Page 25 of Outlier
“You’re not even going to try and use the opportunity to empty your bladder?” I asked, completely incredulous.
Honestly, people made no sense to me. After I shut the door behind me, I could hear someone else come into the bathroom and talk to Lottie, but the space was too vast to make out what they were saying. When I came back out, to my surprise, my half-sister was standing next to Lottie by the mirrors, glaring at her in the reflection.
Claire and Lottie had always seemed to get on okay.
“Stop it,” Claire hissed at Lottie as I approached. “Leave me alone.”
“Claire?” I asked as I drew up next to them and looked between them. Something was wrong with Claire’s face. In the harsh light of the bathroom, I could see an area of darkening high on her cheekbone, and I noticed some swelling there. “Why have you got a bruise on your cheek?”
Claire glared at me for a moment, then tore out of the bathroom.
I frowned after her. Claire and I weren’t very close. She only really tolerated me, but she was never unkind. And the last thing I wanted was for her to be hurt.
Lottie put her hand on my arm to get my attention.
“Vics, we need to go really soon. Why don’t you find Ollie and let him know, and I’ll go after Claire.”
I nodded at Lottie, well aware that managing the Claire situation was far beyond my capabilities. She wouldn’t welcome me coming after her. I knew that at least. But I also knew that if my half-sister was hurt, then my half-brother needed to know. Informing him was a task Iwascapable of. So I took a deep breath and forced myself into the crowd to get across the ballroom.
Crowds like this were not good for me. I could feel my anxiety levels slowly climb as I weaved through all the people, but all I could see in my mind was that bruise on my half-sister’s cheek.
If anyone could sort it out, it was Ollie. He wouldn’t let anything happen to Claire. He’d protect her.
But the more time I spent closed in with other people, the worse I started to feel. Where was he? Seeing a gap open up a pathway towards the bar, I made a break for it, but just as I was squeezing past the group of investors I’d been talking to earlier, one of them caught my arm, bringing me to an abrupt halt.
“Ice princess,” he said in a booming voice, and the people around him started laughing.
I yanked on my arm, trying to pull free, but he held fast.
The feel of his large sweaty hand around my biceps made me feel physically sick. For an awful moment, I thought I might meltdown.
I knew what Lottie would tell me to do. She’d say to use my smile and make a polite excuse. Maybe if I’d been able to do that,he might have let me go. But when hit with the reality of this situation I just froze, blinking up at him with a blank expression.
“So, we’re curious,” the horrible man went on in a slurred voice. “Do you let anyone have a go with your royal snatch, or has everything iced over completely now?”
I pulled on my arm again to try and step away, but he only tightened his grip. Bile rose in the back of my throat, but just as I thought I would vomit on his shoes, suddenly, his hand was gone.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, you tosser?” Mike shook the man by the arm he had snatched off me. He towered over him, and I watched as the man’s face paled. “Answer me, you piece of shit.”
“Fucking hell, let go of me!” the man shouted.
Mike dropped his arm, and the man took a step back, rubbing it with his hand.
“Doesn’t feel good when someone bigger than you grabs you and won’t let go, does it?” Mike’s voice was low and furious.
“She didn’t say anything,” the man whined. “I would have let her go if she’dsaidsomething.”
I shuffled back and hugged myself, suddenly feeling very cold. Of course, I should have said something. A normal woman would have been able to tell this odious man to cease and desist the minute he put his hands on her. But I wasn’t normal.
Noticing my movement, Mike’s gaze flicked from the man to me, then, to my complete shock, he walked in my direction, and as if we belonged to each other, he took my hand in his.
For the first time in my life, I tolerated someone holding my hand. There was something different about Mike’s large, dry, calloused hand, something calming.
“Stay away from her,” he growled at the man, then turned to the rest of the group, who were all cowering away from him.“The same goes for all you pillocks. Nobody touches her. Got me?”
They all nodded. The one who grabbed me looked mutinous and was still rubbing his arm, but he nodded along all the same.
Then Mike turned and pulled me through the crowd, successfully negotiating all the people far more effectively than I had managed. When we were in a relatively clear area next to the floor-to-ceiling windows and the huge open double doors leading outside, he pulled us to a stop, his hand still in mine, and glared down at me.
