Chapter 34 #2
Brody plucked the plastic cup Nick had given me out of my hand and brought it to his nose. His expression darkened when he smelled it.
“Selena doesn’t drink already-poured drinks some fucking random gives her, FYI, so don’t waste your time. What’s in this anyway? If I drink it, are you going to have your wicked way with me?”
Nick stood, bristling. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means your drink smells like chemicals. I don’t like that one fucking bit.”
I glanced up at Brody to see him handing the drink to Cal.
“Get someone to stick one of those drink-spiking swabs in there. Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
The relief of not being locked in that intense conversation with Nick finally thawed my panic, and I stood.
“You think he put something in my drink?” I asked. Honestly, I wasn’t surprised; he’d been far too insistent on my drinking it, and something about that sweet, slightly chemical smell had set off alarm bells. But the thought of Brody knowing for sure was a worry. What would he do?
“I know he did, sweetheart. I just need some proof before I get him kicked off the team.” Brody stared unyieldingly at Nick.
He didn’t flinch as Nick laughed loudly and got in his face. Tension spiked between them.
“Sweetheart?” Nick repeated, jumping on the endearment. “You call your stepsis sweetheart? How kinky of you.”
The Ice Gods had formed a loose circle behind Brody, and Winter came to stand beside me, taking my hand in hers.
“Do you even know who you’re defending?” Nick continued.
Pain lanced through me as he shot me a contemptuous side-eye. Oh, he definitely knew. His cop brother had told him everything. Shame crawled through me.
“Do you even know who you’re insulting?” Brody snapped back. “I’m warning you now to walk away, or it might be difficult for you. You’re off the team, whether I have to get you arrested for the drink or break both legs.”
Nick visibly paled, then puffed out his chest when he noticed the assembled crowd. “Yeah, right. My brother’s a cop; you can’t just threaten me—”
“I’m Brody fucking Sinclair; I can threaten whoever I want. I could have ten lawyers at your brother’s quaint little small-town station before I even finished breaking those legs. The law doesn’t exist for men like me.”
Those words should have been terrifying. Of course, they were. But then Brody looked at me over Nick’s shoulder, and I felt no threat. I only felt safety.
Nick’s face was turning red, a marked contrast with his previous pale complexion. He laughed, but it sounded strained. He knew that Brody wasn’t exaggerating. He was rich and powerful enough to do whatever he wanted.
Nick held his hands up in a placating gesture. “Listen, man, there’s no need to get this worked up over a girl. You can have her, how’s that?”
Nick glanced at me, his lip curling. How had I not seen how much he disliked me? It seemed so obvious now.
He spat on the floor near my feet. “I’m not into damaged goods anyway.”
That was the last thing he said before Brody swung at him. Brody lunged, his fist flying and hitting Nick squarely across the jaw, and then everyone jumped in.
“Oh God. Men,” Winter muttered and hauled me back.
Seconds later, it was over. Cayden held Brody back and spoke low in his ear. Brody’s gaze fixed on Nick’s crumpled figure on the floor, anger visible in every line of his body. Somebody tried to help Nick up, but he was out cold.
Cal wandered up the rooftop stairs and waved a small strip in the air while staring down at his phone.
“It’s positive for benzodiazepines, probably Rohypnol,” he said, then stopped when he took in the scene before him. “What happened?”
“Your brother decided not to wait for the drink result before losing his mind,” Marcus muttered and then shrugged.
“Can’t say I blame him, though. That fucker is putting shit into drinks in the Hellions’ dorm?
Throw him off the fucking roof and put the music back on!
” he called to someone near the speakers.
The party resumed, with a lot of whispering and glances at Nick and Brody.
“Well, I’d say it might be pretty clear to everyone that something is going on between you two,” Winter murmured and raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you okay with that?”
“No, of course not. We’re—my mom…” I blew out a breath. “It’s complicated.”
“Yeah, it is,” she agreed and then gave me a small smile. “And it’s not, at the same time.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I don’t care about your mom. I care about you. So, I’m Team Fuck It on this one.” She peeked over my shoulder. “Let’s go downstairs where nobody just saw all of that. I think Eve and Lily are here. I want to hear all about the play, too.”
She looped her arm through mine and we headed downstairs.
I glanced back, but I couldn’t see Brody in the sea of bodies.
An hour later, I was relaxed and warm and suffused with female energy. Despite that solid, safe feeling, intrusive thoughts kept popping up.
Has Officer Preston shown Nick the video or just told him about it? Does he have a copy? Who else has seen?
I tried my best to shove the thoughts deep down inside, but the lid on the box of my worst fears wouldn’t stay closed, and they kept spilling out.
The party had settled into a slower tempo. People danced in the middle of the room. Eve stood and stretched.
“Shall we dance? I have all this nervous energy,” she said.
“I can help you with that,” Beckett purred, looming behind her.
“Really?” She smiled at him and took his outstretched hand.
He pulled her toward the dance floor and called out to the DJ, his voice carrying easily over the din.
“Put something slow on. My lady wants to dance.”
A few whistles went up around the room as the music changed to something slow and sinuous. People shifted from groups of friends dancing together, to couples.
One by one, the girls drifted away to dance with their significant others. Winter was the last to go, handing me a half-full bottle of beer to look after as she went.
I eyed it, my mouth suddenly so dry I couldn’t think about anything other than taking a drink.
My thirst for alcohol went hand in hand with the racing, dark worries I couldn’t seem to ignore tonight.
I’d been doing so well, but tonight, my self-discipline had run out.
I needed something to take the edge off.
I put the bottle to my lips and was about to tip it back when a tattooed hand closed around mine.
“Don’t. You’ll regret it tomorrow.” Brody pried the bottle from my hand.
I glanced up at him. It felt weird to talk after what had happened upstairs. He’d called me sweetheart in front of everyone. He’d punched Nick out. He’d protected my honor. Ha, what a joke. Like I had any. But somehow, Brody seemed to think I did.
I gave a long, soul-tired sigh at his relentless discipline. “I can’t be in my own head right now. Please, have mercy.”
“If you can’t be in your own head…” He held his hand out to me.
I cautiously took it, not sure what he planned.
He helped me to my feet and then backed us toward the dance floor.
“Come and be in mine. You’ll be distracted quick enough,” he whispered.
We moved among the couples, getting lost somewhere in the middle. Brody wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close. The press of other people forced us closer together. His hands rested firmly on my waist. It felt more intimate than it should.
I peeked up at him. “What’s in your head that’s so distracting?”
He moved slowly and purposefully against me.
He could dance; I could tell in the way he spun us around.
He’d probably been waltzing in London society balls since he was a kid.
All other complications aside, this guy was from a completely different world than me. The chasm between us was unfathomable.
He stared down at me a beat before he answered. “You.”
I had no idea what to say to that, so I resorted to my usual trick. Deflection.
“Because no one else would make you get into a fight when you’d just arrived at a party, right? Is this me breaking your rules and embarrassing the family? Does it count if I get you to do it for me? Your dad would hate that—”
“Selena,” Brody cut in softly.
“Hmm?”
“Shut the fuck up and just dance with me.”
My mouth fell open in outrage, but he didn’t give me a chance to respond. He tugged me closer, guided my head onto his shoulder, and moved us. The motion was relaxing, rhythmic, almost hypnotic.
“People can see us,” I said.
Brody’s arms tightened around me.
“I don’t give a fuck. Let them see. Just lay your goddamn head for once, and just be.”
The instruction was so precise, and so reasonable, I did just that. I lay my head on the shoulder of this man who I felt safe with, and let him lead me.