2. Bliss
Bliss
A familiar blonde stumbled into my brother, and I shoved all thoughts of Noah Fucking Kavanaugh out of my mind, stomping over to the drunken mess who had her hand on Damien’s chest. I was barely a few feet away when Evan joined the group, pulling Caprice back enough so she wasn’t touching Damien.
Although I hadn’t gotten an explanation from what my little brother needed saving from, I was quickly putting the pieces together.
Evan and Damien had no doubt come to the party, and Caprice had followed Evan like she always did.
And because Evan was still in his girl-best-friend era, he let her do whatever the fuck she wanted.
Caprice Knight was an epic pain in the ass.
Once upon a time, she’d been obsessed with another guy, and when he’d gotten married to Ali St. Charles, she’d switched her obsession from Sixx to Damien.
He loathed Caprice, but Evan was his best friend and Damien thought that meant he had to tolerate her.
If I’d had my way, there would have been a restraining order against Caprice the first time she started crossing lines.
Damien was too nice for his own good, and Evan was too stupid to see that he was being used.
Caprice had been playing the long game with him, and if she didn’t eventually end up baby-trapping him, I would be surprised.
As long as it wasn’t my little brother’s baby, I honestly couldn’t care less.
Damien was too good for Caprice. Really, Evan was too, but whatever.
Walking up to my brother, I grabbed his arm. “Let’s go,” I half snarled.
“Bliss!” he cheered, wrapping his arms around me in a warm hug, lifting me off the floor a few inches. “Thank gods. I was getting worried.”
Once he had me on my feet again, I glared up at him. “You have access to a car service. There are multiple ride-share options. And, oh look, there’s your dumbass best friend who looks perfectly sober to me. Why is it that I’m the one who got called out to be your designated driver?”
Damien had been going out more and more lately, drinking almost every time now. Nothing extreme. Not really getting drunk, but also not sober enough to drive. Which, admittedly, was smart of him to be careful. It wasn’t just his life on the line if he drank and then drove.
He was an adult and knew the risks. It was his own life, and he could live it. But he knew how I felt about it, and he needed to stop expecting me to save him, damn it.
“Evan wouldn’t leave because Caprice wouldn’t leave, and I didn’t feel comfortable abandoning him. She listens to you.”
I turned my glare on Evan, who thought flashing his dimples at me would save him.
Twenty-two years of seeing those dimples on the regular had desensitized me to them, and they couldn’t sway me.
“Do not even try me, Evan. I will take out one of your knees and leave your ass right here to be trampled.”
Caprice stumbled against him, not yet noticing me.
Running my gaze over her, I felt disgust curdle in my stomach.
Her obsession with Damien didn’t stop her from chasing after anything with a dick and a big bank account.
She’d come dressed for the party in an outfit that barely covered anything.
Her assets were perfectly proportioned from head to toe.
No one could say this chick was anything but gorgeous.
The problem was that it was only skin-deep.
I knew firsthand that beneath all the pretty, she had a rotten, dark soul.
In her heels, she was half a foot taller than me. How she was still standing in them when she was so blitzed was a small miracle of its own. “Where are all the servers? I need another glass of champagne. We’re celebrating!”
Her shout stirred the crowd nearest us, which set off a chain reaction that soon had them all whooping and cheering louder than the music.
“Welcome home, Coach!” a mocha-skinned man with dreads called from nearby, lifting his glass.
“Coach!” two other players for the Titans shouted.
“Coach Kavanaugh!”
“Coach K!” They sounded more like barking dogs than humans with the way they were hyping each other up.
It registered at the same time I finally allowed myself to look at the man still standing beside my brother.
He locked his gaze on mine and refused to release it.
A million memories flooded my mind, attempting to crack my heart open.
Noah shifted, just a single step forward, and I took three back out of sheer self-preservation.
Ah, fuck no.
I did not follow sports, especially not basketball.
It was for my own mental health. To avoid the chance of hearing this man’s name even in passing.
Yet, I had still heard some of the buzz going around about the Los Angeles Titans getting a new head coach.
Jake, my newest brother-in-law, had said something about it just the day before when I’d been at Heavenleigh’s, and I’d tuned him out the moment he’d said basketball.
Obviously, I should have paid more attention.
If I had known there was even a minuscule chance that I would see this man, I never would have left my couch. Standing in front of him in sleep shorts and a hoodie that was yet another reminder of a time when he was my entire world—without a bra on, for fuck’s sake—was a nightmare.
Those light-blue eyes of his traveled over me like a trail of fire, setting my entire body aflame.
There was no hiding how I still so easily responded to nothing more than a graze of his gaze.
I wanted to disappear. Run, hide. From him, the ache in my core, the agony that was exploding in my chest. All of it needed to stop.
But it was already too late.
An all too familiar pressure began to build within me.
It would be like opening Pandora’s box. Once released, my emotions would no longer be containable.
I refused to do that in some stranger’s house in the godsdamn Hills with my brother, our cousin, Caprice Knight, and an entire basketball team and their exquisite, glamorous dates as witnesses.
Fuck them, and fuck Noah Kavanaugh.
“Mele?im.” He choked out the endearment.
My angel.
That son of a bitch. He knew what it did to me to hear him speak Turkish, how my heart skipped a beat when he called me his angel. It was something he’d done before I’d even confided in him that my dad called my mom Angel.
And the worst part was that I could see exactly how wrecked he was in that moment. The beautiful face that was normally completely expressionless was loudly broadcasting everything he was feeling.
As if he were the one with the shattered heart. As if he’d been the one abandoned for fame and a huge paycheck. As if he’d been the one left behind to pick up the pieces of a life and a dream while his soul dimmed and withered away until it became nothing more than a ghost haunting him.
“Askim.” I flinched before he’d even lifted his hand.
My love.
“Go fuck yourself, Noah.” I grabbed my brother’s arm. “We’re leaving.”
“Bliss, what—”
“Now, Damien,” I seethed, my voice sounding so much like our mother’s that his spine snapped straight and he took two steps before he fully registered what he was doing.
“But Evan and Caprice—”
“Right behind you, cuz.” Evan spoke up, falling into step on my other side. The crowd around us parted when they saw him. Other players gave him a chin lift, their curious gazes falling on me for a split second and then switching to Caprice, whom Evan was more or less carrying.
“Where are we going?” Caprice whined. It wasn’t a cute or even a sultry sound. Her voice grated down my spine, spiking my agitation higher. I shot Evan a look that should have had him quaking in his size-eighteen sneakers.
He didn’t quake, though, which was further proof of how stupid he was. I knew too many dark truths about him for Evan not to have a respectable amount of fear of my ire.
“Time to go, Cap. Our ride is here,” Evan said.
“No. Nope. No. Not happening.” We reached the front door and stepped outside before I dropped my hold on Damien and confronted my cousin.
“Find your own way home. I am not dealing with coked-up Barbie tonight. Drive or call a ride, but that—” I waved my hand in Caprice’s face that she swatted at “—is not getting into my car.”
Evan sighed, exasperated, as if he was tired of my shenanigans. Which would have pissed me off on any other night, but right then, I was feeling fragile and more than a little broken.
I left a cheesecake for this shit.
“Bliss, it’s on your way,” Evan said with a roll of his aquamarine eyes. “It’s only going to take a few minutes. If I waited for a ride, it would take at least an hour. Come on.”
Grabbing a fistful of his shirt, I yanked him down to my level. “The next time you drag my brother to a party and this shit happens, I will call Hayat and let her deal with your dumb ass.”
“You said that last time,” he reminded me with a snort.
“I did say that, didn’t I?” Pulling my phone from my hoodie pocket, I thumbed through my recent call log and swiped over Hayat’s name.
His eyes got huge when he realized what I was doing. Gulping, he tried to grab my phone, but I had enough experience to duck him and was already walking toward my car.
Thankfully, it was still where I’d left it. Nearby, the valet was watching us with mild interest.
“Hello?” Hayat answered on the tenth ring.
“Hey.” I stopped and held out my hand to my brother. When he just looked at me like he had no clue what I wanted, I shoved his shoulder and then reached into his back pocket for his wallet. “Your brother is at…” I blanked on the address and turned to the valet. “Tell her where this place is.”
While he did as instructed, I extracted all the cash from Damien’s wallet. Six hundred and twenty-three dollars. Taking the phone back, I handed over the money to the valet. “Thanks for all your help.”
“Bliss? Bliss!” Hayat shouted.
“Stop yelling. I’m right here. Did you get the address?” I opened the passenger door and pointed. Shoulders hunched, Damien got in.
“Barely. Ky heard it, though. Why do I need to know some random place in the Hills?”
“Because that is where your brother is. With Caprice.” I glanced back to see why he hadn’t followed me, only to find him holding Caprice’s hair while she puked on the lawn. “Do with that what you will. I’m taking my brother home and will deal with him accordingly. Love you. Bye.”
Disconnecting, I slid into the driver’s seat.
“What was up with you and Coach Kavanaugh?”
Damn it.