B00AAOCX2E EBOK (12 page)

He pointed over my shoulder. “What were you doing up here? Some guy said he saw you coming up here with Graydon Billings.”

I lifted my chin. “So? I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

“That’s bullshit.”

I shoved him in the chest. “You’re right, it is bullshit! All of it. I don’t tell you who you can and can’t fuck, so—”

“Whoa, you
fucked
him?” Ian sputtered, his eyes bugging out.

My mouth snapped shut and I looked away. “I didn’t say that, but if I wanted to, it would be my choice and not yours.”

“Wait a minute.” Ian’s voice had gotten low and suspicious. I looked over to find his eyes trained on my arms. “Why are you shaking?”

I hadn’t realized I was, but he was right. My arms and hands quaked and my knees knocked together. I felt a little weak and dizzy, come to think of it. The adrenaline of my confrontation with Graydon was fleeing my system, turning me into a quivering mass. “I’m not.”

“You sure the hell are!” His eyes flew up, his expression thunderous. “What happened? Did he hurt you?”

“No!” I cried out, but he wasn’t listening. His eyes had flown to the hall behind me, and then, he was rushing past.

Son of a bitch.
I turned and chased after him. “Ian, stop!”

I pushed into the office just in time to see him shove Graydon up against the wall. “What did you do to her?” he snarled.

“Ian! Stop it!”

“You picked the wrong girl to fuck with, Billings,” Ian growled in a low voice.

“Fuck you, Hollister,” Graydon spat, shoving him away. “The fucking tease knew what she was doing when she came up here.”

Ian lunged forward and slammed his shoulder into Graydon’s midsection. Graydon hit the wall with a grunt, then pummeled Ian’s back with his fist. Ian rammed his shoulder into Gryadon’s gut a few times, then stood and brought his hand back.

“Stop it!” I rushed forward and clutched Ian’s arm. He stared down at me with a dark and disturbing look and I shook my head while I wedged my body between them. “Knock it off! He didn’t do anything wrong. Let’s just go.”

“Not until this piece of shit apologizes to you!”

“I don’t need an apology.”

“Bullshit!” Ian started forward again.

I shoved him back. “Stop it! Just walk away. Please.”

Ian looked down at me and seemed to come to his senses. He released a pent-up breath and backed off, glaring at Graydon.

Graydon wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and spat on the floor. “That’s right, Hollister; listen to the little cunt.”

“You’re dead!” Ian growled and lurched forward. I wasn’t sure what he did after that because something had snapped inside of me, and before I could process what I was doing, I spun around and brought my closed fist downward on Graydon’s face. It wasn’t a punch in the strictest sense – I meant to slap him, I think – but it had the same effect as one.

Graydon clutched at his nose as blood spurted through his fingers. “Fucking bitch!”

My hands flew to my mouth as I stared at what I’d done. Ian stilled against my back, and I looked over my shoulder to see he looked as shocked as I felt.

“Oh, God! I’m so sorry,” I said, moving toward Graydon to see if I could help, but he pushed me away.

“Just get the fuck out of here, you crazy bitch.”

I backed away, pushing Ian behind me. “I’m sorry,” I squeaked.

“Nice shot.” Ian took my arm and ushered me out of the room and down the hall. “When did you take up boxing?”

“Oh my God,” I squeaked again, cradling my fist to my chest. The pain was
excruciating
. My knuckles burned and throbbed, and it felt like bolts of lightning were shooting up my wrist. “I didn’t mean to, but he called me the C-word! It’s my Kryptonite!” I couldn’t imagine a filthier or more disrespectful term for a woman. “Oh…oh my God!” I stared wide-eyed at Ian. “What if he presses charges?”

“And admit he just got his ass beat down by a girl? Not likely.” Ian let out a rueful chuckle. He saw that did nothing to put me at ease and turned to rub my shoulders. “Calm down. Breathe.”

I nodded and sucked in several deep breaths, trying to take consolation in Ian’s words. He was probably right, anyway.

“What the hell were you thinking, Ivy?” he asked in a tired voice.

“What were you thinking following me?” I said, growing irritable. The irritation was more at myself than anything. What
had
I been thinking? Better yet, what had I been hoping to accomplish? Sure, I wanted Ian pissed, but then what? What kind of satisfying result could have possibly occurred after that?

“Cut the crap. You knew I’d come and check up on you.”

“Fine. You pissed me off; I was returning the favor.”

Ian raised an eyebrow. “I piss you off, so you go make out with some guy to get back at me?”

It sounded so stupid when put that way. Worse yet, it sounded like I was trying to make him jealous, which so wasn’t the case.

To my surprise, Ian cracked a smile. “You got most of the punishment there, don’t you think? I mean, Graydon Billings? Really?”

I puffed a soundless laugh out.

Ian reached out for my throbbing hand and lifted it to the hallway’s sickly yellow light. He turned it in the light, surveying the damage, then stroked my knuckles with his fingers. “You’re gonna be hating life tomorrow, kid.” He brought my hand to his face and pressed a gentle kiss against my middle knuckle.

A smile pulled at my mouth. Feeling my irritation with him slip away, I rose to my tiptoes and brushed my lips against his. “Thank you.”

My smile faded away when I saw Ian’s expression change. His eyes shifted between mine and I saw something intense flare in his irises before his gaze dropped to my lips. I watched his eyelids lower, his mouth soften…

My heart back-flipped and a dizzying current surged from my fingertips to my toes.
Holy hell…is he about to…?

Ian’s eyes shot right back up again, and for a fraction of a second, he stared at me like he’d never seen me before.

Then he blinked and swept me up into his arms, spinning me around twice. “You know me,” he said with a strange laugh. “Gotta look out for my girl.” When he set me down, it was with an easy smile.

I felt an odd twinge of disappointment that took me completely off guard.

Ian slung his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me to his side while leading us towards the stairs. “Come on, Slugger, let’s get you some ice for that hand.”

***

I was still waiting for my pulse to resume its normal pace when I arrived back at the table. Amery and Casey sat with their heads together, staring out at the dance floor.

“What are you two plotting?” I asked.

“We’re scoping hot chicks.” Amery pronounced each word with the slow precision of the very drunk. “Casey needs to get laid.”

“I’m not looking to get laid,” Casey said in exasperation. “I told you, I’m looking for a
nice
girl.” He grinned. “For a start, anyway.”

“Oh, nice, okay,” Amery said, turning back to the dance floor. “Shh. There’s one now.”

“Shhhh,” Casey repeated, laying his head on Amery’s shoulder and pointing to a cute brunette. “That one?”

Amery followed his finger with a nod. “She’s pretty. Go for it, Tiger.”

Casey stood and bounced on his toes, then rolled his neck around as if he was about to go into the boxing ring. He looked at me. “It’s all about the self-confidence, and I’ve got a full-proof plan from The Master.”

Winking at me, he set off with a look of determination on his face. “The Master?”

“Ian gave ‘im tips,” Amery said with an airy wave. She hiccupped and then belched. “Oh, ‘scuse me.” She frowned at the arm I held to my chest. “What’s wrong with your hand?”

I took the seat Casey had vacated. “Yeah, this guy ran into my fist.”

Amery’s head tilted to the side, before my meaning seemed to penetrate her haze. “You hit him?”

“More like she cold-cocked the bastard.” Ian appeared at the table with a makeshift ice pack he’d fashioned out of a scrap of Hefty bag. He crouched down beside me. “Okay, Rocky, let’s see that hand.”

“Would that be Balboa or Marciano?” I asked, defaulting to humor to veil the sudden weirdness I felt around him.

“Your choice; they both hit.” Ian placed my hand flat on the table and lightly placed the bag on top of it. “Keep that on for at least fifteen minutes. It should cut down on the swelling.”

“Thanks, Ian.” I lowered my head in an attempt to catch his eye. I don’t know what I was looking for – a sign that I hadn’t imagined what happened upstairs or just to make sure we were still okay. He gave a faint smile, but I was pretty sure his eyes were trained on my forehead.

“Anytime.” He stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You want another drink? It’ll help with the pain.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

I followed his retreating back with my eyes as he crossed over to the kegs. He grabbed a cup and the tap, then glanced over at me. When he saw me watching him, his eyes darted away. In that moment, I would have given my ability to speak to know what he was thinking.

“Why are you hitting guys?” Amery asked, drawing my attention.

Seeing the perplexed expression on her face, I decided simple explanations were probably the best. “He called me the C-word.”

Amery popped up straight in her seat. “He didn’t! Let’s go kick his ass!”

My mouth quivered. “I already did, sweetie.”

“Oh. Right.” She collapsed back against the chair.

My attention wandered back to Ian. He’d been joined by a blonde Barbie in a ridiculously short white skirt and a pink tube top. She held her hands behind her back as she shifted her weight from one hip to the other, displaying her long legs to the greatest advantage.

I squinted, trying to read the look on Ian’s face. I wanted to know what he was going to do. His eyes traveled the length of her curvy body, lingering on her thighs beneath the short skirt. When he looked up into her face, it was with a cocky grin I knew all too well.
Invitation accepted.

I sat back in my chair and blew out a breath, wondering why I expected anything different. Had I really thought he would turn down what she was offering because we may or may not have had a moment upstairs?

Get a grip!

“Not that I can blame her,” Amery said. I think she’d been babbling in my ear for the past minute or so, but I hadn’t been paying attention. “I can’t imagine there’s a girl on campus that hasn’t at least thought about hooking up with Ian, myself included.”

Now, I was paying attention. “
What
?”

Amery looked at my face, then laughed, as if she found my reaction hilarious. “Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch. I don’t want him. He’s just one of my…‘get there’ guys.”

“Your what?”

“You know…‘get
there
’.” She watched me, waiting for me to understand. I had my suspicions of what she was getting at, but hoped I was wrong. Her throaty chuckle told me I wasn’t. “You know, when you’re about to reach the big ‘O’ and you need that one last thing that flashes in your mind to push you over the edge? Ian’s my favorite last thing.”

“Since when?” I asked, unable to believe I was hearing this.

“Since I first saw his hands,” Amery said with a dreamy sigh. She brought her arms over her head and stretched like a cat, casual and elegant, then rolled her lower body as if she was actually imagining his hands on her. “I mean, he’s hot, yeah, but he has such beautiful hands. I just want them all over me.”

“I’ve never really noticed before,” I said, my voice tight.

“Oh, come on,” Amery said in disbelief. “Are you blind? I know you’re friends or…whatever,” she rolled her eyes, “but you have eyes. You can’t tell me that you’ve never noticed how sexy his hands are? Or how sexy he is in general? I mean, his body, that mouth, those intense eyes….” She licked her lips.

“If you like him so much, why haven’t you ever made a play for him?” I snapped.

Wow, that sounded bitchier than I meant.

Amery snickered. “I don’t like him. And even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. He’s…taken.”

“By her? She’ll be gone in the morning.”

“That’s not what I…” Amery stared at me for a second before groaning and dropping her head back to stare at the ceiling. “God, never
mind
.”

“Never mind, what?”

We both jumped when Ian put my beer on the table, his gaze swinging between us. Amery giggled and looked away. “Nothing,” I said with a tight smile.

Ian gave an indifferent shrug. “Well, whatever. There’s your beer. I’ll catch up with you later.”

I watched as he turned away and joined the blonde, who waited a few feet away from our table. “Where are you going?”

“Duty calls,” he said with a meaningful lift of his brows. Translation: he’d found his bimbo
du jour
. He put his arm around said bimbo’s teeny-tiny waist and grinned down at her.

I stared at his hand for a moment before looking up. “I thought you wanted to leave.”

“Changed my mind.” He cocked his head to the side, and he and the girl walked away. I followed their steps until they were swallowed up by the crowd.

A sharp red swell streaked over my knuckles. I gasped, forcing my hand to relax from the death grip it had clenched into at some point.

“Ian better watch for that one,” Amery said. “That’s Desiree Newkirk. She’s in my Pilates class at the rec center and brags about the details of her sex life in the changing room. Girlfriend says some of the filthiest shit I’ve ever heard. I mean, this one time, she—”

“Hey girls!” Chelsea approached with a cup of beer in her hand.

“Hey, you actually came,” I said, motioning for her to sit down.

She grabbed a chair and sat. “Yeah, we were at Sullivan’s and some of Parker’s friends wanted to stop by.” Sullivan’s was a local watering hole, popular with yuppies and Young Republicans. It was a mecca for a guy like Parker. This party was probably his idea of hell.

Looking around Chelsea, I quickly spotted Parker standing about five yards away with some of his friends. He was so Mr. Joe College, the kind of guy you found smiling up at you from the front page of a campus brochure. He was tall, with closely cropped blond hair, dark blue eyes, rounded cheekbones that always had a flushed look to them, and a perfect aquiline nose, which he was always looking down over those he deemed not worth his time. Even at the distance, I could see the sour curl of his mouth as an intoxicated couple stumbled by.