Chapter 73: Chapter 73

Aria’s Pov.

Lucien’s  room was at the end of the corridor.

His door was clearly open.

I stood in the doorway. His room was dark and neat. A few papers lay on the desk, and a book rested face-down on the nightstand.

I shouldn’t go in, last time I sneaked into his room things didn’t exactly go well.

But once again I didn’t listen and I went in.

I moved slowly around his desk, the shelf, a photograph I didn't look at long enough to identify. Just moving through the space, I wasn’t  looking for anything.

And then I saw it.

On his bed, placed open.

I crossed the room and looked down at the sketch.

The pool. The water light coming up through the surface in lines, and in the middle of it… me.

I was waist-deep, my hair loose and damp at the ends, looking at something just past the frame.

The pencil was fine and precise, the kind that took patience and attention. I could see my face at an angle, the line of my jaw, my  shoulders. My hair where it touched the water.

The level of detail stole my breath.

I stared at it.

He’d drawn all of this from one night.

He drew this much detail.

And he kept it.

Not in a drawer. Not buried in the pages of the sketchbook. On his bed. Where he’d see it.

Why would he keep it if he….

Before I could process anything, the  sketchbook disappeared from in front of me.

I  spun around.

Lucien stood directly behind me.

He was close. Much closer than I'd expected. When I turned I nearly stepped into him and had to stop myself, the back of my knees against the bed,

He’d boxed me in without touching me. The backs of my knees hit the bed, leaving nowhere else to go.

He held the sketchbook at his side.

"Why can't you stay out of my room?" he said with his voice low.

"The door was open…”

"I know it was open." He didn't move back. "Why can't you stay away from my things."

"I wasn't looking for anything…"

"You were looking at that." His eyes stayed on mine. “Why are you always looking through my things?”

I opened my mouth.

Nothing came out.

He tilted his head slightly.

"Why can't you stay away from me?"

My heart was going at a completely unreasonable rate.

"I'm not…" I started.

"You came today," he said. "You're in my room. You were standing there looking at that drawing like…" He stopped himself. His jaw moved once. "Answer me Aria."

I stared at him.

He looked at me.

He had that look in his blue eyes that made me lose my train of thought.

"Why didn't you show me?" I finally managed to say. My voice came out quieter than I meant. "That night. After you drew it, you wouldn't let me see it. Why?"

He was quiet for a long moment.

The sketchbook in his hand, The room very still.

"Go back to the living room.”

"Lucien…"

"Aria." His voice was quiet. Final. "Go back."

I held his gaze for one more second.

Then I moved past him and kept walking till I was in the hallway.

I pressed my back against the wall.

He kept it.

He asked why I can't stay away from him.

Of course I can stay away from him

But when he looked at me like that,I completely lost the ability to speak.

“Get your shit together, Aria.” I muttered to myself as I pushed off the wall.

I forced my face back into something normal  and walked back to the living room.

"There you are." Adrien looked up. "Come play."

"Sure, but don’t be sad when I beat your ass.”

“I’ll love to see you try.”

I sat beside him and took the controller.

Lucien came back a minute later. He sat down and picked up his controller.

“Lucien, Aria said she’ll beat my ass at this game.” Adrien said grinning.

“Well only one way to find out.”

The game started and I avoided eye contact with Lucien.

We ended the game an hour after, Lucien won and I came second.

Adrien dropped his controller. “No way this game is rigged.”

I giggled “ Looks like I beat your ass afterall”

“Let’ not forget who the real winner is here,” Luien added raising his shirt like he had just won the world cup.

Which, unfortunately, did absolutely nothing to help my concentration.

“Shit it’s getting late, we have to leave now.”

Adrien hugged Lucien at the door as I turned to leave. He said something low near his ear and Adrien laughed.

Then he stepped outside and headed to the limo.

I stopped, calmed my nerves and turned to Lucien.

"Did you tell him anything?" I said quietly. "About any of it."

Lucien looked at me.

"Of course not.”.

I held his gaze for a second.

"Okay.”

He held the door and I walked out, my heart still pounding.

In the limo Adrien stretched and let out a quiet breath. “I missed him.”

I smiled. "I could tell,"

"He seemed good." He looked out the window. "Better than I expected."

"Yeah," I said. "He did."

He turned to me.

"See?" he said. "Didn't bite."

I tried to make my laugh sound as genuine as possible.

"He didn't," I said.

I looked back out the window.

Paris blurred past the window, and I sat with everything that had just happened, my head spinning.

The drawing.

The way Lucien’s gaze had stolen every coherent thought from my head.

Worst of all… the fact that we were both lying to Adrien’s face.

Adrien trusted both of us.

And neither of us deserved it.