Guarding the Rose: The CEO's Secret Duty

"Tess."

Zoey gave me a pat, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Yes?"

"Lorcan hasn't attended any of our class reunions since the high school graduation party," Zoey whispered in my ear.

I hummed lightly in response, then rose to my feet. "Excuse me while I use the washroom."

I knew Lorcan hated me, and by extension, he hated his high school days. After all, my affluent background was the total opposite of his unfortunate one. I'd ordered him around time and time again—demanding and unreasonable.

Between the ages of 8 and 18, Lorcan had always done as I asked without protests—until that fateful day. If I hadn't heard him tell me to scram and stay the hell away from him, I might have forgotten that he was a young man with his fair share of pride.

My guilt deepened at the thought. I approached the door with my head hung. As I reached for the doorknob, someone pushed the door open.

My eyes widened with shock as I met the dark, steely gaze on the other side of the door.

As it turned out, a lot could change in ten years.

The fine-looking little boy with a hard expression had grown into a grounded, impassive man. He was taller than when I last saw him, looking dapper in his well-tailored black suit that accentuated his long legs and broad shoulders.

His eyes were dark and depthless as he held my stare.

Another man at the door exclaimed, "Tessa Langley? It really is you!"

"In the flesh." I nodded and offered the man a smile. "Long time no see, Callum Sullivan."

I paid no mind to the dark, weighted gaze on me as I spoke and simply stepped aside to let them through. While heading out the door, I heard Callum's boisterous voice ringing out behind me. "Hey, Lorcan, Tessa's back! I thought you'd be more excited than this!"

The tissues crumpled in my grip as a wry smile tugged on my lips. Lorcan wouldn't be excited to see me. I was a reminder of his pathetic past. If anything, seeing me would make him hate me more.

The easy, partying mood seemed to wane a little after Lorcan's arrival.

He sat right across from me. Everyone at the table sneaked a furtive glance at him, then me. But in the end, they suddenly became interested in their meals and began to eat in silence.

Perhaps they didn't know how to behave now that Lorcan's and my dynamics had been reversed. After all, I had once been at the apex of the social pyramid.

Callum, being the life of the party and a chatterbox, immediately sensed tension in the air. Thinking on his feet, he broke the silence. "Hey, how about we play a game of Truth or Dare?"

The idea won favor with those who'd been dying of toe-curling second-hand embarrassment and awkwardness.

When we moved away from the dining table to the rest of the lounge, Lorcan still chose the seat across mine. He was half-sprawled on the couch, his eyes heavy-lidded as he spread his mile-long legs.

I felt his gaze on me, but whenever I looked up, he was always looking somewhere else. I thought I'd been hallucinating.

The atmosphere in the lounge eased after several rounds of truth or dare, at least until… the beer bottle spun and stopped right before me, its bottom pointed at Lorcan. I looked up and met his eyes.

"Oh, I'll start! I'll start!" Callum rubbed his hands together deviously, as if hoping to get some juicy gossip out of this game. He asked unabashedly, "How many boyfriends or girlfriends have you had?"

The game called for the party on both ends of the bottle to either tell the truth or be punished. In other words, Lorcan and I were in for a punishment.

The lively crowd around us grew quiet, and an odd tension permeated the air once again.

Zoey sat beside me, her hand tightening around my arm. I gently patted her arm and said softly, "I'll be okay. Go get me a glass of wine."

"Hey, what gives? Why the hesitation?" Callum pestered with the impatience of a petulant child. "It's a simple yes or no question. Why are you getting shy all of a sudden?"

When his eyes slid to me, he deliberately emphasized the word "no".

I cocked my head to one side and suppressed the inexplicable urge to laugh. After that, I cast a sidelong glance at the man across from me, my lips curving.

Lorcan was blessed with good looks. Ten years had passed, but he looked even better than before. He boasted defined features and a strong, well-defined jaw. His height was tall, and his build was masculine. In short, he was a work of art, lovingly crafted by the heavens themselves.

Zoey returned with the wine I'd asked for, and it was only then that Callum realized Lorcan wouldn't spill. As such, he turned to needle me instead. "Come on, are we still playing this game or not? You're dragging this out longer than necessary!"

"Three."

My answer earned a sharp look from Lorcan. I sipped my wine, then met his stormy gaze with a smile. "One of them was Credean, and the other two were foreigners."

The crowd fell silent, and even Callum held his tongue.

I was barely pulling myself together as I finished my explanation with a smile, my palms sweating profusely.

A tempest brewed in Lorcan's eyes, but it wasn't long before he snapped out of it. His eyes were near-obsidian, like a sea at night, as he stared at me. A long pause later, he said hoarsely, "None."

I chuckled inwardly, disbelieving. Was he keeping his true love like a dirty secret?