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“More like in case someone ODs, gets attacked, or is aspirating on their vomit from alcohol poisoning.”
I swallow. “Oh.”
“We play hard, but we playsafe.” He cocks his head. “Most of us, anyway.”
“Is this theroyalwe?” I ask dryly, and then realize my own statement has a double meaning.
Either way, he doesn’t bother replying. “You don’t belong here, Evie Larsen.”
It disturbs me that he knows my last name. I don’t know why—it’s not as if it’s a matter of national security—but I don’t wantanythingabout me stuck in the mind of Owen Dalton.
“Luckily for you, I won’t be here that long.” I try to sound glib, but his comment hurts all the same. Which is dumb, when I think about it. It’s not as if I don’t alreadyknowthat I’m so far out of my league, I’d need a telescope to spot it. I’m an ordinary, slightly overweight girl from a middle-class, recently single-parent family. Around here, everyone looks like Instagram models, both their parents are still around, and they have more zeros in their bank accounts than I can wrap my head around.
That’s what brings a swell of anger inside me, a hot swirl of righteous indignation. Maybe that’s why I step up to Owen like I can somehow intimidate him by showing him he doesn’t scare me. Although if what Kat told me is true, I probably should be scared.
Owen looks down at me, impassive but for a glimmer in his gaze. If it wasn’thimlooking atme, I’d have thought the light in his eyes signified a man who was distinctly intrigued.
But just like Ada, this guy doesn’t seem to find anything very interesting.
I want a reaction from him, and it pisses me off that I don’t get one. So I poke him in the chest. It’s something I instantly regret, because now I’m fully aware of the warm, hard muscles hidden under his clothes. “But don’t think I’m leaving without my necklace. Where is it?”
His eyes shift from my face to my finger, then back again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The thing you tore off my neck last night.” I rub the side of my neck where I still have a faint red line. Owen’s gaze moves to where I’m touching, and then sticks there like glue.
Now I’m really not sure what the gleam in his eyes means. It’s become fierce, almost feral. His nostrils flare, then he looks away.
Pointedly.
“You mean this?” He slips a hand in his back pocket and pulls out my necklace. “I went back to look for it after you made such a big fuss. I found it on the floor. It must have fallen off when the clasp broke.”
I hold out my hand, and he drops the chain into my palm. My stomach turns over. “Where’s… where’s the key?”
“What key?”
I glare up at him. “You accusemeof being a thief, but you think it’s fine to steal my stuff?”
“This was all I found.”
The motherfucker is lying.
But he’s doing it with such a straight face that for a moment I question my own goddamn sanity. No, it wasdefinitelyon there. Why else would Kat tell me to take it off hours before?
It doesn’t matter. I don’t actuallyneedthe key. At least, that’s what I tell myself as I step away from Owen. I can’t stand being so close to him anymore, not with his seductively earthy, masculine scent hitting my nose, the warmth of his body radiating against mine. It’s stirring up a whole host of confusing feelings inside me… just like it did last night.
I blamed it on the drugs before…but I’m sober as fuck right now.
“I’m sure you’re used to getting away with all kinds of shit,” I say, sticking up my chin as I shove the chain into my pocket. “But I’m not charmed byyou, Owen. You can only push me so far before I push back.”
There’s a flicker in his eyes when I say his name. I don’t like the way it feels on my tongue, either. So easy. So… familiar.
“And yet you haven’t thrown me out yet. Does that mean I haven’t pushed hard enough?” He takes a slow step backward, reaching out behind him.
I stand frozen as he closes my bedroom door.
“How about now, Evie?”
Fuck.
