Chapter 23
Mina
“Mina! Wait up!” I can hear Jaz shouting for me as I weave through the sea of people, but I don’t care. This was all her stupid fucking idea.
“Mina!”
“What!?” I snap at her as I turn around.
“Jesus! How can you go so fast in these heels?” She grabs my arm and leads me toward the back stairwell to the employees’ private area.
“I should never have listened to you.”
“Hey! How was I supposed to know he would bring a date. He knew you were going to be here.”
“Exactly! He’s fucking proving to me that I mean nothing to him.” I can feel my throat tightening from the painful truth.
“You don’t know that! He might’ve just brought her for show…Kind of how Quin is for you.”
I flop down on the couch in the private lounge. She walks over to the mini fridge and grabs two bottles of water. I take a sip and can feel the icy, cold water seeping into me.
“I wish I’d never met him,” I say quietly before taking another sip.
“You don’t mean that, Mina.”
“I do. I…I love him, Jaz, and I don’t know what to do. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and it’s killing me. Seeing her wrapped around his fucking arm was making me crazy. When the bartender was slicing the lime, I may have been contemplating stabbing her in the tits.”
Jaz laughs, and I can’t help but join her.
“Jesus…That’s a bit more than love there, sweetie…You’re obsessed.”
“Yeah…Maybe.”
“Jaz? Mina?” Cash’s shouts as he and Quin come down the steps. “Ah, there you ladies are. I was giving Myles and Alexandria a tour of the club. Would you like to join us?”
“Sure. We’d love to,” Jaz says as she stands and pulls me to my feet.
“Great,” Cash says as he takes Jaz’s hand and leads the group down the hall.
I hang back for a moment and watch them walk away. Myles notices right away. He says something to Alexandria before nudging her to join the group, and then walks back to where I’m standing.
“Hello, Sunshine.” That smile. That voice. Fuck! It’s exactly what’s lingered in every thought and dream for the last six months.
“Don’t call me that.” I snap, and his smile drops.
“Sorry…” He glances back to where the group has disappeared around a corner. “You look beautiful tonight.”
“Really? That’s all you have to say?” Now I’m pissed. Six months…Six fucking months and not a word after he disappeared into the night…That’s the first fucking thing he says.
“Sunshine, I…”
“I said, don’t call me that!”
He takes a step forward and closes the distance between us. He looks down at me with those stunning copper-colored eyes. They still hold darkness and pain hidden within them, but the difference is I now know why.
“You’ll always be my sunshine.” He brushes a loose strand of hair out of my face and places two fingers under my chin.
“Why?” My voice cracks from the unshed tears.
“Why, what, Mina?” His thumb caresses across my cheek, wiping away a single tear that fell.
“Why did you leave me?”
His gaze softens as he looks down at me. I can see a flicker of regret flash in his eyes before he closes them and slowly shakes his head.
“I told you why.”
“No…You told me why you thought we shouldn’t be together…
” I’ve read his note hundreds of times. “You said that you’d never been with someone that you cared so deeply about.
You said you could see yourself spending the rest of your life with me…
So why did you leave!?” My voice breaks, and the tears finally fall. I’ve wanted to ask him so many times.
“Because your father…”
“Is dead! My parents are dead Myles. Fuck what they would have wanted for me. What about what I want!?”
I can see the tears threatening in his eyes.
“Is everything okay?” Quin’s voice comes from behind Myles. When he sees my tears he quickly steps around him and walks over to me. He wraps an arm around me and pulls me close.
“I think you should go back to the party. I’ll let your date know where you went,” Quin says to Myles.
His dark eyes shift from Quin to me.
“I was just leaving.”
He spins and walks back to the stairs.
Quin places his arms on my shoulder and holds me still. He glances over every inch of me.
“Are you okay, Mina? Did he hurt you?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“Then why are you…”
“Mina! What happened?” Jaz shouts as she, Cash, and Alexandria come walking quickly back to us.
“Where did Myles go?” Alexandria asks, and it’s taking everything in me not to hit the bitch right now.
“He went back to the party. You should go find him,” Quin says with a bit more hostility in his tone than necessary. Alexandria’s eyes shift from Quin to me before she excuses herself and rushes off to find Myles.
“Okay, seriously. What the fuck happened?” Cash questions me.
“Maybe you should rethink your security contract with him,” Quin answers.
“Why?”
“When I came back, he was holding her jaw, and she was crying.” Quin's arm wraps tighter around my shoulders, and it feels like I’m suffocating.
“Is that true?” Jaz asks.
“No…”
“What? Yes, it is. That’s exactly what happened, Mina. Why are you protecting him?!” Quin practically shouts, and my body tenses in his hold.
“I need some air.” I pull free from his grasp and rush up the steps. I go back into the main room and then out the side door to the outdoor patio. It’s cooler out tonight, so it’s thankfully empty. The only person out here is a single bartender stocking the bar.
“Mina!” For fucks sake! Quin followed me outside.
“I just want to be alone.”
“What the fuck happened down there?” He spins me back toward him and grabs onto my shoulders. I can see out of the corner of my eye as the bartender goes running inside, I’m assuming to get Cash.
“Nothing, just drop it!”
“No! He did something to you, and I’m not letting you go until you tell me!” His fingers dig into my shoulders. He presses into the scar on my shoulder from where Mac cut me that day, and I yelp from the pain.
“Get your fucking hands off of her!”
*Crack*
Quin goes flying back into a table and falls to the ground as Myles steps between us. I can see blood dripping from Quin’s lip.
“You’re dead, old man,” Quin snarls as he wipes his mouth on his sleeve.
“Old man? Come on, kid. No better comebacks than that?” Myles laughs as Quin stands and takes a step toward him.
“What the fuck is going on out here?!” Cash demands as he, Jaz, and Alexandria come outside. He quickly shuts and locks the door to the patio so no one can come out here.
“He was hurting her,” Myles practically growls. When Quin tries to take a step toward me, Myles nudges me to step behind him.
“I wasn’t hurting her. I was asking her what the fuck he did to make her cry!”
“You made her yelp from how hard you were holding onto her.”
“I didn’t…”
“You did!”
“Enough! Both of you!” Cash snaps, cutting both of the guys off.
“Myles…Maybe we should go,” Alexandria is glancing nervously at Cash and Quin.
“You don’t have to go, Myles. Quin…” Cash starts, but Quin cuts him off.
“I didn’t…”
“I said enough! Mina. Did he hurt you?” Cash asks as he gestures to Quin.
“He didn’t mean to. My shoulder is still tender from an accident, and he was pressing right on the spot. He couldn’t have known.”
“Okay. Did Myles hurt you?”
“No.”
“Great. Now that that’s all settled, can you both just let it go?!”
“Not until he apologizes to her!” Myles seethes.
“Fine…Quin?”
“Jesus fucking Christ. Mina, I’m sorry.”
Cash unlocks the door, and Quin stomps away. Cash follows, leaving Myles, me, Alexandria, and Jaz on the patio.
“I’m so sorry, Mina. Thanks for saving her, Myles,” Jaz says sweetly to him.
“So…Is anyone going to explain what the hell is going on? How do you two know each other?” Alexandria asks.
Her eyes suddenly go wide as she stares at me, then at Myles. Back and forth a few times before she finally speaks.
“Is she the woman?” She asks Myles, and he nods.
“The woman?” I snap.
“You’re the mystery woman he fell in love with when he went to San Antonio…Aren’t you?” Her question hits me hard. Did he tell her about me? Is she his girlfriend? Or just a friend?
“Can I have a moment alone with Mina…Please?”
Jaz’s eyes go to me as she silently asks if it’s okay if she leaves. I nod and she nods as well before walking away.
Alexandria walks over to me and looks me up and down. I straighten my shoulders and glare at her, but then she surprises me. She smiles, then tilts her head slightly.
“I can see why he fell in love with you…” She glances back at Myles, then back to me. “Please don’t break his heart. He’s one of my best friends.” She gives me another smile before walking back inside. Okay…Maybe I hate her a little less now.
Myles walks over to the outdoor bar. He steps behind the empty patio bar and grabs a glass down from the shelf then reaches under the counter. He pulls out a bottle of bourbon and gestures for me to sit in one of the chairs.
“Want one?”
“Sure.”
He pours each of us a glass then comes to sit next to me. He places the glass on the bar top in front of me, then takes my hand as I reach for the glass.
“Mina…” He brings my hand to his lips and kisses the back of my hand. His lips stay pressed against my skin as his eyes close.
“Do you love me?” I ask as I pull my hand away from his. Alexandria asked me if I was the mystery woman he had fallen in love with.
We sit in silence as he takes a long sip from his glass.
“Yes,” he finally says. He finishes the rest of his drink and sets down the glass. He turns to me and spins my stool to place his hands on my bare thighs just below the edge of the dress.
He leans forward and places his forehead against mine. The scent of his cologne is exactly like I remember from that night. I close my eyes and breathe him in.
“Of course I love you, Lumina.” His fingertips press into my thighs. The sensation is causing a warmth to spread throughout my body. His lips barely brush mine as he leans further against me.
“Then why didn’t you stay?” I whisper against his lips.
“Because Sunshine…I’m not enough. You deserve so much more than me.”
“Myles. You are enough! You’re all I’ve ever wanted.
I felt it that first night when you kissed me.
It felt like everything fell into place.
I felt whole for the first time in my life.
” I take his hand and place it over my heart.
His eyes open and stare at where his hand is pressed against my skin.
He can feel my heart racing beneath his fingertips.
“You’re the only person who has made my heartbeat this wildly before. I don’t deserve more than you, Myles, because there isn’t any more. You’re everything I could ever want or need! Why can’t you see that?”
I watch his eyes pinch closed even tighter as his hand begins to slide up my thigh, and the other slides to the back of my neck.
His fingers twist into my hair as he crashes his lips to mine.
The groan he lets out as his tongue slips past my lips runs straight to my clit.
The skirt of my dress is being bunched up as his hand slides higher up my thigh.
“Mina…” His eyes are still closed as he breaks the kiss and tilts his head to the sky. “We need to go.”
“What? Why?”
His eyes open as he pulls me almost fully onto his lap.
The dress is pushed up and exposes my ass as I straddle his lap.
He cups my face as he barely lets his lips touch mine.
Between our panting breaths, the feeling of his cock pulsing beneath me, and the electric sparks bouncing between our bodies, it’s all making my head spin.
“Because Sunshine. If we stick around here much longer, I’m going to fuck you on this bar…and I don’t think Cash would like that very much,” he chuckles.
“Your place or mine?” I ask. His eyes darken as he slowly pulls his face away from mine.
“I’m not going to make it that long, Mina.” His fingers move my thong to the side to slip his fingers inside me. A full-body tremor runs along my spine. I didn’t realize how much my body missed him.
“Fuck, Myles.” My body tenses as his fingers curl inside me. He presses his lips against my neck, and I can feel his warm breath against my skin as he laughs.
“Judging from how soaked you are, Sunshine, I don’t think you’ll make it that long either. Let’s go!”