4. Ivory
The tequila gods had spoken.
Not only had the deck started spinning in every direction, Jace had morphed into two Jaces, and her pink-haired leather-clad black knight had learned how to fly. No, not exactly—his fists could fly.
Little twinkles of light reflected off Adrian’s gold rings as they soared toward both of Jace’s faces, colliding squarely into both their noses and merging them into one. Jace stumbled backward and clenched his jaw, then grit his teeth and stalked over to Adrian before throwing his own fist.
Her heart pounded, both in horror at the scene unfolding and—although it was certainly not the time—in admiration, along with a hint of confusion. He’d just told her she meant nothing to him.
He’d left.
Now he came back, and in her defense, at that. Or maybe one of the Jaces had managed to piss him off. Wouldn’t surprise her. Either way, this couldn’t be good.
Before she could say anything to stop them, the men began to exchange blows. Blood smeared across Jace’s face and left a dark stain over one cheek. She really hoped none of it belonged to Adrian. Then she’d feel bad. But Jace could suffer an injury or two, as long as it wasn’t serious. Maybe then his face would match his personality.
Hearing the ruckus, Jace’s two friends stumbled over from the hot tub, bringing the heavy sour scent of weed and several girls complaining about the noise. “Shit,” one cursed, too high and drunk to be of much use. “What the hell’s happening?”
“Where the fuck were you?” Jace hissed, spitting out blood onto the deck as he and Adrian finally separated.
Attempting to refocus her splitting vision, something slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground. Oh no, that something had been her phone. She groaned and tore her eyes away from her black knight. This better not end in a cracked screen.
Bending to retrieve it, her witch hat tumbled off and rolled away as the deck lurched to the side. Great, now gravity had it in for her, too. A steady hand gripped her arm as she swayed. The cool metal of her phone slid into her hand.
“Watch yourself, sweetheart.”
The now familiar tone of Adrian’s voice and his pair of leather boots made her flush as she clutched the phone, which had been handed to her from bloody fingers. She mumbled a thank you as Jace started up again.
“This motherf—”
Adrian cut him off with a boot to the knee. She gasped as Jace crumpled, then that same black boot connected with Jace’s stomach. He groaned, rolling over on his side.
“Don’t let me hear you disrespect a woman again,” Adrian threatened. “Unless you’re referring to yourself.” The scowl on his face did not look pleasant. If she thought he cloaked himself in shadow before, now he’d evolved into something straight out of the underworld. Adrian glared down at Jace. “But I’d say from this angle, you look more like a bitch than anyone else here.”
“I think he got the point,” she stammered, tentatively taking a step closer. Starting a scene, or more than they already had, would be a bad idea. If anyone else came, they’d assume Adrian had started it, and she didn’t want him to take the blame.
“Get the fuck off our property,” Jace’s friend hissed, turning to them while doing a poor job at being intimidating. Despite being taller than her knight, Jace couldn’t stand straight, nor walk in a straight line. However, reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a slender silver blade and brandished it.
Even in her present state, she knew that was very, very not good.
“I-I’m sorry,” she started, but then a pair of gold eyes shifted to hers, and her voice died.
“We’re leaving anyway,” Adrian muttered. Then he turned and walked off towards the street.
Without her.
But hadn’t he said…
Stunned for the umpteenth time, she rushed after him, abandoning her witch hat and a still-moaning Jace.
Sticking around for more of Jace’s threats would be much worse than stumbling over patches of grass and facing further heart-wrenching rejection. She felt bad enough about her muddled night with Jace without his constant reminders. But clearly he wasn’t ashamed, trying to blackmail her into a threesome she wanted no part in.
“Wait,” she called, tripping over an exposed root and trying to figure out which moving sidewalk was the real one. She couldn’t give up now, not after Adrian defended her like that.
“I’ll be fine,” he replied.
He didn’t sound fine. Even though she was sure this wasn’t his first brawl, that didn’t mean he was okay. She may not be built for throwing punches, but she wasn’t weak.
“I don’t believe you,” she answered, catching up as her feet finally found flat ground. Swaying back and forth, she anchored her gaze on his jacket, and he slowed to a halt.
“Don’t you have a ride coming?” he asked.
Oh, yeah. She should check her messages to see if Avril had replied.
“Wait, don’t go.” She grabbed his arm but dropped her hand as soon as his muscles tensed. “In case Jace comes back,” she whispered.
He turned away, his features far less intimidating without the red party lights. “Trust me, that piece of shit won’t be chasing anyone down for a while. Stay out here, and you’ll be safe.”
“I’m…I’m scared of the dark,” she said in a rush. More like she was scared of the dark leaving—of him leaving.
She stopped herself from reaching for his arm again and stepped to the side to read his expression. He frowned but didn’t move.
Taking out her phone, she tapped the screen to see a message pop up from Caspian, Nia’s ex. What could he want?
Caspian
Nia’s going home with me, she’s drunk. Don’t worry. I’m just keeping an eye on her.
Well, then…that meant Avril hadn’t taken Nia home after all. Hopefully, Nia and Caspian were patching things up, though. She’d been rooting for them from the start, even if they had some big hurdles to overcome.
The small puff of joy vanished as she realized Avril wouldn’t already be in her car after giving Nia a ride back to the dorms. Now it felt more like Avril had been ignoring her text the whole time. She sunk her teeth into her bottom lip, trying not to worry. The message had been delivered fifteen minutes ago. Maybe Avril was busy giving Serena a ride.
Something rough and warm tugged her lip free, and she looked up as Adrian’s hand withdrew, two golden rings winking under the light of a distant streetlamp.
Her breath caught. The touch was too brief to relish, but her heart raced, nonetheless.
Too drunk to keep her thoughts in check, she wondered if those rings would be cold or hot when pressed to her neck. If he’d keep them on when he found out she’d take as many or as little fingers as he saw fit to give her.
She shook off the deviant thoughts and noticed a stain across one ring that marred its shine. “You’re bleeding.”
No response.
She flicked her eyes up to his, dark and glittering in the pale light. He’d pulled his hair into a bun, the pink ends hiding under natural brown.
“I knew you weren’t okay.”
What an awful first impression—the one time they actually got to talk ended with a set of bloody knuckles. Maybe he’d been right to want nothing to do with her. He’d already rejected her, so there was no point in feeling bad. Still, she couldn’t push down the small rise of guilt.
“Where’s your ride?” he asked, breaking eye contact to pull out his pack of cigarettes.
“Oh, I—um…” She glanced toward the house, where the faint pulse lights blurred into streaks through the trees.
The dorms weren’t that far. Even if Serena had gone home, Avril would’ve seen her message by now. Maybe she hadn’t heard her phone. The music was really loud.
“I might have to go back and find her,” she said at last.
“You’re not going back in there.”
Her brows furrowed. She didn’t really want to, but she challenged him anyway. “Why not, Sir?”
His jaw ticked, and he exhaled, shoving the pack of cigarettes into his jacket with a sigh. “Don’t call me that.”
Something about his irritation lifted her spirits—maybe because he’d done a good job at irritating her , or maybe because this was the most reaction he’d given her all night.
Jace got a handful of bruises, and all she got was an exhale. Hardly seemed fair.
“What, don’t like your nickname, Sir Knight?” she continued. If he didn’t, that was really too bad because the name had already grown on her.
He scowled.
She pouted.
“Fine,” she conceded. The air outside did feel a bit chilly, but she’d already been dealing with it, and to be honest, she didn’t want to go near anyone associated with Jace. “I can walk to the dorms.” Even if it would take her the rest of the night.
“You can hardly stand.” This time, his tone was dry rather than demanding, but the point couldn’t be denied either.
“I’ll be fine.” She arched a brow, satisfied that the words seemed to have the same effect on him as they did on her earlier.
“I don’t believe you,” he replied with a twitch of his lips, repeating her previous response.
He wanted to play this game, did he?
Before she could think of something witty, he offered, “I’ll take you.”
“I promise I’ll be—what?” She must’ve misheard. Winning wasn’t supposed to be easy.
“I’ll give you a ride,” he repeated.
She stared back, questioning whether to believe him or not. “Why?”
He smiled, not a full grin, but enough to make her breath catch. It might as well have been a shot of adrenaline straight to her heart. “Because I want to.” He paused. “And to apologize for being rude earlier. I meant what I said, but maybe I shouldn’t have said it like that.”
She managed to remember how lungs worked in time to reply. “I think I knew how to respond better when you were being rude.” Her eyes met his. “But that doesn’t mean you should go around beating people up.”
He turned away, and the smile vanished. “Probably not. Although Jace is less of a person and more of an asshole.”
She stifled a laugh, looking around. “So…where’s your car?”
“At my apartment, and it’s not a car.”
She frowned. Usually, people weren’t so picky about distinguishing cars from trucks. “Oh. Do you live around here?”
“It’s not that far, but it might take a while to get there in your state.”
She pouted. “You’re being rude again. I’ll have you know my current state is an exception.”
He snorted. “I’m being realistic, not rude—and I know. What made you decide to drink so much tonight?”
Checking her phone in case Avril replied, disappointment crashed over her again at the blank screen. Her shoulders slumped. “I volunteer to be the designated driver most of the time,” she replied. “And I won’t drink if I go somewhere new. Or if I’m behind in my studies.” She sighed. “There’s always something to worry about, but this was my last chance to get out before midterms spank my ass.”
“Lucky midterms,” he scoffed.
She giggled, blushing as she tried to wrangle in her wayward imagination. “Unlucky me.”
“Come on.” He offered his arm. She swallowed, staring at him. He might as well have died and been reincarnated with the shift in moods. “Unless you’d rather wait here.”
“I’ll go,” she said, hurrying to take his offer.
The tilting sidewalk was no match now, with the help of her black knight’s sturdy arm.
He sighed once more, then looked over at her as his lips tipped up, fighting a smirk. “I knew you’d let me bring you to my place tonight.”