My heart sank as I realized I was losing this moment. Before I knew it, this would be over and he’d be nothing more than a beautiful memory. Unless I grabbed on and kept him.
“Should we go somewhere else? Somewhere we can have privacy?” I asked.
His eyes fluttered open and I would have sworn at a tribunal that they burned with hunger and something like longing. But just as quickly as the thought took hold, his expression shuttered and he stepped back.
The loss of his body heat was a physical ache inside me. But the chill in his eyes was a blade to my heart.
“I can’t. I shouldn’t have done this. It was a mistake.”
There was very little I could imagine him saying that would have hurt me more. Here I am floating away on a cloud ready to let his man toss my legs over my head and he just called me a mistake.
Fucking ouch.
Also…way to bethatgirl, Eden.
“Oh…That changes things.”
A mask of pure indifference settled into place. His jaw tight, lips a cruel slash across handsome features, eyes hard. He was finished with me. I had no idea what I’d done to deserve it, but his rejection burned.
“I have to go. Enjoy the rest of your night, Seattle.”
He turned and blended into the crowd as I muttered, “Fuck you too, Van. I hope you get an explosive case of diarrhea.” I tore off the stupid mask before I stormed out of the main club area, angrily jerking my hair back into a high pony before shoving my arms into the sleeves of my flannel. “Mistake? The only mistake was me falling for your bullshit lines and staring into your soulful eyes, you handsome asshole.”
My steps were heavy as I clomped down the stairs instead of taking the elevator. “You probably just go around kissing unsuspecting women all the time. Making them think they’re special. I’m on to you. Kingston Farrell’s daughter isn’t easy prey for fuckboys.”
I was still grumbling by the time I rounded the corner to the hall that would take me to the meeting room where I was expected.
“What’s that about fuckboys?” My best friend’s voice surprised me. Nox was in the hall, leaning against the wall with his hair in his eyes as he fidgeted with the signet ring he always wore.
I stopped short, hands on my hips. “What are you doing here?”
He smirked. “The same as you, I imagine.”
I stomped over to him and socked him in the arm. “You could have given me a heads up.”
Nox raised a brow, not even budging under my half-assed assault. He wasn’t as built as the wolves I’d grown up with, but he was far from scrawny. I’m pretty sure my weak attempt at violence amused him. We both know if I wanted to hurt him I could have easily done so.
“Pretty sure I couldn’t for the same reason you couldn’t mentionit”—he gestured to the meeting room with his head—“either.”
He wasn’t wrong. The summons had been spelled so no word of the meeting could be shared. I only went because I knewInquitywas safe.
Looping my arm through his, I beamed up at him. The guy was considerably taller than me, so it was a feat. “Well, c’mon then. Let’s get this show on the road.”
The door was already open, so we strolled in together, me with my head held high, wearing confidence I didn’t feel like a costume. Until I saw them. A dozen people, most of them vaguely familiar, others intimately so. Especially the imposing Irishman clad in black who stood as I entered.
“Da?”
“You’re late, my wee darlin’. I know I taught you how to tell time.”
“Oh, Caleb, give the girl a break. She’s never allowed to have any fun,” Lilith mused.
My da was a stickler for rules and order, something he didn’t get much of in our household with a mischievous alpha wolf and a Loki-blessed demigod sharing the space. He pretended to be hard on me, but the truth was, he was the biggest softie of them all. He just didn’t realize it.
“Sorry. I got sidetracked.”
Nox coughed and said under his breath, “By a fuckboy, apparently.”
I elbowed him hard in the ribs. Hard enough it’d bruise.
