Chapter 50
Magma
I watch Carla run.
“Carla…wait…” Robyn calls after her. She turns and jogs after Carla. The two of them disappear down the hallway.
I stand there staring at Ridge and Flint.
Neither of them says anything. The bathroom door hangs open behind me, the gold mirror still crooked from where I bounced Malachite off the wall…twice.
Shit!
I start after her.
Ridge puts a hand on my shoulder and stops me before I take a second step. “Carla looked upset. You might want to let Robyn handle it.”
He’s right. It doesn’t make standing here like an idiot any easier. My dragon is prowling under my skin, snarling at me to go after her, and every muscle in my body agrees with him. I make myself stay put. I’ve done enough damage in the last five minutes to last a decade.
“You and Carla.” Flint stares at me like I grew a second head. “What the fuck?! Since when?”
Shit!
Crap!
There’s no way out of this one.
I scrub a hand over my face. “I’m so sorry, Flint. I…messed up.”
“Mistveil.” Ridge says it slowly, looking shocked to his core. “It was Mistveil, wasn’t it?”
I nod once. “I’m so sorry, Flint. I should have told you.”
“You and Carla hooked up on Mistveil?” Flint looks just as shocked as Ridge does.
I nod again. I want to tell him that it didn’t mean anything, that it was the island, the danger, the adrenaline. The words won’t come, because they’d be a lie, and I’m all out of those. I grip the back of my neck and squeeze until it hurts.
“Why did you push so hard to get us together?” Flint asks. “I don’t get it. You’re acting like you… Like…” He waves a hand at me, at the bathroom, at everything. “Why did you play matchmaker?”
“Guilt,” Ridge says.
I nod a few times. “I felt terrible for moving in on your female. For—”
Flint starts laughing. “Are you kidding me? Carla was never my female. We toyed with the idea of dating, but it never happened. It isn’t like that at all between us. Not even close. I’ve tried to tell you that, and more than once, but you don’t seem to hear me.”
He has tried. I have to agree.
“Because he’s riddled with guilt,” Ridge says, folding his arms.
Flint laughs again. “Is that why you were looking at Malachite like you might want to kill him? It had nothing to do with me, did it?”
“You were jealous,” Ridge says.
“I’m jealous as fuck!” I admit. It’s out before I can stop it, loud enough that I glance down the hallway to make sure nobody else heard. “I felt very guilty after Mistveil. I thought I ruined things between you two.”
“No, you didn’t. It—” Flint starts to say when Brook arrives.
“Is everything okay?” she asks.
“Oh shit!” Flint mouths at me over her head, glancing at Brook with a worried expression.
“It’s fine,” I tell her. “We’re all good.”
“Is Carla okay? She just got back to the table and is talking with Malachite.”
My blood starts to boil just thinking about the male. His hands on her. His eyes too.
“I was a little over the top and might have shoved him and threatened him.”
“Oh…oops,” Brook says.
Flint is looking between Brook and me with a frown on his face.
“Brook knows about Carla,” I tell him and Ridge. “Brook came with me as a friend tonight. It’s not like that.”
“Are you in love with Carla?” Ridge asks. Then he looks at me like the answer is written across my forehead. “Holy shit! You are, aren’t you?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I look at the floor, then back up at the three of them. “I just made everything worse. I need to go in there and apologize to Malachite, or Carla will never forgive me.” I say it through gritted teeth, because the thought of apologizing to that male is fucking with my head.
My dragon doesn’t want me to apologize. He wants me to kill the male and to take Carla. He wants me to sink my teeth and my cock into her, claiming her so that no male ever touches her again.
I ignore him.
“Did you speak to her?” Brook asks. “Like I told you to.”
“If sticking his tongue in her mouth can be construed as talking,” Flint chuckles.
“You kissed her?” Brook’s eyebrows go up.
“I ruined things,” I groan. “I got aggressive with Malachite and possessive over her, and then I might have accidentally kissed her.”
“Accidentally,” Ridge repeats, his eyes glinting.
“You need to talk to her,” Brook says.
“I scared her off,” I mutter. Every time I open my mouth tonight, it gets worse.
“Can I point out that Carla kissed you back?” Flint says. “You guys were halfway to fucking when we interrupted you,” he snickers. “I never thought I would see the day. I normally pull shit like that…not you.”
“You should close the door next time,” Ridge says. “And I agree with Brook, you should totally talk to her… Just not at my wedding. I would like to go and dance with my beautiful mate now. Then we’ll cut the cake. I want us to have a good time with no drama.”
“Of course,” I say. “I’ll apologize to Malachite and be on my best behavior…I swear.” I hold up my hands. “I’m sorry, bro.”
“It’s all good.”
Ridge claps me on the shoulder.
“Good luck,” Flint says and then follows Ridge back toward the music, still shaking with laughter, the traitor. I’ll be hearing about this for the next hundred years.
I go over to Brook. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s fine.”
“This has to be the worst date you have ever been on.”
She laughs. “It really isn’t. It’s been interesting, I’ll say that much.” She nods a few times, lips pressed together like she’s fighting a smile.
I take her back to the table and pull her chair out for her. She sits, and I lean down. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Go get ’em.”
I walk over to where Carla and Malachite are sitting. The male pales as I get there. His eyes go wide, and he sits up so straight his spine could double as a flagpole.
I lift both hands, palms out, before I’ve even reached the table. “I came over to apologize. I’m so sorry. That was completely out of line.”
Malachite stands. “That’s okay, sir.”
We shake hands. His grip is firm, even though the rest of him looks ready to bolt. Points to him for holding firm. Carla stands too, watching us like she’s refereeing a fight that could break out again at any moment.
“I was just explaining to Malachite how protective you are after Mistveil,” she says.
“It makes perfect sense, sir, given the male you are and—”
“It’s Magma. We aren’t at work right now,” I tell him. “Anyway, my apologies. I was out of line.”
“No hard feelings, sir.” He winces. “I mean, Magma.”
I turn to Carla. “I overreacted. I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”
“I am…um…thanks.” Her face is red. Her jaw is tight. Her chin comes up. “You should probably get back to your girlfriend.”
Shit! She’s pissed
“We need to talk, Carla.”
“No, I think we’re good.”
“I disagree,” I tell her.
“Noooooo, I’m pretty sure that we’re all good and that everything has been said.”
I want to argue with her. But I can see that she isn’t listening. Her arms are crossed, and her eyes are daring me to push. She won’t change her mind. Not tonight. Not here.
“Enjoy the rest of the evening.” I glance at Malachite. “Make sure that Carla gets home safely.” There’s a slight growl to my voice that I can’t smooth out, and Malachite shrinks a little.
“Magma!” Carla warns.
“Again, I apologize.” This time I look Carla in the eye when I say it, and I hold her gaze, so she knows I mean it. I did overreact. I did act out of line.
She stares back at me, and I can’t read a single thing on her face.
I dip my head to them both and walk back to my table.
Brook slides my beer toward me as I sit. “How did it go?”
“I apologized to Malachite. He accepted. Carla told me to go back to my girlfriend.” I take a long pull of the beer. “That would be you, by the way. Congratulations.”
“Lucky me.” She lifts her wine. “Here’s to actually having a conversation with her at some point.”
I sigh. “At this point it will never fucking happen. She didn’t seem open to talking. I asked, and she turned me down flat.”
“And you’re just going to accept it? If you want her, you need to go after her.”
“Oh, I will. Believe you me,” I tell Brook.
I only hope I didn’t fuck things up completely.