B
ut when I licked my lips, his jaw tensed, and he took the smallest step toward me.
Then a scream sounded, a splash following soon after.
“Lottie!” Aundi screamed. “Lottie just fell off the boat!”
Grayson jerked his head toward the scream.
“And?” The douche I recognized as Khalid, the one who’d tried to gamble for me, said. “Does she not know how to fucking swim?”
Across the boat, Khalid leaned forward on a table, doing a line of what looked like cocaine.
Without missing a beat, Grayson spun from me, pushing through the crowd to where Lottie had been. He stepped over the table where Khalid was, leaving a footprint in his cocaine, to the leather seat, until he stood atop the railing, wind whipping his blond hair.
He tore off what remained of his shirt, diving off the back of the boat. Disappearing after Lottie with a splash.
A few interested parties leaned over the edge, and some pulled out phones. The rest were on me, eyes glittering. The one shark stopping the others from eating me had just jumped off the boat.
Twenty-Three
STORY
* * *
There was a sea of people between me and the exit, and their expressions all held some kind of wicked promise. Geoff had somewhat cleaned up his nose, but the skin around his mouth and philtrum was stained strawberry, and his eyes were bruised, both the skin and the intent behind them.
I sank against the railing.
“Come on, I’ll get you out of here.”
I jumped at the voice, looking to my left. Westley du Lac smiled back at me. His tie hung loosely off his neck, and a few buttons were undone from his white dress shirt, showing a smooth, hazelnut chest.
I looked back at the sea of hate, preferring that to him.
“How long have you been here?”
“Long enough to see Grayson punch his best friend’s face because he touched you.” He leaned closer, full lips grazing my ear. “Long enough to know if you don’t come with me now, you’re in deep shit.”
I made a face. “I think I’ll choose shit.”
West laughed. Fuck. I all at once hated and missed that laugh. A full-bodied, confident, cocky thing that had ensnared me like bramble.
West entwined my arm with his and I stiffened, trying to pull mine out. “I don’t want your help.”
“You want his?” He raised a brow at Khalid. “Or hers?” He angled his chin at Aundi. My gut sank deeper and deeper. “Angel, this is my world. Take my help.”
“Don’t fucking call me that.”
But I swallowed my pride and used West as a shield. I kept my eyes down as he pushed our way through the crowd. A den of hissing snakes barely kept at bay by Westley du Lac.
The minute we got to the ramp, I ripped my arm from his. Night sea air blew in my hair, and a few feet away, safely on the dock, were Lottie and Gray. Grayson pushed away Lottie’s wet braids, and a smile lit up her face.
Ouch.
I didn’t like her smile.
I didn’t like him touching her.