Page 70 of Veil of Death and Shadow

The bouncer was a large, bald, white man, stacked with muscle so thick it cannibalized his neck. His face was etched with a scowl so deep that I actually flinched when he turned it on me.

“He drugged her,” Levi said, his voice was calm and carried smoothly now that the room was shrouded in virtual silence.His arm was still around me, keeping me in place even though I was no longer at risk of falling. He shoved the bottle in his free hand towards the bouncer “Check the beer if you don’t believe me. This wasn’t her fault. The prick got what he deserved.” Levi glanced down at Ace, his face carved into a dark scowl. “Far less, if I’m being honest.”

There was so much loathing in that look that I wondered, briefly, if Levi would’ve suffocated him to death if I hadn’t asked him to let up.

Whatever color was left in Ace’s face immediately fled the scene as the crowd started to whisper around us, their curious expressions now shifting to disgust. His teeth were lined with red, and the front one appeared chipped from this angle. “Look man, I’ll go, okay. She’s an uptight bitch—and he’s an asshole. Don’t believe them. I didn’t do anything. She didn’t even drink it.”

The bouncer held the bottle loosely at his side as he surveyed the scene, clearly at a loss for how to handle the situation. How often did this sort of thing happen?

Ace took his momentary pause as an opportunity. He kicked the bottle out of the bouncer’s hand, shattering it at our feet. The liquid poured everywhere, dissipating and sinking into the already wet, beer-coated floor.

Ace shot me a satisfied smirk, made ridiculous by the smear of blood smeared across his mouth.

With a sinking feeling, I realized what he’d done. The dickhole destroyed the evidence. He was going to get away with it.

I lunged towards him, my vision swimming with a visceral, hot rage I was desperate to release, but Levi’s grip held firm.

“Stop,” he said, voice low in my ear. “You’ve already hurt your hand. He’s not worth any more damage.”

“I don’t give a shit about my hand,” I screamed back. Right now, I hardly even felt it. The only thing I felt was the violent bloom of anger that was making my head swim.

Levi said something else, whether to me or the bouncer I couldn’t tell. I didn’t care.

All I saw was red, the injustice of the situation flooding my system with such a furious wave that I could taste it on my tongue.

I wanted to dig my nails into the creep’s smug face and claw at him until it was unrecognizable.

The reality of the situation settled over me, hot and searing. What would have happened if I had taken a sip of that beer? If Levi hadn’t been here, hadn’t said something? What if Ace got away with this and tried it again on someone else? His parents were rich, he had everything he could possibly want—why wasn’t it enough? Why was itneverenough? Why did men do this shit and why did it feel like they always got away with it? Why did men?—

Nope, that was the end of my thought. Just why did men? Period, full stop.

After a moment of burning heat, the fight slowly bled out of me, leaving only an aching soul-deep exhaustion. There was no winning in this situation. Pricks like Ace always got away with this shit—if not tonight with the bouncer, then tomorrow with his parents paying off whoever they needed to in order to make the accusations disappear.

What was the point in fighting it? All I got in return was a now-throbbing hand.

When I stopped resisting him, Levi let me go.

He bent down over Ace, though I couldn’t catch what he said.

Ace’s expression flattened into fear, like he’d seen a ghost. His body trembled on the ground, but he only nodded, the smug look in his eyes now blank.

Levi glanced back at me, making sure I was still exercising restraint, then spoke briefly with the bouncer.

I didn’t really want to stick around long enough to catch the highlights of their conversation. I had no intention of waiting for the bouncer to escort me out or call the cops. The last thing I needed was to deal with the police. Fuck that.

I’d only just gotten my life and identity back. I wasn’t about to throw it all away.

When I tried to leave, my body chose that exact moment to lock.

My chest was tight, like it couldn’t suck in a full breath of air. Though the music had stopped, the whispers and sounds suddenly felt too loud and chaotic to stomach for another second longer. They slurred together until it felt almost like Ihadbeen drugged.

The people and lights and noises surrounding me blurred at the edges until the scene came to me in stilted clusters.

I felt like I was going to scream or pass out if I didn’t get a fresh breath of air in my lungs—maybe both.

When a hand grabbed my upper arm, I flinched.

Something flashed across Levi’s expression when he came back into focus. He let my arm go, then took a step back. “Sorry.”

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