Chapter 17 Neil #2
What did she need that for? She already had on too much lipstick; it made her lips look even more plush.
I lingered over the shadowy makeup surrounding her azure eyes, making them even more brilliant.
Her long eyelashes, made even more noticeable by mascara, opened like fans around that crystalline blue.
I stepped closer to get a better look at her, and she gulped, feeling the intensity of my presence.
“You’re back to the leather jacket? No elegant coat tonight?” she teased me.
I grinned seductively and stepped closer to her.
“I like to change it up,” I answered absently.
I was focused on her cleavage, which I felt was entirely too sexual for the occasion.
Tinkerbell was sexy, and not just a little bit either.
The thought of other people seeing that and wanting her bothered me.
Selene watched me the whole time with palpable lust. Apparently she would also prefer to strip down and fuck rather than go out.
“You look incredible no matter what you wear,” she told me adoringly. I didn’t say anything but just circled her, getting a good 360-degree look at her.
Her ass caught me and held me—those jeans were way too powerful. Shit.
Selene didn’t move, allowing herself to be admired. She could probably feel my eyes burning into her back and that dream ass, but she didn’t say a word.
I closed the distance between us as though her body were magnetized and surrounded her, pressing my chest to her back. Selene let out a little gasp.
“I don’t want to break any noses tonight, Babygirl,” I whispered into her ear, touching a lock of hair that had fallen over her shoulder. She swallowed hard, going stiff when I pressed my hips against her, showing her exactly where she belonged. “Stay close and be good,” I warned her ominously.
* * *
Half an hour later, the two of us, along with Logan, pulled up outside the club.
Tinkerbell had chatted with my brother the whole way while I focused on driving and only took furtive looks at her in the rearview mirror.
She’d often looked tense and like her mind was somewhere else. Several times, I’d wondered what she was thinking about. The not-knowing made me apprehensive.
Plus, the idea of spending a Saturday night with her friends was not exactly thrilling me.
Selene seemed happy to see them, though.
She threw herself into Julie’s arms when she spotted the girl in front of the club’s entrance.
Then she doled out hugs to Adam, Jake, Cory, and Kyle, the musician who, for some inexplicable reason, pissed me off just by existing.
“Don’t make me look bad. No picking fights tonight,” Logan admonished from beside me. I was visibly on edge because I got the sense that my Babygirl was just a piece of meat dangled in front of so many hungry lions.
And I would have killed every one of those fuckers if they dared step over the line.
“If no one fucks with me, I won’t fuck with them.
You know me—I’m all about cause and effect,” I answered drily, spinning my car keys around on my index finger.
I glanced up at the blue LED sign for The Blarney.
I made a skeptical face. I’d never been to this particular place, but I doubted it had much more to offer than Blanco did.
Already bored, I turned my attention back to Babygirl, who was hugging herself against the cold. She felt my eyes on her and moved to me like I’d called for her, reaching out to take my hand in hers in such a genuine way that I shivered.
Why would she do a thing like that?
She’d done it before, but I didn’t want her making a habit of it.
I looked at her tightly and flinched out of her grasp.
Too intimate.
All of this was too intimate.
I felt a stab of pain in my chest when she gave me a disappointed look, but I tried not to let any of that show on my face.
“Fuck, this place is the bomb. Come on, let’s go.” Logan draped an arm around her shoulders and gently urged her forward.
Maybe I was an asshole for shooting her down like that, and maybe Babygirl wouldn’t talk to me for the rest of the night, but I didn’t like pretending.
I was just myself.
She’d said she could accept that—accept me—and I hoped she realized that I wasn’t going to change.
After a moment, I went after her and tried to get in on her conversation with her friends. I was clearly no longer the first thing on her mind. The sadness I’d seen on her face earlier was gone.
“When Logan told us you were coming out tonight, we literally cheered, doll,” Cory told her. I wrinkled my nose at the nickname—I didn’t like the idea of anyone else having a special name for her—but I forced myself to shut up and let her enjoy her evening.
“Yeah, you jerk. You completely forgot about us.” The one teasing her that time was Jake with the tattoos and blond hair. He pulled her into an affectionate hug, and I immediately spotted his hands resting at the base of Selene’s spine. I sincerely hoped he didn’t move them lower.
For his sake.
“I have to agree. We need to have another meeting of the Nabokov book club…” Next it was Kyle Lucky’s (or whatever the hell his name was) turn.
The musician really rubbed me the wrong way.
He had his long hair pulled back in a ponytail, and his frosty blue eyes looked sly, not at all friendly.
He stared at Babygirl and lingered on her cleavage.
That was when my instincts forced me to get closer until I could put my arm around her and pull her tightly against me.
Selene went stiff and craned her neck back to look at me.
She was pissed, and I couldn’t blame her. One minute I was refusing to hold her hand, the next I was acting like a possessive freak.
The rest of the group looked at me fearfully. Several of them took a step back, and they all exchanged quizzical looks. No need to tell me; I could see from their tight faces that they weren’t loving my presence there in the club.
“Good evening,” I said, smiling. I could almost taste their fear on my tongue. Each one of them knew that I wasn’t anything like Logan, that I ran with the Krew, and the kind of reputation I had. They all just stood there stiffly, watching me.
“Neil’s with us tonight,” Logan announced firmly, and their expressions went from confused to alarmed in a nanosecond.
I laughed like the fucking asshole I was.
“Are you two…um…together?” asked Julie, a girl I always used to spot holed up in the library. She was cute but anonymous, someone I never would have taken note of if she hadn’t been a friend of Logan’s. She looked curiously from me to Selene.
“We’re hanging out,” I answered vaguely, and Babygirl peeled my arm off her, even more annoyed.
What was her issue now? She knew perfectly well how things were, and I wasn’t going to give her any illusions to the contrary.
“Hanging out?” she repeated sharply, her frosty gaze boring into me. She shook her head, compressing her lips into a bitter line. “You’re such a jackass,” she fumed and tried to pull away, but I reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could escape.
“You need to get your head right instead of putting on airs for your little friends,” I whispered into her ear, making sure she knew not to cross the line.
I was unsettled by how outraged she was, especially with Kyle right there watching every move we made.
I had no desire to put on a show for him or to lose my cool in front of the rest of them.
“And you need to not be an asshole for once in your life,” she shot back at me.
Then, with juvenile obstinance, she smiled at Julie and walked into the club with her, completely ignoring me.
“Keep calm and just…hang out.” Logan said as he patted me on the back, prompting me to move inside the club along with the rest of them. Reluctantly, I followed him, and we all moved through the doors past a powerful man who checked our IDs before letting us inside.
The club was just another spot.
It wasn’t anything new or different from all the other clubs I used to hit up with the Krew.
Lusty women, guys looking to score, irritating music, and the reek of alcohol and smoke in the air.
My eyes scanned the room for Tinkerbell, already annoyed, but all I saw were some square tables, the flash of colored lights, and some indistinct figures. My girl seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
She’d checked her coat at the door and then walked into the crowd without looking back.
“Fuck,” I snapped in frustration. After a wary look, I headed over to the bar, which was lit up with alternating red and blue lights.
I propped my elbow up on the empty surface and continued scanning the room, trying to spot Selene.
My one consolation was that the musician was not far away, talking with Adam, so I at least knew he wasn’t with her.
“Quit worrying. Since when are you so jumpy anyway?” Logan, meanwhile, had positioned himself right next to me exclusively to bust my balls. I rolled my eyes at him.
“I didn’t realize you’d taken us to such a sketchy place,” I answered when I noticed the girls slinking amongst the tables. They were all over the customers as they took their orders.
They were shameless and crude, the kind of women I’d usually love to spend a few hours with.
“Afraid you won’t be able to be a good boy with Selene here?” Logan teased as he also watched the young waitresses prance around on their high heels, shaking their asses.
“Fuck you and your advice,” I shot back.
He just laughed. He had no idea how much I’d rather be at home alone with Babygirl than doing any of this shit.
I liked it when she opened those incredible eyes wide and watched me ecstatically as I moved inside her.
I liked it when she whispered to me that I was the only man she wanted in all the world.
I liked it when she finally lost control and gave herself over to me completely, scratching up my back and sides.
I liked it when she fell asleep right next to me, one leg tucked between mine.