Nope. Not the answer I wanted.
I caught her arm and pulled her to me. My mouth crashed into hers and there was no mistaking the heat as she met my kiss with one of her own. Her teeth scraped over my lower lip, then her tongue twined with mine. The raging need in my system was downright fucking painful.
A light flashed next to us, then another and I jerked my head up to see a couple of cameras pointed right at us. They were snapping pictures. I scowled at them, and then pain exploded across my cheek as Ace slapped me. It rocked my head to the side and I jerked my gaze back to her.
Pure fury radiated off of her and she jerked her arm away as phone cameras popped out.
“Holy shit, it’s her!”
“Oh, hey, baby,” a guy said as he moved up behind her. “Looking for a good time…”
She shoved away from me and it collided her into that bag of dicks. She was already twisting away from him when I slammed my fist into his face. He went down, but she was heading for the stairs.
One of his friends tried to get in my way and I took him out with a fast uppercut, then down the steps. I could see her blue hair below as she weaved through the people coming up the stairs.
More phones were out. More cameras.
Shit.
She was gonna get mobbed.
Goddammit.
On the ground floor, I had to fight my way to the front. She was out the doors. By the time I got through the insanity, she was climbing into the driver’s seat of a car. The tires squealed as she pulled away.
There was more press out here. Lights flickered everywhere.
“Keys,” I said to the valet. He handed them over and I gave him another fifty. I was barely behind the wheel when her taillights vanished up the road with two or three other cars following and a motorcycle.
I blasted the horn to get the assholes in front of me a warning before I floored it. She wasn’t getting away from me and she sure as hell wasn’t going to have to deal with that press by herself.
Despite her erratic driving, I managed to catch up. The fucking asshole on the motorcycle was still trying to snap a picture.
She jerked her car at the last minute and turned around a corner while doing forty-five. She even took it up on two wheels and then down again. The Mercedes followed the curve like a predator on the heels of his prey.
The motorcycle stuck with her, but she’d lost two of the cars. There was still another car between us. C’mon Ace, I tried to urge her. Pull over…
She went around another corner and then right over the curb and down the hill. Metal crunch and glass shattered.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
Four
KC
Douchebag Three was here. Not just in Los Angeles but at the club I was dancing in. He was here and he had his hands on me. The shock held me captive for too long. He had time to tug my cap off and then pull it away. The clip holding my hair up popped free and it spilled around me.
Dammit.
It took almost no time before someone noticed me. The hair, as much as I loved it, was too distinctive. I had to get out of here. The whole point of dancing like this was the anonymity. I could get out, cut loose and burn off all the restlessness.
It was so much harder at home. Harder than I expected. Especially…
I pushed against him. No more damn kisses. No more Ace. No more Lachlan. Just no damn more.
Then he said... wait… what? “Wait—you think I’m mad ‘cause you’re brothers?”
No, that hadn’t been my favorite moment, but was he high? The noise level around us climbed, but not so much I didn’t catch the first, “Holy shit, it’s her!”
“Oh, hey, baby…”
I thrust away from Lachlan and collided with the guy trying to grope me. Lachlan was already swinging, and I ducked away from that fight and hauled ass. I was looking for Dix all the way down the stairs.
He was usually not that far from the dance floor. He’d been amazing about being where I could see him or get to him if I needed reassurance and keeping his distance so I could just let go.
All the way down to the ground floor, I looked everywhere and didn’t see him. I pulled out my phone and hit his contact number, pushing my way to the door and trying to ignore the photos being snapped of me. I could always tell the moment someone recognized me.
Dix didn’t answer.
Dammit.
I pulled the ticket out of the top of my boot along with the cash to give to the valet. I needed to go now. The car was never far, as he always made them park it close. The valet took one look at me and the cameras flashing that came from the other end of the line.
Yep. They knew I was out here.
Fuck.
“C’mon,” the valet said, hurrying me to the car. It was parked ahead of a silver Mercedes and I ignored it to slide into the driver’s seat. The valet gave me the keys, and I gave him the hundred. He shut the door, and I pulled the seatbelt on and stared at the car.
How hard could it be?
I knew the basics.
I pressed the start button and the engine rumbled to life, then I shifted into drive and floored it to get away from the building. The car all but leapt like a bucking bronco as I pressed the accelerator. Right, little green lines helped keep me in a lane. Left pedal to stop. Right pedal to go.
I had this.
Lights flashed at me as I raced through an intersection. The lights had been green. Was that a cop? I turned to glance, but another light flashed at me. Goddammit, more press.
My eyes burned from the rapidly changing sparks dancing across my vision. I needed to turn somewhere. I didn’t even know where the hell I was. So far, I’d had green lights, which was great.
Sooner or later, I was going to have to stop. I pressed a button on the steering wheel and it asked me what I needed.
“Show me the route home,” I said. Hoping that was right. Dix said he’d programmed all the addresses in, and home here would be Beverly Hills.
There were red lights ahead and the car behind me was getting closer, so I turned at the next intersection. There was a sign telling me the freeway was that way. The end of the car fish-tailed, and I fought with the wheel to get it steady even as the car was trying to steady itself.
Yeah, Dix said the car did most of the work, but my heart raced, my palms were sweating, and I couldn’t breathe. Too late, I realized the road I was following turned, and I didn’t catch it in time before I bounced over the curb and then right down a little hill.
A scream clawed up my throat as the ground went rough below the tires and I bounced down into the woods. I’d tried braking, but the car slid sideways and then came to an abrupt stop against a tree. Everything jerked, and the crunch of the impact echoed inside the car.
Or maybe just inside me. The airbag didn’t deploy, but it didn’t change the fact that my hands were shaking violently, the car was slammed against the tree, and the headlights were still on.
I hit the power button and then looked for the switch to turn off the lights.
Maybe the press wouldn’t follow me.
Maybe…
Lights cut across the road above, and I swore. Okay, get out of the car. I checked my phone. No call from Dix. Man, he was gonna be so pissed at me. But I couldn’t be caught in the car. I didn’t have a license.
I got the door open, phone and key in hand and nearly screamed when Lachlan appeared.