Raging Rival Hearts

by Olivia Wildenstein

  “Derek is babysitting him,” Cassidy said, tackling me into a hug.

  “I told you!” Faith fake pouted. “Lily only likes me because of my son.”

  I rolled my eyes at her, and then, miracle of miracles, I actually cracked a real-ass smile. Not true, I signed, right before Faith flung her arms around me and hugged me.

  I wondered if she’d noticed the missing money in her account.

  “Lily says that’s not true,” Cass translated.

  I tipped my head from side to side in a maybe. I did love Remo completely. Then again, he was a baby and had no faults yet. I supposed I would love him, faults and all. There was something truly special about him. Suddenly, it hit me that I’d get to know him. I’d get to see him again. And the anvil that had been crushing me for days lifted.

  “She totally likes him better than she likes any of us, but I’m good with it!” Faith said, dropping a kiss on Cat’s cheek that left a red mark. “Thanks to her, he can now go to any Ivy league college he wants. What got into you to give him so much money, Lily? I mean, I so appreciate it, but…it’s—it’s too much.”

  I shook my head while Cat studied me with a raised eyebrow.

  After Faith filled her in, she said, “So we’re ready, but you two aren’t.” She clapped her hands as Cat rubbed at her cheek, trying to erase the lipstick stain. “Come on, come on. The bachelorette party has officially begun. Get up. Get dressed. Put on your makeup and your sluttiest clothes, and let’s hit the town.”

  I whipped my face toward Cat. Bachelorette party? We were doing her bachelorette party right now? In the middle of all this…this madness? Going to a club, or whatever it was they had planned, was like eating chocolate mousse between your starter and main course.

  We couldn’t go party.

  I looked over at my brother, who was still speaking with Silas. Although he wasn’t watching us, a smile curved his lips. Was that smile due to the chaos that had just erupted inside my bedroom in the shape of two leggy, loud girls, or was it brought on by his discussion with the guard?

  Is Ace okay with this? I asked Cat.

  “It sort of…was his idea.” My eyes must have gone really wide, because Cat added, “Oh, he’ll be coming with us, along with all our bodyguards, but yeah. He’s the one who said there would be no better night for this.”

  Faith tore my closet open, and Cassidy removed hangers, moaning as she looked at my new wardrobe.

  “Can I move into your closet when we get back to Rowan?”

  I laughed, and the sound softened the tightness of Cat’s shoulders.

  “This. You have to wear this, Lily!” Faith tossed a silver dress at me that was as tight as a band-aid.

  Cat held it up and frowned at it. “You bought this?”

  I nodded sheepishly. Her shock didn’t surprise me. Tight dresses—tight anything—were not usually my style.

  She dropped the dress when another whacked her in the face. “Ouch.”

  “Oh come on, Lara Croft,” Faith said. “You can’t tell me that wad of silk hurt you.”

  “No, but the hanger did.” As she plucked the dress off the comforter to observe it, Cat fake-scowled at Faith, who grinned wide.

  “Oh, and we brought you this.” Cass took a plastic silver tiara attached to a short fluffy white veil out of her bag and tossed it on the bed.

  “Nuh-huh.”

  “Yeah-huh,” Faith said back, at the same time as Cassidy lobbed a pink sash printed with the words: Bride To Be.

  “Because the veil isn’t self-explanatory?” Cat grumbled.

  “We all have a sash.” Cassidy pulled three white ones from her bag with the word bridesmaid written in swirly pink letters.

  She handed one to Faith, who hooked her arm through it and adjusted it until it lay diagonally over her A-line navy dress. “Aw, man, it totally hides my assets.”

  Cassidy snorted. “There is no possible way that anything hides your cleavage, woman. Each boob is like, the size of your son’s head.”

  “My son has a tiny head.” Faith was still toying with the satin, trying to inch it to the side to reveal more cleavage.

  Cassidy laughed. Even Cat was smiling. And me? Well, I felt like someone had powered me back on.

  Having dessert in the middle of the meal was unusual, but why the hell not? When had I ever turned down chocolate mousse?

  Never.

  33

  Jealousy

  I curled my fingers into a fist as we wended our way through the club. Kajika’s stupid mark had begun to glow when we’d left the penthouse and it just wouldn’t turn the fuck off.

  “Don’t worry. He’s fine,” Cat yelled into my ear.

  Who? I signed.

  Above us hung a sea of spinning disco balls that cast rainbow-colored tinsel over the lively crowd as though a child had tossed a handful of glitter over our heads.

  “Kajika!” She spoke his name so loudly that my eardrum quaked.

  I don’t care.

  Cat shot me a wary look. “You’re still mad at him?”

  I stopped walking. Mad at him? I was furious. Hurt. Annoyed. He betrayed me!

  A frenzied dancer elbowed me in the ribs. One of the lucionaga shoved her back, then positioned himself between me and the crowd. Two more sentries stood around Cat, and the last two brought up the rear behind Cassidy and Faith. Ace and Silas had stepped away a moment to place phone calls. Or maybe they’d popped through the Flamingo’s portal to get an update on the dile situation.

  Even though the music roared, Cat lowered her voice. “He only told Cruz because he cares about you.”

  My lips thinned, and my hands came back up, weaving through the liquor-and-perspiration-scented air. Doesn’t make it okay.

  Cat sighed, and her pink sash lifted and fell over her chest. I couldn’t believe my brother had dared leave his bride-to-be’s side for even a second looking the way she did. Even though she was wearing a veil and was enclosed by bodyguards, she was garnering quite an audience. The white dress, which I’d bought for myself, fit her, albeit the hem hit so high on her thighs that my brother urged her to wear stockings. She’d laughed off his suggestion.

  Smart phones flashed around us. The attention had one of our guards barking at the crowd, “No pictures.”

  Cat ducked her head, threaded her arm through mine, her tattoo pulsing against my skin, and pulled me forward toward a round booth on the VIP podium. It was supposed to afford us privacy but was in no way private. Sure we were a couple feet higher than the crowd, but we were basically on a stage next to six other round booths.

  The DJ spun the latest hit, and the crowd went wild, momentarily forgetting about their celebrity sighting. But not everyone had stopped staring. At the table beside ours, the six college-aged boys sitting on the curved banquette were giving all of us a once-over. Gold watches glinted furiously on their beefy wrists. Trust-fund babies. They were too young to be businessmen.

  As I pivoted away, one of them held my attention. His dark hair was artfully messy, as though he’d just rolled out of bed, and his white button-down shirt was open at the collar. I wasn’t a flirt, but if I had been, I would’ve kept looking until he’d amassed the courage to walk my way. Since I didn’t want to encourage him, I turned my back on him.

  “Okay, this might be the second best night of my life!” Faith yelled into my ear.

  What was your first? I typed on my phone.

  “The night I met Remo, duh.” She rolled her bright blue eyes at me. Even though she was still carrying extra weight from her pregnancy, Faith was dazzling, and carefree, and happy. How I envied her. “So tell me,” she said-yelled into my ear, “is Silas single?”

  Silas? I wouldn’t have guessed he was Faith’s type; then again I’d never really discussed boys with Faith. I’d tried a few times, but she clammed up on the subject. I suspected it had to do with the way Remo had been conceived.

  I don’t know if he’s single, but he was last I heard a month back. What I can
tell you is that he’s a really good guy.

  Speak of the devil. He and Ace were making their way up the steps toward us.

  He’s one of my brother’s closest friends.

  I left out the part that he worked for Faith’s father and could turn into a dragon as fast as she could stick a pacifier in her son’s mouth. I wondered if Ace had told Silas that Faith was Gregor’s daughter. I assumed the draca had been informed of this.

  “You think I have a chance?” she asked me.

  I looked at Faith, then at Silas. At any other time, I would’ve written yes, followed by dozens of exclamation points, but considering all that was happening, I wasn’t sure Silas would be game to flirt. At the same time, I didn’t want to be a Debby Downer, so I typed, Go talk to him.

  Faith, who was the most confident person I knew after my brother, grimaced. But then she adjusted her sash for the umpteenth time, ran her fingertips underneath her eyes to make sure her mascara hadn’t smudged—it hadn’t; she looked stunning—and advanced toward Silas.

  She leaned toward him and spoke into his ear. He smiled. She told him something else, and he kept smiling. It tugged on my heartstrings to watch them. Faith deserved some happiness. Especially after her mother—

  She still didn’t know…

  My gaze tripped over Cassidy, who was desperately trying to flirt with one of the lucionaga tasked with our security, toward Cat, who was sitting on my brother’s lap. His hand kept running up and down her thighs. Would Faith understand? Could a person understand why someone had killed their parent?

  I gnawed on my bottom lip, forgetting about the bright red lipstick Cassidy had applied when she’d done my makeup. I had surely ruined it. Because I was helplessly coquettish, I checked my reflection in my phone’s camera. The lipstick was surprisingly still intact.

  In my phone’s screen, I caught movement behind me and then felt a hand touch my waist. I twirled and found myself almost face to face with the boy who’d been ogling me earlier. I was in part shocked and in part flattered by his ballsiness. I was also incredibly surprised that no lucionaga had ripped his arm from its socket yet.

  “Can I get you a drink?”

  I shook my head, darting a nervous glance toward my brother to see if he’d noticed the attention. His gaze was locked on the guy. Of course it hadn’t escaped him. Cat, too, was staring. Astonishingly, though, neither gave the lucionaga orders to intervene, which had me wondering if Ace was condoning this.

  I spun back toward the guy, but he’d vanished. I frowned, until I caught sight of him again a couple feet from where he’d stood a moment before. Kajika had him dangling in the air, one hand circling the boy’s throat. The hunter muttered something to him, then tossed him onto the banquette occupied by his buddies. The boy’s flailing hand knocked over a pitcher of cranberry juice that splattered like fresh blood over his pristine button-down.

  I folded my arms in front of my chest. Kajika had no right to intrude in my life. A bouncer as large as an industrial fridge approached him and started admonishing him, but stopped so suddenly I presumed the hunter was influencing him. When the man whipped out his cell phone and held it at arm’s length, my frown deepened. Kajika didn’t smile for the bouncer’s selfie, but he also didn’t squash the phone. The enormous man all but bowed to the hunter as he retreated to his post next to the VIP stairs.

  I’d told Kajika I was never speaking to him again, so I wasn’t about to ask him what the whole fanboy moment had been about. The hunter unwrapped white tape from around his hands, and it struck me that he must’ve come back from a fight. Had it taken place in Las Vegas? Or had he run back from wherever he’d competed?

  At least it explained the bouncer’s peculiar behavior. He must’ve been an ultimate fighting enthusiast. I shook my head and turned away, and then I uncrossed my arms, grabbed the magnum of champagne that sat in an ice bucket on the table, and served myself a flute. I downed the bubbly in three swallows, then filled the glass back up. I didn’t drink it as fast, even though I was incredibly tempted. Kajika had just single-handedly turned my mood from bright to bleak. Ugh.

  I plopped down on the leather seat and crossed my legs.

  A second later, the banquette shifted as Cat took a seat next to me. “How are you doing there?”

  I sipped my champagne.

  “I never thought a day would come when Kajika would become a celebrity.”

  Why was Cat so adamant on talking about him? I didn’t want to talk about him. I never wanted to talk about him anymore. I took another long swallow of champagne.

  “Matthias”—she tipped her chin toward the blond lucionaga—“was telling me that when Kajika called his manager to tell him he couldn’t make his fight, the guy found him an impromptu gig in one of the casinos here. Apparently it’s a super popular event.”

  I didn’t ask if he’d won. It wasn’t like he could lose. At least not to a human.

  “Oh, Great Spirit, look at them.” Cat scrunched up her nose.

  Since she hadn’t said him, I looked. Sadly the them were next to the him. Two girls who resembled showgirls in their butt-cheek-baring dresses and bruise-colored makeup had strutted up to Kajika. One of them even had her hand on his forearm. I couldn’t believe he was letting her touch him. As though he’d heard me—which he probably had…I doubted the deafening music was impacting our link—he pulled his arm back and shifted his gaze to me.

  I hiked up my lip in disgust and turned back toward my empty champagne flute. I went to fill it up, but Cat stopped me.

  “You might want to pace yourself.”

  I shrugged Cat’s hand off my wrist and refilled my glass. Pace myself. I snorted. What did she think I was? Human? Nope. Never would be. My tolerance for alcohol was remarkable. I could probably drink the entire contents of the mammoth bottle and be just fine. As I downed the next glass, I heard one of the girls next to Kajika squeal. He’d autographed her hand, and she was flapping it around ecstatically, cackling that she’d never shower again. Classy.

  Having had enough, I typed, Want to dance?

  “Sure.” She stood and began to sway her hips.

  Down there. I gestured to the teeming crowd below us.

  “That’s not a good idea, Lily.”

  What was the worst that could happen? Getting my feet trampled? Getting too much attention? It wasn’t like anyone would ask me for an autograph. I didn’t have groupies like the hunter. Besides, I was done sitting around, drinking my weight in alcohol. I reached over Cat and trapped Cassidy’s wrist, then tipped my head toward the dance floor. She perked up instantly—she wasn’t making much headway with Matthias.

  “Lily, we shouldn’t—” Cat tried to stop me, but I stepped out of her reach, Cassidy in tow. She grabbed onto Faith on the way and then we were all three brushing past Kajika’s ginormous fanboy. He unhooked the velvet belt to let us through.

  As we descended the stairs, the crowd hemming the dancefloor swiveled to watch us. Or maybe they were watching the two men decked out in all black with gleaming golden eyes tailing us.

  Who cared?

  I certainly didn’t.

  I just wanted to lose myself to the glittery darkness.

  A new song spilled out of the loudspeakers, and I moved to match the tempo. Cass and Faith giggled as they twirled around me.

  “We need to get Cat down here!” Cass yelled.

  Fat chance my brother would let her onto the surging dance floor. That he’d let me come down here was shocking enough. He probably sensed I was in no mood to be told what to do.

  I raised my arms over my head, feeling the bubbles of the champagne drift through my body, feeling the ends of my long hair brush my bare shoulder blades. I could no longer fly, but damn I could still dance.

  I threw my head back and spun, letting the disco balls blind me with their dazzling pinpricks. One of the faceted spheres sank to a spot just above my head and rotated slowly. Gasping with amazement, I reached out to touch it. Instead of swinging, it dr
opped lower until it was nestled in my palm.

  Cass shrieked next to me, which made my neck snap back straight. I thought it was the miniature disco ball that had made her squeal with delight, but it wasn’t. Against all odds, Cat had joined the party.

  Still clutching the mirrored orb, I looked toward the VIP area. Kajika stood at the railing next to my brother and Silas. He tipped his head, and I realized that he’d unhooked the disco ball and placed it into my fingers. I squeezed it and then, eyes narrowed in defiance, stretched my arm up high and spread my fingers wide.

  The mirrored ball dropped at my feet.

  Kajika could unhook the moon from the sky and gift it to me, and still, I wouldn’t forgive him.

  34

  After Party

  Sadly, no man tried to approach us on the dance floor. Even if they’d wanted to, there would’ve been no way for them to reach us. The chain-link fence of bodyguards had worked its magic—without any magic involved.

  They’d kept us safe. Damn, I didn’t want to be safe tonight. Hadn’t I been playing it safe enough for the past four-and-a-half months? It almost felt like a punishment when Ace and Silas came down from the podium and signaled that we needed to head home. I didn’t want to leave. I never wanted to leave.

  Granted we’d stayed three hours, so it wasn’t as though we’d just gotten there, but leaving was bittersweet anyway.

  When we reached the penthouse suite, which thankfully had enough bedrooms to accommodate almost everyone, Cass exclaimed, “Pool party!”

  And then she and Faith were racing toward the bedroom they’d decided to share to throw on bathing suits. I grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge while Cat sat on one of the barstools.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to walk anymore,” she said, rubbing one of her feet.

  My feet were also feeling pretty battered, but the blisters were proof I’d had fun, so I didn’t mind.

  “Can you hand me one?” Cat pointed to my bottle.

  I pulled another from the fridge and slid it across the polished granite. Ace came up behind her and began massaging her shoulders.