Tipsy (Take It Off #5)(14)
Author: Cambria Hebert

The crowd started to move away; clearly they thought the fight was over. I still wasn’t so sure. I remained watchful and leery of both men.

“We should talk,” Dom finally said after a long appraisal of Blue.

Blue shrugged like he could care less. “Sure. I’m going to see her out first.” He slung an arm over my shoulders and pulled me into his side.

Damn if I didn’t feel like I fit.

“C’mon. You’re going home.”

I thought about arguing, but I had no clue what was going on. I was buzzed, I was tired, and I was a little scared. Home sounded pretty damn awesome right then.

We moved away from the booths, walking around the dance floor. Blue didn’t say anything, but kept me tightly clasped at his side. When I glanced up at him, his jaw was set and he didn’t look too happy to see me. I imagined he wasn’t. Getting caught being a sleazebag probably sucked.

“Where are you parked?” he asked as we neared the door.

“I didn’t drive. I came here with friends.”

He swore and finally looked down at me. His eyes were like swirling deep pools of blue that threatened to swallow me whole. “What the hell are you doing here tonight?”

I didn’t like the tone of his voice. “Drinking away the memory of being stood up,” I snapped.

The hard glint in his eyes slipped a bit.

“What’s your real name?” I asked him.

His jaw clenched and he looked around to see if anyone was listening. What in the hell was going on? What was all that about?

He must have seen the questions bubbling up inside me. He reached out and wrapped a forefinger and thumb around my wrist and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You need to go home.”

“I need some answers.”

“What I’m doing here isn’t your business.”

Ouch. He was giving me a serious case of whiplash. One minute he was charming and getting me to agree to another date. The next he was standing me up, hooking up in a club, and acting like I was the last person on Earth he wanted to see.

If that wasn’t enough to give me a concussion, he goes and beats up a guy who was dancing with me. Okay, fine. He was doing more than dancing. He had a serious case of grab hands. But why would Blue care? I would think he would be glad to be rid of me.

I glanced between where he held my wrist and his face.

He was bleeding.

I sighed.

“You need some ice for that eye.” I started to reach up and he jerked away.

I dropped my hand like I’d been burned. I felt something embarrassing coming on… the hot rush of tears behind my eyes.

Oh hell no you don’t, I told myself. You will not cry over him.

Dee picked the perfect time to come rushing up with Craig close behind. “Where the hell have you been?” Dee shouted.

I spun around. “I think we got separated in the crowd.”

“You okay?” Dee asked, peering at me like she had X-ray vision.

“Of course, but I had too much to drink. I’m ready to go home.”

When she agreed without trying to argue, I knew I must look bad. “This place sucks anyway,” she said and rolled her eyes.

I smiled, but she wasn’t looking at me. Her eyes had gone past me to Blue. She looked back at me and lifted her eyebrow. I rolled my eyes and hooked my arm through hers. “He’s just some guy I danced with.” My eyes connected with his. “I don’t even know his name.”

Something passed behind his eyes, something that was there and gone in the flash of a single second.

I thought he might say something; his mouth moved like he might. My heart leapt a little at the thought of an apology coming out. Yes, his apology would be dumb and too late, but I still wanted to hear it. He must have decided against it, as his lips smashed into a fine, straight line and he said nothing at all.

My heart cracked a little and I brushed past him, with Dee at my side and Craig leading the way. He followed behind us, stepping out into the parking lot, watching as we walked away.

I didn’t look back. I wanted to, but I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction.

8

Blue

I stood in the shadows beside the club and watched as the black Hummer pulled out of the lot. The muscles in my back loosened, but the muscles in my chest seemed to seize.

God, I was acting like a damn woman.

I wanted to run after the car, beat on the window, and tell her how freaking sorry I was, how nothing was the way it seemed. I wanted to kiss away the moisture I saw gather behind her eyes.

I hurt her tonight.

And that pissed me off.

It pissed me off almost more than watching that asshole Dom put his hands on her. I thought I was going to pop a vein in my head when I saw her struggling as he towed her off the dance floor.

My hands clenched at my sides. What the hell was she even doing here tonight? This was the last place I would ever expect a girl like her to be.

Drinking away the memory of being stood up. Her words haunted me. A vile curse fell out of my mouth, and I stared off at the empty road.

Not only had I stood her up, but I was the reason she was in this hellhole being hit on by one of Jacksonville’s biggest drug dealers. My skin crawled at the thought of what he would have done to her when they were alone.

I was glad she was gone. I wanted her safe, and being around me would clearly not be safe.

But part of me missed her. Missed what might have been.

I missed the stormy color of her eyes. I missed the way her hair fell over her forehead. I missed her smile. I wanted to know what it would be like to suck her lip into my mouth and nip at it with my teeth. I wanted to hear her moan my name in the middle of the night…

Yep. I was acting like a damn woman. A damn, horny woman.

I shoved away from the wall and walked back into the club. I wasn’t sure how much damage I had done to my cover in the last few minutes, but I needed to find out.

Hell, part of me hoped my cover was blown, that I totally ruined all chances of being trusted, being pulled into whatever operation they had going on. It was impossible to have a life when you couldn’t be yourself.

But this case was bigger than me. It was bigger than my life.

It sucked to have to give up something that I really wanted, but I didn’t have a choice. This was my job. The safety of others was important to me. I thought about the kids that lost their life due to drugs… I thought about everyone who lost their life to drugs. Senseless deaths. All of them.

Cracking this case would mean helping to lower the number of senseless deaths. I wasn’t naive enough to think I would stop all drug-related deaths, that I would wipe drugs off the streets for good. But I could help. I could do something. Wasn’t something better than nothing?