The sinister tone lacing his voice sent shivers down my spine. I had a feeling that this guy wasn’t the type you would want to fuck with—both literally and metaphorically.
“O-kay. Then I won’t go there. But where are you headed?”
“San Francisco.” Brandon grinned. “Xavier has some business there, and I’m just tagging along.”
“What kind of business?” I couldn’t help but ask, which, judging by the look on Xavier’s face, was the wrong thing to ask.
“I’m going to visit my new stepsister.” He grinned, but there was nothing amusing or light in it. “I’m sure she’ll love to meet her new brother.”
Brandon chuckled, while I looked between the two of them, trying to decipher what all of that meant. Bianca just stared at Xavier, again, chewing on her bottom lip, when Brandon suddenly took my hand.
“Let’s go and get a drink, yeah?”
“Uh—” He came closer, close enough to whisper in my ear.
“Trust me, let’s just leave them alone for a while.”
Okay then. I clasped my hand around Bianca’s arm, willing her to look at me.
“Are you okay staying here with him?”
“Oh, absolutely. Go and have fun. I’ll be okay.”
Solemnly nodding, I let Brandon pull me away from them and all the way to the long table filled with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
Fun, right? I was going to have fun.
11
NOAH
Memories and broken promises.
A thousand years filled with regrets.
Love, pain, sorrow, anger, all the emotions I shouldn’t be feeling, but I did. I shouldn’t have been stalking her like I did the entire night, pleading with the universe to push her in my direction.
She was smiling at him, looking at him as if she was really enjoying whatever the blond-haired idiot was saying. All those smiles, those little touches, her words like whispers on the wind, all of them once belonged to me, and I fucked it all up.
The alcohol in my veins did nothing to quiet down the vile thoughts rushing through my head. That she belonged with me. That she never should have been here with another guy.
He placed his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer into his embrace, and as he did, the plastic cup I held crumbled in my hand, the remnants of the amber liquid spilling over the rim.
“What the fuck, Noah?”
I heard Jared’s voice, but it never really registered in my head. As if a veil of darkness fell over my eyes, every time her lips moved, an arrow pierced through my soul, shattering me, piece by piece, one heartbeat after another. I never moved from my spot.
Shadows played around us, dancing with the fiery embers escaping from the bonfire, dragging their wicked little hands all over my skin, telling me to go, to run to her, to take her and show her everything she’d been missing.
Their caress felt both like a blessing and like a curse. As the wind picked up, bringing the feel of the cold evening air over our bodies, Sophie nestled closer to the stranger, letting him warm her up.
Her cheeks were flushed. Her sparkling green eyes filled with mischief and happiness, and it ate me alive. Her sandy-blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders and the red coat she loved the most, a contrast with the blue tips of her hair.
She once told me she wanted to be a mermaid, with crystals in her hair, pointed ears and colorful hair, but she never could color her hair fully because of skating. So this was the solution.
I was trembling, shaking to my core, my stomach recoiling, clenching and unclenching my fists, while the destroyed plastic cup still remained in one of them. He said something, making her laugh out loud, and I knew that look on his face.
He wanted her.
