Read Online Pretty Wicked by Georgia le Carre - Free Book Online Page B

seven years.’ He turned toward me. ‘And for the
record, her name is not Lexi. It’s Sky. Sky Johnson.’
    My mouth dropped open. ‘What did you
say?’
     
    ~~~~~
     

Ten
    Y ou know how they say that time can go slower or even stop.
Well, time stopped for me at that moment. I stared at Miko as if I
was watching a three-dimensional movie. I watched the rain splash
on his head and run down his hair and face. Watched the way his
beautiful eyes looked with water running over them. Nigel was
saying something, but I couldn’t make it out.
    ‘ Lexi,’ he called
louder.
    I tore my eyes away from Miko and looked at
him. He looked at me with hurt eyes. The kind of eyes puppies will
treat you to when you scold them. He was begging me to deny that
the year we had spent together was not a wasted lie.
    ‘ I’m so sorry,’ I
whispered.
    He shook his head as if disgusted with me or
him or both, and without a word stalked away.
    ‘ Come on, let’s get you
inside,’ Miko said, taking my arm. He took the keys from my
unresisting fingers and opened the door. Inside, the foyer seemed
cold and I began to shiver. I wrapped my arms tightly around my
body and felt Miko’s eyes on me, but I refused to look at
him.
    I had not left any windows open, and inside
my tiny flat it was stuffy and hot. Miko ran the shower and helped
me to undress as if I was a child. He put me into the shower and
slid the door closed. I felt frozen with shock. The hot water
sluiced down on me and the strange feeling of numbness went away. I
got out of the shower, toweled myself dry, and after slipping into
my fluffy bathrobe went into the living room. Miko had hitched a
towel around his hips and was making tea. He had also opened a
couple of windows to let in some fresh air.
    He looked up at me, bare-chested, his hair
still damp. ‘I made us some tea.’
    I walked up to him. He looked unbearably
beautiful. I felt like such a fool. I turned away from him and
would have put some distance between us if he had not caught my
hand and whirled me around. He put his fingertips to my mouth. They
tasted of rain. His gaze was haunted.
    I felt that tarnished ache in my heart
again. Somewhere in this story was a lie. I was not the hunter. I
was the prey, after all.
    ‘ You can change absolutely
everything about you, but never your eyes. Nobody has eyes like
yours. I drowned in them seven years ago.’
    My heart did a little helpless flip. The
tears that were threatening spilled over. Blast it.
    ‘ Don’t cry, Sky. I can’t
bear to see you cry.’
    ‘ You didn’t just happen to
acquire the firm I was working for, did you?’
    ‘ No.’
    ‘ And we didn’t meet in the
coffee shop by accident?’
    ‘ Absolutely
not.’
    ‘ Why?’
    ‘ I wanted to take you to
lunch, apologize, and explain, but I didn’t expect you to pretend
not to recognize me.’
    My breath escaped in a rush. ‘So you decided
to date me instead?’
    ‘ I’m in love with you,
Sky.’
    The rich miracle of his desire was a mirage.
He desired Lexi. A construct. Sky was still alive underneath and
still hurting. Still wanting to be accepted. And still a freak. I
looked at him bitterly.
    ‘ You love me now because I
am beautiful, but underneath a trip to the hairdresser every six
weeks to turn my hair and eyebrows blonde and the countless
cosmetic surgeries, I am still Lexi, the girl you asked out to a
freak party.’
    ‘ Beauty has nothing to do
with it, Sky.’
    ‘ I’m damaged goods, Miko.
I’m not normal. I look in the mirror and I still see a freak. I
have to stop myself from making an appointment with the plastic
surgeon.’
    A muscle jumped along his jaw and he winced
as if in pain. ‘If you are in any way damaged, then I’m to blame,’
he said huskily.
    I yanked my hand away from his and backed
away a few steps. I felt the tears of self-pity start to swim in my
eyes. He looked at me with horror.
    ‘ Just go back where you
came from and leave me alone.’ Before I could turn around