Chapter 36 #2
“Leo works,” he purred, straightening up slightly. “But for you, I’d answer to anything.” He propped a palm on the bar, conveniently flexing every sinewy muscle in his forearm. “Can I offer you a drink? We keep our own potent supply in the back.”
I felt my eye twitch.
River, to her credit, only laughed softly. “Tempting, but I’m working tonight.” She flipped a lock of hair over her shoulder—was that really necessary?—and added, “Maybe after you help us topple a certain secret organization.”
Heat flooded my cheeks, tightened my jaw. Was that… irritation I was feeling?
Leo’s grin widened. “Then I shall consider it a date, revolution permitting.”
Definitely irritation. I cleared my throat—loudly. “Anyway.” I turned back to Valerie, eager to get the conversation over with before Leo took off his shirt to show off his pecs or something equally appalling. “Will you help us?”
Valerie glanced at Leo, who shrugged, and then looked back at me. “Say we do decide to lend a hand—what’s in it for us?”
I don’t punch your second in command in the mouth.
I didn’t say that out loud, but God did I want to.
Leo’s smug, pretty face practically invited violence.
Instead, I pointedly tightened my grip on River’s hand, making damn sure Leo saw the motion, and offered Valerie something she couldn’t possibly refuse.
“If you help us, if we succeed with this strike, the organization will be wiped out entirely. Gone for good.” I lifted my chin, holding her stare. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? An end to all of this? No more experiments, no more innocent lives wrecked beyond repair.”
Valerie’s violet-streaked hair fell over one eye, but she didn’t blink.
Behind that practiced saunter and thin smile, I saw the tremor at the corner of her mouth—the same quiver I was familiar with myself.
Deep down, I knew Valerie was just as broken as I was, she just did a better job of hiding it.
I knew what she had been through—because I had been there myself—and I knew that she would stop at nothing to bring the organization to its knees.
“All right,” she murmured eventually, and all the suspicion in her eyes vanished, replaced with a steely calmness, a stoic determination to do what had to be done. “We’ll help you. When the time comes, we’ll have your back.”
I breathed a small sigh of relief.
But the moment was ruined by Leo butting in with an unnecessary flex of his bicep. “I’m in too. You need this muscle after all.”
“Pity you don’t have any brains to offer.” The dig slipped out before I could stifle it, delivered with venomous intent.
River’s shoulder brushed mine—reassurance or a subtle “down girl,” I wasn’t sure. She turned back to Valerie. “The Leyore coven will be in touch when the time comes. We’ll brief you on rendezvous points.”
Valerie nodded, one curt jerk of her head, and turned away.
The conversation was over—and I could now drag River away from Leo before the two got too comfortable with each other.
But not before the guy offered her one last smolder for the road, wriggling his brows in a way that had my fist itching to knock the smirk off his face.
“See you around, beautiful.”
My eyes rolled in my skull and I tugged River away, stomping and shoving my way through the crowd with a sharp elbow. “Come on, let’s go before Leo starts doing push-ups on the bar.”
I yanked River through the knot of dancers, and she let herself be dragged, a small amused smile tugging at her mouth when I glanced back at her. I scowled in response and wrenched my gaze away, focusing instead on my clomping boots.
We eventually burst out of the nightclub and into the vacant street beyond, and I made a beeline for her car parked on the curb—but River’s teasing lilt tripped me mid-stride.
“Jealous much?” she asked, voice all faux-innocence.
I spun on my heel, yanking my hand away. “No! I just hate that guy.” My hands flailed for emphasis. “Leo thinks he’s, like… God’s gift to mankind or something. It pisses me off.”
“Uh-huh.” River folded her arms, waiting. Her silence poked holes in my bluster.
“It’s true!” I threw my arms up again, pacing in little circles in front of her.
“He’s such a dick, I mean—why was he flirting with you?
Clearly you don't, you know, swing that way or whatever. I mean, look at you.” River glanced down at herself when I gestured vaguely at her, encompassing the red overcoat and swanky, form-fitting suit beneath.
“It’s ridiculous–he’s ridiculous. That smug, stupid, arrogant little…” I ranted for a while. I wasn’t even sure what I was angry about anymore. All I knew was that Leo had crossed a line I didn't know had been drawn and now I was pissed off beyond belief.
River raised an eyebrow, saying a whole lot of nothing. Without any response to bounce off, my rant fizzled. I dropped my arms to my sides. River simply watched me, head tilted, yellow eyes soft and searching in the glow of a flickering street light.
Heat climbed my neck. That look—steady, patient—did funny, dangerous things to my pulse.
“I just—” I stepped closer, struggling to rationalize my spiking irritation. “He can’t—Because you’re…”
Mine.
The word popped into my head, unbidden.
I may as well have lifted a fist high and socked myself in the gut. I blanched, stumbled back a step, then careered two steps forward like River was my center of gravity rather than the ground beneath my feet.
Before my brain could file a safety report, my hands found her shoulders.
She startled, then steadied when I stood on the tips of my toes, craning my neck until we were eye-to-eye.
Our breath mingled, little clouds passed between the small distance from my mouth to hers.
I hovered on the edge of reason, studying the flecks of gold in her irises.
“You’re…” I sucked in a breath, reeling at the ludicrousness of what my body itched to do. “I’m so confused.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a warning or a confession. River said nothing for a beat—but my unease, my every shred of self-doubt—was reflected in her gaze.
“That makes two of us,” she whispered back eventually, but her hands settled on my hips. Featherlight and flighty like she was afraid I’d jerk away if she touched me with anything more than the faintest dig of her fingers.
I clearly wasn’t thinking straight. I clearly wasn’t thinking at all. Because all I wanted to do, right then and there, was kiss her. I looked at her lips and I wanted to know how they would feel pressed against my own.
I leaned forward, slowly. So very slowly.
I gave her every chance to dodge, to pull back, to do anything other than stand there and wait.
Hell, I wanted her to pull away. I wanted her to save herself from the disaster this would become if I crossed that boundary.
Because I wasn’t strong enough to stop myself.
I paused, my lips inches from her own, and breathed in a small, sharp, final breath.
River didn’t budge, didn’t blink.
I closed the distance. I broke every rule I had set for myself in one tiny but monumental movement.
I kissed her.