“Come with me,” Denham says once I’m seated again and pouring another glass of wine.
“It’s not up for discussion,” I reply without even glancing at him and I take a gulp of my freshly filled glass.
“Ari,” he warns, then sighs.
It’s then that I realize I’m being selfish. But I have to be selfish, don’t I?
So I turn to him and he leans into me across the chair. “Please?” he asks, worry marring his handsome features. “I just need to speak with you without the whole table hearing.”
I relent. He takes my hand and leads me out of the ballroom. I probably look nervously back to the ballroom at least five times before we turn down a quiet hallway.
“Ari …”
“I know what you’re going to say.”
“I just think…I know you don’t want to leave…”
“Denham. I want to leave more than anything in the world. It’s taking every scrap of strength to stop my legs from carrying me as far away from here, as far away from Jonny, as I can be. But do you know what? If I go, I go for good. I may as well run from the whole world, for the rest of my life and never, ever come back.”
“Ari …”
“Please. What’s the worst that’s going to happen? Is he going to beat me in front of a room full of people?”
“Ari,” he scolds, clearly disturbed by the thought. “I don’t…I just don’t want you to have to endure that man any longer than you already have. It’s my instinct to keep you safe and—”
“Then do just that. Be my strength. Be by my side, and let’s show him that he’s messed with the wrong army. Yes?”
Denham looks at me for long minutes, searching my eyes for any chance that I might change my mind. “You’re crazy,” he mutters.
“I know.”
“And strong.”
I shrug.
“And amazing.”
This makes me look to my feet, which shuffle on the ground beneath me, and Denham places the length of his forefinger under my chin and tilts it gently up until I’m looking directly at him.
“You want to dance?” he asks, smiling but with a hint of sadness.
“Are you askin’?” I look up at him through my lashes with a silent plea to make the best of the situation we have.
He chuckles, a deep throaty laugh and the look in his eyes softens, “I’m askin’.”
“Then I’m dancin’,” I whisper, and kiss his smiling lips.
“Guys.” Lottie’s voice comes from the end of the hall. “Are we leaving or what?”
She’s standing there with her hands on her hips, her face tight and scary, and looks ready for a fight. Spike has his hand at the middle of her back, wearing a serious expression.
I slide my hands down from Denham’s chest and cross the distance between me and her. Placing my hands on her shoulders I say, “Lottie, babe. I love you. We are not going anywhere, okay?”
“But—”
“No.” I shake my head. “If I were to leave now, I’d never come back. I don’t care if he’s in there. We are going to drink, we are going to dance, and we are going to have a damn good night. Got it?”
She takes a deep breath and wraps both arms around my waist. “I love you, Ari.”
