Page 99 of The Blairville Legacies

To get a better look, I stood up, still holding Larissa’s bottle, and made my way through the crowd.

“Not bad, Copeland,” Miles laughed, straightening up with a bloody nose, only to deliver another unpredictable punch to Nash’s chin.

I held a hand in front of my mouth, and before I could hesitate, I stumbled forward into the circle and leaned down to Nash.

“Nash?”

Nash snapped his eyes open and stared at me, literally piercing me with his gaze. Now I could see those beautiful eyes again. Only at this very moment did I realize how much I had longed for them.

Suddenly, Nash pushed me aside and jumped up on his own.

“Stay away from me, Madelin.”

Madelin.

My heart stopped.

Madelin.

“I just wanted to-” I stammered out, overwhelmed.

“I don’t need your pity.” He pressed out with a desperate look. “Are you spying on me again?”

Exhausted and humiliated by these accusations, it took me some seconds to find the appropriate words, but nothing came out. And then Ezra appeared next to us.

“Hey. What’s going on?” He stepped toward Nash. “I told you to stay away from my sister!”

Nash looked back and forth between me and him, turned away from me, and finally hit the table next to him, making me wince again.

Ezra wheeled around to face me. “Mady, you better go.”

It sounded cold. Like it wasn’t my brother who said it, but that black-haired DeLoughrey. And everything about this situation, Nash’s look, his words, his guys’ looks, and my brother’s pitch sent me stumbling backwards and finally out of the bar into the night, upset.

Tears burned in my eyes, but luckily for me, I wasn’t alone, or I would have broken my most important principle.

“Shit, I didn’t mean to get you involved,” someone cursed, and I realized it was that Miles DeLoughrey guy.

I saw the glass in his hand, and before I could really think, I reached for it.

“This will...” he began, but it was already too late. I spat out the sweet liquid. “...not satisfy you.”

“Who drinks apple juice, for God’s sake? In a bar?” I complained with a laugh, handing him back the glass. “I would have expected more class from you DeLoughreys.”

He laughed indignantly. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

I grabbed my throbbing temple. “Nothing, I just...I should get going.”

“Are you here with the car?” he asked, and I couldn’t help but look at him in hesitance.

“Yes,” I replied, confused, and he looked around observantly with a serious expression.

“Let me walk you to the car. You never know who’s walking around here at this hour.”

My head hurt too much to refuse him the offer, so I just nodded and walked straight ahead.

“And you don’t drink?”

Miles didn’t say anything for a while.

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