Kieran
She is going to kill me.
Not literally. Not yet, anyway. But emotionally? Spiritually? In every other thrilling way possible until my heart finally collapses under the weight of feeling?
I’m already dead.
Eris on the dance floor is a test I never studied for. A lesson I never asked for but desperately needed. A punishment tailored exactly to my weaknesses. She moves as if she has no idea what she’s doing to me, which somehow makes it worse… Or better.
I haven’t decided which version of ruined I am yet, but I would let her step on my ashes and beg her for more from beyond the grave.
If I were to die tonight, my last wish would be for reincarnation. Turn me into whatever toy she uses in my absence.
Eris’s leather skirt catches the light every time she spins, the fabric shimmering softly, daring me to take my eyes off her ass. Her bare shoulders glow under the neon signs on the walls. That top is technically clothing, sure, but she’s partially taped into it.
From where I’m standing, it feels like a direct threat.
A personal one.
That I want to peel off of her as soon as we’re home.
She laughs at something Roo says, head thrown back, leaving her throat exposed and her joy unguarded now that Daniel is outside the bar. She knows he’s waiting for her, but she no longer cares. My hands tighten around the railing, wishing I could wrap them around his neck instead.
I want to go to her, to bury my nose in her hair and let her scent calm me.
I want to grab her by the waist, pull her into my chest, and make it violently clear to every man in the Bay exactly who she belongs to.
But I don’t move.
This is her night.
And I refuse to be the man who cages her joy just because I can’t handle how badly I want her.
I can feel the others without looking. Jace moves along the perimeter, all sharp awareness and coiled aggression. Silas is at the bar, still as a statue, eyes tracking every shift in the room. All of us are waiting for the moment the night tips sideways.
We know Daniel.
He isn’t clever, and he’s lost his patience, unravelling at the seams as his desperation grows.
Tonight, he’s going to snap.
So will we… Unless Eris and Roo beat us to him.
I search the dance floor, looking for my raven-haired goddess in the fluid crowd. She’s a few feet left of where I last saw her, but she’s still just as carefree as she dances with Roo.
A hand slides over my shoulder and down my arm, and I freeze, hoping this isn’t Daniel’s newest tactic.
There’s no reason for anyone else to get caught up in his bullshit.
“God,” a brunette woman purrs beside me, voice slick with alcohol and false confidence. “Are you always this tense, or did someone wind you up real good tonight?”
My eyes drop to the bright pink nails dragging slowly over my forearm, and I frown. She’s touching me like I’m an option for her, like the liquor has addled her mind so much she doesn’t care to start a proper conversation.
“Kindly remove your hand from my arm,” I say softly, eyes already lifting back to the dance floor to find Eris. “And walk away. I’m unavailable.”
“Will you follow?” She laughs, leaning closer to me. “You can play hard to get and still dance with me, handsome.”
Her perfume is too sweet, mixing with the scent of cigarettes on her clothes.
“I’m not playing,” I reply flatly. “You don’t want my attention.”
“Oh?” She tilts her head, checking me out, eyes swimming in her intoxication. “So mysterious. What if I like what I see?”
I turn just enough to let her see my entire face, the ire in my expression.
“My girlfriend will kill you,” I deadpan.
“Wow.” She blinks several times and scoffs. “Wow. That’s dramatic.”
I lean in so that only she can hear me. “And I won’t stop her.”
She narrows her eyes, her smile dropping. The bravado drains out of her like someone pulled a plug on a bathtub.
“You’re an asshole.” She takes a step back. “You could have just said no.”
She turns and disappears into the crowd on the mezzanine.
I don’t watch her go, my attention already pulled toward Eris…
Eris, who has stopped dancing.
Her eyes are on me.
I meet her gaze across the bar, the music thudding between us, bodies moving as if we aren’t standing perfectly still, caught in each other’s magnetic pull.
I give her an easy, unbothered smile, acting like I didn’t just threaten someone without raising my voice.
Her lips curve, though it doesn’t reach her eyes.
She mouths four words to me, and I can hear her voice saying them in my mind.
I’ll kill her too.
I bite down on my lip, hard enough to hurt, just to keep from grinning like a lunatic.
God, I want her.
Now.
Later.
For-fucking-ever.