Page 93 of Fall Into Me

My eyes snapped back to Cali, who’d turned away from us, away from her friend. She was still swaying among the packed dance floor, oblivious to everything but the music and the alcohol coursing through her. I saw the moment Declan’s hands found her waist, fingers curling possessively as if claiming her, and slid down to her hips.

I watched as her head lolled back against his shoulder, tilting slightly as though to see who it was. There was a hint of a smile on her lips. My stomach dropped, a cold rush of dread sweeping through me.

It was like every fucked-up nightmare I’d ever had was unfolding in real-time.The kind where you know the ending is going to destroy you but you can’t wake up. I was out of the booth in a heartbeat, Ash close on my heels. My blood boiled hotter with every step, my vision narrowing in on them until nothing else existed but her and the bastard touching her.

And then she saw him.

Her eyes widened, and the sound that tore out of her throat was something primal, raw, filled with pure terror. It froze the entire fucking dance floor.

Cali’s elbow swung in a wide arc, catching Declan across the face just as her scream tore through the air. The sound echoed in my head, branding me with the realization that this wasn’t fearof a stranger or some drunken overreaction. This was her body reacting on instinct, fighting for fucking survival.

I’d heard her scream like that once before.

“No!” Her voice cracked on the word as she stumbled back, crashing into me. Her back connected with my chest, but the impact didn’t stop her from spinning around, swaying as her hands came up in front of her like she was prepared to strike me too.

Then, like a switch flipped, her body sagged. Recognition dawned in her hazy eyes, and relief washed over her features, slowly chipping away at the terror that had frozen her. She stumbled forward, her forehead coming to rest against my chest, her hands clutching at my shirt in tight, trembling fists.

“Do you see him too?” Her voice was barely a whisper, slurred and fragile as it filtered through the pounding music.

The question cut me deeper than anything she could’ve screamed. Her grip on me tightened, her fingers curling into the fabric like it was the only thing tethering her to the ground.

“I see him, baby,” I murmured into the top of her head. I lifted my hand up, letting it sit on the back of her neck, but I didn’t take my eyes off Declan.

He’d staggered back a few steps, one hand brushing his jaw where she’d hit him. The crowd around us had gone eerily still, people watching as his eyes slowly moved over them, meeting one pair after another. His face darkened with each connection, the flush of anger creeping up his neck until it was like his skin was about to burst. Then his gaze landed on her, and I wanted to pull the eyes from his head.

It was the flicker in his eyes that set my teeth on edge, a brief moment where they softened—possessive and twisted—like he thought she belonged to him. Then they found mine.

Everything about him changed. There was no hiding the hate that burned there, the sick delight curling his lips into a sneerthat dared me to do something about it. He wanted me to snap, to lose control right here in front of everyone.

But my control was something I’d honed since I was a child and I had much more appealing ideas of how exactly he’d lose his life than the sort of violence his mind was no doubt conjuring up about how he might prefer I lost mine.

He’d looked at me like that before when I caught him drowning that bird. This time, he didn’t bother hiding it. Not the smugness. Not the challenge. Not the promise.

Declan took a step back, the sneer still plastered on his face. My body felt calm though, with my hand resting on the back of Cali’s neck. Her breath warming my chest. I didn’t need to follow him to the dark alley beside the bar like a ravenous, vengeful child to let him know that his days were limited. He could see it clear enough for himself.

I had nothing to prove to him, but he’d die all the same.

That thought settled in me, like a balm on a burn.

Declan slowly backed out of the bar, his eyes never leaving Cali. They trailed over her like he was memorizing her, like this was only the first act in whatever fucked up play he’d written in his head.

The longer he was gone, the more the tension in the room eased. I could feel it in the way Cali’s body relaxed against mine, the trembling subsiding little by little. It wasn’t until her head tipped to the side, her glassy eyes blinking up at me, that I let myself take a breath.

“I’m still very sad at you.” She frowned and held up a finger in thought, like nothing had happened. “Mad. I am mad at you, but please take me home.”

“What about your friend?” I looked around but noticed she was gone and so was Dark and Handsome. Cali just waved. “Dylan was here with the eyes of a flock on her.”

“Eyes of a flock?” I quirked an eyebrow.

“Yep. The whole flock.” She lifted her hand in a halfhearted circle motion. “All the birds.” Cali crooked her finger in my direction, and I leaned down. She didn’t whisper though. In fact, I was sure a great number of people heard what came out of her mouth. “I told her about the whole hair pervert thing!”

“Hair pervert?” Ashton mouthed the words at me over Cali’s head, and he looked like, for all the world, this might’ve been the best fucking day of his life.

“Hey, Cathy?” Ashton snapped his fingers in front of Cali’s face, and she swatted him away before giving him the finger. It felt like all was right in the world, just for a moment, to see him on the other end of that gesture. “Between one and ten?”

Ash asked Cali a question I’d heard a thousand times. It was like an encrypted shorthand they used to get to the point quickly on important things. How drunk they were, how hungry, how likely they thought it would be for either of them to shave off just one eyebrow. That last one had been a ten and left both of them looking ridiculous for a month and a half.

He was still laughing when Cali said, “Thirteen.”

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