“Is everything okay?” she asks.
“Oh shit!” Flint mouths at me over her head, glancing at Brook with a worried expression.
“It’s fine,” I tell her. “We’re all good.”
“Is Carla okay? She just got back to the table and is talking with Malachite.”
My blood starts to boil just thinking about the male. His hands on her. His eyes too.
“I was a little over the top and might have shoved him and threatened him.”
“Oh…oops,” Brook says.
Flint is looking between Brook and me with a frown on his face.
“Brook knows about Carla,” I tell him and Ridge. “Brook came with me as a friend tonight. It’s not like that.”
“Are you in love with Carla?” Ridge asks. Then he looks at me like the answer is written across my forehead. “Holy shit! You are, aren’t you?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I look at the floor, then back up at the three of them. “I just made everything worse. I need to go in there and apologize to Malachite, or Carla will never forgive me.” I say it through gritted teeth, because the thought of apologizing to that male is fucking with my head.
My dragon doesn’t want me to apologize. He wants me to kill the male and to take Carla. He wants me to sink my teeth and my cock into her, claiming her so that no male ever touches her again.
I ignore him.
“Did you speak to her?” Brook asks. “Like I told you to.”
“If sticking his tongue in her mouth can be construed as talking,” Flint chuckles.
“You kissed her?” Brook’s eyebrows go up.
“I ruined things,” I groan. “I got aggressive with Malachite and possessive over her, and then I might have accidentally kissed her.”
“Accidentally,” Ridge repeats, his eyes glinting.
“You need to talk to her,” Brook says.
“I scared her off,” I mutter. Every time I open my mouth tonight, it gets worse.
“Can I point out that Carla kissed you back?” Flint says. “You guys were halfway to fucking when we interrupted you,” he snickers. “I never thought I would see the day. I normally pull shit like that…not you.”
“You should close the door next time,” Ridge says. “And I agree with Brook, you should totally talk to her… Just not at my wedding. I would like to go and dance with my beautiful mate now. Then we’ll cut the cake. I want us to have a good time with no drama.”
“Of course,” I say. “I’ll apologize to Malachite and be on my best behavior…I swear.” I hold up my hands. “I’m sorry, bro.”
“It’s all good.”
Ridge claps me on the shoulder.
“Good luck,” Flint says and then follows Ridge back toward the music, still shaking with laughter, the traitor. I’ll be hearing about this for the next hundred years.
I go over to Brook. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s fine.”
“This has to be the worst date you have ever been on.”
She laughs. “It really isn’t. It’s been interesting, I’ll say that much.” She nods a few times, lips pressed together like she’s fighting a smile.
