KILLIAN
When my world revolved around Blair, I’d considered her to be one of the strongest, most intelligent people I’d ever known. That illusion shatters right here as she simplycan’ttake the hint to leave me alone. I’d left her at the bar and lost her in the crowd, retreating to a booth at the back of the club for some privacy, butsomehowshe followed me here too, and now I’m cornered between her and the wall.
And I don’t do well when trapped.
My finger repeatedly taps against the neck of the bottle as she settles into the booth, smooths her dress, and claps her hands together on the table. Her red claws throb black with the change of lights, and this close, the scent of sweet berries and cinnamon clogs the air.
Cara smells better. She smells soft with mint and vanilla. I miss it. I miss her.
No, you don’t.
But, I do. I really do. Blair’s mouth is moving, but her words are lost under the thrum of the music and my lack of focus on her. I don’t care what she has to say. There is nothing in the world I can think of that would make me listen to anything she has to say.
“Blair,” I sneer impatiently, making her lips hang open as she pauses. “Listen to me very carefully. I do not give one flyingfuckabout anything you have to say. I’ve asked you to leave me alone, and shown restraint because I have bigger things on my mind, but if you don’t fuck off in the nextten seconds,I’ll rethink my law against killing women.”
It takes ten times the amount of effort to restrain my actions with alcohol pumping through my veins, but with Cara on my mind, it’s doable. Blair’s eyes widen before they narrow to slits and she stabs me in the shoulder with a well-manicured finger.
“No, you won’t,” she states, “I know you, Killian. Better than anyone. Has Cara kicked you to the dirt already? Is that why you’re being such anasshole?”
“According to you, I’m always an asshole,” I mutter tightly, tipping a mouthful of Scotch into my mouth. It does nothing to ease the dryness in my throat. My body tenses with a snap at the mention of Cara, my heart pounding a beat harder. “And keep her name out of your filthy fucking mouth.”
Blair sighs beside me, crossing her arms over her chest like a petulant child, and I can’t swallow down the scoff that rises. Cara wouldn’t act like this. Cara, who is sitting at home alone, probably worried about me.
Good.
No amount of alcohol has managed to erase her from my mind, and she flickers back into my mind's eye. Beautiful and gentle, staring up at me with those wide doe eyes, her pretty ruby lips parting with promises I can’t hear.
“Go away,” I mutter dejectedly, breaking the smothering silence between us. Blair shifts closer to me.
“You are always an asshole Kilian, but tonight you’re a special kind,” she snaps. “Look, you need tolistento me, Killian. This is fucking important!”
“No!” I round on her, slamming the bottle down onto the table so violently the liquid sloshes up the neck. “I amdone. I don’t know how to spell it out any clearer for you. I am—!” I cut myself off. Why even waste breath on her? She’s seated at the entrance of the booth, blocking my exit, but I am a man with options. I discard the bottle, the clink as it falls over, barely registering as I climb into the booth seat and onto the table.
“Killian, what—?” Blair’s words are lost in the music as I jump down from the table, then the world tips, and I lurch forward, stumbling into a passing crowd of dancers. I haven’t had that much to drink, have I?
Pushing through the crowd, hot hands and sweaty bodies guide me like a parting sea as I wobble my way to the door. I locate my phone in my pocket, noting several notifications on the screen, but I swish them away. I’ll deal with them later. My heart thumps painfully out of beat as Niccolo’s number flashes up on the screen and I hit dial.
“Sir?”
“I want to leave,” I mutter, easing around a couple entwined in each other’s arms. My gut pulls sharply at the sight.
“What?” Niccolo asks.
Did I not speak English? Are my words too slurred?
“Leave!” I snap and the couple near me flinch apart in surprise, wide drunken eyes landing on me as I pass. “I want to get out of here! Meet me by the car.”
The cool night air hits like a punch in the gut when I step outside, a slap so icy that it forces my attention into focus for a moment. Sucking in a deep breath, the chill seeps into my lungs, and I smile; it’s an odd sensation, but the coolness soothes the raw heat thrumming in my veins, and the faint flicker of nausea that had risen amidst my movements fades.
The next few seconds go on forever as Niccolo fails to appear. And as I glance around, the streets are dark and empty. Did I drink the day away? Fuck. It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. Cara has ruined itall.
Cara.
The longer she lingers in my mind, the more the urge to see her rises. I can’t decipher if I want to yell at her orfuckher until she understands how deep the hurt goes; they both fuel my uncertain steps down the sidewalk until the vibrant Arctic Ice of my Mustang catches my eye. However, Niccolo is nowhere to be found.
“Where the fuck…?” I mutter out into the dark. Laughter pulls my attention back to the club as a gaggle of women stumble out, heels clattering like dice over a board as they navigate where they are and where they want to go next.
“Fuck it.” The car opens for my touch and I slouch into the driver’s seat. There’s a spare fob in here somewhere, I’m sure. I rummage through the door pocket, then into the glove compartment, where my fingertips brush the plastic fob.Excellent.