Reed. One of the younger guys who floated around the club. Friendly enough. Lean, tattooed, a little too eager. He smelled like beer and cologne, and he smiled like he was used to women smiling back.
But I wasn’t looking at him.
My eyes stayed on Chain.
Reed didn’t notice the silent pull across the room. “Can I get you a drink?” he asked, leaning closer to be heard.
“No, thank you,” I said softly.
“You sure?” He grinned. “Wouldn’t mind keepin’ you company.”
Lucy’s eyes went wide. Fiona muttered, “Oh damn.”
Because Chain had moved.
Not fast. Not aggressive. Just… decisive.
He set the bottle down without looking away from me. The crowd parted instinctively, like his presence rearranged the room.
Reed finally glanced toward him. “That your man or somethin’?”
“No,” I breathed.
But my body reacted like he was. Heat climbed my throat. My pulse stuttered. My stomach tightened in a way that felt nothing like fear.
Reed smirked, misreading everything. “Good to know.”
He reached for my hand—
Chain appeared beside us before Reed’s fingers brushed mine.
“Lark,” he said, his voice quiet but edged. “You good?”
I swallowed. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Chain nodded once, slow, but his eyes cut to Reed with a heat that wasn’t polite. Reed stepped back immediately, hands lifted. “All right, Chain, all right. Didn’t know she was—”
Chain didn’t let him finish. “She’s not yours to know.”
Reed didn’t argue. He disappeared into the crowd.
And just like that, the air tightened again—worse, better—because now it was only us. No interruptions. No distractions. Just the simmering, dangerous charge we’d been building long before Reed wandered over.
Chain stepped in close, but not touching. His restraint made the space between us burn. “Enjoyin’ yourself?” he asked, his eyes filled with heat.
“Maybe.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth before lifting again. “You got a dangerous kind of maybe.”
“Guess I’m figuring things out.”
His smile tilted—slow, crooked, devastating. “Keep movin’ like that, little bird, and you’ll tempt the wrong man.”
“Who says it’s the wrong one?”
For a breath, maybe two, everything around us fell away. No music. No bodies. Just heat coiling tight in the inch of space he hadn’t closed.
Then Lucy crashed into my side, laughing and sloshing her drink, and the moment shattered. Chain’s jaw clenched. His eyes dragged over me once more, slow, lingering, like he was memorizing something he had no business touching.
