55. The Perfect Distraction
THE PERFECT DISTRACTION
Axel
The tequila blazed a fiery trail down my throat, and I slammed the glass on the gleaming wood bar in one of the party rooms at the Sigma Delta house. Warmth filled my belly as more liquor entered my system, but it did nothing to dull the pain tearing my insides apart.
Lorelei had ripped out my fucking heart and stomped all over it.
When I reached for another shot, a hand with chipped black polish and a huge skull ring blocked me.
My eyes narrowed at Gage. “Back off, Van Horn. I’m not in the mood.”
He didn’t even flinch at my lethal tone. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”
A bitter laugh erupted from my mouth. “There’s not enough alcohol in the world to cure my ailments.”
“Then why bother?” Gage shrugged and slid the shot farther out of my reach as if I couldn’t just hop behind the bar and grab a whole bottle. “It won’t help.”
I rolled my eyes, muttering curses he couldn’t hear over the thumping music. “I’ll get more myself.”
As I stood, Gage seized my forearm and forced me back onto the stool.
“What happened with you and Lorelei?” he asked, still clutching my arm in a death grip.
“We broke up.” Pangs stabbed my chest at the mention of her name, but I kept my expression neutral. “Now let go of me before I kick your ass.”
Gage scoffed. “Just because you play football doesn’t mean you can take me, Vanderhart.”
I finally jerked my arm out of his grasp. “Football has nothing to do with my ability to knock you out.” Hell, in my current mental state, I could probably take anyone.
A dark shadow fell over my friend’s face.
“You’re all brute force while I take a stealthier approach.” He gave a sinister smile. “I’d poison or drug you before you had a chance to raise your fist at me.”
Sometimes, I wondered if Gage was crazier than Killian.
“You’re twisted, Van Horn.” I spun on the stool and rested my back against the bar to study the partying coeds. “I bet Slate wouldn’t hinder my desire to get completely obliterated.”
If I didn’t shut out these thoughts of Lorelei, I’d do something stupid, like hunt her down and force the truth out of her. Her feelings for me couldn’t have all been a lie. We had something special, and I wasn’t the only one who’d felt it.
“If you want to join Slate in his idiocy, be my guest.” Gage flicked his hand to the left of the massive room where our friend had a girl stretched out on one of the pool tables, using his mouth to grab a shot glass from between her cleavage.
“Vaughn won’t be happy if he finds his latest conquest half naked and writhing under Slate. ”
Tate, one of Lorelei’s sorority sisters, giggled as he licked her stomach. The urge to march over there and demand she tell me where Lorelei was burned through my veins.
That would be a bad idea, though. I’d look desperate, and Lorelei made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me.
A familiar laugh cut through the music, and my attention swiveled to the center of the room where Cordelia danced with a bunch of other scantily clad girls. I smiled and stood, wavering on my feet before using the bar to catch my balance.
She was the perfect distraction.
“Her again?” Gage snarled as he noticed where my eyeline had landed. “I thought you were done with Cordi.”
“Never say never.” I made a beeline toward my ex and brushed my body against hers as she continued to dance. “Hi, gorgeous.”
Cordi spun around, a brilliant smile crossing her face. And then, as if realization hit her, the cheerful light slowly faded from her eyes. “What are you doing, Axel?”
“Dancing.” My hands curved over her hips. “Let’s have some fun.”
She grabbed one of my arms and hauled me back to the bar where a scowling Gage still sat. “What happened with you and Lorelei?”
I clenched my jaw and tried to keep from lashing out. Why was everyone so damn invested in my relationship? “Things didn’t work out. End of story.”
Cordelia folded her arms against her chest. “You guys were so happy together. That doesn’t evaporate overnight.”
When I tried to snatch the tequila shot by Gage, he smacked my hand away.
“Go sober up, Vanderhart, before you do something stupid.” He motioned the unlit cigarette clutched between his fingers toward Cordelia and then stuck it behind his ear.
She flipped him off. “I have a little more self-respect than to hook up with Axel when he’s clearly still in love with Lorelei.” She grabbed a silver and black purse from the bar. “I have exactly what you need, Ax.”
As she dug inside the tiny thing, Gage’s large hand snapped out and clutched her wrist.
“If you even think about giving drugs to Axel right now, I’ll throw you over my shoulder and toss your ass out in the yard.”
Her irises suddenly burned like green fire as she jerked out of his grasp. “Touch me again, and I’ll rip that piercing out of your lip.” She pulled out a mini chocolate bar. “Here, Ax.”
A lump rose in my throat as I took the candy, thinking of the many times Lorelei brought me gourmet chocolate. She’d been struggling with money and had probably sacrificed a dozen lattes from the coffee shop to buy the sweets for me.
Where had it all gone wrong?
Brock had to be behind Lorelei’s sudden change of heart. Did he threaten her family to force her compliance?
“Thanks, Cordi.” I toyed with the wrapper.
Gage cursed as a furious Vaughn stormed toward Slate just as he took another body shot off Tate. “I knew that idiot would get in trouble for this.”
He shoved purple locks out of his face and marched toward the impending drama.
Cordi snorted. “Slate is a walking ball of trouble.”
I gave a humorless laugh. “He just can’t help himself.”
“I saw Lorelei earlier.” She winced as if she hadn’t meant to let that little detail slip. “She was headed to the country club.”
“So what?”
Cordi’s gaze darted away, and she nervously chewed on her bottom lip. “Lorelei was definitely drinking.” She snatched the tequila shot Gage had been guarding and downed it in one quick gulp. “And, well, I’m pretty sure she was meeting that asshole, Brock Haversham.”
The anger I’d been trying to choke down erupted inside me like a geyser, and my hands balled into fists, crushing the miniature candy bar. “Is that so?”
Maybe it was the copious amounts of alcohol I’d consumed, but stopping by the country club seemed like the best idea. That prick Haversham might have thought he won, but I wasn’t letting my girl go that easily.
I strolled into the country club, dressed to the nines in an Italian suit by some posh designer I couldn’t remember, my hair gelled, and reeking of old money like every other filthy-rich member. Even though I was two drinks away from being completely hammered, I had every right to be there.
Haversham didn’t.
He was an interloper in Copper Cove, and someone needed to remind him that he wasn’t at the top of the totem pole.
The Serpents & Daggers owned this fucking town.
Several members and staff nodded in my direction, clueless to the violent rage simmering in my bloodstream. As I walked into the immaculate dining room, the silverware and imported crystal glasses shining under the extravagant chandeliers, my gaze instantly found Lorelei.
My heart squeezed and threatened to crack under the weight of my pain. Her eyes were dull and glazed over as her father and Brock yammered, and her mother pretended to eat a salad while guzzling down a martini.
When Brock leaned over and whispered in her ear, Lorelei elbowed him off with a scowl. My eyebrows shot up my forehead. She wasn’t even pretending to tolerate him.
Good girl.
Lorelei tossed her napkin on the table, stood, and shoved her chair back so hard it almost toppled over. Brock grabbed her arm, his teeth baring as he spoke. Instead of cowering under his fury, she gave a saccharine smile and ripped her arm from his tight grasp.
I remained on the outskirts of the dining room and followed her as she snagged two glasses of champagne from a tray. When I found her in a dark corner near the service entrance, she was guzzling down one of the glasses. Before she could start on the other, I stole it from her dainty hand.
“Nice running into you, blondie.”
She spun around, her eyes wide and mouth gaping. “Axel, w-what are you doing here?”
“Did you really think I’d let you walk away that easily?”
The shock wore off, and her expression hardened as she set the empty glass on the cart next to us. “I have nothing more to say to you.”
I blocked her path when she tried to step around me. “Maybe I have something to say to you.”
She tried to snatch the glass from me, but I tipped it to my lips and swallowed the champagne in one gulp.
“If you know what’s good for you, Ax, you’ll walk out that door and never think about me again.”
“I do know what’s good for me.” I dropped the empty glass on the cart. “And letting you throw your life away to marry that douchebag isn’t it.”
A biting laugh slipped past her glossy pink lips. “Stop trying to save me. I don’t need or want your help.”
“Do I need to marry you?” I jerked my chin toward the exit. “If that’s what it takes, I’ll have my family’s private jet fueled and ready to go to Vegas tonight.”
Lorelei’s eyes widened for an instant before she shook her head, tucking a lock of blond hair behind her ear. “You’ll be stuck in a loveless marriage and end up hating me.”
“Who the fuck says it would be a loveless marriage?” I advanced on her, forcing her back until she collided with the wall. “I love you, Lorelei.”
The bitterness evaporated from her face as soon as those words fell from my mouth. Her hand moved to the base of her throat. “Don’t say that, Axel. Not if you don’t mean it.”
But I did mean it.
This summer with Lorelei taught me what I’d been missing all these years, and I was a dumbass to think this was anything else. I wasn’t exactly sure when it happened, but I fell in love with her at some point during all this pretending.
Was I prepared to actually get married?
Hell, no.
But I’d do it to save Lorelei from a lifetime of abuse and torment.
“I do mean it. And I just needed you to know that.” My body brushed hers as I cupped her cheek, feeling the tremors racing through her. “Tell me you don’t feel the same, and I’ll leave you alone.”
Her gaze darted to the side as unshed tears shimmered. “I’m trying to protect you,” she hissed.
My head snapped back as her words repeated on a loop in my ears. “What are you talking about?”
Her fingertips shot to her mouth as she realized the slip-up. “Nothing. Never mind.”
She tried to break away, but my hands shot out and pressed into the wall to trap her.
“Brock did threaten you, didn’t he?” My heart crashed against my ribs in an angry rhythm. The bastard forced her to break things off, but it had nothing to do with saving her family’s fortune. This was about me. “Tell me, Lore.”
Her mouth opened, the truth dangling on the tip of her tongue, when someone cleared his throat.
“If you don’t mind, Axel, I’d like to have my betrothed back.” Brock stood a few feet away, that arrogant smile curving his mouth as he extended his hand for Lorelei. “Come on, sweetheart. You don’t want to cause trouble for the boy, do you?”