Dante clenched and unclenched his hands; his frustration had nowhere to go and I knew he would be in some sort of fight before the night was through. He fought the way I drove, because he needed the release.
Eddy, who was clearly used to powerful, dangerous, damaged men, didn’t seem worried or scared, she just reached out and took one of Dante’s hands, stopping his obsessive movement.
“Dance with me,” she whispered, and I smiled at the look on his face.
Maybe fighting wasn’t the right F word for his release tonight. Thank you, I mouthed at her, and Eddy mimed a hip thrust at me. That, teamed with the look on her face, told me this was no hardship for her. She was feeling my best friend hard.
Deciding I was in need of another drink, I pushed my way through the tightly packed dance floor.
Rough hands grabbed at me as I passed, spinning me around so my front was pressed into his. Throwing my head back to see who had me, I stared into an unfamiliar face. Blandly handsome with blond hair and blue bloodshot eyes. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Nothing I hated more than handsy dudes who couldn’t take no for an answer.
“You might be the hottest bitch I’ve ever seen,” he said with a smirk.
Placing both of my hands on his chest, I pushed as hard as I could. He barely budged at all. Annoyance spiked through me, and I balled my fists, ready to do exactly what Dante had taught me in these situations. As I swung, I braced myself for the pain. This wasn’t the first guy I’d clocked, and last time I hadn’t been able to move my hand for a week. It was always worth it though. When my hand connected, there was a crunch and his head snapped back. They never expected a chick would punch them like that, and it took them by surprise every time. He let me go, and I was already rushing away, not wanting to deal with his retaliation. “Bitch!” he shouted and there was a new commotion.
I knew I shouldn’t have looked back, but human nature and all that … I had to see.
I skidded to a halt when I found no one was following me, instead everyone was crowding close to Jasper and Evan, who stood over the top of the dude I’d just punched. My gaze sought out Beck, knowing he’d be there somewhere as well, but there was no sign of him or Dylan. Pushing my way back, I cradled my aching hand.
“Did you really think you could touch one of us and get away with it?” Jasper said, staring down at the blond, who had a blossoming red mark on his cheek, and another around his throat. “You’ve been warned, Todd. Consider this your one and only.”
Todd held both of his hands up, pure terror on his face. “Dude, fuck, seriously. I didn’t know she was yours.”
“I’m not,” I spat at the same time Evan said, “We own her. Body and soul.”
My eyes widened at that. “No fuckin—”
Jasper turned violent eyes on me. “Shut up. You’re just lucky Beck was called away on some business outside, otherwise you’d be cleaning lover boy’s blood off the ground.”
“Lover boy,” I spluttered. “Did you miss the part where I punched him?”
His words were like acid as he replied. “Go home, Riley. You’re just causing trouble here.”
I seethed in anger, stepping closer to the blond boy with bloody knuckles. Todd, my would be ‘lover boy’ scrambled away like an overgrown crab. Clearly he recognized the danger in the room and was wisely getting the fuck out of the way.
“News flash, Jasper,” I hissed, jabbing him in the chest with my finger. “No one owns me. One pissy little meeting with a few old misogynistic fucks doesn’t change that. Now leave me the fuck alone. That goes for all of you.” This time my glare encompassed Evan and Dylan, who had just stepped into the room. “I didn’t ask for this shit, and the second I get the chance, I’m gone.”
With more sass than I really thought I was capable of, I tossed my silken hair over my shoulder and stalked out of the room in search of ... I didn’t really know what. I was just focused on making a dramatic exit.
“Going somewhere?” A dark, husky voice seemed to come straight out of the shadows and I jumped in fright, stumbling in my spike heels and falling headfirst into the rock hard chest of the dickhead himself—Beck.
“Yeah,” I muttered, instinctively grabbing his biceps to regain my balance. “To the bar.” As I said this, I flipped my hair out of my face and met his gaze by tipping my head way back. Damn tall bastard.
His eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared a little in anger. The fact that I could recognize this sent a spike of smug pleasure through me. A few days ago, I’d have said his face was as unreadable as ever, but now I was picking up on those tiny mood cues.
What did that say about how closely I’d been watching Beck?
“You’ve had—”
I cut him off by clapping a hand over his mouth. “If you try to tell me I’ve ‘had enough’ then I will deliberately march back out there and slam six tequila shots in quick succession.” I didn’t remove my hand, but his eyes were mocking. Taunting. “Oh, you don’t think I will? Try me.”
Slowly, deliberately, he peeled my hand from his crazy soft lips and smirked. “You’ve had enough, Riley.”
I had to admit, I didn’t think he was actually going to call my bluff. That said, I wasn’t one to make empty threats, so I shrugged and took a step back in the direction of the bar. I didn’t make it far, though, before Beck’s huge hand wrapped around my wrist and held me firm.
“Don’t be childish, Butterfly,” he told me in the sort of condescending voice that made me rage inside. “You’re part of a respected, old-money company now. We have standards, and they don’t include getting white girl wasted at some new-money party.”
Gritting my teeth in anger, I tried to wrench my wrist out of his grip, but his hand only tightened and pulled me closer. When my balance finally faltered, I found myself pinned to the wall with his other hand pressed across my chest, holding me in place.
“Do not defy me, Butterfly,” he breathed in my ear, his voice dripping danger and sheer power. His fingers tightened across my collarbone, slipping up to the base of my throat, where he pressed just hard enough to spike fear and arousal in equal measures. Damn I was fucked up.
“Sebastian?” I whispered, meeting his dark eyes from just inches away and hating the fact that my own eyes probably conveyed how turned on his little show of dominance was making me. “Go fuck yourself.”
Not giving myself another second to sink into whatever this messed up attraction between us was, I brought my knee up. Hard. Nailing him right in the nuts, just the way my mom had taught me to do if I was ever attacked in the dangerous streets around home.
Instantly, his grip on me relaxed enough that I could slip out of his hold and race back down the hall in the direction I’d come after the altercation with Todd.
Where the hell were Dante and Eddy?
Halfway across the room I hesitated. Maybe I should just find Eddy and ask her to take me home? My head was already spinning, and a nasty hangover was looming even without those six tequilas I’d threatened Beck with. Chewing my lip, I glanced over my shoulder and spotted the furious, gorgeous, infuriating object of my frustration storming toward me.
“Fuck it,” I muttered, hurrying across to the bar and ordering from my favorite person of the night—the bartender. On edge, I drummed my fingertips on the bar while he poured the little glasses.
Someone was smiling down on me, though, because Beck was waylaid by a gaggle of fawning drunk girls. One of them must have been someone important, because instead of brushing her aside, he was giving a tight, forced smile to whatever she was saying while his eyes remained glued to me.
I was all kinds of mixed emotions. Angry, that was a no-brainer; these rich pricks kept saying that they owned me. Frustrated, because it seemed like I was wading through a sea of secrets which no one was inclined to share. Jealous, because Beck just laid an all too gentle hand on that girl’s waist to move her out of his way. But more than anything, I was sad. I was sad and lonely, because that small act of kneeing Beck in the balls reminded me of my mom, and she was gone. She was dead and never coming back. I was all alone in this world now, and my bio-family were the worst kind of people. They would never be my real family, not like mom and dad had been. So I was alone.
Holding Beck’s furious gaze as he crossed the room, I grabbed a shot in each hand and gulped them back. Quick like lightning, I exchanged the empty glass for a full one the second I could so when Beck reached me, I was wiping my mouth with the back of my hand and feeling the whole world spin.
“You stupid, stubborn shit,” he said with an angry growl as he grabbed my arm in that bruising grip that I was coming to love just as much as I hated it. “Come on.”
He started dragging me away from the bar, but I wasn’t anywhere near drunk enough to just let him manhandle me like that. Everyone knew it took a solid twenty minutes for alcohol to really kick in, so if he thought I’d be compliant he was severely mistaken.
“Take your hands off me!” I yelled, deliberately trying to make a scene as I wrenched my arm out of his grip. My raised voice brought far too many eyes down on us, but the moment they saw it was Beck, everyone scattered.
Beck’s jaw clenched, and I imagined I could hear his teeth grinding as he let me step away. Over his shoulder I could see Evan waving him down, and I jerked my head in that direction. “Your friend needs you, Sebastian,” I said, my words sounding a little slurred already.
He took his focus off me for a split second, and it was enough time for me to turn and not that gracefully slip away.
I made it out near the pool. “Hey!” I shouted, spotting my missing friends beside the Jacuzzi. They were both holding drinks and dancing close. Really close. “What the hell, you guys? You just disappeared on me!”
“Riles! There you are!” Eddy beamed and threw her arms around me in a drunken hug. “We were looking for you everywhere. This house has a really shitty layout, but I guess that’s what you get with these new-money builds.” Her breath held so much alcohol I suspected it was a fire hazard, but then mine probably wasn’t much better.