Mended (Connections, #3)(33)

Garrett starts telling Ivy about the girl Nix has joining him. He seems oblivious to the tension between the two of us, but Nix has been homing in on it. “Everything okay with you and Ivy?” he mutters so she can’t hear.

“I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“That’s cool, but if you want to, I’m here to listen.”

I nod and take a swig of my beer. The four us stand huddled together at the bar, talking, listening to the band, and having a few more drinks. Before I know it Nix is jetting off to the airport to pick up the girl he’s flying in. I glance over at Leif and see that he seems pretty happy. The redhead is sitting on his lap with her hands all over him—doesn’t look like he’ll be dancing tonight. The band takes a break and dance music is piped in. Ivy raises her eyes and laughs. “See, we are at a dance club,” she says.

I can’t help but laugh back. She excuses herself to use the restroom and after ten minutes when she hasn’t returned, I grow concerned and move around to look for her.

Garrett and I check out the place and end up near the railing overlooking the dance floor, where I spot her immediately. The sheen of her tan legs, the sparkle of her earrings, and the glimmer of her sandals—she seems to shine under the beaming crosses of light reflected from above. She’s dancing with some dick in a white tank top whose hands are all over her ass. Tattoos cover his arms and multiple piercings ornament his ears. He just looks like trouble. My breathing reaches an alarming rate, my heart pounds, and my brain tries to maintain its cool as songs change from one to the next. We stay glued to the same spot, just watching her.

When the guy she’s dancing with pushes her up against a wall and grinds into her, I lose all control.

Garrett puts a hand on my shoulder just as my foot perches on the rung of the railing. “Let her handle it, Xander. She’s pushing him away.”

I ignore him and hop the rail in front of me, jumping the four feet between levels and crossing the floor to reach her. The * still hasn’t let go of her, even though she clearly wants him to. He’s about my build, but I know I could take him in a heartbeat. I grip both of his shoulders and pull him back, yanking his hands off her body.

“What the f*ck?” he yells.

“Don’t touch her like that,” I growl, seething.

He looks at me, a little surprised, and flashes a mouth full of brilliant white teeth my way. “You don’t know who I am, do you?” is all he says. Then he turns and shuffles through the crowd without a word. That was easy enough.

I look into her eyes. “Are you okay?”

She nods but looks a little shaken.

“Come with me.” I take hold of her arm and step toward the stairs.

“Let go of me!” She tries to yank her arm away.

I flip around and lean close to whisper in her ear, “I will after I talk to you.” I slide back and my eyes narrow in on her.

“Fine,” she says, relenting. “But I could have handled him myself.”

“It didn’t look that way,” I mutter, again turning and leading her to the second floor, where I saw tables and chairs earlier. I indicate a chair with a dip of my chin and she sits. I do the same.

“I was just dancing with him. He owns the club, and besides, we were only talking.”

“I don’t care who he is. And it didn’t look like he was just talking. It looked more like he was trying to take you in the back room.”

“Even if he was, it’s my choice if I go. Not yours.”

I nod, because that’s all I can do. Fuck, I knew I couldn’t do this. I knew Ivy joining the band was something I wouldn’t be able to handle. I lean back in my chair and my gaze spears her, but words escape me. Fuck, I want her to choose me.

“What do you want from me?” she asks, with more pain in her voice than I’ve ever heard. I want to say you, but first it’s time to come clean.

I squeeze my eyes shut. “Ivy, I want to explain everything to you. I want you to listen and really think about what I’m going to tell you.” I’m nervous as hell about telling her the truth, because if she doesn’t believe me it could undo the relationship we’ve built in the short time we’ve been together on tour. And if she does believe me but doesn’t care—well, that’s what scares the shit out of me the most.

She’s fidgeting. First clasping her hands together, then moving the candle around in the middle of the table. She blows it out, then looks at me. “Xander, I don’t need the dramatics and I really don’t need to talk about you and Tessa, or for that matter, you and Amy or any other ‘friends’ from that circle.” She air quotes the word friends and I know seeing Amy with me must have stung, but it wasn’t like that. It’s not like it carried on from high school to now. We met back up years after high school, and it was more of a convenience than anything else for the both of us.

I take her chin in my hand, and even after all the alcohol her eyes are crystal clear and piercing. I take a deep breath and go for it. “That’s just it. It wasn’t what you thought. That night we were supposed to meet at my grandparents’ . . .” The music suddenly stops and the lights turn on, cutting off my words. There’s a commotion from below and I stand up and look downstairs to see what’s going on.

“Stay here!” I tell Ivy.