Page 57 of Beneath the Starlight and Storms

My body stiffens as his reply quickly snaps me out of the haze of pleasure I’m slowly falling under once more. I shove him back. This time he moves with a husky chuckle and a smug look on his face.

“Just because my body reacts to you doesn’t mean anything.” Maybe I was attracted to Hook. But that was all it was. A physical attraction.

I was inexperienced and foolish for letting that attraction override my common sense.

“It could happen with anyone else.” And it could. There were probably plenty of men in this club right now that I could be attracted to.

Hook’s look turns dark as his smile drops. “No one touches you. No one willeverlay their hands on you.”

His reply is enough of an answer to tell me everything I need to know. That I was right, this was him trying to own me and nothing more.

“Youwill never touch me again.” With a vicious glare, I turn around and quickly head out of there, his dark laugh following me as I aimlessly go in a direction, I hope is the right one.

With some stroke of luck, I make it outside before Hook does and find Cash already waiting by the black car. He opens the door for me and gets into the driver’s seat, quickly starting up the machine before pulling away from the club.

Still lost to my anger, it takes me a second to realize that there’s one person missing from the car. I glance back at the club as it grows smaller and smaller.

“What about Hook?” I ask. Not that I should care if we leave him behind. He deserves to walk back.

Cash glances at me through the little mirror in the middle. “He has somebusinessto finish. He’ll be home later.”

But my bracelet... I glance down at it, soon feeling the energy inside it. My mind thinks back to a moment ago in the hall, my eyes widening when I realize what he did.

The storms in his eyes and the brush of warmth…He already charged it.

I glare out my window as the dark night passes me, my emotions just as confusing as my thoughts as they play on repeat.

“Why did you and Hook do that to Ben?” I look back in the little mirror in the center that reveals Cash’s face.

His eyes widen as he glances back at me. “Hook didn’t tell you?”

I frown. “Tell me what?”

Cash sighs, shaking his head, mumbling something I can’t make out. “Why did you leave the room, Tink?”

Something in Cash’s tone makes me pause. He’s not accusing me, he’s just curious. It’s what makes me give him an honest answer.

“I didn’t know about the doorway being some sort of… portal. I just wanted to see something outside of it. I was going to stay in the hall. But then I ended up on a different floor. And I didn’t know how to get back. That guy, Ben, came up to me and said he’d help me. That’s all.”

Cash grinds his jaw, and his hands tighten on the steering wheel. “That piece of shit back there, spiked your drink, Tink. And he most definitely was not going to take you anywhere near the office.”

I lean forward but the straps stop me from going too far. “Spiked?” My mind turns to potions and spells. The type that is dark and evil and my stomach drops.

But he was human, wasn’t he? I didn’t sense any power coming from him.

“Drugged. Like a small potion but human made. They slip them into your drink when you’re not looking and before you know it, you feel ten-times more drunk and can no longer tell one face from another.”

My breath catches in my chest as I deflate back into my seat. “Why would he…? I mean, I don’t even know him...”

“You’re a beautiful girl, Tink. And men like that, they know you’re well out of their league. They know they’ll never have a chance with someone as kind-hearted as you, so they take it. They take it without guilt or shame and deserve nothing more than to live among the worms and dirt six feet under.”

Ben lied to me. My instincts warned me something was off about him. Something his warm eyes and kind smile couldn’t tell me. But I didn’t believe it.

I doubted myself.Again.

But how could I trust that feeling when Hook’s sly smirks and heated gaze told me I could trust him, trust Hook? When I know all he wants to do is own me?

“He didn’t come alone, either. He had a group of friends off doing the same thing around the club. I shouldn’t be telling you any of this. Hook will kill me for making you worry. But you don’t need to ever worry about them again. Hook is dealing with them. They won’t ever hurt you or anyone else.”

---