My jaw was stiff as my teeth ground together, fighting against the Tylenol attempting to kick in and only making my headache worse.
Henley stepped up beside me, eyes narrowed on Tyler. “Call her that one more time and see where your tongue ends up.”
Tyler’s brows rose, yet he wasn’t intimidated. “Big mouth for a guy who barely knows her. Because if you did? You’d be trying to get some other chick here.”
I hid the insecurity his statement bloomed in me, refusing to let my head drop. Henley stepped closer to him, and I looped my hand in his, figuring he needed someone to anchor him in this moment before the rage took over and he gutted Tyler where he stood.
“Stick around, would you?” Henley led me behind him, his shoulder bumping Tyler’s a bit too hard as he passed. In response, Tyler grabbed my other hand, forcing me to a stop. Henley turned and, without hesitation, grabbed Tyler’s wrist. Something cracked beneath the bass thumping through the floor.
The only indication Tyler felt any pain was the slight flaring of his nostrils as hereleased me.
Henley stepped between us, getting in his face. “Touch her again. Idareyou.”
Tyler’s jaw clenched beneath the shadow of his hood, restraining himself from making things worse for once. Henley dropped his wrist, glaring for a few seconds longer before he turned and set a hand on my waist, leading me ahead of him through the crowd.
“Where are we?—”
“I’m going to kill him,” Henley ground out, only loud enough for me to hear.
As we reached the top of the stairs, I stopped, turning to face him. I set my hands on his cheeks, making him look at me. He was consumed by anger and the need to draw blood. I didn’t blame him, but there were too many targets in here. Too many things to set him off. If we walked down there and someone accidentally bumped me, there was no telling what he’d do.
“Look at me.”
His eyes dropped to mine. He was so stiff, a weapon waiting to strike. People shouted, danced, took shots, and acted like idiots all around us. But I didn’t notice any of it. Not with his eyes on me.
“Kiss me,” I murmured, looking back and forth between his eyes.
His chest rose with a fuller breath this time before he closed the distance. His lips met mine with a need so deep, I nearly collapsed. I kissed him back, my tongue sweeping into his mouth. I moaned at the taste of him, my heart aching at the intimacy of what we were doing.
My fingers threaded into his hair, tugging himcloser. My back arched as he wrapped his arms around me, devouring me with his mouth. The music drowned out in the background as our breathing became the only thing I was capable of hearing. His touch was the only thing I was capable of feeling. He was the only thing that mattered.
Not the man with a hit on his head downstairs. Not my ex likely watching our encounter from afar.
Only Henley.
His hands fisted the back of my shirt, knuckles digging into my flesh as he pressed my body to his. The universe shifted, any question about his feelings for me becoming solidified in this one moment.
He wouldn’t kill me with a gun or a knife. He’d rip my heart from my chest and I’d call it romantic. We both knew the organ was no longer mine, despite the three words not passing my lips.
Every evil, depraved thing about him called to every dark part of me. Never had two people been more meant for each other, or in such a fucked-up way.
His forehead pressed to mine as our lips finally parted, the two of us panting. He held on to me for dear life, my body the lifeline he needed to stay sane.
“You’re breaking me,” he murmured, nose pressed to mine. Our eyes were still closed, like if we opened them, the bubble we’d formed might shatter.
My palm ran down his cheek. “You’ve already done the same to me. It’s only fair.” No one knew me as well as he did. What I did, and why I did it. What happened that night all those months ago in that alley.
He knew my debts, and he didn’t so much as blink an eye.
So attuned to each other, we looked at one another at the same time.
“Let’s get this over with,” Henley said, straightening. He grabbed my hand, leading me down the stairs.
“You’re not going to kill Tyler?”
He didn’t glance back as he said, “I have something much better in store for him.”
“Henley, man, what are you doing?” Jody’s frantic, desperate voice floated back to me as I followed Henley out of the back hallway, his hand gripped tight to the back of the man’s shirt.
