Page 52 of Hard Rock Desires

Grace halted, stopping so abruptly I almost tripped over her. I was about to ask what was wrong when I saw the expressions crossing her face. There were too many emotions to pinpoint just one, but I caught a horrible sort of heartbreak, unbearable pain and, above all, a violent fury.

“What is it?” I asked urgently. I followed her gaze to a man a few feet away. From what I could hear, he was questioning a server about the drink selection. The server handed him a glass with a red band around the rim.

Grace’s hand clenched down on mine, hard enough to hurt. I winced. Damn, I hadn’t known she was that strong.

“That son of a bitch,” she seethed.

Her face was nearly purple with rage and her eyes were glossy with unshed tears. I had no idea what was going on, but from her balled fist it seemed like she was ready to start throwing punches.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I soothed, wrapping my arms around her waist and holding her to me. “Do you want to get out of here?”

“No.” She set her jaw firmly and tore herself loose from my grip to stomp toward the stranger.

“Grace, wait—”

Shit, I’d rarely seen someone this upset before. I hurried to catch up with her. Was I going to have to pull her back before she decked the guy? Who the hell was he, to get her so worked up?

She finally reached him. He hadn’t noticed her. She grabbed at his arm and jerked him to face her. He looked startled.

“What the f—” he started to say. Then he saw Grace and all the blood drained from his face, turning him pale.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she shouted.

The guy’s mouth flapped uselessly.

“You have some fucking nerve,” she continued.

“Grace,” he said hoarsely. “Look, I’m—”

She cut him off.

“If you say you’re sorry, I’ll claw your goddamn eyes out,” she shouted again, this time with tears streaming down her face.

Whoa, okay, this was getting out of hand. Everyone was staring at the scene she was making, whispering with shocked expressions. These parties got a little bit rowdy by the end of the night, sure, but nothing like this confrontation. Well, aside from that time when one of the musicians hit on a CEO’s wife. That had been a shit show.

Just like this one was turning into.

I curled my arm around Grace’s shoulder and pulled her a few feet away, putting distance between her and the guy. She whipped her head around to glare at me, but the tears made her look lost and distraught, not angry.

“I think it’s best if we leave,” I said carefully.

“No!” she insisted through a liquid sob. “He should—” She faltered. “He needs to—”

I steered her toward the exit as she protested. I looked over my shoulder at the guy. The look on his face was as distraught as Grace’s. Maybe even more so.

What the hell was this? An ex-boyfriend? I couldn’t imagine what had gone down between them to cause such a reaction. This wasn’t normal.

I finally got her outside, her fighting me the whole way. The fresh air seemed to do her some good. She inhaled shuddering breaths and clutched her purse between both hands so tightly the knuckles turned white. I laid my hand over her fists.

I wanted to ask what the hell had happened in there. I wanted to ask who he was. Who he was to her, specifically. I wanted to know what had gone wrong for her to act like that. I was sure she had a reason. Grace had never seemed the type to fly off the handle. Whatever it was, it had to have been bad.

And that guy, he had looked as terrible as her. There had been none of that anger, though. Only a sort of broken resignation. He hadn’t yelled back. He’d taken everything she threw at him stoically.

“Zain.” Grace finally spoke up.

“Hm?” I tipped her chin up to meet my eyes, giving her my full attention.

The pain on her face was heart-wrenching. She lowered her gaze, hiding that pretty blue behind long lashes.