My shoes skid on the shiny floors and I nearly wipe out when I take a corner too tightly, barely escaping Brian’s grab. Gregory doesn’t take the corner as well as I do, and he crashes into the opposite wall and to the floor. My thoughts are moving at the speed of light, and I briefly consider taking on the remaining two of them, but quickly toss the idea. My eyes zero in on Lexie’s door at the end of the hallway, open like an invitation. I sprint for it, the heat of Brian’s rage pushing at my back; I can almost feel their fingertips snagging my clothes.
I tear through Lexie’s door and sprint to the far side of her room. I saw it when we first arrived, so I know the layout already. I know exactly where to go.
The balcony’s double doors open with abang!when I burst through them, and without losing my momentum, I toss myself over the second-story railing.
“Shit!” Leonard shouts as I sail through the air. Behind me, there’s the jarring clatter of bodies crashing into the banister I just cleared.
I hit the lawn hard. A jolt slams up my spine, and I wheeze through a tumble that barely qualifies as a roll. The grass is soft,but it doesn’t stop my lungs from trying to eject themselves. I pop up fast anyway, adrenaline screaming through me.
I whirl and look up–Brian snarls down at me, but retreats, Leonard following him like a shadow. I pant for air, my adrenaline fading, as I wait for the other shoe to drop. But the boys don’t return. For now, I’m safe.
With a gusty sigh, I turn to leave, and freeze.
Even though I just escaped a fight by the skin of my teeth and threw myself out a window without a cent of health insurance, it’s this moment–t’shim–that makes my heart shift gears and put the pedal to the metal. My blood rushes so fast I get a little dizzy, and my stomach swoops while my dark skin hides what I’m sure would be a fierce blush.
Thank god it’s nighttime and not very well lit out here, or else I’m sure Young-gi would see my mortified expression.
Lexie’s bedroom faces the front side of the house, so I landed near the driveway, where a sleek, black luxury vehicle quietly idles. Standing by the open driver’s side door is a hulking brute in a suit and tie, a thick manilla envelope in his massive hands. Young-gi stands beside him and his guard, Yosef, is at his back.
All three men are staring at me, but I only have eyes for Young-gi.
Young-gi hasn’t moved. He’s still in his casual clothes from earlier, not that fancy suit I met him in, but he looks just as untouchable as always. His gaze flicks up to the balcony, then back to me.
When we lock eyes I let out a near-silent, broken breath of anxiety that is embarrassingly close to a whimper.
One of the men murmurs something to him, but Young-gi ignores them, focusing on me.
I can’t breathe when he watches me like that.
Before I can do something unhinged, like open my stupid mouth and try to talk to him, I spin on my heel and march myBlack ass right the fuck out of there as casually as I can manage, as if nothing happened and everything is fine. I keep up the act until I round the back of the house. As soon as I turn the corner and I’m out of Young-gi’s sight, I collapse against the brick wall with a wheeze, gripping my chest.
“Holy shit,” I gasp, shivers dancing up and down my skin. “Holy shit.”
I don’t know why I’m freaking out. Sure, Young-gi was definitely conducting shady, illegal business that I was a witness to. Sure, he saw me jump out a second story window while being pursued. Sure, that completely undermines my rich kid story and makes me suspicious and a possible loose end.
Sure, he looked hot as fuck again and I got a half-boner and then lost it immediately and got fucking emotional whiplash.
And, maybe, I immediately relived all the painfully intense staring he did in the library last night in the span of the five seconds he just spent looking at me.
“No big deal,” I mutter, straightening up and taking it one step at a time. “Not a big fucking deal at all. Sure. Fucking… fuck.”
I tromp tiredly around the back. Seeing the lights of the party again throws me off, and I’m reminded of that feeling I had earlier; of being on a separate island, somewhere just out of sight, out of reach.
Different, isolated.
I don’t have it in me to be careful as I collapse onto the chair with Kira, my shaky legs literally going out from under me.
“Hey!” she complains with a soft pout. But when I start putting the jacket on her–pulling her arms through the sleeves and pushing the hood over her head–she laughingly helps. Her face pokes out of the top like a flower. I boop her nose and let my whole body sag beside her with a sigh that comes from my soul.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, picking up on my mood.
I just shake my head, unable to explain it. My eyes narrow when I see Brian and the brothers back at the tiki bar, and they grin at me like they won something. I guess they kind of did, since I ran away, but they have no idea how close they came to dying. They’re in one piece right now because Iallowit.
Disdainfully, I ignore them, and cuddle into Kira’s side for comfort. I’m shaken up, feeling a little unsteady. But slowly, her warmth and softness centers me until I can be Tommy Claremont again, and not just Tommy.
Chapter 7
Tommy
