“Oh, no. That was not good,” she warned. The black rims were back, and she whimpered pitifully as she tried to blink them away. Baird would tell her to breathe and run. Baird would tell her to get control.
Baird was not there, though.
Brody was disoriented, but he managed to pull his charge into the men’s room, locking the door behind the prince until his vision cleared up.
On the other side of the door, Alec had Blue by the hair and yanked her up by her auburn locks. Her eyes remained closed so Sam wouldn’t have whatever it was that he needed to see them for. She refused to make a noise of irritation as she was jerked roughly to her feet.
“Stop!” Sam yelled at his friend. “Don’t hurt her! It’s a misunderstanding or something. I just want you to look at her eyes.” The hand that gripped her hair did not loosen. “Could you just show them your eyes? Nothing bad’s gonna happen, I swear. You just look an awful lot like someone we used to know.” He rubbed his neck. “How did you pin me like that? I couldn’t budge!”
Blue kept her lids firmly shut as she calculated what would be her best move. Alec pulled her by the hair so her temple was pressed to his mouth. He whispered his hot breath in her ear. “If you don’t open your eyes, I’ll tear them out of your pretty little head so we can look at them whenever we want.”
His bluff was hard to call, but she figured she couldn’t really be in any more trouble if she refused him. One way or another, she’d kill the predator. Did she really need eyes for the task? She was already in deep as it was.
With her lashes shut tight, the black ceased its mission to bring Blue down to the land of no return. Matching his hushed voice, she cooed, “I bet they’d make nice earrings for your mommy.”
She heard a movement in the air and raised her fist to punch Alec, but Sam’s voice stopped her. “Alec, don’t! She’s just a girl! Let her go.”
Alec surprisingly consented, releasing her hair. However, he made sure Blue was surrounded on both sides as they backed her up to the wall behind her. Alec slowly covered her fist with his and shook it. “What exactly were you going to do with this? You smell Wayward.” He frowned and leaned in closer, sniffing her shoulder. “Sort of,” he amended.
Blue shoved Alec harder than he’d been expecting. “Get off of me!” she sneered.
Alec resumed his close proximity, crossing his arms over his chest. His head cocked to the side as he sized up the disproportionate amount of force that came from the slight girl. “You were going to punch me a second ago. What good would a blow from a Wayward do against a Vemreaux?” It was clear to Blue that Alec was not mocking her; he was trying to fit the pieces together. “Did you give Brody that bloody nose?”
“Please,” Blue whispered. “Please don’t touch me. Alec, is it? Sam? Stone? Pan? Whoever you are, just leave me alone. It…it’ll be very bad for you if you don’t let me go.”
Alec’s tone turned dark. “That so? It’ll be bad for you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”
The pregnant pause that filled the hallway waited for Sam to put words of sense into it, but all he did was stare at her face, breathing unsteadily. He drank in her appearance, and even through her clenched shut eyelids, she could feel his stare boring through her skin that seemed remarkably unclothed, despite its appropriate coverings.
Brody reentered the hallway, keeping Liam shut in the bathroom at his back. His eyes were venomous and his nose was still bleeding, despite the paper towel he pressed to it. “Dude, who exactly is she supposed to look like? Some Fem you scored with back in your prime?”
Sam muttered something about still being in his prime, but his gaze did not leave Blue’s face.
Deciding that things needed to be moving along if she was going to keep Baird from getting himself involved, Blue sighed. “If I show you my eyes, will you let me go back to work and leave me alone?”
“Not a chance,” Brody sneered beneath the blood.
“I wasn’t asking you, useless. I’m talking to eyeball snatcher.” Her chin jutted to the side to turn her face from the three as best she could. With her eyes closed, she waited for any sign of a tell from Alec.
Sam and Alec silently conversed before Alec answered. “If you show us your eyes, we’ll let you go back to work.” She noticed that he left out the “and leave you alone” part. It was the best offer she’d get, and she knew it.
Before she gave them what they wanted, Brody protested, his hand still covering his face where the blood stained it. “Dude, she literally broke my nose!”
“I did not, you big baby! But grab me again and I’ll break your arm,” she warned. The heat of the snarl building up in her felt remarkably good, a sweet relief from the bottling up she’d done her whole life. The match was all she needed to ignite the flame of controlled violence she’d kept in the dark for far too long.
Brody laughed, but Alec did not.
“She’s Wayward, Brode. As much as she may want to, she can’t break Vemreaux bones,” Sam corrected him.
Alec stared at Blue, eyes widening. “Sam, you might just be wrong about that.”
“Show us your eyes.” The sweetness in Sam’s tone was gone with his patience. Blue caught wind of the same annoyance with which he’d shooed away the Femreaux’s hand from his food at the table.
As quick as she could, Blue’s lashes fluttered open and shut again to fulfill her side of the bargain. When her foot lifted to leave the space blind, Alec grabbed her chin like a vice.
“I warned you not to touch me!” She was only just in control of herself, but feared losing all sanity to the black if Alec was not dealt with. So many people were in the diner. Even Baird couldn’t cover up a massacre.
Eyes closed, Blue held Alec’s shoulder, snatched his belt buckle and used the leverage to launch Alec into the air. The wall stopped him mid-flight with a crack.
“Holy!” Brody exclaimed, backing against the bathroom door to protect the prince from whatever or whoever could best Alec so completely.
From his dazed spot on the floor, Alec looked up at the girl. “Nobody touch her!” he cautioned. “She’s…”
Blue’s eyes remained closed, but her voice was clearly panicked. “You shouldn’ta put your hands on me! I-I didn’t want to do that!”
Sam was just as stunned as Alec to see the impenetrable man on the floor. His hands were up in a defensive fighting position, even though he was too bewildered to attack properly. “Brody, go get the bartender.”
Immediately Blue’s eyes flew open and locked on Sam’s. “Don’t you touch him!” she choked out, fear replacing the fury in her fists. She was unable to harness the vulnerability that shown through as she silently begged him to leave Baird alone.
Though Sam and Alec were sufficiently shaken as they took in her unveiled appearance, it was Brody who had the strongest reaction. Gasping aloud, he froze. Pain shot across his face that Blue did not expect. Pain mingled with disbelief, and disbelief gave way to rage. Before his friends could react, Brody flew at the girl, grabbing her face in his bloody hands and pulling her forward roughly. “Who are you?” he demanded as he examined her.
Control, she reminded herself as the shadows threatened her vision once again. Blue could have ducked under his amateur grip easily, but the sudden agony in his expression stopped her from following through with her earlier threat. “I’m no one!” she promised.
Brody’s wrath was tempered with such immediate misery that Blue took pity on the stranger and allowed him to yank her into brighter light. “Sam? Who is she?” Brody’s voice broke as he spoke. Blue wasn’t sure if he was going to cry or haul off and hit her.
“Easy, Brody. I don’t know. She’s just a waitress.” Sam paused, his voice softening. “She does look an awful lot like Julia.”
Brody’s hands tightened around her cheeks, and she wondered if she’d have bruises in the morning to hide from Baird. “Don’t you say her name to me!” he roared, shaking Blue’s head as he raged. “Who are your parents?”
he demanded of the girl, liking how it felt to shake her roughly. He’d never jostled a Wayward woman in such a manner, and his temper found its release in the malicious action.
“What did I say about putting your hands on me?” Blue reminded him evenly. Control! she screamed at the black vapors as she fought to keep her head.
Sam stepped forward, but Blue was faster. Her fists shot up between Brody’s and spread out, knocking his hands off of her face. She grabbed onto his right arm deftly, but before she could break it, Alec was up on his feet. His arm on her shoulder stayed her movements.
Still gripping Brody’s struggling limb, Blue murmured to Alec through her teeth, “I know you don’t want another lesson about putting your hands on me, Vemreaux. I owe him a broken arm.”
Sam brought reason to the scuffle. His arms crossed over his chest as though the men held all the cards. “You break his arm, we break your boyfriend’s.” He spoke the last word with mild disdain.
Confusion loosened Blue’s grip, and she consented to dropping Brody’s arm for the moment. “Go right ahead. Who do you imagine’s my boyfriend? ’Cause I’d love to meet him myself.”
It was Sam’s turn to look confused. His hand lifted and gestured to the crowded diner. “That bartender who watches you like a crazy stalker.”
“That bartender is my brother, and he doesn’t appreciate Vemreaux putting their filthy hands on me.” She wiped the small smear of Brody’s blood from her chin.
Sam looked as if the conversation had turned a corner.
Blue angled her head to the left to speak to Alec, who was now behind her. “I showed you my eyes, now let me go.” When his grip on her shoulder did not give, she clenched her fists at her sides. “You wanna be a man that lies to little girls, corners them in dark hallways and beats on them?”
This did something to Alec’s conscience, but still he waited for Sam to give the okay.
Her fists longed to plunge into Alec’s seasoned stomach. “Vemreaux are pathetic. Please don’t make me hurt you again. I really hate doing it.”
“We have some questions for you.” Sam nodded for Alec to release the girl. Seeing his friend’s hand on her like that made him uncomfortable.
The darkness faded away completely, and Blue stood taller with confidence that she’d bested the blackout. “Good for you, but it really doesn’t matter. See, you’re not my owner. My owner tells me what I have to do, which is wait on those tables. Leave me alone!” Blue made sure Alec was never out of her periphery. Brody’s instability was grating on her. Sam’s unrelenting study of every movement made her heart flutter in an unsettling way that she could not control.
“Where’s your owner?” Sam asked, as if they were having a casual conversation about breakfast cereal. He rubbed the fresh crease above his eyebrow, and then withdrew a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
“He’s not here. My brother acts on his behalf. That’s why he watches us so closely.”
Alec turned and walked steadily down the hallway, back into the clusters of partying Vemreaux. “What’s he doing?” she asked warily.
“He’s just going to get something.”
She watched Alec turn right at the end of the hallway. “No!” she shouted, lunging to run after him.
Sam stuck his leg out and tripped her, satisfied when she tumbled to the ground. His cigarettes fell as he wrenched her arms to her back and knelt on top of her, pinning her roughly to the ground. She struggled against him much harder than a girl her size (or a full-grown man) should have been able to.
“Leave my brother alone!” she cried, wondering how to get him off of her without seriously injuring him.
“Stop!” Sam insisted, using his full strength to secure her arms. She yanked one free, but he jerked it back quickly. “How are you this strong? Calm down!”
“Let me go!” she seethed. “I don’t want to hurt you, too.”
“Do you think I want to hurt you?” He bent down and spoke quietly in her ear, causing her to stop struggling and breathing all at once. “We just want to ask you a few questions. If you want your owner or your brother there for it, that’s fine. That’s all he’s doing. He’s just telling your brother to come back here so we can talk to you.” When she stilled, Sam continued. “Now, can I let you up?”
Blue gulped as she nodded. She was grateful when he released her arms and shifted his body so he sat at her side. She rolled onto her back, humiliation washing over her at the violence she’d been a part of and the doom she would now have to answer to. She covered her face with her hands as she slowly sat up next to Sam, hugging her knees. “I’m in big t-trouble, aren’t I?”
“I think we’re all just trying to catch up, here.” Sam’s hand rose to stroke her cheek, but thought better of it. Instead, his palm landed on her shoulder to soothe her.
The touch sent shivers down her spine, and chased away all shadows with the same dreamy golden haze she’d experienced earlier in his presence.
Blue did not resist as Sam brought her head to rest on his chest. Goosebumps broke out on her flesh as her body loosened like buckets and buckets of jelly. She desperately clutched his shirt, making sure she had something to hold onto before she lost herself completely to the tender moment. She could smell his cologne-scented deodorant that wasn’t too strong and could only be noticed when you were close to him, as she was in that moment. His forearms were muscular as they pressed into her. Without willing her muscles to do so, she relaxed against his sturdy frame as she closed her eyes, trusting this stranger to ward off the world for a few moments. “There you go,” she heard Sam whisper.
Brody eyed his friend warily, unwilling to label Sam’s odd behavior and the tender embrace. “Pan, what the–?”
Sam’s chin turned to Brody. “You look like a horror flick extra. Go wash up before her brother sees you like that. Check on Liam while you’re at it. I got this.”
“Why shouldn’t he see? She did it,” Brody accused, but consented to washing up in the restroom behind them.
The moment the bathroom door closed and left them in the hallway alone, Sam’s thumb rubbed a circle slowly on her back, relaxing her further without her knowledge. Blue could not recall ever being held like this by a man, and definitely not by a handsome Vemreaux. Despite Baird’s voice screaming in her head, she yearned for more – needed more of whatever this was.
Blue shivered as Sam’s words tickled her ear softly. “I thought you shocked me back there.” He paused, but continued on when it became clear she was not going to speak. “I shouldn’t have followed you, though. You probably thought I was stalking you or something.” He exhaled. “Man, that’s creepy. I waited for you outside the bathroom!” The admission was painful to recall. “I don’t know what my deal is. You just look like Julia so much with those crazy eyes of yours. Younger, of course, but still a lot like her.” He shook his head when he realized that he was rambling. “I didn’t mean to scare you, or for all this to happen, yeah?”
He seemed to be asking for absolution, which Blue could not give him. “O-Okay.”
Sam’s hand stilled on her back. “Is it okay, or are you just saying that?”
Blue knew he’d asked a question, but answering was not top priority. He smelled too good, felt too perfect. She soaked up the embrace greedily, her mind unwilling to process much of anything else.
“Blue?”
Her name on his lips brought her back to reality. His accent was turning her brain to mush. “W-What?”
“Are you okay?”
Blue summoned herself back from the bliss her body dared to run off into. She spoke slowly, still under his spell. “Just don’t let them touch me. It…it sets me off in a bad way. I don’t want to hurt anybody!” she insisted desperately.
“Shh. You don’t have to worry about that anymore. I won’t let them touch you. It’s okay, love.”
“Th-The only way that this’ll be okay is if your questions and my answers stay in this bar, which I don’t think you or your boy
s can do.” Blue swallowed, lowering her voice to a whisper to cover the tremble that happened when she inhaled his sweet breath. “I-I don’t know who your Julia is, but I’m not her. There’s n-nothing I can tell you about someone I don’t know.”
The movement of his thumb on her spine was so slow that it had already enticed her into a malleable conglomeration of gelatin in his arms. “Then I guess we’ll just have to stick together till we figure this out. Alright, little Wayward?” When his fingers began tracing up the back of her arm, she let out a gasp that melted into a sigh as she trembled.
“Okay, Stone.”
“Sam,” he corrected, swallowing as he confessed to the pretty woman in his arms his real name. “My name’s Sam.”
Sam gave her an appraising look before making a decision. She stilled as he bent even closer to her, leaning his face to her neck. Blue tilted her head back involuntarily, giving him further access to her vulnerable throat. Normally she would never allow her defenses to crumble so easily, but she found that the instinct to fight and protect herself was fleeing her limbs in his presence. Her eyes closed and her back arched as Sam inhaled the scent of her skin, the gold fog clouding what was left of her focus with its twinkling allure. They both moaned softly when Sam brushed the tip of his nose up and down her neck seductively, taking all question of innocence out of the debate.
“Hmm. You don’t smell Wayward.”
When a mildly concerned Baird rounded the corner with Alec and his eyes fell on his sister with a Vemreaux’s face buried in her neck, he snapped. His feet pounded toward them like rain piercing the earth while his finger pointed at Sam. “You don’t touch my sister!”
Sam dropped his hands immediately, his palms raised in surrender as he distanced himself from Blue.
Blue woke from her trance with a jolt, red flashing in her cheeks as she clambered to her feet. She moved guiltily away from Sam and met her brother halfway, forsaking the golden temptation.
The Way Page 24