Shattered King(53)

I poked her in the shoulder. "How can you say that?" There was a slight  slur to my voice. Hmm, maybe I'd had one too many delicious fruity  cocktails. Nah.

I deserved to have some fun, to let loose a little. To have one night  where I could ignore the pain in my chest and the constant queasy  feeling in my stomach. Hell, I hadn't gotten this drunk since . . .  well, I couldn't remember how long, but I knew it was a long damn time.

Ruby was eyeballing me, and those eyeballs were a little on the  bloodshot side. Maybe she'd had a few too many cocktails as well? Nah.  This was girl's night. Being irresponsible with alcohol was expected,  right?

"Hunter's a good guy, Lu. And he looooves you. I mean, if I had a guy  love me like that?" She shook her head, a far-off look drifting across  her unfocused gaze before her striking, dark blue eyes swung back to me.  "I'd hang on with both hands and never let go. I know you're scared and  everything, but Hunter's one hard, scary motherfucker. He'd never let  anything happen to you or Josh."

"You sound just like Hunter."

She grinned. "Because I know it's true."

I wanted the conversation off me. I didn't want to talk about this  tonight. I'd been thinking about nothing else for the last four days. So  I changed the subject. "What about you, Miss Ruby Styles? Do you live  your life to the fullest?"

"Well, yeah, I try."

"Hmm."

She poked me in the shoulder. "Hmm, what?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "What's going on between you and Neco?"

She squirmed in her seat, a frown stealing her features. "Nothing."

"Don't give me that. I see the way you look at him. The way he looks at you."

She glanced away and took a sip of her drink. "He looks at me the same way he treats me, like a little sister."

I snorted. "Well, if I had a brother who looked at me the way Neco looks  at you, I'd . . . well, I'd be creeped right the hell out."

Her eyes got big. "You think Neco's creepy?"

After my fifth drink I was obviously having trouble expressing my  thoughts in a clear and concise manor. So I tried again. "Umm, no . . .  that's not what I meant. What I was trying to say is, he looks at you  like he wants to tear your clothes off your body and have his wicked way  with you, not . . . um . . . whatever the hell big brothers do . . .  are like . . . with their sisters. If you know what I mean."

She jerked back in her seat. "He does not!"

"Does too."

"Does not!" she squawked.

"Does too."

She opened her mouth to fire back another "does not" when our waiter  dropped our bill on the table, giving us a look that, if I wasn't half  drunk, might have made me quiver in my shoes, or at least made me feel  bad about the scene we were obviously making.

Ruby covered her mouth with her hand and the laugh she was trying to  suppress came out like an explosive raspberry against her fingers. I  quickly grabbed my purse and threw some cash on the table. I was using  the last of my savings, but I'd decided a night out was worth it.

I glanced up at our sour-faced waiter. "We'll just be on our way."

Ruby shot up in her seat, grabbed my hand, and we wobbled out of the  place on our stilettos. We'd just gotten out the door when Ruby swung  around to me. "Let's go to a club. I feel like dancing."

I kind of felt like dancing, too. I hadn't been out dancing in . . .  well, as long as it had been since I'd gotten drunk. "Okay, let's go  dancing."

Ruby had just lifted her hand to hail a cab when Neco materialized out  of the shadows like some kind of man-chameleon. . . . A chameleon-man? A  chameleman? Whatever. Anyway, one minute he wasn't there, then the next  he was, and announced, "I'll drive you home."

Neco was wearing jeans, boots, and a black long-sleeved tee that fit  like a glove. He was also wearing a scowl, and it was aimed at my  friend. He looked super pissed. Maybe I'd been wrong about the lust fest  between them? It wasn't like I was some expert on love. Look how I'd  screwed up my own life.

I glanced behind him. A small-okay, a large part of me was hoping Hunter was with him. But he appeared to be alone.

"We're not going home. We're going to a club. We're in the mood to dance."         

     



 

His gaze dropped, taking Ruby in from head to toe. The scowl got deeper. "I'll drop you off at the club."

Ruby and I tried to protest. The last thing either of us wanted was a  damn bodyguard, especially not Hunter's best friend. But Neco was  stubborn and refused to change his mind. We didn't stand a chance.

He dropped us at the club, and I expected him to leave or wait outside  like he had at the restaurant, but he followed us in. Ruby did not look  happy, not at all. Having an extremely tall, extremely pissed off-I  still hadn't worked out what he was pissed off about-guy following you  around was kind of a buzz kill.

As soon as we got drinks, Ruby grabbed my hand and dragged me to the  dance floor. Neco thankfully didn't tag along-though I would have handed  over the last of my savings to see him stand like a damn statue in the  middle of the dance floor, scowling, while we danced around like  lunatics. Instead, he took up position by the wall and watched us, or  mainly Ruby.

It wasn't long before we forgot he was there. The music was good, and  there was a decent crowd, but not so busy you were bumping into  everyone. We danced and laughed, sang our heads off, badly, and laughed  some more. It was nice. To feel my age, to have fun with a friend. To  not spend the whole time looking over my shoulder.

I hadn't noticed we had company, not until someone bumped into me. A  couple of guys had moved in and were kind of dancing with us. They  grinned and we grinned back. They seemed harmless enough. They were hot,  not Hunter hot, but good looking in a "boy next door" kind of way.

That's when I felt it, a tingle down my spine, across my shoulders.

I glanced over at the wall Neco had been propping up. The big man was  still there, but his expression wasn't pissed anymore, it was murderous.  He also wasn't alone-Hunter was standing beside him. He looked like he  was seconds away from pulling out his gun and blowing someone's head  clean off.

Our eyes collided and he pushed away from the wall, started striding  purposefully toward me. I took an involuntary step back and crashed into  one of the guys. His hands came up and settled on my hips to steady me,  and then he leaned in. "You okay, babe?"

Hunter's eyes narrowed to slits. Shit.

I tried to wriggle free, but the guy swung an arm around my neck and pulled me into his side. "You wanna get outta here?"

What? After barely one dance? The guy had a seriously overinflated opinion of himself.

Then Hunter was there. I took another step back when I got a better look  at his face, which brought me closer to Mr. Boy-Next-Door. He took it  as an affirmative answer to his question, and he pulled me in closer.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to wriggle free, but I wasn't going anywhere  with the guy's arm wrapped around my neck like an iron band. How the  hell did I get myself into this situation? Seriously.

Hunter stood in front of me, but his eyes were trained over my shoulder.  "You might want to get your fucking hands off my woman."

I was ashamed to admit, that the way he said that, kind of gave me a  rush of excitement. A big one. I blamed it on the alcohol. I was still  pretty tipsy, and right then I couldn't think of a good enough reason  not to throw myself at him and wrap my body around him like a python  about to devour her favorite meal.

"Well, your woman just agreed to go home with me, so take a hike."

All the happy tingles fled screaming in terror. I spun to the idiot,  still holding onto me. Not good. I looked back to Hunter and shook my  head. "No. That's not . . . I didn't . . . I. . . ."

Hunter's nostrils flared like an angry rodeo bull, gaze cold and scary as hell. "I said, take your fucking hands off her. Now."

This time the charmer at my back got the message. His arm dropped and he  stepped away, lifting his hands in surrender. "Jesus. No offense,  yeah?"

Hunter didn't spare the guy another glance. He grabbed my wrist and  dragged me across the club. I spun to see Ruby racing after us, a  worried look on her face.

He dragged me over to where Neco still stood and grabbed my shoulders. "You wanna tell me what the fuck that was?"

"We were dancing. It was no big deal," I said lamely.

"What did you just say?" he gritted out.

"We were dancing."

He let me go and his hands went to his hips. He tipped his head back and  stared at the ceiling of the club like he was looking for divine  guidance. Then his chin dropped and he aimed his furious stare on me,  hands going back to my shoulders. "You didn't think I'd have a problem  with that?"

Okay, now I was getting pissed off. "I would never cheat on you!" I  jerked back, trying to break his hold on me, but he wouldn't let go. "If  you think that, you don't know me at all."