“Cole would never leave you. Ever.”
She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “He’s here.”
“Who?” I take a quick look around the bar. Did Seth follow me? My heart pounds at the thought. The odds of me fighting him off twice are not good. I’m already weak and tired.
“Cole,” she answers, opening her eyes.
“How do you know?” I ask.
She lets go of my hand and takes another shot. “I can feel him watching me.” She throws back the shot and a smile appears on her face before she whispers, “I dare you.”
Just then, a man walks up behind her and places his hands on her hips. I watch Cole lean down and whisper in her ear. “Hello, sweetheart.” He’s no longer the pissed-off guy he was thirty minutes ago, but I can’t tell if it’s a front or real. He’s put a shirt on and now wears jeans instead of his board shorts and has his hair spiked.
She wipes the smile off her face and stands, turning around to face him. “I didn’t want to be around you.”
He tucks her hair behind her ear. “And I didn’t care.”
She huffs. “Cole …”
He cuts her off with a kiss. One hand cups her cheek while the other goes to her ass, and he kisses her. It’s passionate. Slow and sexy. I watch his tongue enter her mouth as he pushes her back into the bar. I’ve never spent much time with them, but I’ve read about their passion, anger, and sex life in her journal. And the words she wrote don’t even compare to the real thing. To what he feels for her.
He pulls away, and she licks her lips, her eyes slowly opening. “I’m not leaving,” she states.
“I didn’t expect you would.” He lets go of her, grabs her hand, and says, “Dance with me,” before pulling her away from the bar.
I sit on my stool and watch them take their place on the mini dance floor. There’s no grinding. Nothing to show that he once used her for his own sick game. He makes love to her out there. Slow and sweet. He holds her to him and kisses her while they dance to their own song. It’s beautiful.
I realize I want that. The fighting. The passion. The love. I want someone to love me so much that I make them crazy. Anything less would be boring. Lifting my hand to my throat, I flinch when I realize that’s exactly what Deke and I have. I wanted him to fuck me, and now I want him to love me.
Spinning around, I hold up two fingers to the bartender. “Vodka,” I state. I’ve had enough of that cinnamon shit.
“Here you are.” He sets them down.
“Thanks,” I mumble as a man slides onto Austin’s seat. I look over to see a new set of blue eyes. Ones that make my breath quicken and my thighs tighten.
Fuck!
“If you’re here to force me to leave, I’ll make a scene.” Not a good idea on my part since I’m underage, but he doesn’t wanna push me on this.
Deke shakes his head. “We’ll go when you’re ready.”
“We?”
He nods once.
“Waiting for me to get drunk before you try to kill me this time?” I ask. He doesn’t answer.
I reach out for the shots and throw one back. Tears sting my eyes, and I hold up two fingers for more. I’m gonna do exactly what Austin said—drink this fucking day away.
I hear him release a sigh. “Demi …”
“Don’t.” I choke on the single word.
I swallow the knot that has formed in my throat. My fake boyfriend tried to rape me because he said he had to. Cole and Deke mentioned that I’m on some list. And Deke has taken it upon himself to babysit me. But just thirty minutes ago, he wanted to kill me. Hell, maybe he still does. Why not drink myself into a coma tonight?
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
DEKE
“HEY, WE’RE GONNA head home,” Cole announces, coming up to me.
I look over at Austin, and she sways even though he has an arm over her shoulders. The girls probably got quite a few shots before we got here, and that was over an hour ago.
“Okay. We’ll see you guys back at the house.”
Austin steps up to me. “Don’t you dare—”
“I’m not going to hurt her,” I interrupt her. “I promise.”
She looks like she wants to argue, but Cole doesn’t give her the chance. He pulls her away and out the front door.
“What’s the damage?” I ask William, the bartender.
“The brunette had a tab open. The guy already covered it, Deke.” The guy knows me by name. I come here when I want to drink alone. The music isn’t too loud, so you can actually hear yourself think. No one bothers you.
I let out a sigh and look over at Demi sitting next to me, staring down at an empty shot glass. She hasn’t spoken to me since I arrived. Not that I blame her. I throw down a hundred anyway. “Let’s go, princess.”
She doesn’t argue as I help her to her feet and out to my Range Rover. Cole and I drove together so he could drive Austin’s car back. I buckle her into the passenger seat. Getting in, I start it. I avoid the highway and take the backroads.
She’s notices. “You’re going the wrong way.”
“We’re just taking the long way.” I’m giving Cole and Austin time alone to dish out whatever issues they’ve got going on right now. And I know they’ll do that in their bed.
He acted like he wasn’t mad at her when we arrived at the bar, but when we entered the house to find them gone, he was furious. He tried calling, and she ignored it. I instantly knew she was paying him back for the night we went to the cabin, and he turned his phone off. He was not happy. But no surprise, he has a tracker on her car. She has no clue. After she bought her Range Rover, he took it to have her windows tinted and had them add a tracker. He’s so paranoid of something happening to her. Of losing her. It just happened to come in handy tonight.
“Giving Austin and Cole some time together,” I tell her.
“Can you keep a secret?” she asks.
She has no idea. “Yes.”
“She’s worried he’ll get bored with her.”
I snort. “That’ll never happen.”
“You and I know that, but Becky got in her head.” She sighs. “That bitch gets in everyone’s head.”
Can’t argue that. But I say, “That’s just the alcohol talking.” Referring to Austin.
“What’s that saying? A drunk man’s thoughts are a sober man’s words. Wait …” She pauses, her drunk self having to think about it. “A drunk man’s words … are a sober man’s thoughts.”
I smile. “Oh yeah? What are your drunk words?” I’ve never been around her drunk before. She was tipsy at her Halloween party and the other night, but nowhere near gone like this. I watched her have six shots on top of what she had before we got there.
“I’ve got all kinds of secrets.”
I arch a brow. “The ones you say you know about me?” Which I now know came from Austin’s journal.
“No. Everyone else,” she whispers.
I frown. “Like what?”
Her head falls to the side, and she looks at me. “I know more than you think.”