That’s the last thing I clearly register before the night stops being fun and becomes something else entirely.
Chapter Six
DEREK
This was nothow my night was supposed to go.
I’m halfway across the room, mid-conversation I don’t care about, when something in my peripheral vision pulls wrong.
Audra’s at the bar.
She’s alone—mostly. A guy is angled toward her, close enough to be intentional, far enough away to pretend it’s casual. Dark hair slicked back. Clean jacket. The kind of man who thinks he looks safe.
She’s smiling. Polite. Controlled.
Fine.
I tell myself that’s the end of it.
Then she shifts her weight.
It’s subtle. A half-beat too slow.
She corrects too quickly.
I frown.
She lifts her glass. Takes a sip. Sets it down.
Her knees soften.
Just enough.
I’m already moving.
I don’t remember deciding to. One second I’m across the room—and the next I’m there.
Close enough to catch her before she falls.
My hand closes around her forearm, steady and firm. She turns toward me, eyes unfocused for a fraction too long.
That fraction matters.
“I’m fine,” she says automatically.
She’s not.
Alex’s voice cuts in somewhere behind me. “Okay, that’s not alcohol.”
Mark’s already there too—of course he is—clearing space without making a scene.
Audra sways again, smaller this time. She grips my sleeve, fingers clumsy, strength misjudged.
That lands harder than it should.
I tighten my hold just enough to keep her upright.
She’s lighter than I expect.
