Talon swallows audibly, glancing around the bar. Aiden’s drunk, eyes half open, swaying slowly on his feet. And everyThetain here smells blood, ready to fight for their leader. Not that they’d have to. I’ve watched Aiden fight. In the ring. From the shadows. When we were at Crest…
He doesn’t like to play by the rules, and Talon knows he’d go down with one blow.
Instead, he snakes his arm around my waist and pulls me back toward the bar as Ryan Cardell and Landon Turner gather Aiden up and help him calm down, shoving another whiskey into his chest.
“Let’s go, Ash. This is stupid,” Talon says, pretending to wait on the bartender.
He pulls me toward the bar, and I stumble. Leaning in close, he grits out through his clenched teeth, “What the fuck were you thinking, bringing me here?”
“You said you were upset we hadn’t seen each other in a week. Figured you missed me and wanted to get a drink.”
“Nothere! Not with a bunch ofThetasand—” Stopping himself, he glances toward Aiden’s crowd, looking panicked. “Him.”
I swallow. “Just ignore him?—”
“I saw you two, you know.”
My breath catches. I pretend I didn’t hear him. “What?”
“My freshman year. You said you were staying home, so I went to the fights at the Lodge.”
I lose a breath. It could have been numerous times he’s talking about, so I just blink innocently.
“He spotted you in the crowd and didn’t seem to like that. And afterward, I saw you two in the hall arguing with each other like…”
Like people who mattered to each other.
Like people who hated and wanted in equal measure.
Talon’s brown eyes trail over the crowd, as if he’s putting things together.
Aiden caught me stalking him. It wasn’t the first time. I pretended like I had no clue he was going to be there that night. We probably fought over me being near him. Gloating about howhappyI was.
But all I wanted was his hands on me. Thefeelof his heat near my body. A whiff of his cologne—dark, sweet, and soothing. Like honeyed whiskey. It calmed me in a way I needed at that moment.
My cheeks flame. But I don’t say a word.
Talon looks at me again, and something tired settles behind his eyes. As if he already lost. Or maybe he finally accepted it that night.
“I want to dance,” I tell him, then pull him closer to where a few of theOmegasare crowded near the DJ booth in the back room. The muscle in the back of Talon’s jaw flexes, but I knowhe’ll do what I say. He doesn’t want to walk outnowand look like a wimp.
So we rock from side to side. Close. The way Itaughthim to dance back in high school, when he started calling me fancy feet. Because he couldn’t keep up.
He still can’t.
Aiden’s eyes follow my every move as he sits at the high-top with his crew. But then Hailey Twinston bounces close by him, and he pulls her onto his lap…my lap.
With a snide glance at me, he leans in and kisses Hailey’s neck as she giggles.
Where’s a lit torch when you need one?
I swivel around and toss my arms around Talon’s neck, raise onto my toes, and plant a long, hot kiss on him. He tastes like the beer and cigarettes he had earlier, before we got here. But mostly, he tastes like the perfect ruse to make someone jealous.
Even before I get into another stroke of my tongue, the body in front of me disappears. And when I open my eyes, Aiden has Talon on the ground, wailing on him with his angered fists.
“She’s notyours! Not this month, Moretti!I won her!”
Blood flies from Talon’s face in sprayed gushes, his nose clearly broken. He tries to fight Aiden off, but it’s no use. Another hit and he’s getting knocked out.