Page 24 of Reckoning

Meyer

I shouldn’t have done that.

I mean, it was the plan … but I hadn’t expected her reaction.

But I didn’t get too much time to think it over. Madeline walked as quickly as she could, trying to outrun me, and I found myself walking at a clip to keep up with her. She made a beeline for the bar.

“Gin and tonic. Double. Two ice cubes.” She didn’t even look at the bartender, just closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. I ordered my own drink and leaned on the bar next to her, not touching.

“Relax,” I muttered. “We’re just getting started.”

“Nothing’s getting started,” she snapped. Her hand slapped the bar top. “What happened back there was … an accident.”

I couldn’t help my smile. “I meant the evening.”

She blushed, took her drink, and downed half of it in one go.

“Slow. Down.” It was a warning now. I shouldn’t have let her order anything. She was going to make a fool of herself.

She stirred the ice cubes with her swizzle stick, then used it to macerate the lime. “I’ve had enough of you telling me what to do.”

I took my own drink and ushered her away from the bar to a corner where no one could hear us. Velvet curtains, a forest green the color of her eyes, brushed against my arm as I raised my hand to her face. She jerked away, not looking at me.

“Are you really going to be like this?” I stepped closer, invading her space, and wrapped one arm around her waist to pull her tight against me. She sucked in a breath and didn’t release it for several heartbeats. Her brown hair fell straighter than usual around her shoulders, slimming her cheekbones. Or maybe that was clever makeup application, I couldn’t tell. She stared pointedly over my shoulder, never lowering the glass far from her mouth.

“I wasn’t lying before. You look beautiful.” I lowered my lips to her neck and kissed her. She twisted her neck, skin shifting beneath my lips. I had to bite back my groan.

She scoffed and leaned back against my hand, taking a large sip of her nearly empty glass. “Yeah, I did a great job of covering up the bruises your father inflicted on me, and you were nice enough to stay away from my face last night.”

My breath came out in a huff. “I’m trying to give you a compliment.” I could hear the thin quality of my voice and took another drink from my glass. My hand dropped from her body, and she stepped away.

“I don’t want compliments. I want you to leave me alone.” She met my eyes at last, already hazy from the alcohol. “You get me twenty-four hours a day. Let me have a few hours here.”

My irritation was growing quicker than I wanted. She didn’t need to be behaving like this. We should be having a good time. I apologized for the previous night or came close enough, didn’t I? If she wasn’t going to play along, though, I didn’t want to bother. I rubbed at my upper lip in frustration. Her eyes rested on my fingers for a moment. I hid them in my pocket. “Are you going to behave?”

“You know I am.” Ice cubes clinked against the bottom of her empty glass. She stabbed the lime and put it in her mouth, sucking out the juice and spitting it back into her glass. She laughed, her voice rough like sandpaper. “I don’t have a choice.”

She looked away again, and when her face brightened, I thought for a second that she was going to play nice with me. I quickly realized, however, that Anita had joined us. She ignored me completely as Madeline slipped past me and hugged her, giggling. They glanced at me conspiratorially before Anita dragged Madeline back over to the bar.

“I only drink hard liquor,” I heard Anita say. “You get the best calorie-to-alcohol ratio that way.”

I slammed back the rest of my drink and ordered another once they were on the other side of the room.

*

The event was philanthropic, a fundraiser for some obscure cancer currently afflicting a beautiful young girl or athletically promising college freshman. A gathering of rich men and women to raise money for a disease they hoped would never touch them if they threw enough money at it. Madeline and Anita wandered through the silent auction, no doubt writing my name on various items for exorbitant amounts of money.

“They’re going to max out your black card if you let them go much longer.”

Shawn had been watching them with me since he arrived. He’d always been interested in my sister, though my father kept such tight tabs on her, I doubted they had ever done more than text each other. I didn’t see how he could have the time to chase after her. I was the only person who worked harder than he did. I couldn’t imagine she was good enough in bed to overlook her glaring personality flaws.

I snagged a canape off a tray being carried around by a thin man in a cheap rented suit, shoving the whole thing in my mouth and trying not to chew too angrily. “I don’t mind. If I fund a cure, maybe they’ll name it after me. Good publicity.”

He laughed, sipping the last dregs of a blood-red wine. Hearing his voice, Anita craned her neck to see us. She flashed him a wink and a smile, then snarled at me. Madeline turned as well, too quickly. When she stumbled against the table, Anita laughed and offered her hand for support.

“She’s gonna kill herself in those heels,” I grumbled.

“When are you going to introduce me?” He licked his lips, and I resisted the urge to slap him.

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