Chapter 26
The weight of the whisky glass felt too heavy in my hand as I swirled the amber liquid, watching the light catch it.
I'd been ready for over an hour, my black tux perfectly fitted, hair styled just right, but my mind was anywhere but on my appearance.
Across the hotel suite, Ryder fumbled with his cufflinks, humming some annoying pop song under his breath, practically vibrating with excitement.
"Would you stop that?" I growled, taking another sip of my drink. Ryder glanced up, his blue eyes dancing with amusement.
"Stop what?" he asked with a knowing glint in his eyes.
"Being so fucking happy." I knew my tone was obvious, but I was so fucking on edge. He laughed, the sound grating on my already frayed nerves.
"Sorry, man. Some of us are getting laid regularly now." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Jealousy doesn't suit you, Bale."
I bit back a retort, my eyes drifting to Cole, who sat hunched in an armchair by the window.
His face was pale, eyes fixed on some distant point beyond the glass, another tumbler of whisky clutched in his hand.
That was his third since we'd arrived at the hotel.
Cole rarely drank before, but in the last couple of weeks, I'd noticed the pattern changing at an alarming rate.
Although tonight, I couldn't find it in my heart to blame him.
"You good?" I asked him quietly. Cole's eyes flickered to mine, then back to the window.
"Fine." He wasn't fine. None of us were. The Alumni Dinner at The Palace wasn't just another social obligation, it was a descent into a pit of vipers, the kind that had already sunk their fangs into Cole once. Into me, too. And now we were willingly walking back in, bringing Cadence with us.
"Any update on the guest list?" I asked Ryder, trying to keep my voice casual. Ryder pulled out his phone, scrolling through a document.
"Nothing new. No sign of the Knottys yet, but you know how these things go.
Lists change by the minute." I nodded, tension coiling tighter in my gut. If Alyssa Knotty and her bastard of a husband showed up, if Cadence came face to face with the mother who'd tried to sell her to men like Dominic Blake, the fallout would be catastrophic. Fuck we didn’t even know if Blake would recognise her or not. Or the reasoning behind why Cadence wasn’t sold to him.
If, for some reason, there was bad blood about that, then Blake might come after her himself.
I was already apprehensive about Blake around Cole, and whilst between the three of us we knew the most important mission was to keep Cadence safe and away from any of the fucking High Lords tonight, Ryder and I had our own private mission to steer Cole away from any of his former abusers as well.
"Cole," I said, moving to sit on the arm of his chair. "Are you sure about this? No one would think less of you if-"
"I said I'm fine," he snapped, then sighed, running a hand through his dark blond hair. "Sorry. I just... I need to be there. I couldn’t forgive myself if anything happened, and I wasn’t there.
" I understood. We all felt it, this desperate need to shield Cadence from the darkness of our world, even as we dragged her deeper into it. The irony wasn't lost on me.
A familiar ache throbbed in my chest as I thought about Cadence.
She'd been giving me the cold shoulder ever since our argument in the office, that kiss that had nearly broken my control.
While she'd forgiven Ryder as soon as he broke the news that she was allowed to go tonight, letting him take her shopping for tonight's outfit, accepting his pampering and attention, and even seemed to be warming back up to Cole, joining him for movie nights in his room, she remained distant with me.
Cold. Unreachable. I told myself it didn't matter.
That her forgiveness wasn't necessary as long as she was safe. But the lie tasted bitter, even to me. I had taken a risk that day, and while it had confirmed that she was ours, and it was just a matter of time, I suspected that my time was going to be a lot longer than Cole’s.
My phone buzzed with a text from my father, and I ignored it. The old bastard could wait. Tonight was about keeping Cadence safe, not appeasing the old man's demands.
"It's almost time," I said, checking my watch.
"The car will be here in ten." A sharp knock at the door cut through the tension. I had a feeling it was Cadence herself, along with Luce. Cadence had asked Ryder if she could share with Luce and her father for the evening and Ryder had agreed. I wasn’t impressed, but he had made a valid point: the walls in the suite were likely pretty thin. If he was sharing with Cadence, we would definitely hear her screaming, just like we did almost nightly. The only nights that Ryder wasn’t in her bed at home were her required nights with Cole and me.
Ryder bounded over to the door to answer it, his earlier excitement returning.
He pulled the door open, then let out a low, appreciative whistle that made my skin prickle with irritation.
"Damn, Poison," he said, stepping back to let her enter, and for me and Cole to see. "You're going to give these old bastards heart attacks." And then she was there, stepping into our suite, and the air rushed from my lungs like I'd been sucker-punched.
Cadence stood in the doorway, a vision in deep purple silk that clung to every curve of her body like it had been poured over her.
The dress was floor-length, with a slit that climbed dangerously high up her thigh, offering teasing glimpses of smooth skin with each step.
Her purple hair was styled in loose waves that framed her face, making her blue eyes seem even more vibrant, more piercing.
Her lips were painted a deep, rich reddish purple that made me think of sin and blood and passion.
She was exquisite. Breathtaking. And in that moment, I wanted nothing more than to slam the door shut on the rest of the world, to push her up against the wall and strip that dress from her body inch by torturous inch.
To taste every part of her, to hear her beg for me the way she'd begged for Ryder.
And to fuck her raw in front of Ryder and Cole so they knew that she belonged to me as much as she belonged to them.
The fantasy was so vivid, so consuming, that I had to force myself back to reality, where Cadence was now fully in the room, followed by Luce and her father, Stephen.
"Uncle Stephen," Ryder greeted him with a handshake that turned into a half-hug.
"Didn't know you were stopping by before the car.
" We had opted to share the limo we had booked with Luce and her father, Ryder seemed to think that it would piss his father off that bit more to see him turning up with his Uncle.
Stephen Purcell, Ryder's uncle and Luce's father, looked like an older, more weathered version of Ryder, with the same blond hair, now shot through with silver, and the same blue eyes, though his were sharper, more calculating.
"Had to make sure you kids weren't getting into trouble," Stephen said, his gaze sweeping over the suite. "Your father is already in a mood, Ryder. He's not pleased you booked rooms here instead of at one of the Trivium's hotels." Ryder rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, well, Dad can go fuck himself. I'm not staying somewhere where half the staff reports back to him.”
“Or where there are enough predators to rival London fucking Zoo,” Cole spat out, more to himself than anyone else. Cadence walked over to Cole and knelt down on the floor beside his chair.
“Cole,” she asked, touching his hand. “Are you okay? You look sad.” We all watched with rapt attention as Cole turned from his death glare out the window to look at Cadence for the first time. His eyes widened in awe as he looked her up and down.
“Fuck me, Pet,” he all but gasped, “You are so fucking beautiful.” Cadence smiled as a pink blush graced her cheeks and my heart hurt a little as Cole lifted his hand to brush her face.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said gently, “I’m okay now you're here.” I glanced over to Ryder expecting some of his possessiveness to show, but he watched the tender moment with a bright, genuine smile.
Then his phone buzzed, and he looked down at the message that had appeared before rolling his eyes and looking up at me.
“My dad said to not be late,” he said “Who wants to go for burgers before we go to dinner?” He had a cheeky twinkle in his eyes and I couldn’t help but chuckle at his humour. Stephen's expression tightened.
"Don't antagonise him tonight, Ryder. The situation is already tense enough with the Blackwood mess."
"Speaking of antagonising," Ryder said, a mischievous glint in his eye, "if Dad finds out you've been visiting Mum at Lexington, that's going to more than piss him off, isn't it?" Stephen's face went slack with surprise. "How did you-"
"I have my sources," Ryder smirked and tapped his nose. "Relax, Uncle Stephen. Your secret's safe with me." Stephen's expression shifted from shock to sheepishness, a flush creeping up his neck.
"It's not what you think. Charlotte and I are just..
. talking." Luce giggled, stepping forward to link her arm through her father's.
"I think it's nice, Dad. You are a single man, and Aunt Charlotte could use someone who actually cares about her.
" Stephen shot Ryder a loaded look, who raised his eyebrows in return.
I knew they had had more than one discussion about Charlotte in the past, heated ones at that.
Ryder believed that certain secrets needed to be exposed to make things safer for the people he cared for, while Stephen felt that it put those people in danger.
"Can we talk about something else?" Stephen asked, clearly uncomfortable. "We should head down soon if we want to make the cocktail hour."