Page 117 of Slay Ride

She’ll never accept it.

“Christ, I don’t know why I’m being so silly,” she says. She dabs her eyes, checks her face in the mirror, then tosses the tissue into the wicker wastebasket. “It’s not like you’re fucking him or anything. No way would you bethatstupid.”

As she laughs, the sound drives tiny daggers into my heart.

“Well, we’d best get back to the dining room. It’s almost time for the ball. Are you excited?”

I nod my head and force a small smile, but now I don’t want to go to the dance at all. Locking myself in my room and crying into Shorty’s fur as he growls at me sounds like a better time than sneaking around in front of her face.

As we near the stairs, I’m already preparing my excuse. I’ll just say that my stomach hurts. Since Kindra has gut issues, she’s less likely to argue. Yes, that will work, and it will spare her feelings.

But then Bennett rounds the corner, and I can only think of reasons to stay. This is where I want to be. With him.

“I was beginning to worry that you two had run off together,” he says. “Or that you fell into the toilet. Lack of brain cells and all that.”

I can see his words for what they are—playful teasing—but Kindra is blind to his banality. For her, this is an affront of the worst kind, a joke made with cruel intentions. A week ago, I was just like her.

My, how things have changed.

“I’m not surprised you found us,” Kindra says. “Even if I look through Cat’s hair and find a tracking device sewn to her fucking scalp, I won’t be surprised. You’re like a dog trained to find only one thing: Cat.”

“Isn’t that what adoglike me does? Chasing a cat is just in my nature.” Bennett smirks, but the playful curve of his lips doesn’t translate to the rest of his face, least of all his eyes.

“Well, you can sniff her out all you want at the ball, but you won’t get anywhere near her,” Kindra says, and I don’t like the confidence behind her smile. “She’ll be attached to my hip for the duration of the evening, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.”

With that, Kindra turns on her heel and drags me toward the ballroom. I glance over my shoulder, searching for Bennett, but he’s already gone.

I guess dessert is off the menu tonight.

And so is Bennett.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Bennett

The ball has been in full swing for an hour, and I haven’t gotten within ten feet of Cat without Kindra running me off. She’s taking her job as a professional cock-blocker very seriously. Whoever’s paying her should give her a fucking raise.

Oh, that’s right. She’s doing this for free.

I grit my teeth and swirl the glass of amber liquid in my hand. Knowing she’s in the room and that I can’t touch her or talk to her is killing me. My skin is crawling. My clothes feel too tight.

To make matters so much worse, I’ve had to watch her dance with Maverick. Twice. Eve interrupted their moment and “stole” him away the second time, thank fuck. Probably because she saw the way I was gripping the second-floor banister as I watched from on high like some angry god.

Accurate, considering how much rage I have inside me right now.

There are a few murder stations scattered around, but not even violence can calm the calamitous storm inside me. The onlything that can soothe me is just out of reach. If I could just hold Cat in my arms, smell her hair, kiss her lips, then I’d find inner peace once more.

Maverick approaches my dark corner of the room and takes a seat across from me in a navy chair covered in crushed velvet. He glances around, then leans forward, keeping his voice to a low growl that I can barely hear over the thump of a fast dance song.

“We’re . . . so just . . .”

I shake my head and hold my hand to my ear.

“We’re trying . . . just . . . patient!” he says, speaking a little louder this time.

Not wanting him to shout it again—and risk the wrath of Kindra—I nod my head and wave him off. I’ve gotten the gist of things. They’re trying . . . something, and they want me to be patient.

Haven’t I already been patient? Haven’t I been sitting here or standing there, dying inside as Cat shines her light on everyone but me?

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