Page 22 of Soulless Angel

Daire smirked, shaking his head dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. I won’t say shit to her. Get out of our way.”

“Cut it out, guys,” I admonished, shoving in between the two of them. “We’re all here to have fun. Play nice. For Raina and me.”

Knight’s gaze lingered on me. “Sorry, Clover, but I have no idea what you see in this guy.”

Without another word, he pushed through the crowd into the house. Daire stiffened but he didn’t say a thing. He guided me along until we broke free from the throng.

Outside was so much better. The stifling hot air from inside was gone. I could breathe again. The backyard was an adequate size, providing more room to move than the cramped house. Several people sat around a firepit while almost everyone else had gathered around a makeshift fight ring in the center. This tended to happen a lot at these parties. University guys loved any excuse to throw down.

I spotted Raina, Lyra, and Briar leaning against the back fence. They watched the fight currently taking place with varying expressions of intrigue, curiosity, and disgust. Gage and Havockept their distance while staying close enough to keep an eye on Raina.

“Go ahead.” Daire nodded toward the girls. “I’ll grab us a drink.”

“You always look like a rainbow threw up on you, and I love it so much.” Raina pulled me into a hug, almost spilling her drink down my back. “Oops. Sorry.”

I grinned. “Thanks. I think. How are you ladies doing? Are you as ready for the weekend as I am?”

“You have no idea.” With a roll of her eyes, Lyra sipped her drink. “Jet and I had to have dinner with our parents last night. It was his mom’s birthday. Every time my phone buzzed with a message from Ryan, he gave me this look. Like he knew.”

Knowing Jet, he probably did. Since I didn’t want to bring her down, I kept my thought to myself.

“Where is Ryan anyway?” Briar asked, scanning the group of mostly guys gathered around the fight zone. “For that matter, where’s Jet? Isn’t he usually lurking around, ready to pop up and make trouble at a moment’s notice?”

Lyra shrugged. “I haven’t seen Jet today. Hopefully it stays that way. I’m meeting Ryan at the theatre later for a midnight movie.”

“Good. I’m happy for you. You should have someone.” A smile lit up Briar’s face, curving her black lipstick painted lips.

“Sometimes that someone is who you least expect,” I said, watching Daire make his way back with a drink for me. “It’s kind of a mind fuck, although it seems to work out for the best that way.”

Raina’s gaze strayed past me to Daire, and she nodded. “Yeah, a mind fuck is putting it lightly.”

Daire joined us, passing me a drink that smelled strongly like vodka. He nodded a silent greeting to my friends who all mumbled some kind of hello. His close proximity got Gage’sattention. He quickly joined us, not bothering to hide his irritation at finding Daire so close to Raina.

“Give the ladies some space, Keller. They don’t want you hanging around.” Gage moved protectively close to Raina who scoffed.

“Go away, Gage,” she said, giving him a shove. “Actually, both of you guys should go away. We don’t need either of you ruining our vibe. Make yourselves useful. Keep the drinks coming.”

Daire studied Raina with a strange, curious expression. “What’s it going to take to finally lay this shit between us to rest? How about we get in the ring so you can even the score?”

I gaped at him in surprise. So did Raina.

“Get in the ring?” she repeated. “You want me to fight you?”

“I’ll stand there and let you kick my ass in front of everyone. Anything to end this so we can all move on. I can’t go back and change what’s been done, so this seems to be the best solution. Take your vengeance so we can find peace. For Clover.” Daire was dead serious. Ready to get his ass beat in front of the whole party.

Raina glanced uncertainly at me. “Well, it’s no fun if you don’t fight back.”

“Fine. I’ll fight back. Whatever you want. I’ll do anything it takes to make this right.” Daire stared at Raina, determination in the hard set of his jaw.

Gage made a noise of disbelief. “Seriously? What about the scars you left all over her body? A few punches won’t make up for that.”

Daire shocked us further by pulling his knife from a pocket. The same knife he’d used on Raina that night. He held it out for Raina to take. “Here. Do your worst.”

Raina stared at the knife. “Are you sure? This is kind of crazy, even for you, Daire.”

“I’m giving you the knife, aren’t I?” He continued to hold it out for her.

“Do it, Cherry Pie,” Gage said, a wicked light in his blue and hazel eyes. “You deserve this.”

---