24. Chapter 24
24
Nelle
D anne slammed to a halt and the both of us swiveled to face the owner of the voice.
I knew who it was as soon as that damned bored-as-fuck tone flowed over me. Except there was something laced in Graysen’s voice that definitely was not boredom, but territorial. His furious gaze wasn’t fixed on mine or even Danne’s. He was staring at our linked hands. Dark brows drew over eyes glittering with displeasure. A muscle feathered in his cheek.
For some reason, something fluttered in my stomach.
Jealousy? Was Graysen jealous?
Danne dropped my hand as if I’d burned him.
Sage growled, this time not at Graysen, but at Danne.
“Sorry,” Danne mumbled with a horrified, apologetic look.
“It’s okay,” I replied, rubbing my aching knuckles. He’d only accidentally hurt me, overzealous with the idea of sticking it to Graysen by sneaking me out of the estate.
I focused on Graysen, who had fixed a black glare at Danne. Tension didn’t vibrate through him, it burned every inch of him. This was a cocktail of dark rage and relief and worry. Angry he had found me with Danne, relieved he had, and worried…for me.
It startled me. Graysen Crowther was worried.
“She’s going nowhere,” Graysen shot at Danne. “Besides, Wychthorn doesn’t like jazz.”
I shriveled up a little on the inside and heat scorched my cheeks; torn between embarrassment and utter outrage that Graysen would illuminate my silly lie this way.
Gritting my teeth, I flung back at him. “I do like jazz.” Why the hells was I lying? It was discordant, jazz. Maybe because it was too much like me, the strangeness I was. I worked too damn hard in my life, keeping everything hidden, smoothing my frayed odd edges. A puzzle piece in a box, a bit of blue sky, only to discover I didn’t fit anywhere.
When Graysen’s gaze snapped back to me, there was a delighted challenge in those eyes. “Liar,” he purred with a teasing smile.
“I could—” Why was I so adamant about forcing this with him?
He took a long step forward, causing Danne to move backward. “I’ve never heard you listening to jazz.” Sometimes when we were together, I’d put in my earbuds and listen to music while reading. Using it to block out the oppressive silence and to ignore his presence. “You prefer something with a dirty rolling beat .”
And those words, the way he said them, gave it quite a different meaning. A little obscene. A little carnal.
Danne’s gaze rounded to me as he tried to figure out if it meant as it had come across. While he was looking at me, I was gaping at Graysen and he was mouthing to me— You wanted that kiss.
I blinked. That infuriating godsdamn prick—this was about this morning! About the kiss he wanted so much. This was how he was going to pay me back.
Danne dropped his gaze to his feet as he scratched his nose, and I used the opportunity to mouth— Burn in hells, Crowther!
He lit up with glee— Yeah, thought so— and winked.
I jutted out my lower lip, toying with my adamere bracelet, so he wouldn’t see that he was right. I had wanted to kiss him. But part of me had whispered insidiously at the time— You don’t know how to kiss . I froze when his tongue, coated with chili, plunged into mine. I hadn’t kissed him back—I’d merely opened up and let him dominate me.
And I wasn’t sure of him. Why did he want to kiss me so much? I was a game to him. Someone he wanted to break. And he could. He had the ability to shatter me into shards.
It was dangerous to give him what he wanted. A kiss.
And with the memory of his lips moving over mine arising once more, the kiss echoed right through me and had my toes curling into the grass.
Hellsgate.
Biting back a breathless moan, I reminded myself it would be even more humiliating if he didn’t like my kiss and laughed at me, pushing me away and telling me I was nothing special. So it was much easier to grab hold of fire and anger and push him away instead.
I shifted uncomfortably, readjusting the messenger bag’s strap across my shoulder. Sage placed his bulk between me and Danne.
“Graysen—” Danne began.
“Don’t,” Graysen finally acknowledged Danne’s presence, rounding on him with a fierce glower, “you fucking dare think you can be so familiar with me, Pellan.”
In the corner of my eye, I saw Danne flinch. “Crowther.”
Graysen’s mouth curved up on one side— Better. And then every tense line in his body relaxed. He twisted around to lean a shoulder against the container, crowding his tall figure right next to mine, a smug smirk curving his lips. His gaze dragged over Danne with an expression on his handsome face that said he found the other man lacking in every single way. “You know, Pellan, I’d have thought since the last time we met you’d have learned to keep your distance from anyone belonging to me.”
“I’m not a godsdamn possession!” I snapped, finally finding my voice.
“That’s where you’re wrong, little bird.” Graysen shot me a dark look. However, though his features were hard, his eyes shone with something I couldn’t quite place. Possessiveness definitely, but there was something else cutting through them. Under his intense stare, my pulse kicked and heat flooded straight to my core. I could barely breathe. I couldn’t take my gaze off those pitch-black eyes staring right back at me.
Gods, what kind of power does he have over me?
Graysen turned to Danne, and I could suck in a lungful of air.
“Still haunting the gambling halls?” he asked my friend.
“I like to play. There’s no harm in that.”
“Only if you have enough to bet with.”
“Crowther—” Danne started to say, his nose twitching.
And Graysen honed in on the gesture. I couldn’t see the grin I knew he was suppressing, but I could feel it radiating off him. “Leave us.”
“Look here—”
“Right this fucking moment, Pellan. Before I do something you’ll regret. Again. ”
I sent Danne an apologetic glance. His freckled jaw clenched and his cheeks flushed with anger.
Then I felt a touch. My astonished gaze slid sideways to find Graysen threading a hand through my hair and twirling a lock around a finger. “I want to have a word with wifey here.”
Wifey?
What the hells?!
“Nelle, I hope to see you later.” Danne gritted out, then delivered Graysen a look of hatred before spinning on the heel of his loafers and walking away.
“Wait, Danne,” I called out. But my friend kept walking and disappeared behind a container. I rounded on Graysen, rising on my tippy-toes, as high as my short frame could get. Scowling into his face, I shoved an angry finger at him. He only found my response to be amusing and grinned back at me. “You’re such a fucking prick. Why do you do things like that? Treat people like shit?!”
Mirth danced in his tone as he rubbed the lock of hair between his fingers as if judging its silkiness, “I do what I like. Haven’t you learned that yet, wifey ?”
Gods, have I ever.
I hissed at him, bunching my hand into a fist. I wanted to smack that stupid grin off his face. “Stop calling me that!”
He cocked a thick eyebrow. “Wifey? Would you prefer something else? Honey?”
I spluttered in astonishment and rage.
“How about darling? Or baby? Or sweetness?” Then the playfulness was gone. Darkness swept across his features. He growled, “I warned you to keep away from him.”
Rocking back onto the flat of my feet, I retreated a step, only to bump into the sun-heated container behind me. An edgy feeling that had nothing to do with Graysen made all the fine hair on my skin prickle. The creature rippled through my body, hissing and snarling. I rubbed my throbbing temple, knowing that I had to head into the woods fast, but first I needed to know. “Why? Why do you hate him so much?”
Graysen pushed off the opposite container and approached. His shadow loomed over me while his mouth remained tight.
“Go on, spit it out. You can’t keep on telling me to keep away from him without giving me a reason.”
His lips parted and he drew in a breath, tongue curling as he formed his reply. But something shuttered within him and he pressed his lips together, staring at me down the length of his nose.
I hissed, annoyed. He clearly wasn’t going to say anything. “He said you two got into a fight. You nearly broke his jaw,” I pushed.
“We did. I often wish I had,” he snarled. “At least then his jaw would be wired shut for months and no one would hear the lies spilling from his lips.”
I snorted, folding my arms across my chest. I really couldn’t believe that of my friend .
Graysen leaned an arm against the metal at my back, bowing his head to look me right in the eye. His scent washed over me and I had to admit he smelled so much better than Danne. “He likes to play cards, Wychthorn. That’s where he would have been last night. Not working. Not at that stupid jazz bar. He was out gambling.”
I flinched. Danne gambled? I hadn’t known. He’d never spoken of it. And the way Graysen spat it, it didn’t sound good.
His tone was a little gentler when he said, “He owes a lot of money and it won’t be long before he owes the wrong kind of people.”
“Aren’t you the wrong kind of people?” I snapped.
His sudden grin said— Touché, Wychthorn.
I’d had enough. And I really needed to get to the woods. I stormed off, breaking free from the alley of containers, but he followed on my heels like Sage. “That doesn’t explain why you hate him so much,” I threw at him over my shoulder. My fingers clenched into fists, not because Graysen was pissing me off, but because the shakes were beginning and my heart beat rapidly, punching at my ribcage.
Why should Danne’s gambling matter to Graysen? Unless he’d been called in by Upper House Novak to sort out Danne’s mess.
“I didn’t like the sudden interest he had in my sister.”
“Ferne?” That shut me up and had me turning back to him, softening in utter surprise. Ferne? Danne? My mind scrambled for all the pieces—a fight with Graysen last year. That would make Danne twenty and Ferne would be… fifteen? “What do you mean?”
Instead of answering my question, he asked one of me. “Why did you tell him that stupid-ass lie?” A crease formed between his brows. “Why did you pretend to like jazz?”
His sudden change of topics sent my head spinning.
But it was more than that. I could feel the power inside building up, reminiscent of shaking a bottle of pop and then half-twisting the cap open, resulting in the bubbling fizz rushing upwards to pour out unbidden in frothy foam. I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand, feeling beads of sweat glide along my skin.
“I wanted him to like me.” It came out quietly. I braced myself. I didn’t want his mocking, that I was someone no one would like.
Graysen stepped nearer to close the gap between us. “And does he like you?” It was the most open, honest tone he’d ever used. Even his gaze was genuine. He truly wanted to know. It floored me for a moment.
I nodded. “He’s my friend. ”
His expression turned dark, insistent, like the promise of thunder rolling off a bank of black clouds. “Danne Pellan’s no one’s friend. He’s opportunistic. He wants something from you, Wychthorn.”
“He just wants to hang out and talk, like every friend wants to do. Why can’t you believe that?”
“Tell me then, when did you strike up this friendship? The very first time you met, or was it only recently?”
Danne hadn’t been initially interested the couple of times I’d talked to him when he’d come along with his brother to visit Evvie. I had put it down to him being distracted with work. I guess the doubt must have shown on my face.
“Exactly,” Crowther said. “So why the sudden interest in you now?” He turned to saunter away, giving me a magnificent view of his ass.
Godsdammit—eyes up, Nelle!
“Keep your distance from him,” he tossed back at me in his departing wake.
Anger suddenly seethed, expelled in a hiss. “Stop thinking you can tell me what to do, Crowther!”
“He’s not a nice guy, Wychthorn,” he sang over his shoulder, twirling a finger around.
“Oh, and you are?” I scoffed.
“No. I’m not.” He turned to face me, sketching a half-assed attempt at a bow while walking backward, straightening with a smug wink. “In a different way, I’m worse than Danne Pellan.”
I threw my hands into the air. “Why do you even care?”
The question startled him. His retreat faltered. He cocked his head, pinning me with sharp eyes, dragging his gaze over me much as he’d done with Danne. And, like my friend, he found me lacking. That bored-as-fuck tone came back. “You know what—why the fuck should I care?”
Sage nudged me with his shoulder, rocking me with his concern. I glanced down to see my hands shaking. I stroked the length of my wraith-wolf’s spine, slipping my fingers through his wispy fur. Gods, it was getting hard to breathe. Sage gave a low, worried whine. He knew. He could feel the need to run into the woods and purge the fire.
I needed to go. Now.
And when I looked back up again, Graysen was already gone.