36. 36 – Zella
E asier said than done.
I burrow myself between Maverick and Ryder, sipping on my drink as the door opens and a woman wheels in a cart. I can feel Maverick’s eyes boring into the side of my head, but I ignore him in favor of drinking as much champagne as I can until my head starts to swim.
Maybe I’ve had a little too much.
Ryder’s hand tightens on my leg, and I shiver. My eyes flick over to the window, and I let out a mortified squeak. Two very obviously Zella-shaped handprints are imprinted on the glass.
I can’t even look at the circles underneath.
I can’t bring myself to regret it, though. A little aftershock flutters in my stomach, and I swallow.
I’m so lost in my thoughts that it takes me a moment to pick up on the chatter around me. When Ryder’s hand tightens on my leg, I glance up, and immediately regret it.
“God, it’s so good to see you! I thought I saw you come in, so I thought I’d come and say hello.”
The woman beaming at Ryder looks like a goddess. Her hair is cut just below her shoulders, razor sharp edges and raven black in color. She flashes a smile at Ryder. “I missed you, baby. Maybe we can catch up later? Like old times?”
The pain in my chest takes me by surprise, and I flinch back. Ryder looks down at me, and I frown. He doesn’t look happy to see her. In fact, he doesn’t look happy at all.
He looks… empty.
He doesn’t respond, and the woman laughs, reaching down and curling her hand around his wrist. “Playing hard to get? Nothing new there.”
I barely register the way my hand shoots out, wrapping around her wrist. She jerks under my grip as I pull her wrist back, shoving it away from Ryder. She staggers awkwardly, letting out an uncomfortable laugh. “Someone’s possessive.”
“Don’t touch him,” I say quietly. “He doesn’t like it.”
She scoffs. “Trust me, honey, he likes it plenty.”
Ryder is still beside me, his face pale. For a second, I don’t recognise the hot feeling in my throat, the way my palms start to itch.
But when she reaches for him again, I recognise it for exactly what it is. Anger.
This time, I grab her wrist before she gets anywhere near him. “I said, don’t touch him.”
When she moves to shake me off, Maverick leans forward. “I would be very careful about your next move,” he says softly.
The woman looks between us, her lip curling. “Jesus. I’m not that bothered. Keep your little fuck toy.”
She steps back, but Enzo is there, and she squeaks as they collide. “What did you just call him?” he asks softly, and she blanches.
“Do you even know who I am?” She takes a step away from him, backing up towards the door. “He’s not worth the trouble, you know. He’s not that good of a fuck.”
I lunge, and glass flies everywhere as Maverick wraps his arms around me and pulls me back. “Zella. Enough.”
He looks at the woman. “If you don’t leave immediately, I will throw you out. Consider it a first and final warning.”
The woman slides out of the door, and I watch as Enzo sidles after her. He glances back at me with a question in his eyes, and I shake my head.
As horrible as she was, I don’t think she’s a candidate for his table.
Unfortunately.
Maverick releases me, and I spin around, my hands landing on either side of Ryder’s face. He swallows, his jaw flexing. “Why did you do that?” he asks quietly. “Why did you grab her wrist?”
“Because you didn’t want her to touch you,” I say slowly. He blinks, scrubbing his hands down his face with a harsh laugh.
“Sorry, princess. There’s no getting away from it sometimes.”
“Hey.” I lean in until he focuses on my face. “You said that I belong to you. Well, you belong to me too, Ryder. It doesn’t matter what that woman said.”
He sighs. “More than the sum of the people who made us, right?”
I nod. “She does not define you, Ryder. None of them get to decide who you are. Only you.”
He cracks a smile. “You’re like a little mini Yoda, you know.”
My brows crease. “What’s a yoda?”
He leans forward, resting his forehead against mine. “So many things to show you, little thief.”
“Little thief,” I whisper. “Why do you call me that?”
My heart flips over in my chest. I like it.
He presses his lips against mine, a soft caress. “One thief recognises another. You stole my heart the first time I saw you, Zella. You and that damn wok.”
“It was the only thing I had,” I protest weakly, but my heart is singing. “And I apologized!”
His laugh shakes his whole body. “Never apologize. I’m putting a wok in every room. Those things are lethal.”
He pulls away from me slowly, giving me a reassuring smile as he stands. “I’ll be back.”
I take another sip from my champagne, and glance around. Enzo is still hovering in the back, and Maverick is sitting silently across from us, his eyes on the dancefloor and his hand wrapped around a glass of amber liquid.
He looks over when I shift. “Do you need anything?”
Silently, I shake my head, pressing my knees together and gripping them. “You don’t like it here, do you?”
He holds out his hand, and I glance at it questioningly. “Come here, Zella,” he says softly.
I’m on my feet before my brain fully catches up, and as I reach him, he tugs me down into his lap, setting his glass down and curling his hand around my thigh. “I don’t hate it. What makes you say that?”
I study the long, fluted glass in my hands. “I can tell. You don’t look as comfortable here as you do at home.”
He captures my chin, turning me to face him so I can’t hide my face. “Is that how you think of the house? As home?”
I shift my eyes away. “Um… I don’t know. Maybe. Is that bad?”
“No,” he breathes, and my gaze flicks back to him. He looks tired, dark circles under his eyes, and I press my finger against them.
“You need to take better care of yourself,” I say quietly. “Always looking out for everyone else, Maverick.”
Even here he’s on edge, looking around, watching over us all.
He half smiles, the lines at the edges of his eyes crinkling. “I’ve never been very good at that.”
He’s really not. I’ve never seen him let go. He’s always so controlled, so aware.
“Dance with me,” I say. The words fall from my lips but as I say it, I realize how much I do want to dance with him. I want to know how he’ll feel against me, how his hands will feel against my skin.
I want to see him lose control.
He stands up with me still in his arms, letting me slide down slowly. He keeps his arms around me as he walks me backwards, his hands sliding down to grip my hips.
The music changes, the pound of the bass becoming something slower, more sultry. I suck in a breath as his hand finds my back, pulling me against him as his hips shift in time to the music. His other hand captures mine, entwining our fingers together as we move.
His grin is unexpected, almost bashful. “You didn’t expect me to be able to dance, did you?”
I bury my answering smile in his chest. “Well, I definitely can’t dance, so we could have been a perfect pair.”
His laugh feels like a victory, so deep in his chest I can feel it in my own. “I wouldn’t say that. Just because you’ve never done something doesn’t mean you never could.”
I gasp as I fall backward, his arm banding across my lower back as he slowly pulls me back up. “Now you’re just showing off,” I say breathlessly, and he smirks at me, his blue eyes bright even in the dim light of the room.
“Oh,” he teases. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
I laugh as we move around the room, only stopping when I protest half-heartedly that I need a drink. Maverick keeps his arm around me as he leads me back to the table, handing me a bottle of water from the bucket and watching me drink it down.
“Stay with me tonight,” he murmurs, pushing back damp hair from my forehead and wrapping his hand around the back of my neck.
The room feels warmer than it did a moment ago, and as our eyes meet, I nod silently.
“Yes,” I whisper. “I’ll stay with you.”
“Good,” he murmurs, and my throat flexes under his fingers as he slides them to the throat, rubbing his thumb over the fluttering pulse in my neck. “Because I’ve been watching, Zella. And I have a lot of plans to work through with you.”
His voice drops, low and intimate in the tiny amount of space between our mouths. “All sorts of plans.”
My heart thunders in my chest.
I have a feeling his plans might finish me off completely.