Chapter 6
Chapter Six
DEREK
This was not how my night was supposed to go.
I’m halfway across the room, mid-conversation I don’t care about, when something in my peripheral vision pulls wrong.
Audra’s at the bar.
She’s alone—mostly. A guy is angled toward her, close enough to be intentional, far enough away to pretend it’s casual. Dark hair slicked back. Clean jacket. The kind of man who thinks he looks safe.
She’s smiling. Polite. Controlled.
Fine.
I tell myself that’s the end of it.
Then she shifts her weight.
It’s subtle. A half-beat too slow.
She corrects too quickly.
I frown.
She lifts her glass. Takes a sip. Sets it down.
Her knees soften.
Just enough.
I’m already moving.
I don’t remember deciding to. One second I’m across the room—and the next I’m there.
Close enough to catch her before she falls.
My hand closes around her forearm, steady and firm. She turns toward me, eyes unfocused for a fraction too long.
That fraction matters.
“I’m fine,” she says automatically.
She’s not.
Alex’s voice cuts in somewhere behind me. “Okay, that’s not alcohol.”
Mark’s already there too—of course he is—clearing space without making a scene.
Audra sways again, smaller this time. She grips my sleeve, fingers clumsy, strength misjudged.
That lands harder than it should.
I tighten my hold just enough to keep her upright.
She’s lighter than I expect.
The irritation I’d been carrying snaps cleanly into focus.
“You drank something,” I say.
“Her drink,” Jamie snaps. “It was right here.”
“That’s fast,” Alex mutters. “Too fast.”
Audra exhales, breath uneven, eyes fluttering shut for half a second. When they open again, she gives me a faint, crooked smile.
That smile makes my jaw tighten.
Not at her.
At whoever thought they could do this to her.
“We’re leaving,” I say.
She shakes her head weakly. “No. I don’t—”
Her balance gives again, and this time she doesn’t pretend. She leans into me, forehead brushing my chest before she pulls back, embarrassed by the instinct.
“I know,” I say quietly. “Humor me.”
She exhales. Long. Unsteady.
Alex snorts softly. “You crossed that room like you were summoned.”
I ignore him.
Because he’s right.