Write To Rank 2022 -- Contest Collection

Round 9 - Black Belt: Rainbows in City Lights

The rain is cold, biting, each drop rocketing from the sunless, grumbling sky hellbent on destruction. It drowns each blade of grass already wounded by the sword of the unforgiving winter, striking the concrete as if it were a body in need of cutting and bruising. It's deceptive, coating everything to make it all look polished and clean when it really intends to make shoes slip on pavement and run cars off the road. It's disguised to be a thing of dreams in every book or romantic movie, something sacred, something that brings people together rather than the force that drives everyone apart, that sends everyone fleeing for cover.

It was raining that night, too. We were at a party, dressed as if money meant nothing, laughing and drinking and dancing as if every problem in the world had been resolved. In a way, that's exactly what it felt like. We were celebrating the death of a traitor within our ranks, the man threatening to plunge everyone we loved into an early grave, and we were celebrating our engagement. Our hearts were light and our spirits were high, everything falling into place for the first time and finally forming that perfect picture we'd been seeking all of our lives.

We were on the dancefloor, my head resting on his chest, just over his heart, and my hand loosely gripping a broad shoulder, when he stopped swaying to the time of the music faded into the background, when he bent down so his mouth was adjacent to my ear, arms still wrapped tightly around me.

"I think it's time we went home," he whispered, lips brushing my ear, his breath warm against my skin. A shiver shot down my spine, my eyes opening and sleepiness beginning to fall off me like dust. "You don't want to be tired for your surprise tomorrow do you?"

I'd smiled then, picking my head up and finding his gaze with excitement dancing in my eyes. That electricity seemed to ignite the fire in his own, the gold flecks like embers flying about the rich green and brown of his irises. My surprise. He'd been teasing me with it for a week, laughing at my poor attempts to get the truth out of him, distracting me with lips and hands until every aggravated complaint about his keeping it secret was forgotten. Finally, finally he'd reveal it and give me peace.

Smirking, I slid my hands down his shoulders, down his muscled arms concealed under his crisp suit jacket, until I reached his forearms. "No, I don't, but I need a hint first."

He scoffed then, cocking his head a bit to the side and regarding me with a chastising look. "Why do you need hints when you'll know everything in a matter of hours?"

"Because I won't be able to sleep. You're really going to keep me up all night guessing?"

A corner of his mouth lifting infinitesimally, he cups my face tenderly, his face just inches away from mine. "I can think of a couple things I can do to help with that."

And he kissed me, his mouth claiming mine so fiercely my hold on him slackened and my legs felt weak. I was a seductress, my wiles used on some of the sickest men alive to hypnotize them into submission, to gain information I needed to go after a bigger target, to introduce them to the mouth of my pistol when I pulled the trigger, but I was powerless in the arms of my fiance.

And I didn't have a care in the world.

When he released my lips, my breathing was a bit unsteady, the beats of my heart strong and my skin on fire. He, as always, was cool and collected, his eyes finding mine as he pressed his forehead against me.

"Let's go, then."

And we were off. My hand slipped into the perfect mold of his own and we turned, walking together to the edge of the dance floor with its wooden diamond pattern, past our friends and family merrily drinking and conversing around its perimeter. Camilla, my fiance's sister, is among them and catches my eye, the golden glow from the crystal chandeliers hung around the grand room illuminating the softness of her face, accentuating the honey color of her skin. Mischievous as always, she winks, raising her champagne flute to us. I know what it means, managing to give her a small, disapproving shake of my head before her brother and I are out of the room.