Brady, the other buttonman, and Mrs. Callahan must’ve gone inside while I was chatting with Cian, and I didn’t even notice.
Now that I have, it’s even more frustrating that we’ve been left alone. Itwouldbe my luck that we are.
If Killian thinks I’m about to let him off the hook, he has another thing coming. I rise from the terrace steps and brush bits of dust and gravel from my dress.
“What the hell was that?” I demand.
Killian turns his gaze on me, eyes darker and bluer than usual. They’re blazing from the anger that’s driven his temper.
No surprise considering his jaw’s tight and his hand’s still loosely curled at his side. Almost as if he’s still tempted to go after Cian.
“He was touching you,” he says simply.
“So?”
“So it isn’t allowed.”
“Says who?” I press, taking a step toward him.
“I saw the way you flinched. I knew you were uncomfortable.”
He’s right… but that’s not the point.
The point is, it isn’t his place to make that call. Especially not when he refuses to address what we’re?—
I huff out an incredulous breath. “How could you possibly know that? You don’t get to make those decisions for me, Killian. Remember how you’re always talking about knowing my place? How about you know yours?”
“I was protecting you.”
“How?” I ask with a short laugh. “You’ve beenavoidingme all night! You barely looked at me when I came out of that bathroom. You haven’t said a single word to me since. Butnow suddenly you care when another man shows me some attention?”
His dark gaze flickers with an unnamed emotion. The same one that makes him clench his jaw harder. “That’s… different.”
“Care to explain how? You can’t ignore me then expect me to thank you when you suddenly show up like you’re trying to save the day. Stop acting like some jealous boyfriend. It’s not fair!”
“I…” he starts slowly. “I… wasn’t ignoring you.”
“Then what would you call it? Do you know how it made me feel when you walked away? How it makes me feel that you keep ignoring what we’ve—never mind!”
He takes half a step toward me. “What we’ve what?”
“I said never mind!”
“Tell me what you were about to say,” he growls, reaching for my arm.
I wrench it away before he can. “What difference does it make? There’s nothing going on between us, right? You’re just my bodyguard and nothing more, right?”
His scowl returns as he grits his teeth and says, “That’s not… I don’t… you…”
But we’re cut off in the middle of our argument by a woman’s scream.
It’s coming from indoors. The main room where the party’s being held.
It takes me another half second to recognize it as Oona’s.
Killian’s rushed back inside from the terrace with me only a couple steps behind. We tumble into the room to find a crowd gathered around a body on the floor.
It isn’t until Killian pushes his way through the crowd and I slip through after him that I realize who it is.
