Her mind spun and the world grayed at the edges.
She’d been so frustrated Bryce had never returned her calls, but when he still didn’t attempt to contact her after she’d spoken to his father, she’d been so hurt and scared.
She’d spent almost a decade hating him for it. Hating him for lying to her about who he was and then for leaving her to go through her brief pregnancy and miscarriage alone.
And he hadn’t known about any of it.
CHAPTER FIVE
“You need to find Darby.”
Bryce went still at the concern in Alex’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
Alex swore under his breath and pressed the heel of his hand to his eye. “Now. You need to find her now.” His lips pressed together in a firm line.
Knowing Alex wouldn’t sound worried without a damn good reason, Bryce nodded and scanned the room for her. Whatever Darby was feeling, it had to be pretty damn intense to blindside Alex.
All the so-called bachelors were gathered in the middle of the dance floor, leaving everyone else scattered around the edges. When Bryce didn’t spot her, he turned toward the door, thinking maybe she was still outside.
Not until he reached the threshold did he remember his father had been outside too. Considering his father’s mood before Darby had interrupted them, Bryce wouldn’t put it past his father to say something scathing to the nearest Calder.
Hoping he was wrong, he squeezed past two women on their way back inside. He saw Darby and his father immediately. Whatever his father was saying had leached the color from Darby’s face.
Shit.
“Dad?” It was less of a question and more of a warning to back off. He switched his attention to Darby. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. I have to go.” She brushed past him, dropping her flowers at his feet in the process. She either didn’t notice or didn’t want to take the time to retrieve them.
He shot his father an accusing look. “What did you say to her?” Not even when he and Darby had been at their worst, which was right after he’d gone to work for the DA’s office, had he ever seen her so rattled.
Thomas Lancaster flicked at something on his shirt. “We were just reminiscing about the past.”
“Why did she look so upset?”
His father’s eyes narrowed. “No doubt she’s counting on you to follow her and ask her that yourself.”
“Darby’s not like that. She doesn’t play those kinds of games.” Maybe he’d believed that once, had been convinced she was out to screw with his head by calling him nonstop after he’d walked away.
But the look on her face just now had been anything but forced.
“Every woman plays games. Don’t let yourself be manipulated by her a second time.”
Frustration flared inside him. “What happened between Darby and me was over a long time ago.”
“Just be sure it stays that way.”
Bryce slammed his hand down on the rail. “Do not tell me how to live my life.” After their earlier argument, he wasn’t interested in hearing any more about how he’d screwed up by quitting his job, let alone what women he should or shouldn’t be involved with.
His father flinched, then nodded stiffly. “After what we went through with your brother and seeing how close you came…” His voice cracked. “I only want what’s best for you. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” Without another word, he disappeared inside.
Thomas Lancaster so rarely betrayed his emotions—especially when his feelings were hurt—that Bryce actually felt guilty.
Damn it.
He bent and picked up the flowers, then walked around the side of the building to look for Darby. He could deal with his father later, preferably when he wasn’t still frustrated over his father’s lack of faith when it came to Bryce’s career decisions.
Letting out a breath, he glanced at the dark sky overhead before noticing Darby sitting on the same step as last night.
“You okay?”
It took her a few seconds to pull her attention from the beach. “Sure.”
She forced a polite smile that only made him feel worse about leaving her to deal with the fallout from his earlier argument with his father.
He sat next to her and offered the flowers. “You dropped these.”
“Thanks.” She took them and he noticed her hand was trembling. He studied her face more closely and realized she seemed on the verge of tears.
“What did he say to you?” Bryce had spent years pushing her buttons and trading sly insults, but had never come close to upsetting her this visibly.
She only shook her head. “Doesn’t matter now.”
“You sure about that?”
Again she shook her head, slower this time, then carefully traced the bright pink bloom on the bouquet.
“I know how much of an asshole he can be.”
Her head snapped up. “If there is a but anywhere in there—”
“There’s not,” he clarified. He rested his forearms on his knees. “You should have seen him when I borrowed his Porsche without his permission on my twenty-second birthday.”
“You crashed his car?” she guessed.
He nodded, relieved that she didn’t look as sad as she had moments ago. “Not my proudest moment. My father was pissed when he saw the bill for the repairs, but I thought he was going to have an aneurysm when he heard about the strippers.”
She slanted him a doubtful look. “Strippers?”
“Cherry and Bambi. Luckily, neither of them was hurt or I would have dished out more than their usual rates that night. Bad enough I had to work overtime to pay my dad back.”
Her lips twitched. “Tough break.”
He nodded, somehow managing to keep a straight face.
“So what happened? Did Cherry and Bambi decide to give you a lap dance while you were driving?”
“No, but that would have been awesome.”
Darby snorted. “There weren’t any strippers involved, were there?”
“It sounded good, though, didn’t it?”
She bumped him with her arm. “Nice try, Councilor.”
“You can’t tell me that the mention of Cherry and Bunny didn’t get a grin out of you?”
“Bambi,” she corrected, grinning. “Isn’t keeping your facts straight kind of a prerequisite for being a lawyer?”
“I was just making sure you were paying attention.”
“There you are.” Alex hobbled up on his crutches.
Bryce searched his friend’s face. “How’s your head?” With Alex’s system already compromised due to his broken leg, Darby’s distress would have triggered an even stronger physical backlash.
“Fine.” Alex gestured to Darby’s flowers before digging into his pocket and pulling out Bree’s garter. “Looks like you and I are up soon.”
“You caught it?” Bryce glanced doubtfully at his crutches.
“You’d be surprised at how easy it is to turn around and accidentally trip someone with one of these things.”
Laughing, Darby stood. “You and Riley should tag-team weddings.”
“Who do you think prepped me for the event?” Alex led the way back inside, nodding sincerely when Darby made him promise not to use his teeth, no matter who might goad him into it.
Alex hobbled back into the middle of the crowd, but before Darby could slip away too, Bryce caught her hand. “I’m sorry for whatever my father said.”
“Don’t be.” She said something under her breath, something that sounded a lot like “I’m the one who’s sorry” before she slipped through a handful of guests and joined Alex at the edge of the dance floor.
Confused, he stared after her, not noticing his sister’s approach until she stood opposite him.
“Here.” Angel thrust her drink into his hand. “You look like you need this more than I do.”
He held the glass up. “What is it?” He took a drink, his gaze still on Darby.
“Sex on the Beach.”
The liquid seemed to catch at the back of his throat, and he coughed. “Seriously?”
“Some of us have to improvise since we weren’t hooking up last night.”
Well, that took care of any doubts about his sister hearing about him escorting Darby back to her bungalow. He was starting to think everyone at the reception had heard by now. At least the rumors hadn’t ended up with him caught with his pants around his ankles. Or had they? Jesus, he was almost afraid to ask.
“Darby and I did not hook up. Nothing happened.”
“If you really believed that, you wouldn’t be staring at her like no matter what you do she’ll always be just out of your reach.”
He set his drink down and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’ve been spending too much time with Bree.”
Angel opened her mouth, but stopped when Darby was waved over to a seat in the middle of the dance floor. She laughed at something Finn said, then waited for Alex. His friend said something, then limped off the dance floor, heading in their direction.
“What’s he doing?”
When Alex reached them, he tossed the garter to Bryce. “You’re my stand-in.” He motioned to his cast. “Can’t be getting down on my knees like this.”
“How convenient.”
“Very,” Alex agreed, not even trying to hide his smile.
Angel pushed Bryce forward. “He’ll do it.”
Left with little choice, he clutched the lacy material in his palm and made his way to Darby.
Someone, the DJ maybe—or Finn—turned on the music and the theme song from Mission Impossible played over the speakers.
Darby stood a little straighter when she noticed the garter in his hand. “You drew the proverbial short straw, huh?”
“Didn’t feel right to leave you over here alone with everyone watching.”
“I wouldn’t want you to put yourself out.”
He shrugged. “If you’d prefer someone else, I can see if my cousin is available.” He turned around.
“It’s fine.” She caught his hand, then immediately let go of him when his gaze fell to the fingers wrapped around his wrist.
“You sure? Considering the existing Calder/Lancaster dynamic, I doubt anyone would mind if you don’t want to do this.”
She cocked her head. “Sounds like you’re the one who wants to get out of it.”
He nodded over his shoulder to the table where Dante sat glowering at him. “Can’t say I’m not worried about being ordered outside once this is over.”
“Worried?” A teasing glimmer brightened her eyes. “Or looking forward to it?”
He laughed, then dropped his head to be sure no one would overhear him. “You do realize that this might contradict our claim that nothing happened last night.”
She leaned forward just a little. “Nothing did happen.”
“Liar,” he murmured, more than a little distracted by how good she smelled.
Her hair brushed his jaw as she tipped her head back to meet his gaze. “If you don’t think you can handle this—”
“Sit.” He took a step forward, giving her the choice to drop into the seat or find him firmly in her personal space.
She went with the former. Then, catching the bottom of her dress, she tugged it higher and lifted her leg. Grinning, he cupped her ankle, wondering if he imagined the shiver that went through her.
Darby arched a brow, waiting.
He slipped his finger beneath the strap at the back of her sandal and pushed it off her foot.
His thumb brushed the small hollow above her heel, and he suddenly remembered kissing her there. Remembered the soft sound she’d made in her throat when he opened his mouth on her skin and teased a path up to her inner thigh.
This time there was no mistaking the tremor that moved through her, and their eyes locked. The temperature in the room seemed to jump a few dozen degrees.
“Sometime tonight would be good,” someone hollered out. Bryce would put his money on Riley.
Lowering to one knee, he hooked the garter over her toes and slowly pushed it up past her ankle. His fingers trailed over her calf, slowly tugging the lacy cuff higher. Darby squirmed in her seat before curling her fingers around the sides of the chair.
To anyone watching it might have looked like she needed them for balance, given how she was perched on the very edge of her chair. But the way she bit her bottom lip, close to the corner, and then let it slide through her teeth said more about a threat to her internal equilibrium than being close to falling off the seat.
“If you don’t think you can handle this…” He trailed off.
She grinned, resting her foot on his thigh as he worked the garter up to her knee. “I think I’ve got it covered.” Her foot slid to the inside of his leg, a move he countered by deliberately raking his thumb up her inner thigh as he fit the garter in place.
* * *
Bryce’s fingers lingered on her skin for a few seconds after the music ended, and Darby struggled not to betray how much their little performance had ignited every inch of her body, the heat licking along her skin from the inside out.
Last night she’d been drinking, but unfortunately this time she couldn’t blame the alcohol.
In the space of ten minutes she’d gone from shock to anger to a numbness she’d been counting on to get her through the rest of the evening. If she was numb she didn’t have to think about what Thomas Lancaster had admitted and whether things would have turned out differently if she’d known the truth years ago.
If she was numb she wouldn’t have to convince herself that it was all in the past and didn’t change anything. Knowing the truth didn’t undo how she and Bryce had treated each other since then. Didn’t erase the cold shoulders and scathing comments they’d lived and breathed in each other’s presence until this weekend.
She reached blindly for the woman who had routinely cut him down and walked away without a second thought, needing to be that woman, but somehow couldn’t make herself fit back into that mold.
Feeling Bryce watching her, she forced a smile. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
He didn’t smile back. He stared at the ground, his jaw clenched as he let his hands drop back to his sides.
“Say something…something disturbing.”
“What’s wrong?”
He raised his head. “If I stand up right now, everyone in the room is going to know what touching you did to me.”
“What it did to you…? Oh. Oh.” An unexpected smile widened at the knowledge he’d been just as affected. “So you’d like the verbal equivalent of a cold shower.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Something along those lines, yeah.”
She dropped her leg and leaned forward as though she were keeping him from standing.
His gaze fell to her chest. “The view really isn’t helping.”
“Sorry.” She bit her lip to keep from laughing.
His lips curved. “No you’re not.”
Keeping a straight face, she went with the first disturbing thing to pop into her head. Disturbing for her, anyway. “Dante—”
“Not cold enough.”
She laughed. “When Dante and I were fourteen, I walked in on him masturbating while listening to Abba and looking at my mother’s fashion magazine.”
Bryce made a choking sound.
“Or taking another approach, I can tell you about the time he dislocated his shoulder falling out of Suzanne Winchester’s bedroom window after her father walked in on them fooling around.”
Bryce managed a laugh this time.
“And it gets better. The only thing he had on at the time was his socks.”
“And he told you all that?”
“Suzanne did, not realizing there are some things sisters just don’t need to know about their brothers.” She cocked her head, studying him. “Did that help?”
“Enough.” The word sounded strained and he looked at the garter peeking out from beneath the edge of her dress lo
ng enough to make her think he’d like nothing better than to slide his hand back up the inside of her thigh.
Darby made a move to tug her dress down, but he beat her to it, then rose to his feet.
Alex limped over with half the effort he’d used earlier. “Nicely done.”
“Thanks.” Bryce didn’t take his eyes off her when he answered.
Feeling like she was still the center of attention, she finally stood, and Bryce instantly retreated a step.
“I’ll talk to you two later.” With a nod, Bryce walked away.
She turned in the same direction, half wondering if she should follow him.
Alex shook his head. “He could use a few minutes alone.”
“Does he know you’re tapping into what he’s feeling?”
“Tapping in? It’s more like trying to avoid being sucked into the vortex with the crazy vibes you two are throwing off tonight. Believe me, I’d hit the Mute button if I could.” He knocked on his cast.
She knew his broken leg affected his magic, but she hadn’t thought about how it might interfere with his usual telepathic gifts that were part of the Tribunal package.
“It comes and goes. One minute I can barely pick up on anyone’s thoughts if I’m trying and the next it’s like someone duct-taped a pair of headphones to my head and cranked the stereo volume to max.”
“Did I… Did you…” Exactly what images had she unknowingly projected?
“You were upset, but that’s all I got. Even when I’m plugged in, I don’t go digging around trying to find stuff.”
She arched a brow.
“Okay, so a time or two I’ve wondered if any of you Calder girls ever had a wild college moment with another chick, but I’ve never actually peeked.”
“If that’s all you want to know, you should just ask.” Riley grinned as she joined them, holding up her phone. “I’m going to need your help later uploading the video to YouTube.”
“Video?” Darby cringed. “You did not.”
Riley blinked. “Would it make you feel better if I lied?”
* * *
It took Darby nearly half an hour to work her way across the room, laughing along with anyone who stopped her to comment on the garter show. By the time she reached the ballroom’s back door, Finn and Bree were slow dancing in the middle of the dance floor and the size of the crowd had shrunk to at least half its original number.
Must Be Magic (Spellbound Book 4) Page 8