“Hey! What the hell are you doing?” I cried out, jumping into the swarm of people after her.
I could hear her still screaming over the music, and I followed the sound of her voice. Two men had her held between them, their cruel laughter drawing even more of a crowd around them. I shoved my way through the mass of people until I was right in front of one of them. Before I realized what I was doing, my fist swung up and clipped one of the men in the side of his face. He spun around, eyes going over my head and to another person behind me. I jumped out of the way just in time as he tackled the other patron, and before I knew it, the bar was in full chaos. Punches and screams rang out in the space. The music was cut short, making it much easier to hear them.
“Astoria,” I screamed.
She turned to look at me, eyes filled with fear.
I reached out. “Grab my hand.”
She had to slightly jump to lace her fingers with mine, but once I had a tight grip on her, I ripped Astoria forward. She tumbled through the crowd and slammed into me.
“Watch out.” Her wide eyes stared at something behind me.
I turned just in time for a woman with a bright orange top to land a hit against the side of my skull. A cry broke through my lips, and the entire room began to spin. Astoria gripped my shoulders tightly as my body started to sway from side to side.I could barely hear her screaming for Nolan or Kaius as blood pounded in my ears.
My eyes felt heavy, wanting nothing more than to fall into the endless darkness that called to me when Kaius’s green eyes appeared in front of me, and suddenly, I was in his arms as he shoved through the fight. I snuggled into his chest, breathing in his scent to calm my racing heart. Kaius’s angered voice barked out an order to someone, but the words were disjointed in my mind.
“You can’t go to sleep, kitten,” Kaius’s soft tone called down to me.
The only response I could make was a light whine. His hand lightly slapped the side of my face, and I snapped open my eyes to glare at him.
A slight chuckle slipped from his lips. “There you are, pretty girl. Now don’t close them again. Keep your eyes on me.”
“You’re bossy,” I grumbled, eyes tracking the space we had ventured into. I was sitting on the side of one of the three pool tables in the game room.
The glass pane windowed doors were shut, closing in Kaius, Astoria, Nolan, and me in the room. He tweaked the edge of my chin, shooting me a quick wink before turning over his shoulder to meet Nolan’s gaze.
“I got them.” Nolan nodded once toward the door. “Go handle that shitshow.”
Kaius looked back at me once before he stalked out the doors. I sighed, lowering myself so I was lying back against the pool table. The thumping of the club’s bass shook the black crystal chandelier above me.
“Here,” Astoria’s voice called over me before a bag full of ice landed in the center of my chest.
I hissed out at the contact it made with my skin before grasping it in my hand and lifting it to the bump forming on my head.
Astoria chuckled. “This is not how I expected the night to go.”
“I don’t know,” I grumbled. “This seems pretty up to par with my current luck.”
I turned to look at her, causing both of us to burst out laughing. It was the type of laughter that you could only get with your best friend. The one where it made your stomach hurt because you couldn’t stop once you began. I hadn’t laughed this way for years, and I had missed it. Astoria was beginning to heal a piece of me long since gone, and I was incredibly grateful for her. Even if she was now in possession of that image, it was clear she wasn’t going to use it against me. Or maybe she didn’t even find it.
Tears began to collect in the corners of my eyes as we curled into each other, our hysterical laughter filling the room. Hell, even Nolan had joined in with us. And I realized that this is what it felt like to truly belong somewhere. To feel at home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
acelynn
A poundingon my door startled me awake. I groaned as the pain in my head intensified as it continued. There were people just leaving for work when I arrived home from my shift. Kaius had fussed over the bump on my forehead for hours, but had reluctantly let me go home after my begging began to become pathetic. He had sent Vincent to sweep my house for any weak spots yesterday, which made it easier to convince him that I could handle going home to sleep and shower.
I turned over, looking at the time on my phone. The light of my phone screen burned my eyes, causing me to squint at the device. The white block letters read 8:00 a.m., which meant I had only been asleep for less than an hour and a half before whoever was banging on my door disturbed me. Maybe they would just go away if I ignored them.
After another minute of the knocking, I threw my blankets from my body and made my way down the hall to the front door.I peered through the peephole to see who was behind the door and came upon Watson.
I slid the lock open and cracked the door. He stood there, uniform crisp and pressed as always. The morning sky was dark from the storm, rain lightly pelting down. A slight chill filtered through the door, causing me to shiver. Watson’s eyes flicked over my shoulder, as if expecting someone else to emerge from the shadows behind me.
“Morning,” he said, voice too cheery for it being this early.
“Either you’re here to arrest me or something worse,” I muttered, stepping aside to invite him into the house. The last thing I needed was someone spotting us speaking.
