Honey, Honey: The Cairn Series

by Rebel Carter

  That would be fun. It would also be perfect for blending in with the rest of the crowd. No one would be looking my way if they were all focused on the stage. I tried to be discreet in my search for Christian, but when I saw that I had caught more than one person’s eyes in my quest, I stopped and took a seat on a plush pouffe looking thing at once.

  I would stay here and regroup, then make for the bar and order myself a drink. Something to hold and an opportunity to do another scan of the room. I was sure Connie would find me soon, but I wanted to get my bearings as quickly as possible. Best to not be surprised if I could help it. I took in a deep calming breath and lifted my head, taking care to meet the eyes of anyone that looked my way. I gave them a slight smile and turned away again, hoping it came across as pleasant. I did want to meet people tonight, but given the circumstances…

  It was going to be rough.

  After a minute more, I rose from my seat and made my way towards the bar. When I got there it was busy and I stepped to the side preparing to wait my turn for a drink when Connie’s voice was suddenly in my ear.

  “Why do you look nervous?”

  I jumped with a jerk. “I’m not nervous.”

  She snorted and gave me an assessing look. “Then why did you jump just then?”

  My hands went to my hips and I tossed my hair over my shoulder. “Because that’s what any reasonable person does when someone is suddenly talking in their ear. You surprised me is all.”

  She grinned. “Good. I meant to.”

  It took everything in me not to roll my eyes at her. “Gee, thanks.”

  “Why are you waiting in line?” She asked, brushing past me and towards the bar. “I gave clear instructions that you were not to wait tonight.”

  “Well, I mean, I don’t know. I just sort of-” I began, but Connie was already at the bar with people stepping quickly to the side and a bartender hurrying towards her. She bent close to them, a finger motioning in my direction. The bartender’s eyes flicked towards me and they gave a slight nod at whatever order she was giving. Then Connie looked back at me and hit me with a dazzling smile, gesturing for me to step forward.

  “Honey, come here, won’t you?”

  A hush fell around us as other club members noticed me. I came forward, feeling the weight of every person’s eyes on me as I did so. Shit, shit, shit. My plans to stay out of view and not attract attention were out the goddamn window now. Not with Connie’s smile on me like that. It was like a spotlight, and now, now she had me at the bar and was introducing me to the bartender as if we were long lost friends.

  “This is Stephan, you’ll take care of my lovely Honey, won’t you?” She asked.

  “Of course, anything.” He met my eyes and winked at me. “Anything,” he said again, and there was a heat in his eyes that hit me square between my thighs.

  “Ohhh, I don’t think he just means drinks,” Connie purred, leaning towards me. I flushed but said nothing and nodded my hello to Stephan with a quick ‘thank you.’

  “What will you have?” He asked.

  “He definitely doesn’t mean to drink,” Connie informed me, but for all her commentary she was leaning against the bar looking bored as anything. That is until she was looking at me. Then it was the full strength of her smile and attention. Jesus, this woman could knock you off your feet and you would thank her for it.

  “A Cosmo, please,” I ordered quickly, because it was the only thing that I could think of with Connie staring at me like she was.

  “Coming right up,” Stephan said, and he looked away then, making the drink for me. I was grateful he did, because I wasn't entirely sure how I was supposed to manage both his and Connie’s attention at once and remain upright.

  “Did you get my letter?” Connie asked.

  I nodded. “I did. Thank you.”

  “And did you have champagne?” She wanted to know.

  “I did.”

  “Well done, lovely girl.”

  I flushed under the praise, even if it was for something so minor as having a glass of champagne. “I didn’t do anything, though…”

  “You followed directions,” she said, with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter the task. You know that, Honey.”

  She was right. I did.

  “What was it about company for tonight?” I asked, choosing to follow that thread.

  “Ah, yes, that.” She pushed up from the bar and stood taller, turning her head to scan the crowds.

  “Yes, that, what do you mean by that?”

  “It’s not a that, but a him,” she told me and then tutted, clicking her tongue against her teeth. “He hasn’t arrived yet, I’m afraid, so you’ll have to make do with little old me until then.”

  A him. What the fuck did she mean by that?

  “Sorry?” I asked, leaning towards her. I was dimly aware that Stephan had returned and placed my drink in front of me with probably a drop dead gorgeous smile on his handsome face, but I wasn’t here for that. I wanted answers and Connie had them. “What do you mean a him?”

  “For your company tonight, Honey,” she said, glancing towards the bar and reaching past me to slide the Cosmo my way. “Thank you, Stephan. This looks lovely.” She inclined her head in a way that was very clear. Move on. A second later Stephan glided away, but I still didn’t turn my head to look, nor did I take stock of the cocktail Connie was placing in front of me.

  I shook my head still not understanding. “But when you sent the letter I thought-”

  She moved so that her front was to the bar and her side was to me. “What? That it was me that would keep you company tonight?” She asked, turning her head to the side, tilting it just enough to give me a little smile.

  I blushed hot and snapped my mouth shut. “I-I, it’s just that…” I was stammering. I sounded foolish, I knew this, but it was hard not to when Connie was expectantly looking at me for an answer to such a loaded question.

  “It’s alright if you did. I would be honored,” she said, when I only managed the semblance of a sentence that sort of came out as a breathy ‘no, no, not that. Sorry.’

  I dropped my eyes to the bar at her answer. I was still looking down at the bar when she slid the drink next to my hand. “Drink up, darling.”

  “I don’t know if I should…”

  “You’ll have eyes on you and a chaperone, so to speak. There’s no worries about what might or might not happen.”

  I lifted my head and stared at her. “What do you mean a chaperone? I thought you said it was company.”

  She raised her hands in a placating gesture. “It is, it is.”

  I felt a finger of apprehension slide down my spine and I picked up the cocktail, eyeballing the contents warily. “Why do I feel like something is going on and you’re trying to keep me out of the know?”

  “I would do no such thing,” Connie replied, lifting one hand to her chest and giving me what I supposed she thought was a look of honesty. It wasn’t. She wasn’t fooling anyone. The woman was far too steeped in the foundation of the Cairn to play innocent. I was right, but what the hell was going on? I had thought it was her, but now that I knew it wasn’t my earlier anxiety began to flood in around me.

  “And speaking of your esteemed company for the night, I see him now.”

  I whirled, the cocktail in my hand, the contents spilling over the side as I did so, splashing my toes when it hit the ground. I winced at the messy gesture. I lowered my eyes when I saw the club members milling about us had also seen it. Fuck. A man leaned in to whisper to his partner about it, eyes on my feet. A woman dressed head to toe in leather pursed her lips at the wasted liquor and turned, walking away with her partner who gave me a reproachful glance.

  They thought I was drunk.

  I wasn’t drunk, I wanted to scream. I was nervous. I was a ball of anxiety and barely holding it together because I knew that somewhere out there my stalker ex boyfriend and Dom was waiting for me. But not only that, I was nervous as hell because Connie had a plan spr
ung and I was the idiot that had walked right into it. I had to admit that my plan to pay the price for a night of luxury had made a lot more sense when it was just me and a balcony eating fruit like a hedonist.

  But now that I was smack dab in the Great Room and Connie was talking about a him and there didn’t seem to be a pair of eyes that hadn’t moved my way and lingered at some point in the handful of minutes I’d been here, I wasn’t so sure. It no longer felt like I was being gifted a beautiful evening, but that I was a pawn in someone else’s game.

  I didn’t like it one bit. Not even a little half of a bit.

  “Connie look, I can handle myself tonight. I promise you won’t need to-” I began while scanning the room again, the sticky cold feel of the spilled Cosmo coating my fingers when I took a hasty sip, because I had no other idea what to do with the damn thing now that I was holding it.

  “Ah, about time you joined us, Lawson.”

  I nearly spit the half sip of Cosmo that I’d just taken when Connie interrupted me. Lawson. There was only one Lawson that I knew, only one that I wanted it to be, but there was no way it was him. There couldn’t be.

  “Honey.” It was one word, gruff and disapproving, and I knew that voice, would know that voice from anywhere. It didn’t matter if days or years had passed between the last time I had heard it and now. I wouldn’t mistake it for anyone but the man I had been left wrecked by within the last 24 hours. He stepped out of the crowd as if by magic and was there in front of us, in another impeccable suit, this one dark blue. A perfect shade that matched his eyes.

  Eyes that were on me. Eyes that were angry.

  Why was he so angry?

  “What the fuck is going on?” He asked, looking at Connie and immediately. I missed his stare. Even if he was angry, I wanted Law’s eyes on me. I didn’t care what his eyes were saying so long as they were on me.

  Connie gave a breezy shrug. “Exactly what I told you in your letter, Law. This is our VIP guest that we need you to keep company tonight.” She gestured towards me with a flick of one red tipped nail and then inclined her head to look at him. “Or is there a problem?”

  “The problem is I didn’t come here to play babysitter,” he bit out.

  I jerked back as if he had slapped me, because that was exactly what it felt like. “What?” I whispered, fingers squeezing the Cosmo glass stem.

  Law’s eyes were back on me and I realized that maybe I had been wrong. Maybe I didn’t want this man looking at me when he was looking at me with contempt. What had happened to make him look at me like this? Hadn’t he eaten my pussy like a dying man? He’d had all the lights in my building changed because he’d thought they were dangerous, for fuck’s sake!

  You were lovely.

  He had told me that, so why was he looking at me like this?

  “You’re drunk,” he said as if that explained everything.

  “No, I’m not.”

  “The drink you practically spilled all over yourself says otherwise,” he told me, pointing down at the floor with one of his stupidly well formed thick fingers. I licked my lips looking at that finger. I knew what that finger felt like pumping inside of me. What it could do when he used it against my clit. I squirmed, pressing my thighs together and forced myself to match his gaze even though I half felt like throwing my drink in his face.

  “I’m not, so save your concern for someone else, Law.”

  “Ohhh, I see you two know each other?”

  I gave a shake of my head. “We don’t.”

  Law’s jaw squared and he stepped in closer to me, boxing Connie out. “We do.”

  “I don’t know this man,” I said, turning my head and ignoring him. I raised my glass to take a sip but Law’s hand shot up and he snatched it from me, placing it on the counter behind me with a jerk of his arm.

  “You’ve had enough, little girl.”

  My mouth parted and I sucked in a sharp breath. Little girl. I looked up at him, which was hard with how close we were, I had to crane my head back to do it. “You don’t tell me what to do,” I told him, even though my body was waking up at his behavior. My brain was screaming that Law was into what I liked, that what I had wished and hoped for last night was true. Why else would he be here?

  “What the hell is she doing here? You did this, didn’t you?” He asked Connie, as if I hadn’t spoken.

  She held up her hands. “I did no such thing. Honey made her reservation of her own volition. Same as you, Law. Same as anyone in attendance. And I can see that you two know each other, so what’s with the conflicting stories, hmm?”

  “I’m sorry, I know Lawson Sokolov. Not this man.”

  “Honey, I swear to god…”

  I moved away and tried to get past him, but he moved in front of me barring the way. “Get out of my way, Law.”

  “That’s not happening, Honey.”

  “Honey, darling,” Connie said, breaking in between us with one arm that forced Law back a step, “this is your company for the night. Your chaperone, as I told you.”

  “I don’t want him. He can keep his company.”

  “Oh, believe me, I’d love nothing more than that.”

  Tears stung my eyes at the acid I heard in Law’s voice, but I refused to let him see how he affected me. “You’re a real asshole, you know that?” I said instead, and was proud my voice only slightly wavered.

  “And you have no self control when it comes to making sure you’re safe. If you think I’m going to let you walk around here sauced and looking like you do, you’re out of your mind.”

  “I’m not drunk,” I hissed at him.

  “The fuck you aren’t. I can see a pattern here, Honey. You‘re irresponsible and you drag other people in to clean up your shit. That’s what I’m doing tonight, isn’t it? I’m the fucker on clean up duty courtesy of Zeus. What did you do? Figure out I came here and cash in a favor to make this happen? You knew who I was last night, didn’t you?”

  I gasped, a hand raising to cover my mouth and I looked at Connie. “I have to step away. I can’t listen to this anymore.”

  Connie gave me a nod. “Move it, Law.”

  His blue eyes went to her and I could tell he didn’t like being told to move not once, but twice. He clenched his jaw, but said nothing and remained exactly where he was standing, which was right in front of me.

  Connie’s eyes narrowed. “Now.”

  There was a tense moment where I didn’t think the big man would move, but then he was, even if he looked like he hated every second of it. When he was far enough back I darted forward, hurrying through the crowd and looking for somewhere quiet to put myself back together. How could he have said that to me? I wasn't irresponsible. I was highly independent to the point of veering on isolation. I had never brought another person down with my shit, as Law called it. Even if I had known who he was and where to find him I would have never resorted to forcing him to spend time with me. I wasn’t drunk now, I was nervous and god, who wouldn’t be? And last night?

  Last night I had needed to blow off some steam, and I hadn’t been alone. Tiffany and I had been having a great time until, until...until I’d gotten lost on the way to the bathroom and this whole stupid thing had started.

  I hurried through the crowd and it parted in front of me. Connie’s sway was useful in a moment like this, but it also meant they had seen the whole thing. I blinked back against the tears that had once again welled up in my eyes. I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t do it just because an idiot who had given me an orgasm mouthed off to me. I had done a lot of stupid things in my life, but crying over Lawson Sokolov twice in 24 hours was not going to be one of them.

  Down the steps I went, down into the corridor that ran along the perimeter of the Great Room and it was only there, when I had ducked into an empty alcove beside a potted plant, that I sagged against the wall with a gasp that told me I was wrong.

  I was totally crying because of Lawson Sokolov, and there was just no helping it.

  “Fuck,�
�� I swore, dabbing at my eyes with the backs of my hands. My make up had taken time and effort and I was ruining the whole damn effect because Law had what? Told me shit I already knew he thought about me? There was no way what he’d said hadn’t crossed my mind while I lay in bed staring at the rapidly brightening sky. I’d known it then as surely as I knew it now. He’d told me exactly what he thought of being with me the minute he walked out of my apartment with no intention of coming back.

  I just didn’t expect it to hurt this much hearing it come out of his beautiful mouth.

  “Fuck,” I whispered again, sniffling. I put one hand on the cool marble of the pillar beside me and forced myself to stand up. I wasn’t going to cry in the corner tonight. I was going to get it the fuck together and keep my head high. I was going to enjoy some of the clout Connie’s attention had gotten me in the club and I was going to---

  “Well, well, well...what do we have here?” A voice drawled, and my eyes went wide. “I didn’t think I’d see you tonight, but here you are and looking pretty as a picture.”

  For the second time that night I was hearing words from a man that I could have just fucking done without.

  I took in a shaky breath and pushed away from the wall, turning to face the man that had sent me into the anxiety spiral I was currently slipping away in. Law’s bullshit had been the icing on the cake, but this man? This man was the cake, and that cake was made of shit.

  “Christian,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

  The man that I had once thought I loved, or maybe even did but had learned not to, was standing nonchalantly in front of me. Not even five feet away, he was so close I could see every bit of him in hi-def. He looked good. His blond hair combed neat, gray eyes cool and indifferent, though they weren’t looking anywhere but at me. He was attired like he usually was when we had been together. Tailored slacks, designer dress shoes, impeccably pressed dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, this I knew he did to show off the expensive timepiece he normally wore.