Page 2 of The Silent Hour

"Ethan," I repeated, like I was just confirming it and not trying to see straight through his clothing.

Then I turned and walked back to Latoya before I could do anything stupid. She was already fanning herself with the scavenger list, swaying in her red bottoms, long hair swinging, eyes fixed on Ethan and his group like she was deciding which one to eat first.

"Gurl." She pointed with her empty shot glass. “He ain't just fine. That's a different category of fine entirely.”

“And you're drunk. Whatever happened to I can hold my liquor more than all you bitches?"

"I'm still standing, aren’t I?"

I shook my head and straightened the tie around my shoulders. "Whatever. I've got four left. How many do you?" I stopped. She wasn't listening, too busy staring. "Toya."

She grinned, slow and wicked. "What? They're fine, and the way I'm feeling tonight, I wouldn't mind being used in all..." She held her hand up and counted off her fingers. “Five holes.”

“Bitch, did you count your ears?” I asked, laughing as I playfully shoved her, then grabbed her arm when she nearly went sideways in her heels.

We were both losing it then, cackling loud enough to turn heads, and neither of us cared even a little. She pulled me by the wrist toward the far bar, where Mehgan was already flagging us down over another round.

For a while, I almost managed to forget him, Ethan. But every time I threw my head back laughing or we hit the dance floor, I could feel it. A steady gaze from across the whole damn room.

I caught him watching me and pretended I didn’t. Eventually, Toya caught me watching him back.

“Go talk to him!” she yelled louder than was necessary.

“I don’t have anything to say,” I shouted back at a more reasonable level.

That was a bold-faced lie. I had plenty to say, but I wasn’t sure adding that man to my list of bedfellows was a smart move.

Toya grinned around her skinny little straw. “You still have that man's tie around your neck.”

I looked down.

Shit.

Somewhere between finishing the scavenger hunt and Mehgan scoring us another round, I'd completely forgotten about it.

“I should probably give it back.”

“Or take it home and sleep with it under your pillow.”

I reached for my drink instead, only to find mostly melted ice waiting for me.

I'd officially hit my limit anyway. The pleasant buzz I'd been riding for the last hour was beginning to tip toward drink some water before tomorrow becomes a crime scene.

I pushed the glass away. "I'm getting water."

Toya made a face. "Boring ass."

"Alive, you mean?" I laughed and turned toward the bar.

A few steps later, I nearly walked straight into a dark suit. I stopped short. The cologne hit me first, before I even looked up.

Ethan.

The strobing lights had softened to something amber at this end of the room, and up close he was somehow even nicer to look at. The ink at his wrist caught my eye again where his sleeve had ridden up further than before.

His gaze dropped to the burgundy silk still hanging around my shoulders, then came back up slowly.

"I was starting to think you stole it."