If I don't do something more than stand here—stunned and stupefied—this is going to get bad.
***
DANE
I can't believe my son of a bitch brother has been all over Rain since she got here. She never pushed him away, either. And that kiss? Who the fuck forgot to tell me this was going on?
I had to walk away the second his lips touched hers and she didn't push him away. I almost knocked Tria out of my lap during my mad dash for the house. I dread going back out there.
The music stops, and the yelling outside makes me rush toward the doors. What now?
"Fucking move, Mav!" Kode roars.
What the hell just happened? Maverick got pissed, too? He did something about it?
"Kode, listen. You only do this when you're drunk. Don't do this right now. This is Britt's party."
Dale stands up from our table and makes his way toward the standoff. Rain is shaking her head, standing protected by Corbin and Maverick who are keeping Kode away.
I'll fucking kill my brother if he stepped over some line. How did I miss it?
I start to walk to them, but before I can get my ass in gear, the first, loud punch is thrown. It connects with Maverick's jaw, and then another connects
with Corbin's. A slapping splash rings out, and my heart sinks when I see it's Rain who was just knocked into the pool.
Fuck! She can't swim!
I dive in while the guys fight, but before I can find her, she finds me, clawing like a terrified cat that's drowning as she clings to me. I push against the bottom of the pool, and shove off to drive us to the surface.
The night air finds us the second we surface, and she coughs and sputters while gasping for air. Shaking violently, she latches onto me tighter. I leave Dale, Corbin, and Maverick and decide to let them deal with Kode. When Rain presses her face against the crook of my neck and squeezes her legs tighter against my waist, I almost groan and curse. Shit.
It's been so long since I held her, touched her like this. I thought I was going to come apart at the club when I kept her from falling and she put her hands over mine. Now? Now I'm damn near unraveling, and like a jerk, I take my time wading through the pool, knowing she won't let me go until I get her out.
"Fuck," Maverick spews, drawing my attention to Kode who has passed out. Thankfully.
Corbin and Dale try to scoop him up as Maverick shakes his more than likely throbbing fist. When I reach the stairs of the pool, Rain doesn't let me go. Once we're out, she still clings to me. To keep her from showing everyone her phenomenal ass, I wrap my hands under her and veer toward the house.
"Where are your towels?" Tria asks, sounding a little panicked.
"Bathroom. First door on the right. I'll take her to get some dry stuff on," I say softly, gently moving my hands up to her back once we're out of view from the party.
She clings to me, remaining silent. I know when she's this quiet that she's embarrassed.
"Rain? You good?" I ask, swallowing hard when her breasts press harder against me and her grip tightens.
She just nods against my neck, and all the years of my past come back to me. All I want to do is curl up on the bed with her, even though we're dripping wet, and hold her close.
"He didn't mean anything by it," she says in a rasp whisper. "He's just drunk."
I sigh heavily, making a mental note to kick Kode's ass tomorrow. "What did he do?"
She hesitates to answer, but she finally releases a ragged breath of concession.
"He just kissed me. That's all. He's never done it like that before. It took me by surprise, but I was handling it. Maverick overreacted. I was fully prepared to start acting drunk."
So she didn't want to kiss him? Question marks form. That makes no sense. And drunk? "What do you mean you were going to act drunk?"
She leans back, and though my body protests the action, I let her slink down to the ground to stand on her own. She looks away, bashful or shameful—I don't know which. Seeing her hair damp from the pool, her dress saturated with water, and the wet trails dripping down to the swell of her breasts, I'm forced to shift to accommodate my growing erection.