Della wobbled, blinking as if she’d transported far away and slammed back into reality.
I exhaled hard, dragging a hand over my face and turning my back on her.
What the fuck was that?
What had happened?
And whose fault was it? Mine or hers?
The swish of Della’s skirts was the only noise as she bypassed the couch and headed to open the front door.
“Hi,” she said, her voice breathy and papery, matching the shivery sensation left in my spine.
I needed to sit down. I needed to figure out what the hell happened and how to prevent it from happening again.
Turning around slowly, I ordered my body to behave as I glanced at the arrivals.
“Hi, yourself,” a girl piped up dressed in another Victorian gown—hers in reds and blacks. Compared to Della, she was positively garish while Della was a powder blue angel tempting me straight to fucking hell.
The girl’s gaze slipped from Della to me standing furious and dazed in the middle of the living room. She did a double take, her entire body slipping into sensual solicitation. “And hi to you too, handsome.” She blew me a kiss, making Della freeze with a frosty glare. “Della didn’t say how hot her older brother was.”
I supposed I should be flattered, but all I felt was empty. She was so juvenile. So transparent and shallow and young.
Shit, she was Della’s age, yet I’d never thought of Della sexually—
You did tonight.
You wondered…
My heart skipped a beat, remembering what happened between us before the knock. I was grateful for the interruption. Thankful that I’d been reminded of who Della belonged with and what my role in her life ought to be.
“Hello.” I nodded politely, clearing my throat, eradicating any sin I might have committed.
Jamming both hands into my pockets, it was my turn to glower with hatred as another person entered my home.
Tom.
The boy from the diner.
Della instantly stiffened, flicking me a look before allowing herself to be gathered in a hug from the boy I struggled not to hate. She refused to meet my eyes as he kissed her cheek and wolf whistled under his breath. “Holy crap, you’re gorgeous.”
My hands turned into fists in my pockets.
She blushed. “Thanks.”
“Are you ready?” Tom glanced at me.
My jaw clenched.
It never occurred to me that they might be an item.
That she might be dating already, right beneath my nose.
Della nodded. “Yep. Oh, almost forgot.” Darting to the coffee table, she scooped up a little pearl bag and looped it over her wrist. Speaking to me, she said, “I have my phone and some cash. I can get an Uber or something home. You won’t be able to pick me up on the motorbike in this dress.”
I didn’t trust myself to talk.
I wanted to ensure she knew the curfew and my many, many rules, but my voice refused to work. It was still a gravelly mess with things I never wanted Della to know. Things I didn’t want to know.
“Ren?” she murmured, coming closer to me. “Everything okay?”
I nodded stiffly, stumbling back. I honestly didn’t know what I’d do if she touched me. “Go. Have fun.”
Even though I wanted to lock her in her room and ban Tom from ever seeing her again, I almost pushed her out the door so I could breathe again.
“Okay…” Her eyes danced over my face, a sliver of hurt hiding in them before she smiled, and it vanished. “My offer still stands. You were invited, you know. I don’t know if you were listening a few nights ago when I told you about the party, but everyone is welcome.”
Fuck, everyone?
“You mean…this isn’t just school kids going?”
Tom grinned, self-important and making my life a lot more difficult by not punching him. “Nah, man. It’s a frat party. Local uni is putting it on. There’ll be booze and stuff, but I won’t let Della have any. I promise.”
My ears rang.
My temper slipped into an ice-cold single-mindedness.
“You’re not going.” I narrowed my eyes at Della. “No way.”
I’d never been to a party as a guest, but I’d been to enough of the dregs when collecting Cassie on those nights she’d snuck out and called me for a ride home. Della had accompanied me enough to understand why this was non-negotiable.
The amount of used condoms and spewing kids. The reek of sex and trouble.
No. Fucking. Way.
I crossed my arms as Della looked back once at her friends then swooped toward me. Her perfume of something light and floral invaded my nose, her body heat made me sick with want, and her breath against my neck as she hissed into my ear made my knees almost buckle.
I hadn’t expected her closeness or her fight, and my silence gave her the perfect battlefield to destroy me.
“Don’t mess this up for me, Ren. I’m not asking this time. I’m going to this party, and you have my word I will behave. I won’t drink, and I won’t fool around, but this is my life. These are my friends, and I want to hang out with them.”