Page 296 of Blackwood

Buzz, Buzz

DAD: Your girl’s probably going to need to be carried out of here. But goddamn, you picked a good one.

I snort, biting back a grin. “Yeah. I know.”

He’s standing in the shadows by the bar, disguised in jeans and a fitted jacket like he’s just another partier. After the masquerade, there was no chance in hell I was letting her walk into this place without backup. So yeah, my dad’s here. Watching. Guarding.

Knox opens the dance floor back up. Rez sprints out first like the cocky bastard he is, grabbing Bella by the waist and spinning her around like he owns her. She laughs—head thrown back, eyes lit up—and for a split second, the rage is back.

“Fuck that shit,” I growl, already moving.

Cade’s hand clamps down on my arm.

“Lex. Give them a minute,” he says low in my ear. “He’s your family and they’re friends. You should’ve seen how much work they did together for your Donor Fight.”

I grit my teeth. I watch Rez plant himself behind her and start grinding. I can’t breathe. My hands ball into fists. My girl, my fucking girl, is letting him. She’s laughing, sweaty, glowing, letting the music take her like it’s nothing.

By the second chorus, I’m done. “Can I go now?”

“Go get our girl.”

I bolt. Cross the floor in four strides and grab her by the waist, yanking her out of Rez’s hands and spinning her around to face me. Her eyes go wide, then dark as her smile spreads.

“Yeah, malyshka. You know what time it is.” I pull her against me, grinding with her to the beat, hands gripping her hips like handles. Cade slides in behind her, all smooth and heat, hands already in her hair.

“Goddamn, you look so good,” I murmur, biting at her earlobe. “You know I almost decked him for that, right?”

She laughs, breath hot in my mouth. “I was just dancing.”

Cade pulls her hair aside and kisses her neck. She moans low and dirty right against my lips.

I groan. “Bourbon?”

She nods and jumps up, arms locking around my neck, legs cinching my waist. Her cowboy boots smack my thighs as she grinds against me—like she’s riding me in our bed, not in the middle of a dance floor with half of Wexley watching.

Cade’s watching her too, eating it up. His eyes are blazing and his dick is probably hard as concrete.

Yeah, my girl’s feelin’ it now. Tipsy, high off the night.

She’s back.

Rico, our resident rhinestone warlock and part-time hydration fairy, comes sprinting across the dance floor like a man on a mission. He’s got a tray of water bottles in hand and muttering something about electrolytes and lawsuits. He doesn’t stop moving, just tosses one bottle to each of the girls with damn near perfect precision.

“Hydrate or die, bitches!” he shouts.

Without missing a beat, all three of them raise their bottles and chorus back in unison, “Yes, Dad!”

They blow him kisses and start chugging like their lives depend on it. Bella leans back just enough to drink without spilling, still wrapped around me like a fucking vice. I don’t let her go. Not even a little. She finishes the water, wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

She leans in close, lips brushing my ear as her arms tighten around my neck.

“I have a surprise for you,” she whispers, all soft and sweet, with something devilish hiding underneath it.

“What is it?”

Her smile curves against my jaw. “Shhh,” she teases, breath warm. “I’m not supposed to tell.”

Then she giggles—giggles—and that damn Southern accent starts slipping through like honey seeping into cracked wood.