So, I did what I should have done fifteen minutes ago.
I ran.
Three
Ian
I felt her go cold in my arms, her knees going weak and panic piercing her like a stake of a red-hot iron.
“Are you okay?” I whispered, trying to keep the aggression that slammed me locked down.
Last thing I needed to do was throw down in the middle of Charleston’s elite. Might be a bit of a detriment to my image for these people to get a good look at the seedy darkness that writhed inside me.
Didn’t matter.
My eyes were darting all over the place, searching for a threat while I tried to gather her closer, having the intense urge to wrap her up and whisper in her ear. Promise that it would be okay.
Protect her.
Shield her from whatever had just sent her spiraling. Without a doubt, it didn’t have a single thing to do with me.
Nails clung to me like I was the only thing keeping her standing, and I swore those fingers in my shoulders were dragging me over the edge right along with her, directly into a fool’s game.
She didn’t respond, and my voice gritted, a hard, vicious plea, “What’s wrong? Need you to tell me what’s happening, right now.”
I couldn’t afford to do this.
Slip.
Stumble.
Care or worry.
Get involved when I had absolutely nothing to offer.
The only thing I was looking for was a good time. A girl who wanted to get lost as desperately as I did. To fuck and forget.
So, I sure as shit shouldn’t be showing concern. What was worse was that I wanted to show it in the first place.
Hit with this overwhelming need to fight and defend.
Thing was, I could physically feel a roll of terror crawl across her flesh like a disease. Maybe it was just the fact I was holding her in my arms while it was going down, but it was like I watched as demons slithered and scaled and scrambled over her before they jumped onto me, impaling me with steely claws and talons.
They sank deeper than should be possible. Got under my skin where I couldn’t let her go.
She just shook her head, this gorgeous girl ripping herself from my hold and pushing her way through the couples who continued to dance, completely oblivious to the roil of energy pounding through the air.
She darted out the doors, that fabric of her skirt billowing behind her.
My attention flew around the room, searching, seeing nothing amiss. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t sure everything was wrong.
Like a fool, I chased her. I just . . . needed to make sure she was safe. See to it that the valet got her into her car and she drove away.
Then I’d step back.
Let her go.
There was something about her that warned I had to.
I pushed my way off the dancefloor and out the double-ballroom doors. Panting, my eyes scanned both directions.
She was nowhere in sight.
I moved for the elevators at the far end of the foyer. The doors were just slipping closed. That antsy feeling pulsed.
“Fuck it.”
Dressed in a goddamned tux, I skipped the elevators and hit the stairwell. My shoes pounded down ten flights of stairs.
What was I doing?
This was stupid.
Goddamned stupid.
I was sucking for air by the time I made it to the ground floor, but I pushed myself harder across the slick, shiny floor, over the golden designs stamped in the gleaming, smooth stone.
I skidded as I came to the massive front doors. I dipped my head as the bellman held one side open for me.
Cool air hit my face, the deepening night growing colder as the distinct feel of fall took hold of the air.
I went straight for the valet station.
No chance would she have had time for her car to be brought around. Apprehension tightened my chest when I didn’t see her standing there.
I moved for the valet who was manning the station, the kid clearly getting a hard on for the Ferrari that just rolled to a stop in front of him. Doubted he was paying me much attention.
“Did a woman just pick up her car? Tall. Beige dress? Blonde hair?”
Sexy as fuck.
Didn’t need to feed any extra images into the punk’s head.
He frowned at me, clearly getting ready to dismiss me before I pulled out my wallet and handed him a hundred. He didn’t even hesitate to accept it.
Prick.
He gestured with his head behind me. “She went that way.”
I flipped back around, heading that direction, increasing my pace with every step that I took. What the fuck was she doing, walking by herself in the middle of the night? Unease swept through, a tumble on the ground, inciting me to move faster.
I rushed down the sidewalk that lined the maintained grounds of the hotel, along the perfectly hewn hedges, the old building sitting back under the protection of imposing trees.
The entire place was lit in an ambience of wealth and affluence.
I was nearly running by the time I made it to the corner where it intersected with a side road.
Moonlight pooled like an oasis from above, painting the sky a milky glow, and it was my turn to feel like a prick when I rounded the corner and slammed right into a wall of the girl’s panic.
The second she felt me, she raced across the street, her heels clicking on the choppy pavement as she ran.
Running for her life.
Sounds were jetting from her lungs, these tiny cries of desperation as she clung to her dress and tried to make it to a nondescript white sedan parked on the opposite side of the road.
By itself.
The area desolate and deserted.
The girl was nothing but a sitting duck.
I’d seen enough monsters lurking in dark corners to know this was a bad call.
She knew it, too, because she pushed herself harder, like she felt a menacing presence slip in from behind.
I was a second from grinding to a halt. Calling out to her like some kind of blathering fool that I was just checking to make sure she was okay and not some bastard who was there to hurt her.
So yeah, I wanted to fuck her. But I’d never force a girl into doing what she didn’t want to do. Not once. Not ever.
But it was already too late for that.
The spike of her heel caught in a crack in the road, and I watched in helpless horror as the girl went flying. Body propelled forward, arms shooting out to try to stop herself from falling.
A cry of pain struck the air when her knees and hands hit the hard, unforgiving ground. She skidded on the rough pavement, her dress tearing at the side. Her clutch slipped from her hold and sent the contents scattering across the ground.
My body jolted back like I could feel the impact. For a beat, I froze before worry and concern hijacked my veins, and I rushed across the street toward her.
She heard me coming, and she flew around, scrambling back, those blue, blue eyes going wide in fear.
Those legs were bent at an odd angle, the thin material of her dress bunched up at her thighs, one shoe gone where it was stuck in the road.
I was the sick fuck who thought he’d never seen anything more beautiful.
A battered Cinderella.
An angel with a broken halo.
I pushed my hands out in front of me in a show of surrender, trying to carve my voice into the most placating sound I could find. Kind of hard to do when it was typically filled with bitterness and hate. “Hey . . . it’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you.”
But I sure as fuck wanted to hurt the fucker that’d put that look on her face.
She kept fumbling backward for a second before she heaved out in both shock and relief when she finally realized it was me, like she got that I wouldn’t touch her unless she really wanted me to.
And fuck, I wanted to.
That overpowering sensation hit me again, growing stronger with every inch that I took toward her. Urging me to wrap her up. Maybe rock her and soothe her and tell her everything was going to be okay like some kind of punk.
Hell no.
I needed to turn around and walk.
Turn my back.
Because this girl was making me have urges that were not okay.
I would have, too, but that was right when she tried to choke back a sob. It erupted from her throat, her bloodied palms going to her face as she began to weep.
Might be a dick, but there was no turning my back on that.
She could be . . . hurt.
I crossed the street, edging forward like I was approaching a wild, caged animal.
There was no question in my mind the girl was close to coming unhinged.