Page 57 of Callous Shot

“Got it,” I rasped.

“Good. Leave him alone. I mean it.”

Back in the main room, I headed straight for the bar, finding an open bottle of vodka and tipping it to my lips. My phone was burning a hole in my pocket, and Ryker’s warning gaze was searing the side of my face. I had no idea what to do. None.

The alcohol burned, but I kept going until it stopped burning. Slumping against the wall, I pressed my forehead to the cool stone, closing my eyes.

“Lincoln?” At the sound of the familiar voice, I exhaled heavily, letting my eyes open and pasting on a smile. I turned around to see Kimberly peering up at me with concern. My smile became more genuine when she said, “It’s nice to see another Whelford face here.”

“There aren’t many of us. Are you here against your will too?”

She laughed. “I used to go to school with half the people here, and my mother likes these kinds of parties, so…here we are. Not my first choice, but you don’t say no to the Thorpes.”

“Yeah.” I placed the vodka bottle back on the table, noticing with a wince that it was almost half-empty. Swiping a bottle of water from the ice bucket on the end of the table, I uncapped it and downed the contents.

“Want to dance?” Kimberly eyed me hopefully.

“Uh…”

“Just as friends,” she said quickly. “Don’t worry. I won’t get any ideas.”

“Alright. Just as friends, nothing more. I need you to understand that, okay?” There was no way I was even going to attempt to make a move on anyone here, even if I’d wanted to. Ryker Thorpe clearly had some kind of issue with me, and I needed to lay low and work out what the fuck I was supposed to do. Not only that, but encouraging Kimberly would be a bad, bad idea.

She nodded. “It’s fine, I get it.”

“Okay. In that case…” Taking her hand, I led her to the edge of the space that had been cleared for dancing. As she wrapped her arms loosely around my neck, I caught sight of something over her shoulder.

Daniel Hoyton, dancing with Liana Lazovsky. Her back was pressed up against his front, her head thrown back against his chest as his hands spanned her hips, moving them both to the music.

Something red-hot flared to life inside of me, and as Daniel’s hateful gaze met mine and then slid to the woman I was dancing with, it ignited. How dare he look at me and Kimberly like that when he knew there was nothing between us, and he was all over someone else? How dare he fucking touch her?

I untangled Kimberly’s arms from around my neck and stalked straight across the dance floor towards them.

“You’re fucking mine,” I snarled, and even though I was too far away for him to hear me, he obviously read my lips because his eyes widened. But then he smirked at me and dipped his head to Liana’s neck, and all hell broke loose.

My arm swung out, tearing him away from her, and as I drew my hand back to punch him for daring to touch someone else in front of me, his teammate Kane Worthington suddenly appeared, smashing his fist straight into Daniel’s jaw. Daniel flew backwards, and I turned on Kane, launching myself at him, sending us both flying into the wall.

“Don’t fucking touch him!” I roared.

Kane shoved at my chest, his teeth bared and his eyes flashing with fire. “Stay the fuck out of this, Bellingham.”

“Leave him⁠—”

I was yanked backwards, my arms twisted behind my back, and then Ryker Thorpe’s mouth was at my ear, low and deadly. “I told you not to mess with Dan.” He manhandled me through the crowd, their whispers swirling in my ears over my pounding heartbeat. We reached the same door he’d taken me through earlier, and he loosened his grip so he could punch in the code. “Don’t even fucking think about making a run for it. You have no friends here. No one will help you. Not even your team captain. He’s one of us. Don’t forget it.”

Yeah, I knew that. I was the enemy of every-fucking-one in this place.

He shoved me inside the room, slamming the door behind us. “You need to be taught a lesson.”

“I’m not going down without a fight,” I told him, rolling up the sleeves of my shirt.

“Good. I wouldn’t expect you to.” He opened one of the cabinets, and when he withdrew his hand, he had a long length of chain dangling from his fingers. He lifted it up, letting me get a good view, the chain clinking as he began wrapping it around his fist.

“I should get a weapon if you have one,” I rasped. My throat was so dry, it felt like sandpaper.

“Nah, that’s not how this works. You fucked around, and now you’re finding out. Maybe after this, you’ll learn to stay away from my best friend.” He prowled towards me, and I readied my stance.

The door burst open. “King! Stop!”