Lust in Ecstasy: Love, Lies and Revenge
Chapter 37: A familiar Spark.

Chapter 37: A familiar Spark.

"I’m okay,"

No, I wasn’t okay. I had gotten off the call with Eric, he kept talking—going over what I was supposed to wear, what to say, and what to avoid, his voice started to fade into the background. My chest tightened, and I gripped the phone harder. I stared blankly at the car seat in front of me, my mind drowning in fear.

Faith was in the car now, she was sitting next to me in the backseat and she kept asking me what was wrong.

Initially, I just kept saying nothing was wrong, although I wanted to tell her... to tell her everything but I couldn’t, what else could I have said? Eric made it clear that I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about it.

The real question was—how?

Even if I wanted to tell her, how the hell would she react to the fact that I was trying to extort her ex-boyfriend’s father? Yeah... I couldn’t.

I met her gaze, my mind scrambling for a believable lie.

"A friend of mine is sick, actually. It’s pretty serious. That was his elder brother calling to inform me," I said, keeping my face straight, my voice steady like I wasn’t making it up on the spot.

She seemed to buy it. Her expression softened as she reached out, giving my arm a gentle squeeze. "Everything will be fine," she said. I nodded and faked a smile.

I wish I could believe that. But I didn’t.

Silence settled in the car. My thoughts, however, were anything but still. I ran through every possible way things could go wrong, every scenario where I ended up regretting this decision.

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in Eric. I did. The problem was me.

I never believed in myself.

It wasn’t just this situation, it was everything. Every time an opportunity presented itself, my first instinct was to think of all the ways I could fail. I second-guessed every move, overanalyzed every risk, and convinced myself that I wasn’t capable enough, smart enough, or strong enough to pull anything off.

And because I believed that, I never really tried. I never took risks. I wanted to change that. I wanted to believe in myself.

But wanting and doing were two different things.

And right now, I was too damn scared to do anything but sit here and hope this wouldn’t be the worst mistake of my life.

I was still lost in thought, staring out the window—maybe at the sea, when Faith’s voice cut through the silence.

"Are you sure you’re okay?"

She had been watching me the whole time, but I hadn’t cared enough to notice until now.

I turned to meet her gaze. "Yeah, I’m okay."

"Why’d you ask?" I added, feigning ignorance.

She tilted her head slightly, unconvinced. "You’ve been awfully quiet. There’s obviously something on your mind... but I get it if you don’t want to talk about it."

I nodded, looking away. "You’re right. I don’t."

A moment passed.

"So there is something," she murmured, shifting closer to me.

Oh God, what is she doing?

If she makes a move right now, I might actually snap and tell her to get out of the car.

Funny. Because the second her hand brushed against my thigh, every ounce of self-control I thought I had flew straight out the window.

A slow, burning heat spread through me at her touch, and I hated how easily she could do this, how she could make me forget every damn thing weighing on my mind with just a simple gesture.

I swallowed hard, my jaw clenching as I forced myself to stay still.

"You sure you don’t want to talk?" she asked, her voice softer now, almost teasing.

I let out a breath, shaking my head. "Faith..."

"What?" she challenged, her fingers grazing my thigh again, as she moved closer to me.

I turned to her, our faces mere inches apart, and finally met her eyes. There was no mistaking what I saw in them—want.

She wanted me in that moment, just as much as I knew I shouldn’t want her. But I didn’t care anymore... The fact that she wanted me made my blood boil, the tension in the air was so much that you could cut through it.

Without warning, Faith leaned in closer grabbing my face, pulled me closer and kissed me. And there it was, that familiar spark I felt that night at the party.

Does this mean that I genuinely did like Faith?, at least before the whole thing with Ken happened. I didn’t feel the same spark when I kissed Esther, Yvonne or even Abby.

I kissed her back, my right hand instinctively sliding to her back and pulling her closer. She wrapped her hands around my neck as she moaned softly into my mouth.

For a moment, I felt like I had everything. I was doing what I wanted a few minutes ago. Smearing that lipgloss off and feeling her soft skin against my fingers as my hands glided around her body.

She slid a hand down towards my belt, trying unbuckle it, But then reality came crashing back in, sharp and unforgiving.

"What the fuck am I doing?," I thought.

I pulled back from the kiss and I grabbed her wrist, not rough but firm enough to make her stop.

"Faith... Stop, please stop,"

"Not now," I said, my voice lower than I intended.

She held my gaze for a moment before pulling her hand back, her expression unreadable.

"Okay," she said simply, leaning back into her seat.

Silence settled between us again, the tension thick and charged.

I exhaled, dragging a hand down my face.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I’d be sitting in a room with a man powerful enough to make people disappear, trying to pull off an extortion scheme I didn’t even believe in.

And even though I wanted this moment, getting distracted by Faith wasn’t an option.

I need to get my shit together.