“Ouch!” He slaps his chest. “Don’t know what you’re complaining about, man. Without me, either Kane will bore you to death, or you will smash his head and bury him in the backyard. I’m the glue holding us all together.”
“Yeah, sure,” I snort.
“Ignore him.” Hugo gestures to the brunette beside him. “He’s a grump like his old man.”
My eyes flash back to Etheridge.
A bartender lumbers toward her booth, arm laden with a tray stacked to the brim. He places a rainbow of cocktails in front of the girls and points at the four guys in designer jackets at the bar. And sheaccepts. Flicking her hand in a royal wave, a blush coating her high cheekbones, her lips part around the straw, and she slurps their drink.
One simple, careless act that sends a sharp, hot current through my chest.
I can’t stand it.
The sight of an Etheridge being worshipped at Fort.
The way she attracts the attention of these posh fucks, widening her net, corruptingmytown with her presence, it makes my fucking blood boil.
Time to choke the wildfire.
I flick two fingers toward Bruno, who stands like a fucking gargoyle at the top of the stairs, putting people off. He barges his way to me, then bends slightly to hear over the roar of the music.
“Where are you going now?” Hugo asks as I rise to my feet.
“To fix the problem with legs.”
3
EVA
“Hey, what gives?”Penny complains as I rush back to the booth, my pulse racing.
“My feet hurt,” I lie.
Heishere. Damn it.
I had to leave before he burnt me down with his glare. Thea closes her Sudoku app and returns to reality when I drop beside her. Her eyes narrow at me. I cock my head toward the mezzanine.
She follows my eyes to where Mason Grant sits sprawled on a red, velvet armchair, as if it were his throne. A dark smirk paints that hard face—the flawless mask they all drool over. The man may as well be carved out of a Roman temple. Only a few years older than me, but he’s built like a tank. As if he ought to be bare-knuckle boxing on a Sicilian dock. He’s definitely one of the biggest guys I have ever seen. No, scratch that. Heisthe biggest guy I have ever seen. And that’smesaying that. Me—who is surrounded by tall, broad bodyguards everywhere I go.
Of course, girls seem to beg for his attention, though he doesn’t even glance their way. Doesn’t push them away, either.Just flashes a smolder. And it works. They laugh like it’s a privilege just to be rejected by him.
“Ignore him,” Thea whispers when I don’t stop fidgeting.
I look away. Only to catch the gaze of a familiar face I was hoping I wouldn’t see tonight. A tall blond, in a white dress that was likely on last month’s Vogue cover, stares at me from the corner. I think about making a run for it, but she’s already marching toward me.
“What areyoudoing here?” Grace demands, crossing her arms over her chest, her face—made-up to perfection—resembles that of a babysitter who lost a kid in the supermarket.
And that’s exactly why I’ve been dodging her texts. The only silver lining to being at Kingsden has been the absence of all the helicopter grandfathering and godmothering. The last thing I need is their walking CCTV keeping tabs on me, reporting every trivial detail of my life back to my family.
I have bodyguards, for crying out loud.
Can’t a girl live a little?
“Does Jack know where you are?” She arches a perfectly plucked brow, as if she already knows the answer and is daring me to lie.
“He does,” I reply, flatly, pointing at the entrance.
“This isexactlythe kind of place you should be avoiding,” she spits out. Penny and Thea watch our interaction with their mouths open, enjoying the drama, waiting for someone to hand them popcorn.
