Chapter 18: Second Chances

*LEON* Time passed, and the longer it stretched without Vicky, the longer it felt. I had watched her leave out the patio doors and looked every so often but hadn't seen her come back in. Ethan, Aden, and Jonathan continued to discuss the pending stock options when I checked my watch. 8:30 PM. She shouldn't have been gone this long. Something inside me was pulling me in that direction, screaming at me to follow her. I politely excused myself from the conversation and headed outside. Almost instantly, a gust of wind pulled at my suit jacket, and I gripped each side, pulling it close to shield myself from the cold. I scanned the yard, hoping to catch some sort of sight of her, to no avail. I moved around the bodies lounging along the marble walls of the building and the stone benches and made my way toward the hedge maze. There was no way she'd end up in here—it was pitch black with only a light fog being visible. I could barely see what was in front of me, but that same feeling from before told me to keep going and push further. She was here somewhere. "Vicky?" I called out. No answer. I turned the corner when I heard a shuffle not far up ahead. More than likely, it was two kids messing around in the bushes, but I knew it was better to be safe than sorry. I moved forward and saw a figure cut around another corner; it was slender and tall, and the bottom of its dress swayed in the wind. Vicky. I followed her further into the maze and stopped a few meters back. I observed her—-she was on edge like she was looking for something. I couldn't figure out what; from what I could see, no one else was around. Her back tensed, and she became nimble, moving along the hedges, stopping every so often. What the hell was going on? I walked up behind her, taking it slow, and when I was close enough, reached out and touched her shoulder. Vicky instantly spun around a certain hunger in her eyes—like a predator hunting its prey. I took a step back, and after a second, her irises shrunk back to normal size. "L-Leon? What're you doing here? You can't be here." She was addressing me, but her eyes weren't focused on mine. Instead, she looked past me like she was waiting for someone else. "Is…everything alright?" I prompted. Vicky's gaze flicked to me, and she forced an obviously fake smile. "Mhm, it's great. Just needed air." "In…the maze?" "Yeah," she said, turning her eyes behind me and then back to my face. "I, uh, needed to get away from the crowd. It was getting to be too much." I didn't believe a single word she was saying. Something bigger was happening here, but I couldn't expect her to be open with me about everything—we barely knew one another. "Let's go back inside, yeah?" I said, placing my hand on her back to guide her out of the hedges. "It's freezing." But she walked away from me, her attention entirely on something else. I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't help it; I honed my ability and tried to listen in on her thoughts, only all I got was a bunch of muddled sounds and then something about not being able to smell the scent anymore. What scent? I didn't smell anything and certainly heard no one. We were entirely alone out here. "Vicky…you sure everything's good?" This time, when her eyes locked with mine, they were the normal green that I had come to rely on, and I noticed her body settle. "Y-yeah," she said, slightly exasperated. "I just…thought—you know what? Do you mind if we actually stay out here for a bit? I'm feeling a little overheated." "Sure," I replied. I could feel my heartbeat increasing at the thought. I had never reacted like this to anyone before, let alone someone I had just met. Ever since my mother's passing, I buried myself in work to avoid having to build relationships that I could easily lose. But there was something with Vicky that I couldn't ignore. It wasn't fate. It was almost like a second chance. She led me forward to a bench that sat in an open space. It was only when I sat down that I realized we were in the middle of the maze. A shiver rushed through my body as the wind howled past us. If I'm cold, Vicky must be freezing. I moved forward and attempted to begin to take off my suit jacket when I looked over at her. She was staring up at the stars in the sky with marvel, and not a single sign of her being cold appeared. She was completely ignorant of it—as if it didn't bother her at all. "Did you ever look up at the sky as a kid, and try to find the Big Dipper, no matter where you were?" Her question took me by surprise; it was entirely out of the blue, and at first, I was unsure how to answer. But when she turned and looked at me, her eyes expecting a response, I sighed and responded. "My mother used to stargaze—she said it was something that made her feel closer to those who had died. She called the Big Dipper the Giant Spoon and would always tell me stories about how it was what God used to eat his food." At this, Vicky let out a small laugh, which prompted my own. The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded. "I've never told anyone that," I confessed, clasping my hands together in my lap. "Not even Osip?" I looked at her; my eyes focused on the warmth emanating from her. "Not even Osip." Silence. There was a lot of this between us, but it was never weird. At least for me. It was somewhat relaxing not to have someone on me constantly for things I couldn't control. "What about you?" I said, finally breaking the quiet and gently nudging her shoulder with mine. Vicky laughed. "We didn't know too much about astrology growing up—there weren't a lot of books around on this stuff. But when I got older, I found a book in my local library about galaxies, and I was hooked. I always look at the sky at night, if I can, and try to remind myself that all of this…" She gestured at the hedges and stone pathway surrounding us. "...Is temporary and insignificant compared to what is really out there." I couldn't speak. All I could do was stare at her and the wonder she emanated. I didn't know what answer I was expecting to hear from her, but it definitely wasn't that. She was so much more complex than I knew, and the emotions I felt around her only intensified with this information. Without thinking, I reached for her and brushed a piece of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. Her breath became labored, and I sensed a shiver from under my touch. "Leon…" she began. But I cut her off. My lips crashed into hers, and before I could comprehend what was happening, her hands were in my hair, playing with each strand as she reciprocated it eagerly. "Leon, we can't…" she muttered in between kisses. "I can stop," I spoke against her lips, to which she lightly moaned. "Just tell me to stop…" She didn't. And her confirmation made me even more hungry. I grabbed her neck and pulled her closer to me, pressing her lips tighter against mine. I had never felt this way about anything. The emotion was almost too intense. When I was away from her, I felt this unfamiliar ache…and when she was near, all I wanted to do was take her for my own. The only way to explain it is that when my lips touched hers, everything in the world felt right—like I could finally breathe. And I had no idea why. I moved around her body like I had known her for centuries. Her groans underneath my lips made me almost feral, and things quickly escalated. Before I could register it, Vicky's tongue found its way inside my mouth, causing me to sigh and her to giggle in response. God, that laugh. It heated up everything inside of me. I slid my hand down from her neck and under the strap of the dress, playing with it ever so lightly. Our kisses had slowed as we each came up for breath, and in between them, I could hear her muttering something. It took a few seconds for it to fully register. "Leon…I need to tell you something…" "If it's about work…I don't want to hear it right now," I teased, taking deep breaths to slow my heart rate while pecking the sides of her lips. "It's not…work…related…" she said between each kiss. "It's about…me." "What about you?" I smirked, kissing her softly once more. Just one more taste, I kept telling myself. Then, I'd let her go. "I'm—" But she was cut off. I didn't feel her presence near me anymore, and when I opened my eyes, I found her held down on the ground by an unmistakable being who was lunging directly for her heart.