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“It’s a katana,” Weston informed me.
“Whatever it’s called, what’s he—”
Cassius stood at the front of the room, and with one smooth motion, sliced the top off the bottle with the sword. “Cheers!” he shouted, and cheers echoed through the room as everyone congratulated him on his skills. I smiled to myself, stepping back to the side of the room as he threw me a cheeky wink, a wide, satisfied grin on his face.
“Hi.” The voice in my ear sent a shiver through me, and I turned my head to look into Caiden’s stormy eyes, his body heat warming me as he slid his arm around my waist. Butterflies raced through me as he pulled me further back into the shadows, against the wall, and dropped his head to lick across my love bite. A soft whimper slipped from my mouth, and I gripped onto his arm, his muscles flexing under my fingers. Fuck. How and when had I fallen so hard for him? Tonight seemed to have solidified my feelings, and all I wanted to do was tell him how I felt, but I held off. If I pushed him, if I tried to make demands of him too soon, he would close up, I knew it. He had to be the one to admit his feelings first.
“Having fun?” I tried to act casually, but I think the tremor in my voice gave me away.
“I am now.” He nipped my ear, then licked at the shell, and all I wanted to do was leave the crowds behind and be alone with him, preferably naked. “Are you gonna kiss me at midnight?”
“Yes.” There was no way I was going to miss that. I’d never actually had a New Year’s kiss before, believe it or not.
“Good. I’ll come and find you later.” He released me after kissing me just below my ear, flashing me a quick grin. “Stay out of trouble.” Then he was gone, swallowed up by the crowd, and a shiver went down my spine.
Not the good kind of shiver. I turned my head, my senses on high alert, and saw Joseph Hyde watching me with a dark, almost malevolent look on his face. I glared straight back at him, daring him to try anything, knowing that the Four would have my back. He dropped his gaze, bringing the half-empty bottle of Patrón he held to his lips and taking a swig, but I could feel the hostility rolling off him.
Choosing to ignore him, I joined Kinslee on the makeshift dance floor. We were then joined by Cassius and Weston and amused ourselves trying to outdo each other with crazy made-up dance moves. By the time I remembered Joseph again, he was gone.
“Damn, that was it.” Kinslee shook the empty champagne bottle, tapping the bottom, as if more would magically appear.
“I’ll find Lena and see if we can grab some more.” I caught a flash of pink hair in the crowds and threaded my way through the masses to Lena. “We’re running low on champagne. It’s getting close to midnight, so I’m thinking we probably won’t need much more.”
She nodded and scanned the room. “Okay. This side looks like it still has plenty, so we’ll just grab another three or four bottles.”
I followed her into the hallway and back down towards the lift.
“Can you wait a minute? I want to use the loo first.”
“I’ll go on down and get the bottles, if you want,” I offered. “I’m pretty sure I can carry them myself, anyway.”
“Are you sure?” She looked torn.
“Course. Meet you back up here in a few minutes.” I gave her a reassuring grin, which she returned with a grateful smile, and waved her off, before pressing the button to call the lift.
Lost in thought, I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings as I entered the cellar.
If I had, I might have noticed the sound of someone breathing, a shoe scuffing the floor, the presence of another person in the cellar with me.
Strong arms came around my back, pinning me, and a hand clamped over my mouth.
I panicked, thrashing around, trying to throw my attacker off. I was dragged backwards, then suddenly released, and I stumbled, falling into the rough stone wall and scraping all down my arm.
That fucking hurt.
Spinning around, reacting on pure instinct, I lashed out at my attacker, raking my painted nails down his face.
“You little bitch,” he hissed, holding the side of his face and glaring at me.
“Joseph?” I clapped my hand over my mouth. Then rage overtook the shock as I realised what he’d just done. “What the fuck are you playing at?”
He took a threatening step towards me, then another, pinning me against the wall. Alcohol fumes assaulted my face as he brought his mouth to my ear, his speech slurred. “I’m here with a warning. You came here and fucked things up for a lot of people, Winter Huntington.”
My heart was beating wildly. No one knew I was here, other than Lena, and she wouldn’t be expecting me back straight away. He was too strong for me to fight off.
“What do you mean, fucked things up?” My only option was to keep him talking and hope Lena came to find me when I didn’t appear with the champagne.
“Our lives were just getting back to normal when you showed up. Thanks to Cavendish’s interest in you”—he spat the word “interest,” and I almost gagged as I got a face full of tequila breath—“and you poking your nose where it doesn’t belong, we’ve been forced to intervene.”
