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“Bullshit,” I rumbled.
Otto cracked up. “Really, brother? Thought you were going to go right over the table every time she shifted in her seat. Two more seconds, and you were going to blow.”
“None of you know what the hell you’re talking about.”
Kane took a sip of his whiskey, grin playing all over his cocky face. “Well, since you aren’t interested, then I guess I might as well be the one to add a little icing to her cake.”
“Not one of you are touching her.” The words were nothing but gravel. Scraping in possession.
Kane laughed like it was hysterical, and he wagged a finger at me. “Ahh, that’s what I thought.”
I shrugged like it didn’t matter and I wasn’t itching to fly out of my seat. “She’s Raven’s friend, so I’d appreciate it if you assholes didn’t ruin that for my sister, yeah?”
My sister was finally spreading her wings. Meeting people. Having fun. And while I might have been protective as all hell when it came to her, it filled me with relief that she was stepping out.
I told myself the command that had grated from my tongue didn’t have a thing to do with the woman herself or the way my guts had been in knots of need since the second I’d seen her standing next to Raven earlier this afternoon.
“You know, with the life he leads, I’d think he’d be a better liar.” Otto hooked a thumb in my direction.
“Fuck you, man,” I grumbled, and he laughed one of his jovial, easy laughs before he reached out and jostled my shoulder with his giant mitt. “Thought we just discussed you finding a way to let loose? A place to put all that aggression that’s got you bound? It’s a beautiful night. Get up and have yourself a little fun, brother. What do you think this whole thing is about?”
He waved a hand over his head to take in the festival.
What this whole thing was about was not getting suckered into taking home a puppy, that was what.
Which the thought of it sent my attention slanting back to the three of them dancing, not that I had been able to keep my focus away from that spot the entire time they’d been on the floor.
Nolan was on his feet and twirling in a circle with his hands thrown high, Raven doing the same. Charleigh went to mimic the move, though she stumbled when she was facing out toward the lake.
Just fucking freezing.
Swore I could feel the cold streak through the air. Mood dumping to dim while she stood there facing out toward the darkened beach of the lake where there were still a few people, though they’d become shadows and silhouettes.
She stumbled a fraction, and her ankle twisted to the side since she was wearing those high wedged heels, blown back like she’d just seen a ghost.
She wasn’t so far away that I couldn’t make out the terror locked on her face, though she was doing her best to pretend it wasn’t there when she turned back to Raven and quickly rambled something I couldn’t hear, though clearly it was some kind of excuse.
Raven frowned like she knew it, too.
Charleigh’s fingers brushed through Nolan’s hair before she started to push into the roiling crowd. Raven reached out to take her by the wrist like she was hoping to convince her not to leave, but Charleigh was backing away, shaking her head, smile so fake that I felt it crack.
Heading in the opposite direction of the lake and disappearing into the night.
I was on my feet in a split second, and I punted Otto a glance with a jut of my chin. “Get Raven and Nolan home safe, yeah? I’ve got something that came up.”
“Ah, we know what’s up, brother,” Kane taunted, white teeth flashing. Dude might as well have been thirteen years old.
I only grunted at him.
“Don’t sink your teeth in too deep,” Theo called behind me, and I tossed him a finger from over my shoulder as I wound out of the tent and started across the field in the direction she’d gone.
Boots pounding the ground, this pull she had me under something I couldn’t resist.
Worry clutched me by the throat.
There’d been something about her that had held me since the moment I’d met her. Something about her that made me want to look closer.
Something that compelled.
