Page 58 of The Betrayal You Serve

My heart begins to race as I lift my head. I try to prepare myself for looking into his blue eyes, but when I finally drag my lids open and look at who's standing beside us, it's not him.

"Lee?"

"Hey, Cupcake. Wanna dance?"

"Y-yeah."

Lifting my arms so I can drape them over his shoulders as he steps into my body.

"You don't need to look so disappointed, you know," he whispers in my ear.

"What? No, I'm not—"

"It's okay, Let."

Blowing out a breath, I ask the question I really want to know. "He's here, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but I've warned him not to try anything."

"You've warned him?" I ask with a laugh. "No offense, but I'm not sure he'd take that very seriously. He doesn't take well to being told what to do."

"Maybe not, but he hasn’t come anywhere near you yet, so I'll take it as a win for now."

"It won't last."

"We'll see." Leon's smirk tells me that there's way more to his story than he's letting on.

Leon starts moving with me, once again sandwiching me between two bodies, it's a situation I've found myself in a little too often recently. My cheeks burn at just remembering my time between Luca and Leon and then Kane and Devin only the day after.

Dropping my head to his chest, I blow out a long breath as my regrets threaten to swallow me whole.

"Hey," Leon says, tucking his finger under my chin and forcing me to look up at him. "Everything is going to be okay."

"Is it?" I ask, my party buzz suddenly gone.

"Dance with me, Cupcake," he demands.

"Is that a good idea with him watching?" I hesitantly look up at Leon.

"I'm not scared of him, Let."

"I-I know but—"

"It's okay," he breathes, pulling me closer and moving with me in time to the music. "Let go, Cupcake. Just enjoy yourself."

I stare up into his soft eyes and will myself to do as he suggested and just enjoy hanging out with my friend.

"Drinks," Ella calls a few minutes later before she rejoins us with Micah, West, and Brax, along with Violet, who's attached to a guy I've never seen before.

We all dance together for the longest time, the others looking like they don't have any cares in the world while I fight to push all of my issues aside. The fact my skin tingles with awareness from his stare doesn't help but every time I try to discreetly look around, I never find him.

But I know he's there, hiding in the shadows, just waiting to make his move.

It keeps me on edge as I dance while ensuring my blood continues to run hot with thoughts of what will happen when he finally makes himself known.

Will he drag me into the darkness and do his worst while we're hidden in the shadows? Will he throw me over his shoulder and march me to his car for that second round of hood sex he still owes me?

I know I shouldn't be thinking of all these possibilities, I should be planning on how I'm going to say no to him.