Toxic (Denazen #2)(58)

I grabbed her hand, resolving to make her crush feel like a rock star if at all possible, and started back toward the table. “Of course. Start talkin’. What’s his name? What’s he like?”

Her cheeks flushed, and she beamed. Pointing to the door, she said, “Look. There he is.”

I followed her gaze, and all the air left the room.

She tugged me past our table and maneuvered us through the thickening crowd, eager to get across the room to her date. With each step, my legs threatened to give out.

When we got to him, he was all smiles. A six-foot bundle of charm and hotness.

A total illusion.

“Dez, this is Able.”





22


“Able,” I repeated. There was a possibility everyone in the room could hear my pulse pounding. The temperature plummeted, but I was positive I was starting to sweat.

His previously wild, longish hair was slicked back, and the black, chipping polish on his fingernails was gone. Erased without so much as a speck. There were no dark smudges under his eyes, and tonight, both irises were an unremarkable brown color. Contacts. The bastard had gone as far as getting contacts to lure her in. Kiernan was a sucker for guys with sweet brown eyes.

“Nice to meet you, Dez.”

His grin widened like he intended to swallow me whole as he reached for my hand. The memory of our encounter on the roof, and of the dream that followed, his cold lips skimming across my shoulder, sent a chill down my spine. I jerked away before he had a chance to touch me.

He chuckled and winked at Kiernan. “Don’t worry. I’m not contagious—unless I wanna be, yeah?”

I opened my mouth, but the words just wouldn’t come. He was watching, eyes daring me to say something.

“Hey,” I managed, throat dry. This was beyond bold. How was he going to explain himself to Kiernan when Kale recognized—and attacked him? He couldn’t possibly think he’d get away with being here.

I did a quick scan of the room. There was no sign of Able’s creepy other half. Dad couldn’t have sent him here to bring me in. He’d know better than that. Maybe this was just a scare tactic. A mind f*ck. Definitely something Dad would do to keep us hopping.

“Shall we?” Kiernan hooked her arm through Able’s and flashed me a brilliant smile. “We’re going to step out and get some…” She winked. “Fresh air.”

What could I do? Stop her? That would cause a scene—and something told me that was what Able wanted. “Sounds like a plan.”

They turned and wove through the crowd. She’d be safe. He wasn’t here for her. It was me they were after. And Kale. When I got back to the table, Kale and Jade were having an animated conversation about the importance of salad forks. She was smiling and nodding, but I knew for sure that she wasn’t paying attention. The giveaway? When I got close, she leaned in and put her arm around his shoulder with a smirk. She knew I was watching.

“This song is perfect. Want to dance, Kale?” Jade asked, standing. She made a show of adjusting her gown, rearranging the slit so most of her leg showed, and tugging down the bodice so there was enough cleavage visible to block out the moon.

He smiled at her, and my heart cracked just a little. To see him light up for someone other than me was almost more than I could take.

But instead of swinging Jade around the dance floor, he turned to me, gloved hand extended and fingers wiggling several times. “We’ll stay close to the table.”

Close to Jade, he meant.

He didn’t wait for me to respond. Lacing his fingers with mine, he pulled me to the edge of the dance floor just as the band began the slow, sugary beats of the Rolling Stones’s “Wild Horses.” Wrapping one arm around my waist, he pulled me close.

“You look beautiful.”

I smiled. Possibly even blushed. Standing here with him was almost enough to forget about Able being outside with Kiernan. “You said that already.”

He shrugged. “It was worth repeating.” Brushing a stray hair from my eyes, he said, “You changed your hair.”

Standing so close to him, swaying on my uncomfortably high heels, was the perfect time. He’d just given me a golden opening to tell him about my gift and its wonkiness with the hair comment, but something stopped me. “Yeah. I know you said you liked the brown, but—”

“I like it.” He smiled. Leaning in, he placed the softest of kisses across my forehead. In my ear, he whispered, “I miss you.”

When he pulled back, all I could focus on were his eyes. Icy blue beams of intense zapping my heart into oblivion. “I’m right here,” I said.

With his other hand, he tilted my face up. “Are you?”

“Of course.” I almost added, And so is Jade, but didn’t. I could feel her eyes on me. If looks could kill, I’d be twelve feet under with a condo over my grave.

A few feet away, an elderly couple danced, the man spinning his wife out, then dipping her dramatically. It reminded me of the first time Kale and I danced.

He started to lean close again but hesitated. “I feel like…”

I held my breath, hoping for—something. I didn’t know what. Maybe I wanted Able to walk in. It could have been that I wanted Kale to flat out call my bluff. Really, the short of it was, I wanted to be forced into telling him the truth. Deep in my gut, I knew that was the only way I’d get it out. “Feel like what?”