Page 21 of Eye Candy

I forced out a smile. “Yeah, that sounds like a plan.” I didn’t tell her, of course, that her torturing my Devil wasn’t something I wanted. I… let’s just say a strange part of me missed him, even though he’d taken me and kept me for two whole years. He’d helped me see the truth about my dad, that I was just a pawn he could use to his benefit, and I owed him for it.

If I saw my Devil again, I couldn’t say that I would tell anybody.

“So,” Viper spoke, “how’s my brother working out for you? Hopefully he’s not being too chatty.” He couldn’t say it with a straight face; by the end of it, he’d broken out into a smirk, partly due to the fact that Mike had turned his glare on him.

“You can trust him,” Lola told me, nodding along. “He’s like a teddy bear. One of those big ones you can win by playing rigged games at carnivals. A teddy bear that can turn into a big grizzly when he needs to, so don’t let him fool you.” She winked at me, grinning along.

“A teddy bear,” Viper echoed, glancing at Maddox, who’d chuckled quietly at that description. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone describe my brother like that.”

I was still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that Lola had three boyfriends… and they all seemed to know about each other, and it wasn’t even a heavy topic of conversation. Like they were all fine with it. She was gorgeous, like an angel, so I shouldn’t be surprised that multiple guys would want her so badly they’d be okay with sharing.

Me? I wasn’t like her. I didn’t have the influencer, supermodel looks. She’d told me all I had to do was try, but I didn’t know about that.

“I’ll leave you guys alone.” I slipped off the booth, getting to my feet and fixing my dress. “I’m sure my friend is here, anyway.” The forced smile I gave them fell off my face when I turned around and started walking away.

Mike lifted a single brow at me, but he said nothing, following me down the stairs. For once, I was thankful he didn’t like to talk, because I wasn’t sure what the hell I’d say. Iwouldn’t go so far as to say I was jealous that Lola had three boyfriends, but…

No one cared that much about me, not ever. Not my dad, not my new stepmom, not Kieran or Mike. No one. I had no one.

Maybe that was why, when I closed my eyes at night, I dreamed about my Devil.

Kieran wasn’t waiting for us, which I thought odd. “Where the hell did he go?” I asked no one in particular, glancing all around once Mike and I reached the ground floor of the club. He wasn’t standing at the bar.

I was just starting to wonder if he’d left because we’d taken too long up there, but right when those thoughts crept into my brain, Mike gently touched my shoulder to get my attention. He pointed to the dance floor, to a pair of people dancing together.

Well, the girl was dancing. The guy, Kieran, was mostly just standing there, but that didn’t make it any better. Why? Oh, no reason… except the girl was Kelly.

Kelly was wearing a very short dress that rode up her thighs as she swayed her body to the beat. Her light brown hair was curled in gentle waves, her face plastered with makeup to the point where she looked like a whole different person. She’d probably spent hours on her makeup, while I’d spent fifteen minutes struggling to do eyeliner. Blending and layering weren’t things I’d ever mastered.

She dipped low, grinding her ass against Kieran, a smile on her face. She looked like she was having fun, like she didn’t even need me.

And of course she didn’t. She spent the last two years living her life, unlike me.

My first instinct was to storm over there and pull Kieran off her—I sure as hell didn’t like seeing her ass grind against him like that—but what would be the point? It was like I was pretending. Getting my hair done had made me feel better, but only for a little while.

Fighting the rising tide inside, I turned away from them and started to leave the club. I pushed out the door and emerged into the cool night air, tilting my head up and taking in a lungful of air to try to calm myself down. I moved away from the doors, stopping only when I could lean my back against the stone wall of the building.

My head leaned back, my eyes closed. I focused on my breathing. For just the quickest of moments, I wished I was back in that room, by myself, alone. Alone and waiting for my Devil to show his face again.

Technically his mask, but whatever.

But I wasn’t alone. A deep voice spoke, “Are you all right?”

I opened my eyes, turning my head to see Mike standing beside me, his light eyes studying me hard, like I was a puzzle he was hired to put together as quickly as possible. His head had angled down, his face wearing only concern, and yet it was an intense look all the same.

I wanted to tell him the same thing I’d told everyone: the doctors, the nurses, my dad, Tessa and Kieran. I wanted to tell him that I was fine, that this was just some kind of weird episode that made my lungs ache and my heart hurt, that I’d be fine in a minute.

That wasn’t what came out of my mouth, though. For some reason, I told him the truth, “No.” I guess seeing how everyone either used my disappearance to their advantage ormoved on without me hurt more than I wanted to admit, even to myself.

Mike was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

I shook my head. There was nothing to say. I had to get over these feelings if I ever hoped to actually have a life. Still, so far it had proved to be harder than I’d thought. I found myself taking a step toward him, doing something I probably shouldn’t, but I couldn’t stop myself.

I leaned into him, closing my eyes again, leaned my head against his lower chest. He wore a t-shirt, nothing fancy, but the fabric was soft. I exhaled, then breathed in deep, inhaling his scent as I hugged myself to him.

He was a stranger to me, yes. I’d wanted to hate him, because I didn’t want to have another bodyguard, but that had proved impossible. As much as it didn’t make sense, I felt safe with him.

It took him a while, but eventually he lifted a single arm, curling it around my shoulders. He didn’t squeeze me, didn’t pull me in closer; he simply held me, letting me use him as support, which was what I needed right then.

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