CHAPTER ELEVEN
Blair
Zach waited for me by the front door, and I tried not to stare at how attractive he looked as he stood there with his hands in his pockets and hair falling in messy waves over his forehead in his six-foot-two glory. He looked the part of a confident guy who had it all, and it was undeniably hot.
Still, I was about to throw a dig at him about how it would be obvious from a mile away that he didn’t belong in this world, even with his expensive clothes, but then I remembered he didn’t care about belonging here.
“So why are you really here?”
“I told you. I want to party.” He moved past me to open the door, and I ground my teeth, following him inside.
I kept some distance from him, but not large enough not to notice girls looking at him.
At first, my stomach twisted because I thought maybe they could see his scar, but then it twisted again when I realized it wasn’t because of his scar.
They found him attractive, and a few of them smiled at him, looking at him like they wanted to jump on him right then and there. My hands clenched.
Did he have a girlfriend?
I almost rolled my eyes at myself. It didn’t matter whether he had one or not.
I passed Zach as I entered the grand room, intending to keep clear of him, but he grabbed my arm to stop me. He smirked at me.
“Why are you in such a rush? Did you plan to get rid of me? Wherever you go, I go too.”
I gave him a cold look. “Didn’t you say you want to party?” I motioned around us. “There you go. You have plenty of things to do here.”
“I know exactly what I want to do here.” He swept a look around the room and noted all the people making out on the sofas, then those who dry humped each other on the dance floor. His perusal ended on a girl snorting coke off the stomach of another girl spread out on the table before her.
His face twisted with wry amusement. “You can see all the real dirt here, huh? The real you behind all the masks you wear.”
I blushed, then shrugged my shoulders. “People come here to let off some steam. It’s what these parties are for.”
He stepped right behind me, and my eyes fluttered shut as his scent enveloped me, stirring something deep inside me. It was a mixture of his body wash and cologne, and I couldn’t help but note it smelled divine. He leaned in to whisper into my ear. “Do you do that too?”
My heart skipped. “Do I do what?”
“Come here to let off some steam?” He raised his hand to point at three guys and two girls currently entangled together on the sofa across from us, and I shivered when it brushed mine in the process.
We turned our heads to look at each other at the same moment, and I drew in a quick breath when I realized how close he was.
It had to be the alcohol, or maybe the atmosphere of the place—the low lights, the seductive beat of the music, and the entangled bodies—but for a moment, he was all I could see, and my whole body heated.
His presence was bad for so many reasons.
“Why? You interested in letting off some steam too?”
He smiled down at me, all his teeth showing. “And if I say yes?”
The place between my legs clenched, and I wished my mind didn’t imagine all the ways he could do that here and who he would choose.
I ripped my gaze off him, suppressing the uncomfortable sensation the thought of him with someone else gave me. “Then you’re in luck.” I motioned with my hand around us. He had more than enough options.
He framed my chin with his fingers and made me look at him. “I’m not interested in them.”
My heart jostled in my chest, and I wanted to know so badly if I was right about the double meaning in those words.
“Then that’s too bad.” I yanked my chin out of his grasp and headed back to my table before he could say anything, but I didn’t miss his smug chuckle as he started to follow me.
The guys still sat with Lana and Aurora, but Lana was on Angel’s friend’s lap now. Angel watched Zach and me approach with furrowed brows.
Aurora spotted us next, and she nudged Lana, motioning with her head in Zach’s direction.
“You’re back,” Angel said in a sultry voice, throwing a smile on his face.
I could sense Zach tense next to me, and I felt an urge to flirt back with Angel, just to see what Zach’s reaction would be. But before I could sit back next to Angel, Zach dropped down by Aurora and pulled me to sit next to him.
Lana and Aurora whipped their gazes at each other, while Angel’s expression did a one-eighty, turning dark.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I hissed at Zach, starting to stand, but he yanked me back down, snaking his arm around my waist to keep me in place. Heat surged where he held me.
“You won’t be with him or anyone else here.” He said it quietly so only I could hear it.
I gaped at him. “You don’t get to decide that.”
“But I do. They can’t have you.”
“Why? Are you jealous?”
He remained silent for a beat, but he covered it with a deprecating chuckle. “Jealous? Me? In what world do you think I could be jealous when it comes to you? Get real, Blair. This has everything to do with taking away your control.”
My chest deflated with what I could only describe as disappointment, but then I suppressed that shit because what the hell did I have to be disappointed about?
“What are you doing here?” Lana demanded, staring daggers at Zach. “Did you call him here?” She directed this at me.
“Of course not.”
She motioned at how close we were. “It doesn’t look that way.”
“Looks can be deceiving.” I was all too aware of Zach’s body pressed against mine and of his heat that washed over me in waves.
It was hard to ignore his firm, strong muscles enveloping me or his tantalizing scent, all the more when he ran the fingers of his other hand down my arm, his soft touch sending my senses in disarray.
It was too easy to remember how it felt when he’d touched me on the vanity table.
Lana curled her lip, following his hand with her gaze. “This is no place for people like you.”
I could feel Zach smiling at her. “It’s good to see you’re still your charming self.”
Her gaze widened, and she looked at me with a “WTF” expression. Yeah, that pretty much summed up this whole situation with Zach.
I needed a drink, so I grabbed it from the tray of a server who passed just then. I downed it in two seconds.
Zach chuckled. “Take it easy, Blair. You don’t have to be so on edge. I won’t bite you . . . much.”
I sneered at him and lowered the glass on the table with a clank, and as I did so, I caught sight of Aurora’s expression.
My heart twisted. She looked at him with a gaze full of wonder, and her tongue darted out to wet her lips when he returned her gaze in a way that could only be described as seductive. What the hell?
Angel sized Zach up with a deep frown. “Who is he?” he asked me.
“He’s Zach . . . a guy from our high school.”
Zach chuckled. “Actually, I’m her gardener.”
Angel looked at me like he couldn’t even fathom I could hang out with the help. “Is that a joke?”
Zach’s lips tilted up in a smirk as he waited to see what I would say.
I ground my teeth. “Yes, he’s my gardener.”
Angel’s friend burst out laughing, his hand shifting across Lana’s thigh. “This is rich.”
“You came to the wrong place, bro,” Angel said. “This is not a food pantry.”
Anger flared in my chest. Bastard.
I looked at Zach. His arrogant demeanor broke for a second, and my stomach knotted as his hand tightened into a fist by his side. I was brought back to that time in school when everyone mocked him for this or that reason. Because of me.
“I don’t think he needs help,” his friend said. “Nice clothes, dude.” He nodded to Zach, laughing. “She must pay you a very generous salary.”
I waited for Zach to act meekly, to be the same shy, afraid boy who could barely speak under pressure and humiliation, but he surprised me when he pierced them with a dangerous look on his face, like he could crush them if he so much wanted to. My chest inflated with a sweet ache.
“Almost as generous as the allowance you’re getting from your daddy,” he said.
Aurora chuckled. “Oh wow, what a burn.”
Angel’s friend stopped laughing. He moved to push Lana off his lap as though to get his hands on Zach, but I said to him before this could turn into a disaster, “You’re boring me. Did you join us to cause trouble or to have fun?”
Angel put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, shaking his head at him. He offered me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You’re right. We apologize.”
His friend just rolled his eyes and buried his face in Lana’s neck, starting to kiss her. Lana sank back into him, rolling her head against his shoulder.
“I don’t need you to help me out,” Zach said into my ear after a beat, and pleasant tingles erupted in the back of my neck. I almost let my eyes close.
“I didn’t do that to help you out.”
“Right. You did it because we don’t want to make a spectacle, is that it?”
I gritted my teeth. I didn’t care about that. I just didn’t want him hurt. But admitting that was even more humiliating, so I kept it to myself.
“But as you can see,” he continued, “people here love a spectacle.” He motioned at the people around us, and my gaze caught on a couple on one of the sectionals.
They looked like they were fucking as the guy held her on his lap, but I couldn’t say for sure because the girl wore a long, flowy dress that shielded their privates from view, and the lights were off in their section to give them some privacy.
Many people were in various states of dishevel around the room, either kissing, touching, or more, the music playing loud enough to conceal their moans and groans.