Page 124 of Stand: Part One
“To taunt me, it seemed.”
Darren’s features hardened before releasing me from his grasp. “I’ll take care of it.”
I furrowed my brows at his answer. “What does that mean? Take care of it how?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, his tone dark enough to tell me the conversation was over. He then grabbed a drink that had been placed on the table and handed it to me. “Here.” Taking the glass, I admired the work of the bartender. The magenta-colored liquid swirled with edible glitter, topped with a large ring of lime and an edible flower with purple and white petals. The drink actually looked…pretty.
“What’s this?” I asked, swirling the drink in my hand.
“Take a sip and find out.”
I held the glass to my lips and took a cautious sip. A burst of citrus candy hit my tongue, the burn of whatever spirit used practically nonexistent.
“That’s actually really good,” I commented, taking another sip as I relaxed against him.
“Good,” he said with a grin, then turned back to his conversation with the other men.
Sipping on the drink, I allowed my eyes to wander again, bouncing back and forth from the dancing crowd to the gorgeous women in our booth. They too were drinking the same drink as me, the twins smiling and swaying their bodies slightly to the music.
When my eyes suddenly locked with the older brunette, I felt my stomach shrink as she winked at me.
Don’t be weird, Jaden. Smile back.
So I did just that, returning a small grin. She seemingly took this as an invitation to rise from her seat, drink in hand, and crossed the section in my direction.
I could see from the corner of my eye Clive shift closer to the booth like he was thinking about shooing her off, but the deadly glare I sent him kept his large ass in place.
When she plopped down next to me, she crossed her legs and held up her drink.
“Cheers,” she said, holding out her glass. I smiled, lifting my glass to clink it against hers.
“Cheers,” I replied before we both took a sip of our drinks.
Fuck, why is this drink so good?
“I’m Michelle,” she stated, holding her hand out. I took her hand and shook it, noticing the strong grip she used in the gesture, not to mention the giant diamond ring embellishing her ring finger. The thing was bigger than mine.
“Jaden,” I replied. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“I know who you are. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Oh God, not again.
“I can’t guarantee it’s all true,” I replied, having absolutely no idea what has been said about me.
“I hope it is. I’d like to think there’s more than one woman with a spine in this industry.”
Without failure, Darren’s hand spread itself over my leg, his fingertips pressing into my skin in subtle warning. Glancing up, he wasn’t even looking at me, his head turned in the other direction as he continued his conversation.
The man was ridiculously well-tuned to literally everything around him. Even when you thought he wasn’t paying attention, naturally, he always was.
“I can’t imagine there’s much room for womens’ spines around here with the male ego hogging up all the space,” I added, taking another sip of my drink.
Michelle laughed, nodding in agreement. “Too true. Though some of us learned how to shove our way through. Others just don’t have the brain capacity.”
“Is that what you did with all that amazing muscle you’ve built?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t a weird question.
She chuckled. “Most men don’t prefer a body like mine. It makes dealing with them much easier.”
