Page 154 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

I moved before I could think, planting myself directly between them. My shoulder hit hers hard enough that her drink sloshed over the rim and spilled down the front of her red dress.

“You bitch! You made me spill my drink!” Naomi snarled.

I glanced at the spreading mark before meeting her eyes. “That was your warning.”

I turned my back on her and looked up at Jackson instead, batting my lashes once with a sweet smile. Possessive satisfaction flickered through the bond.

“Are you serious right now?” Naomi snapped behind me.

Jackson’s gaze snapped over my shoulder. Before I could turn, his arm wrapped around my waist and he spun me out of the way. A split second later the glass shattered against his back and droplets of alcohol hit my skin.

Fury detonated in my chest. I lunged around him, but his arm locked around my waist like a steel bar.

“Let me go—”

“No.” He glared over his shoulder at Naomi. “You need to get out of here right now.”

Naomi laughed once. “Or what?”

“Or I’m going to stop stopping her. And trust me, you don’t want that.”

Naomi opened her mouth, closed it, then stormed off in a string of curses, heels clicking angrily across the floor. The crowd parted around her, murmuring.

I was still vibrating with fury.

“Five seconds,” I muttered. “That’s all I needed.”

Jackson tightened his hold. “I know.”

“That wasn’t a no.”

“It was.”

Cassidy hobbled up beside us. “Holy shit. What a trainwreck. Ten out of ten drama.”

I tried to twist around him. “Let me check your back. You took the glass—”

“I’m fine,” he said.

I glared. “Jackson.”

He didn’t argue again. Without another word he scooped me up. My legs wrapped around his waist automatically as his hands gripped my ass, adjusting the tiny skirt so no one else got a view of what was his. A low growl rumbled in his chest, vibrating straight through me.

He leaned in, teeth grazing my neck, and whispered against my skin, “I love you.”

My arms tightened around his neck. “I love you too.”

Several wolves within earshot went still. Heads turned.

The heat inside me surged, sudden and uncontrollable. I rocked against him without thinking, grinding slow and needy. Jackson’s jaw flexed, his grip tightening with a restraint he was clearly fighting to keep.

“Let’s get out of here,” he growled, voice rough. He started moving through the crowd, carrying me like I weighed nothing.

“Don’t worry about the cripple!” Cassidy called after us. “I’ll hobble home all by myself!”

Jackson slowed for half a step. Jason laughed. “I’ve got her, man. Go.”

Jackson picked up the pace again, arm tight around me as he carried me toward the door.