"So, I take it you're fucking both of them, then?" my ex-boyfriend commented in a quiet voice as we reached the other dancing couples. His hand rested lightly on the small of my back, and I turned around to face him.
I arched a brow. "What do you want, Alex? I thought we said everything we needed to say earlier."
He smiled that panty-melting, golden-boy smile of his. That fucking smile that’d sucked me in from the first time we’d met. "We did. But I missed you, Violet. Tomorrow morning we all fly out to the Cayman Islands for the monarchy vote and then..." He trailed off with a sigh. His hands gripped me in a perfect dance hold and he led me around the floor with practiced ease, but his mind was a million miles away.
"And then what, Alex?" I prompted when he didn't continue. It was bound to bite me in the ass later, but a tiny part of me still cared about him, still believed he could be better than he was.
He gave me a sad smile. "Then I go back to Sydney and become the ruler of my kingdom. Alone."
I frowned. "What about your sister? She's there with you, isn't she?"
Alex shook his head. "Not what I meant, Violet."
I knew that. But it was an uncomfortable subject, so I was dodging it.
"Alex, I told you earlier. We werenevera match; it was all the Society meddling." I tried to keep my rejection soft because I needed him to vote our way at the meeting. I couldn't risk pissing him off when we'd come this far, but at the same time, I never wanted to lead anyone on.
"Maybe not a genetic match," he replied, staring into my eyes in a way that made me feel all too sorry for him. "But you're my match in every way that counts. I really fucked things up with you, and I'll regret it for the rest of my life."
Unease pricked at me, and I searched the room for a convenient excuse to end our dance. What I saw instead gave me chills, and I tripped over Alex's foot.
"Whoa, are you okay?" he asked, catching me before I could make a total idiot of myself.
I shook my head, feeling my pulse race. "No, I just..." My gaze scoured the dance floor, but people were moving too fast for me to get a clear lock on anyone for long. "I thought I saw someone."
"Someone you don't want to see?" Alex questioned, frowning at me in concern. I wasn't paying attention, though, my eyes searching the crowd of dancers until I locked on a familiar head of ice-blond hair.
Furious and shocked as hell, I wrenched free of Alex's grip and pushed my way through the crowd to confront my sensei. How dare he?
"Uriel," I snarled, clapping my hand down on his shoulder and spinning him to face me—to fuckingfightme—but then faltered. "Oh, I'm so sorry," I apologized to a man who was most definitelynotthe leader of the bad-resistance. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else."
The man frowned at me, but I mumbled more apologies and backed away before I could cause more of a scene. I bumped into someone, but it was a familiar, comforting warmth that encircled me before I panicked.
"What just happened, Violet?" Jordan murmured in my ear, then gently spun me around to seem like we were dancing. "Did Alex try something?"
A looming shadow a few feet away told me Rafe had jumped up to help too, but Jordan had just reached me first. I got the feeling the rest of our lives would be a series of ongoing competitions between them, and I kind of loved it. It gave me insights into their friendship. Their brotherhood.
I shook my head, my cheeks flaming with embarrassment. "No, not at all. I just thought... ugh, I thought I saw Uriel. But it was just some other blond dude, and now I feel like a paranoid idiot."
Jordan's mouth pursed in thought as he gently guided me through a simple waltz. "You're not paranoid at all," he told me in a serious voice. "I don't blame you for seeing that fucker in every shadow; I have been too." A darkness filled his eyes for a second. "But it's only a few more days. Once this vote goes through, and itwill, then he loses all his power."
I nodded, but my stomach was all in knots. "I hope so," I whispered.
"You know what you need?" Jordan murmured, a smile crossing his lips as he twirled and dipped me.
I couldn't fight the small answering smile creeping over my own face. "What?"
His cognac eyes sparkled with mischief. "A distraction."
And just like that, he danced us straight out a side door, then grabbed my hand and started running down the staff corridor we were in. By the time he’d found a tunnel entrance and pulled me inside, I was laughing uncontrollably.
"Jordy, what the hell?" I asked between bouts of laughter. "You're going to get us in trouble! What if Rafe—"
"Shh," he replied, smirking as the secret door slid closed behind us. He hit a button to turn on a light, revealing we were totally alone. "Rafe was watching; he knows you're safe with me. Besides, we'll be quick... right?" The wink he gave me, though, promised he had no intention of beingthatquick.
Jordan wasusuallythe levelheaded one. So if he was throwing caution to the wind, then who the hell was I to argue? My arms snaked up and around his neck, our lips meeting as his hard body crushed me against the wall.
That session with Rafe before dinner had left me all aching and needy, though. As hot as it was to make out with Jordy in a secret corridor, I wanted more. I wanted him to fuck me fast and dirty, then go back to the formal dinner with the evidence still clinging to us both. Yeah, I was a bit messed up, but so what?
