Page 93 of Twisted Kings

“Going somewhere, wifey?” he slurred, pulling me into his chest when I stepped past the low table.

“Yeah, the bathroom.”

“Damn, have I told you how hot you look?” he murmured above the music, nuzzling my neck. His breath smelled of liquor, but I didn’t mind. Being thoroughly intoxicated hadn’t diminished Landon’s sex appeal. More than a few ladies had been giving him heart-eyes this evening. Thankfully, none of them attempted to take things beyond a flirtatious smile, or I might have resorted to violence.

“Several times, yes.”

I shoved him away and hustled toward the bathrooms. Eden had disappeared with Michael some time ago, ostensibly to catch up with him after a few days apart, which I concluded from her wink was girl code for banging his brains out.

Cassian had left to try contacting his mother, and Milo was…somewhere.

The ladies’ bathroom was thankfully empty, so I quickly did my business, fixed my lipstick, and walked back out…straight into a hard chest.Ooomph.

“Dario.” He’d been distant since we cleared the air in the kitchen back at the beach house. I had thought things were better between us, but Dario was still a closed book, so who knew?

Not that I’d had much emotional bandwidth left to spend my time worrying about the guys’ feelings. My own problems consumed most of my waking thoughts.

I tried to pull away from Dar, but he refused to let me go. Music pounded through the walls. Midnight wasn’t far awaynow. Soon it would be time to ring in a new year. Hopefully, this year would be better than the previous years.

“Remember the year we snuck a bottle of champagne from the kitchen and I climbed up into your bedroom?” he asked me while snaking a hand around my waist and pressing me into the wall.

“I had the worst hangover in my life the following day,” I replied with a huff of laughter. “And Dad fired a maid because of the missing bottle. Who counts bottles of champagne at a party?”

“Your father,” Dar grinned. “But we had fun.”

We had. It had been the first time we ventured past kisses. I still remembered how nervous I was that night. How badly I wanted him to look at me and see something other than a broken girl with scars all over her body.

“You looked so pretty that night. You wore a blue dress with daisies on the bodice. I remember it like yesterday.”

“It was the nicest dress I had back then. Theonlydress.”

When I looked up, he was gazing down at me like I’d hung the moon.

“You could have worn a sack, and I’d still have loved you,cara.”

“We were just kids, Dar. You didn’t love me.”

“We may have been kids, but I knew how I felt about you. Then and now.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have fallen for Torrance’s bullshit then.” I sighed. I wanted to forgive him, but a part of me couldn’t do it. He’d hurt me too damn much.

“I’m sorry, Thea.” The pain in his eyes made my heart clench but I steeled myself. “I will apologize every day for the rest of my life if it helps.”

“Not sure it will,” I admitted, deciding it was better to be honest than to give him false hope. While my body still wantedhim, I didn’t know if I would ever trust him with my heart again. Not after he’d stomped all over it and crushed teenage-me into oblivion.

“I won’t stop fighting for us. I won’t let you go.”

“Maybe you should.” The weight of what I intended to do lay heavy across my shoulders. “You’re better off without me.” Not wishing to talk anymore, I shoved him away and left.

“Never!” His voice followed me as I walked back into the club.

“Ten, nine, eight…” The DJ counted down and then the crowd erupted into cheers before people embraced and kissed anyone within reach.

This was my first New Year celebration ever. By rights, I should have been having fun like everyone else, but I felt numb. Like a store mannequin.

Kyril kissed me hard before passing me over to Cassian, who was now drunker than I’d ever seen him.

Landon could barely stand up, but he told me he loved me and held me so tight I feared for my ribcage.

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