If you're into fantasy, I started a book for Kara and Stephano in an alternate universe. The world of witches, werewolves and other supernatural being. It's titled 'The witch and the phoenix of Lomani.' Please check it out 😍❤️

Kara’s POV

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          “Kara...babe...”

“Kara!”

“Uh?” I snapped out of my daze and blinked twice, licking my suddenly dry lips as my heart thumped wildly like dangerous predator trashing against its prey.

Adrian was now standing before me, obstructing my view with a permanent scowl plastered on her face. When or how she’d moved over, I had no idea.

The tip of my tongue darted over my lips again.

“I’ve been calling you for the past ten seconds.” She snapped, pinning me down with her suspicious gaze. One hand was on her waist. Yep, dramatic much.

The sides of my lips stretched into a smile but hell itself knew it was all pretense. “Sorry, I zoned out for a moment. Where’s-” I made to ask as I looked over to the spot Barbara was standing few seconds ago.

“The lover girl?” She wiggled her brows and my pretend smile stretched even further.

I stylishly craned my neck to the far corner where I’d seen the two hugging just now as I turned right but Stephano was no longer there. “She left already with her hunk of a boyfriend.”

Something dropped into the pit of my belly when I didn’t see the both of them there any longer. I couldn’t get the image of the woman’s smiling face out of my head.

Adrian observed me with a frown but shook it off, shrugging. She expected me to be giddy as she was, and I totally understood that. It wasn’t like I was not pleased with what happened with Barbara, sure I was, but at the moment I knew she was happy with her lover boy and it was time for me to worry about myself.

“Uh…Let’s enjoy, shall we?” I giggled nervously as I noticed the twinkle in Adrian’s eyes, her head bobbing repeatedly to the faint sound of the country music coming from the floor below. I took her cup and helped myself, taking a large gulp and grimacing at the taste while the drink skid down and burned my tongue.

I knew I would have to do something to get these thoughts out of my head.

Dance the night away, probably.

“So…” She looked down to the shot waiting to travel down her throat before gulping it down and pouring herself more.

“Let’s go shake some booty.” I wiggled my brows, intentionally ignoring what I had just saw her doing.

“Your drink?”

“Uh...order anythi- no. I’ll just dance for now. I think the shot I took from your cup is enough.” I told her truthfully. I didn’t trust Adrian to not order something that would make me ‘loosen up’ and my thoughts were confirmed when a sly smirk crept onto her face deceptively.

She had been trying to make me drink since forever and it wasn’t like I had never taken one in my life.

The last time I loosened up to really drink, it had been so embarrassing. That was when my dad was still alive because I remember him waking my hung over younger self up from ‘Stephano’s’ bed. Stephano’s freaking bed!

Stephano the young master!

That was obviously one of the most embarrassing days of my life! I couldn’t imagine waking next to a peacefully sleeping Stephano who would resume his glaring the moment he laid his eyes on me.

“Come on gurl, let loose for once!” She squealed and downed a shot. “Even the person you’re embarrassed about would have drunk a couple of times after that.” She added while I just did another eye roll. Of course she would taunt me about it after all I was the one who told her the little incident about how I woke up with a handsome Stephano sitting beside me and my angry dad’s reprimanding gaze from the foot board of Stephano’s master bed.

“I’ll just dance.” I insisted.

The person she just brought up was the same one I was trying to get my mind off. I was still stunned by the view earlier on. Who was that woman? I had seen her somewhere but at the moment, I couldn’t place exactly where that was. She looked eerily familiar.

She also looked just as beautiful as I remembered her to be and that prideful gaze... I snapped my fingers together while Adrian giggled at something the bartender was saying.

Uh! I still couldn’t remember just where I had seen her before now. It was years ago, maybe in a magazine or thereabout.

But she was definitely really pretty, just like she was then.

Maybe I should just dance. I’ll just dance and let loose, minus the drinking part because I wouldn’t entertain a repeat of what happened several years ago. Who knew what I would do this time around.

I dragged Adrian down the stairs, to the ground floor where the real clubbing was happening. People were having the time of their lives on the dance floor at the left part of the floor, moving their bodies to the rhythm of the music.

The loud sound of a song by Taylor Swift instantly hit my ears as I maneuvered my way over with a giddy Adrian. I swayed my hips and made my eyes droop in what I guessed to be a sexy way. I needed to feel good about myself and just get out the hunting image flicking through my memory.
I imagined Stephano was actually standing before me, his gaze flickering all over my body. So I twerked to Bad Blood, another one of Tailor Swift’s songs and jiggled my body mindlessly, the image clouding my senses and making my brain foggy.

That woman and Stephano... They were locked in what I could only call a lovers embrace and the image hunted me. The song was changed to Ed-Sheeran’s Perfect. Just like that, my mood switched. I hugged myself tightly as I noticed couples were dancing around me and Adrian was also dancing with a random dude who looked like he wanted to swallow her whole. I looked up to stare at the bulbs above as the neon lights changed into their different colors. Slowly swaying my body, I heaved a contented sigh.

Was he trying to run from that woman? They looked quite acquainted and I’d seen how she looked at him with so much love in her eyes, yet he’d signed a contract with me.
Or what was the relationship between them? Was he fooling me? He told me I was his and even though I didn’t accept it, I had allowed myself to actually think he meant it because of the sincerity in his tone.

Was he using me as a sort of relief because he had an argument with that woman and did that mean things were now good between them? Would we continue with the contract...? Emotions rippled through me. I didn’t know what to think anymore. Why was I even affected? He was still the heartless Stephano who always wanted everything to happen his way.

Why did my heart clench the other time when I saw them? Why did I feel like a part of me had suddenly been ripped off me?
Maybe because of the lover’s scene I had witnessed between Barbara and her boyfriend.

I always wondered if someone or anyone for that matter would ever feel that way towards me. Stephano had kissed me like I mattered to him. And maybe because-
I felt someone snake their hands around me and I stiffened. No, I wasn’t used to dancing with someone so close to me in a club, talks less dancing with strangers. Trying to turn around, the person’s arm tightened around me.

“Don’t.”

I stiffened with wide eyes. Just that single command and I already knew who it was that had spoken. The strong fragrance of his cologne consumed me as it coated against my nose. How had I not perceived it before?
My hands turned clammy as the realization sunk. That meant the beautiful woman had left. He was now free, so he came back to me. After her being in his arms just minutes ago.

He turned me around and I was instantly staring into blue eyes. His own gaze was inspecting, as if he was looking for something. He dipped his head so he was just a few inches from me and my heart palpitated as my eyes mistakenly flickered to his lips for a mere second.

Oh goodness! My heart was betraying me now.

It was thumping wildly because of this man, something I used to control when he used to throw me glares. It knew Stephano belonged to another woman and I was the other girl. My heart palpitated for the second time when I thought about it. I felt a prickling sensation flow through my body.

“Hi.” He mumbled in his deep tone that did things to me.

He moved his right hand from my shoulder and brought it to my waist, gripping firmly but not enough to hurt. It was as if he was controlling himself.

From what? I had no idea.

“Hi back.” My lips formed a genuine l smile and I couldn’t, for the life of me, fathom why.

“You came here to...” He looked around as he trailed off. I thought I would pass out as I stared at him, I had never stared at face this way before and now I could see every small dot, every spot and this man was so beautiful.

I felt like belting that fact out with all the passion in me, just the way Miley Cyrus had belted out in Wrecking Ball!

“Just chill.” I finished with a nonchalant shrug though I observed him. He was looking at me intensely. He was so fluid in his movements and calculated facial expressions and I almost couldn’t believe I was in his arms until I remembered I wasn’t the only one who had been in his arms in the past twenty minutes.

That immediately cleared my head off any foggy and totally impossible thoughts about me and him. He turned me around in a three-sixty.

“How have you been?” He asked when I was back in his hold.

“I...uh...good.” I looked down and mentally cursed myself for stuttering as his other hand joined the one currently ministering on my waist.

“I missed you.” He muttered.

“Wow.” I whispered. My eyes didn’t leave his chest for once. Could he be a better liar? Anger and irritation slowly pricked against my skin as I thought about it. He missed me, yet he was locked in another woman’s embrace just a while ago.

The thought alone momentarily made me blind with bitterness but as soon as it came, it vanished.

My hands found their way to his shoulders. “I also did.” I genuinely replied.

I had been expecting a call or a message from him...anything. But every time I thought that way, I would immediately remind myself that this was merely a business relationship between us.

“How was your day?” I asked to fill the silence. This club was exclusive and I began to wonder if it was coincidence as the songs were matching my mood swings.

He chuckled. “My day was as always. Just busy.”

I noticed he was smooth in his movements. Putting his arms on a woman’s waist was obviously a normal thing for him. I was just one of them, and the shameless me allowed it. He stared at me, long and hard, not taking his eyes off.

“Is there something on my face?” I was forced to ask with an uncomfortable smile.

He chuckled again and pulled me closer to his chest, making me suck in a harsh breath. “No. You’re just so beautiful. I could stare at you all day.”

My heart clenched again. Was this how he praised all the women he had been with and deceived? Or maybe it was just that woman. Then he was here as well, telling me I was beautiful.

“Thank you.” I muttered bitterly as I dwelled upon his words, replaying them and willing my body to stay rigid but of course it wouldn’t pay heed to me. My body was tingling, enjoying the praises. I felt heat creep up my cheeks as he kept staring, a naughty smile now on his lips.

“What?” I asked. “...when I was scared of letting go...” I quickly muttered in line to James Arthur’s song, ‘Say you won’t let go’ that was now floating through my ears.

“Don’t worry love, I’ll never let you go.” He spoke in assurance, his piercing blue eyes boring into my soul, like they held a deep and fruitful promise. Then he slowly dipped his head lower.

“W-what’s that?” I stuttered as I stared at his lips, instantly feeling a burning sensation below my abdomen as I wondered if he was going to do what I was thinking.

“Can I kiss you?” He asked.

I didn’t know if I should be embarrassed or glad that he’d asked me this, considering he had his arms wrapped around a gorgeous woman minutes ago.

My heart flew into my mouth and I swallowed hard. His Cologne was making me feel hazy and with each stroke of his long slender fingers on my waist, I took another gulp. The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy.

“Uh...” I avoided his gaze but wherever my head turned, he followed suit.

“Please.” He said without hesitation. His tone was deep and soothing, calming even. I couldn’t refuse him— I needed a refreshing reminder of what his lips tasted like even though I had tasted it before. It suddenly felt like coffee, I needed it again and again.

I knew I was the other girl. I accepted it because I didn’t know the whole story yet and that fact was like a gift. It would be unwrapped eventually, no matter how slow that unwrapping process would happen. One thing was sure, I would get to the root of the matter and we would know who was who later on. Maybe she was a friend or an ex. But I knew that woman meant something to Stephano and the curiosity as to who she was to him was burning like a fiery furnace inside me.

Stephano pecked me softly on the forehead and this snapped me back to the present world. Oh yes, the kiss!

His expression was almost pleading, his gaze respectful in a shocking way. It rocked my system and made me feel desired. He was asking for my permission, and I wanted him too.

“Yes.” I replied and before I could say Jack Robinson, he had made us one. My chest pressed against his.

My lips making love to his, dancing like two careless lovers who were finally allowed to become one, with his arms whispering endless promises to me as they caged me as if I would bolt. My body screaming for his as my hands snaked around the nape of his neck to hold him close to me.

Then his promising words came back.
He would never let go. And I allowed it to mean something at that moment, because he said it with all the life and comfort one could put into an assuring promise.

He would never let go.