Page 61 of Pink Poison

“N-Not here. Not n-now.” She swallows harshly, her eyes swimming with pain, pain that I caused her to endure. “Please.”

Silently, I slide us from the booth and pass her to Stone. If I keep holding her, I’ll be tempted to blurt everything I’m thinking out. It’s selfish of me to want to unload my regret on her right now, and I don't want to be selfish. Not with her.

Stone pulls her to his chest, his eyes set fiercely. “I got her, brother.”

I wait until he walks away with her to roll my neck, cracking the joint twice before moving through the crowd.

Creed Hill isn’t making it out of this club.

Chapter twenty-three

Stone

“W-Where is Kash going?” Stevie croaks.

The question stings, like she’d rather it be him carrying and holding her than me. “Don’t worry about Kash, doll,” I soothe as I push the lobby door open with my boot. “He’ll be out soon.”

We gather the attention of several eyes, all sporting various stages of lust or appreciation with Stevie curled in my arms. Their notice makes my stomach sick, knowing that they're just as messed up as the man who owns the place.

Disgusting fucks.

As fast as I can, I move us through the lobby, only breathing a sigh of relief when the evening humidity hits my face. The sun is still high, making it feel like time has hardly moved since I rolled up. I'd deny it if someone asked, but I sat in front of the club for nearly twenty minutes before goingin. I sat in my thoughts, grappling with who I was last week and the man that I've turned into the last few days.Days.It's mind blowing, insane,terrifyingto know that's all it took for Stevie Waters to change everything I thought I knew about myself.

She scares me, and I don’t know what to do about it.

I have a minute to fill Graves in on what went down.

“I’m gonna set you down, okay?” I tell her as I walk to my bike, conveniently parked behind Kash’s. Her head lolls to the side away from my chest before she mumbles a drowsy affirmation. Pursing my lips, I carefully maneuver her legs to straddle the seat. If she wasn’t wearing those damn skyscraper heels, I don’t think I’d be able to get away with letting her sit by herself. She slumps over the handles, before mumbling something about her head killing her. “Just a little longer,” I remind her.

Digging in my pocket, I pull out my phone and drag up my text messages with Graves. I don’t know what to tell him, but it's clear that she’s not herself right now.

“Stone,” Kash calls.

I look over my shoulder to see my friend walking out of the club with a pair of white tennis shoes in his hand and a demon-like glint in his eye.

Where the fuck did he get those?

“Everything good in there?” I ask, not bothering to address the shoe situation. We have more important things to worry about.

“He’s not there,” he growls. “I asked a few girls if they’d seen him since he arrived, and they said no.”

“Fuck!” I scrub my hand over my face. “Where the hell did he go?”

He jerks his head towards my bike. “We’ll sort him out later, she isn’t looking so good.”

I look at the blonde doll, her long hair curtaining her face as she struggles to keep her head up. “What the hell happened to her in there?”

“Hill did something to her,” Kash whispers.

That stupid fucking piece of shit.

“Do you think he gave her something?” While she doesn'tlookhorribly off right now, that doesn't mean shit. If Hill planned this, he would have known what and how much to give her in order for her to fulfill…I cut the thought short. I don't want to think about that, not now. “She mentioned that her head hurts and she's lethargic—definitely not acting like how we’ve seen her.”

His head dips as he drops his voice low. “Her breath smelled sour, kinda like vomit before I kissed her.”

My jaw tenses. “We need to tell Graves.”

“Tell him everything, Stone.” I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard Kash this pissed. He doesn't anger easily, never had in the last few years that he's been patched with us. Looking up, his glacial stare burns me, freezing me from the inside out. “I mean it. I want him to know that this happened under his goddamn nose,” he spits coolly.

---