Hope blossoms in my chest that I keep completely hidden. Ensuring I sound concerned, I sit up and set my book to the side. “Anything I can do to help?”
Combing his hair back with his fingers, his gaze locks on me, quietly assessing. He rises to his feet and stalks closer, bracing one hand on the couch beside my thigh and the other on the back, caging me in. With as intently as he’s focused on me, I worry he might actually kiss me. He’s grown increasingly bold with his flirting despite making it clear that he has no qualms about killing me if I so much as sneeze wrong, and it just leaves me confused as hell about what he actually wants with me.
“You’ll be attending the Christmas party at the gallery tomorrow without me and spread the rumor that I’m simply under the weather. While you’re there, work with the others to create a list of who makes an appearance.”
I simply nod. “Want to know who to send thank you cards to?”
A dangerous glint appears in his cold eyes. “I want to know without a shadow of a doubt who else is notably absent from the event.” He shifts his grip to snag a lock of my pale hair, running it through his fingers and watching it fall. “Consider it my Christmas gift to you; one more night.”
My heart plummets into my stomach as he walks away, trying to decipher his meaning.One more night with the guys before … what?
* * *
“He hasn’t hurt you?” Everett asks again, clearly not believing me. Sitting in the parking lot outside of the art gallery, he runs his fingers over my collar, not bothering to be subtle as he searches for marks, expecting to find bruises around my neck.
“Nothing beyond scaring the hell out of me; guy moves like a damn ghost.”
Palming my cheek, he leans in, resting his forehead against mine and closing his eyes with a sigh. “Elyse,” he hesitantly starts, and I brace myself for bad news. “I know we didn’t commit to anything, but I just wanted to throw out there that-“ he swallows “-if you wanted to see where things go with Julian, I’ll back off to make things easier on you. I get it, even if I fucking hate it, but I don’t blame you.”
Cheeks heating, I pull back and level him with a glare. “Is it really that easy to give up on me?” He blinks, rearing back, but I don’t let him cut me off until I’m done, honestly pissed off instead of hurt. “You think I was just using you to pass the time? That I’d be willing to walk away from either of you at the first whiff of a chance to shack up with a rich son of a bitch? Fuck you. You haven’t even asked what I might have learned while I was there.”
Brow furrowed, he cocks his head. “What are you talking about?”
Tugging my jacket around me to combat the chill and give me something to do with my hands, I narrow my eyes, annoyed he thinks I’m of so little use. “Can’t kill him because he has blackmail against you all, right? Well if you’re forbidden from the house, nine out of ten chance that it’s there. So I’m going to find it, burn it, and sink a knife into his heart.”
His eyes widen with genuine horror. “Fuck, Elyse, don’t. You’re alone with him in there; you don’t nail that first shot, he’ll kill you, and I won’t be able to stop him.”
With a heavy exhale, I admit the other part, though I know he’s going to use it as more incentive to convince me to back off. “I don’t think Grave killed his girlfriend. I think Julian did, and messed with his head to convince him that it was his fault, but I’m not exactly sure why. He’s hiding something in that house, Ev.”
“Fuck.” Swiping a hand through his hair and mussing it up, he pins me with a pleading look. “You need to stop digging into shit before it gets you killed. Mav was right; we can’t protect you. Stay on Julian’s good side, make him fall in love with you. It’s the only thing that might keep you alive.”
Mentally screaming at the injustice of it all, I remind myself that he isn’t trying to pawn me off on someone else to be their problem. It isn’t that he doesn’t want to fight for me, it’s that he doesn’t know how. He really thinks that letting go is the only way to protect me.
A small part of me resents him for it, despite knowing better.
“Can we just,” I start, feeling worn down before the night’s even begun, “enjoy tonight? It might be our last one for a while and with everything going on,” I trail off, extending an olive branch and praying he takes it.
A flash of pain crosses his face that he quickly conceals before he nods. “There’s honestly nothing I’d like more than to make some good memories.”
As if he was waiting for the most dramatic moment to arrive, Grave appears at my door, yanking it open and wasting no time ducking his head inside. Fingers tangling in my hair, he kisses me breathless, his other hand braced on the doorframe for support.
“On a scale of one to me, how are you?” he asks, pulling back enough to look me in the eye rather than check me over.
Everett snorts. “Because you’re a ten?”
Grave simply grins, but doesn’t tear his attention away. “Of course I am, don’t sound so surprised. You think our girl would settle for anything less than she deserves? And she deserves the best; thus, I’m amazing.”
“I’m alright. Ready for a night out and a breath of fresh air,” I admit, taking the hand that he offers to help me climb out of the car. As soon as I’m on my feet, he pins me between his body and the car, arching into me and brushing the hair from my shoulder, slowly running his tongue up the side of my throat, kissing my jaw. “I take it you missed me?” My question is a breathless chuckle, the tension with Everett fading away.
“Everett just isn’t as much fun. All work and no play with that one.” His lips move against my skin and I tilt my head to the side, giving him better access.
Everett clears his throat, his hand slipping between the two of us to graze across my stomach to my ribcage, pulling me from Grave and into his side instead. “And though it might be a party, we’re still working. Can’t very well do that out here, so let’s get out of the cold and start our guest list so we can get it knocked out of the way, yeah?”
Heading inside with the both of them, all eyes fall on us the second we step through the door, doing a double take when they realize the three of us arrived together and I hesitate. “This was a bad idea. We should be blending in.”
The art gallery’s been decorated for Christmas, glitz and glamour so thick I can practically choke on the holiday spirit spilling from every corner. My head only comes up to Everett’s shoulder, and I capitalize on that fact to hide behind his bulk and avoid scrutiny. While his dark brown hair is freshly buzzed on the sides for the occasion, Grave couldn’t give two shits and left his mop of pitch black, shaggy hair loose. Julian demanded everyone put their best foot forward though, so even if it took some persuading, they’re both in dark dress pants and button up shirts.
The last thing any of us want to do is embarrass the boss in front of his colleagues. He holds our fates in his hands, and it would take so very little to crush them completely.
