giving him a quick peck on his lips and pulling away. "That's probably Paris. I'll see you later?"

He smiled, giving me a nod as his fingers lingered on mine.

With that, I turned on my heel and headed to the door. When I swung it open, Paris was standing on the opposite wall, arms crossed. "I'm going to need a raise for this shit."

"Hi to you too."

"Can we go?"

꧁꧂

I held the cup of ice cream in my hands and looked up at the tall building. It was at least five stories high— all glass and steel. It sparkled in the sunlight- shimmering, like a beacon in the middle of Juva's busy streets. The red velvet curtains in the windows were parted, displaying the inside of the boutique and my mouth dropped. This place was the modicum of luxury and beauty. Everything about it was flawless. As if that wasn't enough, in big bold gold coloring, the sign read "Sin".

That there was the cherry on top for me.

"I don't want to shop here." I turned to Paris. "Let's go somewhere else."

I turned to continue walking down the boulevard and Paris blocked me. "Nope. I had clear instructions to bring you here. At least go in and look."

"Syn told you to bring me here?" I asked him, brows raised. And here I was thinking we were walking aimlessly. Syn, I thought and then looked back at the store...Sin. And my mouth dropped all over again. "Does he own this place?"

He let out a huff of laughter and crossed his arms. "No. But I think he's an investor."

"An investor but the store's named after him?" I pointed to it.

He shrugged. "Maybe the owner must like him, then. Let's go in." He headed for the door and opened it for me.

"Okay..." I drawled, walking inside. The moment I stepped in, the smell of roses hit my senses and I looked around. It was completely empty. I looked at Paris. "I think they're closed. Looks like we'll have to go elsewhere."

I stepped toward the door and he crossed his arms, blocking me once again. I squinted my eyes up at him. If I were a violent woman...

"Ms. Beverly!" I heard a woman's voice call from behind me and I immediately turned around. Hardly anyone called me that anywhere besides Earth.

My eyes landed on one of the most beautiful women I had seen in a long time. She was tall, golden skin with bone straight blonde hair that reached her hips. A soft pink dress shirt was tucked into her black pencil skirt and her matching stilettos boasted a gold trim that made my mouth drop even further. If this entire masterpiece of a store could be condensed and personified, it'd be her.

Her red lips spread into a grin as she neared us and I heard Paris snicker. "You're drooling, Queen."

"You are stunning," I told her when she was finally a couple of feet in front of us. "And your shoes-- I love you."

She laughed at that but I couldn't imagine it was anything she hadn't heard before. The woman was ethereal. Her grey eyes met mine as she held her hand out to me. "Thank you. Mr. SinClaire has told me a lot about you. My name is Phoebe." I shook her hand, a friendly smile on my face.

"Nice to meet you." I glanced at Paris. "This is my friend, Paris."

He simply gave her a nod, not reaching out to shake her hand and she clasped her fingers together. "Nice to meet the both of you. Follow me." She turned, walking past rows and rows of clothes and we followed behind her. "Welcome to Sin." She held her hands out and turned back to face us.

"I love the name," I teased and she smiled.

"It's a little on the nose, hm?" She asked. "When he became an investor, I couldn't help myself."

Yourself?

I glanced at Paris and then back at her. "Help yourself...are you the owner?"

"Yes, I am."

I looked back up at Paris who had all of a sudden tensed. The owner must like him..."The owner." I let out a humorless laugh and Paris bit back an amused grin. "That's amazing."

Amazing.

"I'm still shocked whenever I step in here, too." She smiled adoringly at the area around her.

"I'm sure you're busy then, I only need a dress. I don't want to hold you up," I told her.

"No, it's completely fine. It's no worries at all." She shook her hands. "Syn personally requested that I help you pick out whatever you wanted."

I realized then that I didn't like hearing Syn and the word personally coming from another woman's mouth.

"You spoke to him?"

"A few minutes before you arrived," she said. "I had to empty the entire store so...you must be a special guest."

A special guest...

Did he not tell her that I was his fiancé?

Did she truly not know who I was either?...Juva was not that far from the Hell and I wasn't exactly a random person.

Paris must've read my expression because he cleared his throat and spoke up, "She's actually his—"

I jabbed his side and spoke up. "Friend. I'm a good friend of his."

She smiled. "Well, a friend of his is a friend of mine. Let me check on the dressing area. Feel free to look around and pick out anything that catches your eye," she instructed as she walked away. "Can I get either of you anything to drink?"

Paris answered, "We're fine."

"I'll have a red wine, thank you," I replied for myself and she smiled before disappearing down the hall.

"Day drinking?" He asked me.

"What I really need is a goddamn cigarette." I walked to a rack of clothes and mindlessly flipped through them, my mind racing. Paris caught my eye from the other side, his brown eyes twinkling with mischief.

"You're feeling threatened."

Not. "I am," I admitted. I froze at my revelation and immediately bit my tongue. I hated being so honest recently, but I couldn't help it. "A little bit."

"Hm. Fair. She is a beautiful woman."

I gritted my teeth and pushed a stack of clothes, blocking his face. I was already feeling insecure, I did not need this. And the thought of Syn and..."Do you think she has his number?"

"Obviously. They spoke." He rounded the rack and appeared in front of me. "Does it matter?"

"I guess not...but it does a little?" I looked up at him before looking through the clothes again. "I've been in Syn's phone. It's the most boring place ever. He doesn't have anyone's number. I would've remembered a Phoebe."

"Green is not your color," he said and my eyes snapped up at him. I wasn't jealous. When he saw my face, he pointed to the green halter top my fingers had stopped on. "I was only talking about the top." I curled my lip at him in annoyance and he grinned. He was enjoying this way too much. "But jealousy doesn't look good on you either."

"I'm going to fucking kill you." I held a fist up at him and he burst out into laughter.

I heard the sound of the woman's heels approach us and I dropped my hand back to my side, looking back at the clothes. "The two of you are adorable," she said and I immediately turned to her. What? "The boyfriends usually never want to come shopping so this is a nice—"

The boyfriends?

"Oh." I held my hands up when I realized what she was implying. "No, no, no. He's not my boyfriend."

"Oh..." She passed me the glass of wine and looked up at Paris and then back at me. "Sorry for assuming."

"It's okay," I said.

"You two are definitely a good match if you ever consider it, though." She laughed awkwardly. "I can see it."

Me and Paris glanced at one another, a hint of a disgusted scowl on both of our faces and I shook it off. He was attractive, very attractive if I were being honest, but I had only one type. And his name was Syn.

"I have a boyfriend." I took a sip of the wine and handed Paris my empty ice cream cup. I heard him scoff and I continued. "I'm getting married soon."

"Oh!" She covered her mouth. "I'm so sorry!"

Her eyes fell onto my engagement ring and she took my hand into hers. Oh. Ok, then. "Oh. My. Days! Lucky, lucky..." Man, my head filled in for her. Yeah... "...girl." Oh. "You're a very lucky girl. He has taste. And money."

Paris laughed at my side and my irritation bubbled all over again. I took my hand out of hers and cleared my throat. I looked up at him. "This is girl time. Can you be anywhere else?"

He smiled that fucking smug ass smile and shook his head. "I'm on the clock, Darling."

"It's quite alright. There's enough space in the dressing area," Phoebe spoke up. Great. "Shall we go up to the second floor?"

I pressed my lips together and nodded. She walked ahead of us and Paris followed behind her, tossing me a victorious grin. My last straw was when he held up his hand and tossed the cups of ice cream toward the trash can.

And made it.

Fuck. Today was going to be harder than I thought it was.

I followed behind them and we went into the elevator. She led us to a private room on the second floor. There were mirrors lining every wall and a large couch rested in the middle. A glass coffee table with magazines sat in front of it, a large back fur rug under it. Just ahead of the seating area was a dressing room. The wall completely opposite to it was transparent. I could see the busy city staring right back at us. Everything was beautiful and again, I wanted to disappear.

"Make yourself comfortable, Paris. Unless you'd like to shop with us?" She asked.

He sat down on the couch with a sigh and grabbed a random magazine. He lifted his boots onto the glass table and began flipping through the pages.

"Classy," I muttered and he flipped me off.

"Ms. Beverly," she said. "Shall we?"

"Sure."

I followed her out the room and she guided me to where the dresses hung. "Any of these catch your eye?" She asked.

"Mm." I took a quick glance. "I trust your eye. Choose for me."

Her eyes lit up at that and she gave me a once over before picking things off the rack. I watched her, a question on the tip of my tongue. When it became too hard to push away, I asked her.

"How do you know Syn?"

She gave me a small smile, her cheeks turning a rosy tint before she looked back at the dresses. "We have a bit of a complicated past," she said. "But he's a good man...despite the rumors."

I know that, but why do you know that?

As my jealousy flared a bit, I forced a smile onto my face and the lights flickered. "Oh!" She looked around. "So sorry, that's never happened before."

Calm down, Queen. This is not you, he's allowed to be friends with whoever he wants. Even gorgeous models that can't seem to stop blushing at the mention of his fucking name. I let out a bitter laugh. "You seem so fond of him."

"I am. He's done a lot for me." I scratched my head and she passed me a dress. "I think this will look fabulous on you."

I accepted the dress into my arms and she placed another one on top. "Have the two of you dated?"

"Dated?" She asked. "Unfortunately, no. Things have never lined up that way. And I genuinely don't think we're compatible in a...serious relationship way."

I blinked a couple times, her words sending tiny painful pricks through me. "You say that like the two of you have romantic history though..." I let out a weak laugh, half wanting her to answer, but the other part...I didn't want to fucking know. I trusted Syn and this was nothing but me being insecure and letting past feelings control me. I was better than this. "Never mind, sorry. Should I go try these on—"

"I've never really told anyone before," she started and I froze. "I had a very religious upbringing back on Earth so I don't really brag about it..." She was human. If I wasn't so thoughtless I might've picked up on it. "...We did have a night together a while back, but it never led to anything more."

My ears began to burn as she continued speaking, but everything else faded into the background. I couldn't hear anything else.

They slept together.

And he had Paris bring me here.

꧁꧂

Chile...