by Marie James
“Is he going to hurt her?” I ask Delilah as we walk toward the entrance to Jake’s.
“Probably going to spank her ass,” Lawson mutters.
“Stop.” Delilah swats his chest, but her mouth is turned up in a grin.
“He beats her?” Delilah catches me before I can make it all the way back to the SUV.
“He doesn’t beat her,” Delilah assures me. “Look.”
I listen to her, but I regret it instantly. The windows have already begun to fog up, but the sight of my sister’s head bobbing up and down with Jameson’s fist in her hair is as clear as day.
“What are they—” I squint my eyes to get a better look. “Oh my God!”
Delilah can barely hold back her laughter as she clutches my arm tighter and directs me toward the front door.
“Seems they have a thing for cars, too,” Lawson mumbles.
Delilah hits Lawson in the chest for a second time, but the look in her eye tells a different story.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and as Lawson leads us to find an empty table, I pull it out to read the text message Melissa sent.
Melissa: We just pulled up, and you wouldn’t believe what your sister is doing in the parking lot.
Me: We’re heading for the far right corner. Hurry. I want to dance.
Why I’ve changed my mind so quickly, I’ll never understand, but sitting around and waiting for my sister and Jameson to walk in will only be more awkward than looking like a fool on the dance floor.
By the time Cannon and Melissa make it to our table, they have several people with them. Cannon introduces all of us to the guys, but it’s a guy named Jared that can’t seem to take his eyes off me. He looks vaguely familiar. He probably graduated a few years before me.
“Can I get you a drink?” A charming smile crosses his handsome face, but it’s not a skeevy look.
“A Diet Coke would be nice,” I tell him to be polite.
“Just a Diet Coke?” I nod and reach into the back pocket of my blue jean skirt. He clasps a hand on my hip, and I freeze. “I got it.”
He winks before he walks away. I find my eyes following the back of his jeans until he disappears into the crowd.
“Well, he’s hot,” Melissa says close to my ear. “I bet he’ll dance with you.”
She’s right, of course. Jared does want to dance with me. He asks only a moment after he hands over my drink, and I notice he’s sipping from a bottle of water.
“You’re not drinking tonight?” I toy with the straw in my Diet Coke, but I know better than to take a drink. My dad would kill me for breaking one of his cardinal rules.
“Nope.” He grins, and the dimple on his cheek mesmerizes me. “I don’t need alcohol to have a good time.”
“You can actually drink that if you’re thirsty.” I turn my head to find Cannon leaning in close to my ear. “Jared’s a good guy. He’s not going to drug you.”
I nod at Cannon, and even though I let my lips toy with the top of the straw, I don’t drink from the glass. I have no intentions of breaking my rules now.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Jared says as he steps in closer so I can hear him over the raucous crowd.
“Come on,” Melissa says, making my mind up for me. “Let’s dance.”
I have just enough time to put my glass down on the table before I’m dragged to the center of the dance floor.
Just the energy in the air surrounding us is intoxicating. My heart begins to beat to the tempo of the music just as Jared steps in closer to me.
“I love this song,” he tells me when the fast beat transitions into something a little slower, a little more seductive in nature. Of course, it does. Niall Horan’s Slow Hands swarms us, cocoons us, and Jared moves his hips in perfect harmony to the beat.
Our upper bodies brush against each other, but he keeps his hips a safe distance from mine. As the song begins to fade into one another, Jared never lets me go. I can’t believe how natural this feels, to be in someone’s arms and not have to try to defend my honor. I can just let loose and have a good time.
“Thirsty?” he asks when I lick my lips for the millionth time tonight. I answer with a quick dip of my head. “I’ll be right back.”
I grab his hand before he walks away. “I’m going back to the table to try to cool off.”
He acknowledges me and heads toward the bar.
The area around the table is empty, having been deserted by everyone from our group. Seems they couldn’t deny the draw of the dance floor either. My smile is wide when I see Gigi clinging to Jameson. In this unguarded moment, I finally see the way he looks at my sister, and I feel guilty for thinking for a second he’d ever hurt her.
I wish I had someone in my life that looked at me that way. I’m lost in my own thoughts when a bottle of water appears before my face.
“Thanks,” I tell Jared as I accept the bottle.
“Figured this is better to rehydrate than soda.” My eyes, of their own volition, scrape down his body, and I can tell you the man knows what he’s talking about.
He watches my mouth as I bring my lips to the bottle, and the look on his face is very similar to the way Griffin was watching me yesterday. The similarities are great, but it’s the differences that make my head spin. Jared isn’t trying to push himself on me. He isn’t saying filthy things or pressing his luck.
“Are you having fun?” I lift my hand and fix the collar of his shirt. This gives him the opportunity to clasp my fingers in his own hand. “Want to go dance some more?”
“Not really.” I see his lips move more with the words than actually hearing it over the pounding music.
Unexplainably, I’m drawn to him.
“Wh-what else did you have in mind?” It isn’t until my back presses against the wall that I realize we’ve been slowly moving deeper into the shadows.
“This.”
Slowly, as if he’s afraid to spook me, Jared leans in and brushes his lips over mine. The softness of his touch, along with the lack of aggression, throws my brain for a loop. When he presses a little harder the next time, I find myself wanting just a little more.
Chapter 21
Griffin
I’ve done exactly what she wanted, and yet she’s not here. My hands tremble as they’ve been doing since I woke up this morning. I’m sober, not having drunk anything since before Ivy showed up and poured water on me yesterday, and I hate everything about it.
Ignoring the text from Jared about being in town this weekend, afraid he’s going to want to stay here, I shoot off a text to James.
I refused to go crawling back to Cerberus property today to beg to have my bike back, knowing if I left this house, I’d head toward the Quik Stop liquor store rather than the road leading to my family’s land.
James: We’re heading to Jake’s. Want us to swing by on the way?
My foot taps on the floor with indecision. Going to the bar right now is the very last thing I need, but I remember Ivy saying that’s where they were going tonight. Maybe being in a bar wouldn’t be hard if she’s there?
When my entire leg starts shaking, I fire off an affirmation to James.
Even with my raging headache, I try to make myself presentable by changing into clean clothes and running a comb through my hair. The house is locked up, and I’m waiting for my friend on the front porch by the time he pulls up.
Noticing Ava, James’ fiancé, in the front seat, I tug the back door of the small SUV open and climb inside.
“Thanks,” I tell James as I snap my seat belt in place. “Good to see you, Ava.”
She tells me hello, but doesn’t make an effort to draw me into small talk. I appreciate it. I’m not so lucky where James is concerned.
“Where’s your bike, man?”
“In the shop,” I lie. I’m not even going to go into everything that has gone down since I last saw him, especially with his girl sitting in the car with us.
“Jared is in town this weekend. We’re mee
ting him and some of the other guys at the bar tonight,” James advises.
“But we aren’t staying long,” Ava says in a tone that makes me believe they’ve already had this conversation, and she thinks James needs the reminder. “We have plans tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t forget my own wedding.” Ava smiles at her man.
Fuck. I picked the wrong night to text him.
“It’s at two tomorrow. At First Baptist,” James says as we pull into Jake’s. “I expect you to be there.”
I’m out of the car, pulling open Ava’s door like a gentleman in order to avoid confirming with my oldest friend. With the way things are going, I’ll be curled in a damn ball on the bathroom floor at two tomorrow. Not drinking seems to be worse for me than the actual drinking.
Before entering, James stands outside of his vehicle and fires off a text. “It’s so crowded; I figured I’d find out exactly where they are inside.”
I’ve already spotted Cannon’s truck in the lot, and that’s all I need to know to draw me inside, but I hang back, not wanting to be rude to the guy who was gracious enough to give me a ride up here.
“He’s not responding,” James says, looking down at his phone with a frown. “Probably too loud.”
“We should just head inside,” I urge. “He won’t be too hard to find.”
Ava frowns like she doesn’t want to be here at all, but she allows James to guide her to the front door. With a hand pressed to her lower back, James urges his woman inside, and I can’t help but be a little jealous of what they have.
Humid heat hits me in the face the second we step inside. Jake’s tends to be busy on the weekend, but I’ve never seen the place like this. Things sure have changed since I left for the Corps. There are lines at the bar, lines in the back for the restrooms, and the dance floor is a sea of people. A gunshot could go off on one side of this building, and the people on the other side wouldn’t have a clue there was any danger.
That knowledge makes my heart rate spike, and my need to seek Ivy out multiplies tenfold. I don’t even give James the courtesy of telling him where I’m going before I’m heading to the dance floor. I’ll work in a spiral pattern, moving out until I make it either to the outer edges or find Ivy.
I spot Gigi dancing against the guy I recognize as her baby’s father from the picture Cannon sent me. She doesn’t look like she’s recently had a baby, but for the first time, my eyes don’t linger on her lithe form. The dude holding her against his body is huge, but that doesn’t stop me from interrupting.
“Where’s your sister?” I yell in her ear as I pull her away from her dance partner.
“The fuck, dude?” A hard hand shoves me in the chest, and in a split second, I’m ready to murder someone. “Get your hands off my girl.”
Rage fills his eyes, and his breath is already coming out in harsh pants. I may be ready to fight, but so is he.
“Stop.” I watch in awe as he calms immediately after five foot nothing Georgia Leigh Anderson presses a soft hand to his stomach. “This is Griffin.”
He nods, but it’s the only acknowledgment I get, and from the rage that filled his eyes only seconds before, I think I’m lucky to have gotten even that.
“Where’s Ivy?” I ask again. As much fun as this little get-together is, I’m a man on a mission.
“She was out here dancing a few minutes ago.” Gigi looks around, but her view is even more limited than mine seeing as she’s over a foot closer to the floor.
I turn away, looking for another familiar face when I see my brother. He grins when I walk up, pulling one arm from the back of a beautiful girl to shake my hand.
“I haven’t seen her in a few minutes,” he answers when I ask the same question I asked Gigi. “Maybe she’s back over at the table.”
He turns his dance partner so he can use his free arm to indicate where the group posted up at. I head that way immediately, clasping Lawson’s hand as I walk past him.
“Where ya going?” Lawson says without releasing my hand.
“I’m looking for Ivy.”
“Ugh. I think she’s out on the dance floor.” His eyes dart toward the table before he looks directly at me.
For most people, they’d believe him. Lawson has been through enough shit to be one of the best liars I’ve met, but his time with Delilah has softened him a bit.
I drop his hand like it burned me, and arrow toward the table. Ivy told me yesterday it wasn’t a date, but maybe she was lying to spare my feelings?
The table is empty, but before relief can fill my blood, I notice a couple leaning against the wall in an embrace. Seeing people making out in Jake’s isn’t something new, but the sandals flexed as the girl reaches up to kiss the guy are familiar. So familiar, if I close my eyes, I can see them fall from Ivy’s feet and hit the floor of the cottage as she got comfortable the other night.
Confusion hits me hard. There’s no way it’s her. A longer look confirms her long dark hair, but it’s the clench of her pink-tipped nails gripping the guy’s shirt that wakes me from my numb state. By the time I get close enough, I see red at the sight of this fucker’s hand on the outside of her thigh. He’s not exactly between her legs, but the tips of his fingers are hidden by the fabric of her skirt.
“Get the fuck off her!” I roar as I pull him back and shove him away.
Ivy is my initial concern. She’s wide-eyed and looking terrified when I grasp her face and look into her eyes.
“What did he give you?”
“What? Griffin, I don’t kn—”
The confusion in her voice is all it takes for me to turn and slam my fist in the guy’s face. The second before I make contact it registers that the guy feeling her up is Jared, the very same guy letting me live in his place for free. I put more force behind the blow than I’d originally planned.
I get three more hits in before someone tries to pull me off him.
“What are you doing?” My brother shoves me against the wall, but it takes Lawson and Gigi’s guy to keep me there.
“He fucking drugged her. Did you see the way he was all over her?”
“He didn’t,” Ivy sobs as she rushes to the asshole’s side.
Jared is clutching his nose, but it doesn’t seem to staunch the flow of blood at all.
“He was assaulting you!” She glares at me, and the ire in her face makes everything clear. “You were letting him touch you like that? But when I… You wouldn’t let… Are you kidding me?”
“Griffin.” Her lower lip trembles, much the way it did yesterday at seeing me so upset. The sight of tears pooling in her eyes is my breaking point.
“Let me go,” I seethe, fighting against the trio of men holding me back. “It’s done. Over. She’s not worth it.”
Her tears begin to fall, and I can’t acknowledge the burn in the back of my own throat as I speak these terrible words to her.
“Don’t bother going back to my fucking house,” Jared spits as I shove past everyone.
Just when I thought I’d already hit rock bottom, the blows keep coming.
Chapter 22
Ivy
“Here,” Delilah whispers. My eyes are swollen and irritated from crying, but the blur of a wet wipe fills my vision. “Use this to get the blood off your hands.”
I do as I’m instructed, but Jared’s nose bleed was so bad, the blood isn’t just relegated to my hands. My forearms, shirt, and even my skirt have specks of red on them.
“Calm down,” Delilah urges when I turn frantic to get his blood off me.
“Did you see the look in his eyes?” I ask without pulling my eyes from the wipe in my hands. “He was crazy.”
“He was probably drunk,” Lawson mutters. He must have spoken with either Morrison or Cannon. They’ve been involved both times in retrieving his bike because he was too intoxicated to get it himself.
“He wasn’t.” I shake my head because that fact confuses me even more. “I didn’t smell it on his breath.”
�
��I’d be ready to kill if I caught my girl up against the wall making out with some other guy,” Jameson murmurs.
Gigi tears into him for his comment, but I don’t have the energy to pay her any mind.
“I’m not his girlfriend.”
Delilah looks at me with sympathy, but it’s the look in Jameson’s eyes when they meet mine in the rearview mirror that crushes my soul. It’s so similar to the way my dad looked at Gigi when she was acting out. Disappointment drags my shoulders forward, and I have to break the eye contact.
“Where are we going?” I ask when the lights of the town begin to fade.
“Home,” Jameson answers.
“Please, no,” I beg. “I can’t go home like this.”
My hands start to shake again.
“We can get a hotel room,” Gigi offers.
“No,” Jameson grunts, rejecting her idea immediately.
“No? It’s a perfect idea,” Gigi argues.
“Two big guys heading into a hotel room with three young girls?” Lawson snorts. “More like the worst idea ever.”
Jameson grunts his agreement.
“Oh, please.” Gigi pouts. “We can drop those three off at a hotel. Now that I think about it, I hate the idea of being away from Amelia for an entire night.”
“It’s only ten,” Lawson says as the light on his watch fills the back of the SUV. “We can head down to the park and chill for a little before heading back to the clubhouse.”
Jameson must accept this idea because he pulls into a driveway before backing out and turning to head back into town.
I remain silent in the back, my sobs periodically making my shoulders shake. I don’t care where we end up so long as it’s not the clubhouse. My mental state, along with the condition of my smeared makeup, would raise too many questions if we go back there now.
Jameson and Gigi don’t make a move to get out of the vehicle when we pull up to the park, but Delilah clasps my hand and leads me away from them. I don’t know where he goes, but Lawson doesn’t join us on the picnic table.
“Where’s Melissa?” I ask, feeling like an awful friend for only now thinking about her.
“She’s with Cannon. They were going to look for Griffin.”
