Page 76 of No Greater Oblivion

Dahlia hops off the bar and goes to leave but the man grabs her arm and spins her around. The second he lays a hand on her, I’m cutting through the crowd, struggling to make my way through such a dense mass of bodies. Once more, Dahlia tries to leave and the man, presumably drunk and slurring, stumbles into one of the bar chairs and gropes her from behind.

This time when Dahlia turns around, she grabs the man by the back of his neck and sends him face first through the glass countertop. All Hell breaks loose when the man lets out a bone chilling scream as he clutches his face, attempting and failing to pull the shards of glass out from his cheeks. By the time I finally reach the bar, Li and Dahlia are toe to toe, ready to come to blows. She yells something I can’t quite make out over the booming music and Li responds just as sharply. He lifts his hand as if to grab her, but I catch his wrist from behind and spin him around.

Li is ready to pounce but I pin him in place with a menacing stare.

“Don’t.”

In rare form, Li’s cheeks are flushed with heat, his eyes wide and black, almost flustered. He tugs on his blazer in a last-minute attempt to adjust himself as he says, “Get her the fuck out of my club.”

“Gladly.”

“I’m not going anywhere!” Dahlia fires back and turns to Li. “If you ever lay a hand on me again, I swear to God!”

This woman.

“All right,” I grab her purse from off the bar and bend down, wrapping my arm around the backs of her thighs. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll kick your fucking⁠—”

Dahlia yelps as I throw her over my shoulder.

“Alex!”

“Do yourself a favor, Dahlia, and shut up.”

Dahlia

“Is this how you spend your time now?”

I simmer in my seat, arms crossed over my chest as Alejandro continues his rant.

“Getting high off your fucking ass with a bunch of degenerates at Li’s?” He glances at me but the light changes and he hits the gas, racing up Madison Avenue at a speed that’s sure to get us arrested. “Since when, Dahlia, quiero saber.”

I ignore him. There’s no use in arguing and my head is pounding.

“Li Huang isn’t someone to make an enemy of, and Rian most certainly isn’t going to protect you from him.”

Leave it up to Alejandro to know just where to poke.

“What the fuck do you know about it?” I snap at him. “Last time I checked, none of Rian’s cousins trapped me in a burning building⁠—”

Alejandro stomps on the breaks, sending me flying into the dashboard. I extend my hands in time to catch myself but my finger burns. When I pull my hand back, I realize my pinky nail cracked.

“Asshole!” I tell him. “I broke a fucking nail.”

Alejandro puts the car in park and only now do I realize we’re right outside my house. A miracle there’s parking at this time, then again, there’s a fire hydrant where I am and most people give this spot a wide berth. The traffic cop in our area hands out tickets like free money.

“If Li had laid a hand on you tonight, I would’ve had to kill him. And if I killed him, you’d have gotten me into a world of shit so please, for my sanity, stay away from The Empress.”

“What were you doing there anyway? Stalking me?”

“First of all, I own part of The Empress. So if anyone has any business being there, it’s me.”

I clamp my mouth shut.

“Second, you shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

“And where exactly should I be, according to you? Back in Barcelona being a little housewife?” I retort. “I’m twenty-four years old, Alejandro. I belong in the club!”