Page 126 of His Trick

Her throat worked, swallowing back the words, and then she shook her head again. “How can I, when you shut me out? Please, Shiloh. Just…hold me.”

I wrapped my arms around her and let her sink against me, her body trembling. My blood was still boiling in my veins, but my mind kept circling. Carmen, his sister, heard the venom in his voice when he spoke her name. And beneath it all, one thought curled up like a snake.

If Tyler had hurt Xanthy the way I knew he could, and broken the strong resilience she showed me from day one…then maybe the choice I came here to make tonight wasn’t really mine to begin with.

Iwas standing by the bar, two glasses of champagne sweating in my hands. My mind wasn’t even on the party anymore. I was caught between the weight of the ring in my pocket and the thought of Carrington waiting for me tonight. The gold band pressed against my thigh like a fucking reminder I hadn’t chosen.

Yet.

Xanthy had been avoiding me the last few hours of this stupid shit show, anyway. She used her posse like a wall to block me. I ruffled her feathers enough with the truth bomb that now she didn’t want to hear me speak at all.

Guess you are done parading around your puppet.

I started to head out, walking through the crowds, not bothering to look for Xanthy. She could find me in the car with my champagne. Then a laugh broke through the chattering noise, rich, stupid, and overpowering.

Tyler’s.

I stopped at the door, glancing up and scanning through the crowd. At first, I thought I’d lost Xanthy in the shifting bodies, but then I found her.

The pale lavender of her dress was being tugged toward the edge of the room, near the back door, where an empty hallway led to another venue set up.

There was supposed to be no one in there, yet Tyler’s hand was clamped around her arm, his grip was firm. Like a fucking cat his smile was too wide and predatory, as he yanked her toward that abandoned area.

Xanthy wasn’t smiling.

She was digging in her heels, trying to latch onto anyone around her, but they all simply smiled and watched her get dragged away farther.

So much for ride-or-die friends.

Guess they’d prefer her to be the one who was dead.

Her lips moved, probably telling him no, but the music swallowed her soft, husky voice.

He bent down to her level and whispered something against her ear that made her flinch. I turned back, heading for her, while he kept jerking her toward the hallway, like she was nothing more than an accessory to his ego.

The glasses in my hands slammed down on the bar, liquid splashing over my knuckles and onto the smooth surface. My pulse pounded so hard I could barely hear the group of people trying to talk to me.

“Shiloh, they’re just catching up?—”

“Don’t be all possessive. She wouldn’t want?—”

“Don’t be like that?—”

I pushed through the crowd, the heat of my anger building under my skin with every step. Tyler didn’t slow down, didn’t even look back as he pulled her around the corner and into the vacant area.

People laughed and clapped him on the back, oblivious to her turmoil as she was swallowed by the doors closing.

When I hit the hallway, the sound died to a dull echo.

He had her all the way down at the other end. Her back was pressed to the wall, his arm barring her in, while his body leaned too close.

Her hands pressed against his chest, beating her fists against his stomach. He only laughed again, that cruel rasp of toying with someone’s torment.

I knew.

Because it was a replication of how I was with Carmen that night, but unlike her, I would not let Xanthy succumb to the same fate.

Over my dead fucking body.