I love their attention.
As the song ends, I laugh with the girls, all of us dispersing as a slow tune starts, and I turn around to head to my uncle at the bar.
But as soon as I spin around, someone is there, and I look up to see Terrance Holcomb.
“Hey, California,” he says, slipping his hands to my waist.
I start to push him away. “Off.”
Jake wouldn’t lie about that clubhouse this guy keeps. I don’t want anything to do with him.
“You’ve met my friend?” he asks.
Huh?
At that moment, someone comes up behind me, and I turn my head to see Cici at my back. She holds my hips, too, laying her chin on my shoulder.
They’re friends? How does that work with Kaleb in the picture?
I fight their hold, trying not to make a scene, but every time I get loose, they reclaim their hold again.
I look around for Jake or Noah, but we’re surrounded by people all of a sudden. Lots of people.
Men.
What the hell?
All the ladies on the dance floor are gone, now replaced with Holcomb’s Motocross buddies.
Realization dawns. We’re being surrounded by cover, so Jake and Noah can’t see.
“What if I told you that Kaleb did hit me in the cave that day?” Cici says behind me. “Would you still want to spend the winter locked up on the peak with him?”
I pause, stunned. What?
“And what if I told you,” Cici continues, tracing the spaghetti strap of my dress, “that he can’t wait to make you bleed, too, and he’s just biding his time until you have no means of escaping him.”
My mouth goes dry, and my skin crawls. Kaleb…
Kaleb isn’t like that.
Holcomb shakes his head, smirking. “They warned you about me, didn’t they?” he says. “You should’ve been warned about them. They only wanted you because you’re rich and beautiful. Think of what your money will do for Van der Berg Extreme and what your body will do in their beds.”
I shake my head. No.
“Noah won’t need a sponsor,” Holcomb goes on. “He’ll have you. More money than the rest of us could ever raise, and he won’t have to jump through hoops to get it, because you love him and you’ll let him have anything he wants.”
“No.”
“None of them have touched you, then?” Cici asks.
I clench my teeth. But the wheels turn anyway, remembering Kaleb and me on the hood of the car and Jake and me in the kitchen.
“You haven’t felt threatened?” Holcomb presses. “Not once?”
If you had been dancing with a man like that in public, I would’ve taken you over my knee.
I breathe hard and shallow, recalling my uncle’s threat all those weeks ago. Cici probably heard him when he pulled me away and told Terrance.