David slides a jewelry box over the bar.
“What the fuck is that?” one of the other guys asks.
What the fuck, indeed.
“Uh, thanks but I just take tips. You should save that for the next girl you date.”
“I bought it for you,” he utters in a low voice, with lidded eyes that should be reserved for the bedroom. “Just open it,” he urges.
My skin prickles under so much attention. Again, I irrationally wish Ted was here.
“I can’t,” I insist. “But I’m happy to pour you a drink.” I smile with a shrug. Low level alarm bells won’t stop ringing in my head.
“It’s okay,” David goes on. “It’s better I do it anyway.” The box snaps open to reveal a massive sparkling pear-shaped pink diamond atop a ring. It’s an engagement ring.
Oh fuck me up a rollercoaster.My stomach drops and panic explodes in my brain.
The bar around us stills.
“I know we only met last night, but Goldie you are the one. I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t breathe without you. Please say yes and put air back in my lungs.”
Chapter17
The Tedinator
GOLDIE
My head swivels first to Cinder and then Snow. They are wearing an identical gobsmacked expression, frozen where they stand.
This is a joke, right? I’m waiting for someone to explain the punch line, but it doesn’t come.
Something far worse happens.
“You sonofabitch,” Alan/Jimi says before throwing a punch. David’s head snaps to the side, blood spraying from his mouth, droplets colliding with my chest.
All hell breaks loose as the six guys wail on each other with fists. Screams rise in the bar as the rest of the patrons either back up or crowd in to see what’s going on.
Lysander is the only one who doesn’t, continuing to sip on his beer as he takes in the spectacle, before shooting me an inscrutable look. As if he is trying to figure out some riddle.
What the witchtits kind of alternate reality have I fallen into?
Thankfully our bouncers plunge into the fray, actively pulling the guys apart, but it’s three against ten. Glass shatters from somewhere nearby and the crowd shuffles to and fro. Angry yells drown each other out.
That’s when Rap shows up. She doesn’t waste a second launching into the middle, yanking arms from sockets and pushing guys back and away from another.
Cinder hops over the bar and jumps in to help her out.
My feet are frozen to the spot. This is because of me. They are fighting because of me.
Because some dude who came here for the first-time last night proposed to me with a big pink rock and the others didn’t like it.
I can’t. I literally, physically, emotionally just can’t right now.
I’m gripped by two large, rough hands. Tilting my head, I find myself looking up into my neighbor’s intense cerulean eyes, a fierce expression on his face. “Let’s get you out of here.”
I numbly allow myself to be directed out and around the brawl, Ted putting his body between me and the fray. The buzzing of my skin lessens with him around me, but it doesn’t go away. In fact, it feels like the whole room is full of the strange energy licking at my skin.
We only get a couple steps before Lawrence shows up at my side. When did he get here? “Goldie, you should come with me. I’ll keep you safe.” He is earnest as his cold fingers tug at my arm, sending a sickening tendril roiling around my gut. My ex hasn’t proposed or thrown a punch in my honor, but it definitely doesn’t feel right to go with him.
