Page 102 of Overexposed

I tried to roll away as she swung it, and it slammed into the pillow where my head had been.

Then she shrieked again. “You slutty whore! You’re fuckingdead!”

chapter

thirty-seven

Olivier

Being one of the featured guests on Laurent West’sLate Night on the Right Coastmeant a twenty-four-hour turnaround. Still, there were perks to flying first-class and nonstop. If only Stella wasn’t still tied firmly to Seven’s contract negotiations, then I could have lured her to come with me and we could have made it a long weekend in the city.

Next time, I promised myself. Maybe she’d like Broadway or sightseeing. Either way, I’d stayed long enough to sign autographs for the audience and the fans waiting outside the studio, then headed out to dinner and drinks with Laurent and a couple of the other guests.

It was good networking, but as much as I enjoyed the opportunity, I would rather have left earlier. As it was, I crashed for about three hours in a hotel room by the airport, then boarded a flight first thing in the morning. Time difference was a wonderful thing.

A driver waited for me at the airport, and I only had my carry-on, so I didn’t have to wait for luggage. If only the drive from LAX wasn’t quite so dense with traffic. Still it would barely be seven by the time I got to the house.

Perfect.

Hopefully I could kiss Snow awake. If she was up, I’d see about luring her back to bed. Twenty-four hours was far too long to be away from her. The closer we got, the more I felt like humming.

I used my code to let us in, and the driver took me up to the house. I made sure to add a generous tip and waved the man off as he left. Once I was inside, I disarmed the alarm, then reset it.

After I verified the driver was out, I headed for the stairs. The downstairs was quiet, which was perfect. Seven was always an early riser but could be doing laps in the pool or blowing off some pent-up tension in the gym. Totally fine by me.

I was halfway up the stairs when the first shriek ripped through the air. While I couldn’t identify who was actually shrieking, there was no waythatsound heralded anything good.

Racing up the stairs, I hesitated where the halls split. Snow’s room was to the right, Seven’s straight ahead, and mine and Gem’s were to the left. The wild sound repeated, far angrier this time, and it came from straight ahead.

A part of me really hoped this was just Seven pissing Stella off. The man had a gift for pushing her buttons, and it was so obvious he got thrills out of having her bite back. I would happily sweep in and steal her away. At the same time, that scream didn’t sound like her.

“Get the fuck away from me!” That voice, however, did. All playfulness vanished. Whatever was going on was bad…

Not letting myself think much past that, I shoved the door to Seven’s room open. Thankfully, it wasn’t locked. Light from the hall spilled inside. It didn’t really give me much time to track what was happening.

Stella was on the far side of the bed, stark naked and wild-eyed. Another woman, armed with a knife, was lunging at her.

“Stop!” I yelled the word, hoping it would shock the woman or surprise her enough to make her stumble.

“Ollie!” Stella waved an arm at me, like she wanted me to get out. So not happening. Her assailant lunged forward, slashing the knife in the air.

The world slowed—I was never going to get there in time. Light from the hall glinted on the blade as she sliced toward Stella’s outstretched arm. A hiss escaped Stella as a line of crimson decorated her flesh.

I wrapped an arm around the woman’s middle and locked a hand around the wrist of her knife-wielding arm. “Stop,” I ordered her again as I hauled her backwards. I had no fucking idea who this woman was, but I didn’t care.

She was inourhouse and attacking the woman I loved. No way in hell was I going to let this continue. Despite the size difference, I found holding on to her incredibly difficult, considering how wildly she started fighting.

Legs kicking back at me, she tried to stomp on my feet. She kept trying to jerk her hand out of mine as I increased the pressure. I just wanted her to let go of the damn knife.

I narrowly avoided her head slamming back into my face. Then she twisted and bit down on my arm so hard, I was pretty sure she ripped skin through the shirt.

“Fuck.” I gritted my teeth through the pain, but even my nerves spasmed and my fingers unlocked briefly. She sliced with her weapon, but I flung her away with all my might. She hit the side of the dresser with a sickening crash, knocking something off that thudded to the floor.

“Ollie.” Stella sounded exhausted andpissed right off. Not that I could blame her. She stopped at my back, which was good. I had no intention of letting her get past me.

“It’s okay, babe.” I tilted my head toward Stella, but I didn’t take my gaze off the woman crumpled in front of the dresser, panting wildly as she glared at us. “Just stay behind me. I’ll deal with her.”

The woman’s lip curled in an ugly sneer. “Of course you want to protect the slutty whore cheating on Seven. What kind of shitty friend are you?”

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