Endless (5 page)

Mother of God. Does he
want
to lose his life?

Lincoln
shrugged, too calm. ‘I wouldn’t describe our relationship as the brother-sister type, Jase. I believe that would be frowned upon. Nate?’

Nathan looked up briefly, a twinkle in his eye. ‘Definitely.’

Blushing? Me?

Jase was speechless, too, while Lincoln was looking increasingly satisfied with himself.

‘Stop it,’ I said, under my breath.

‘Well,’ Lincoln said, now considerably lighter in tone, ‘have a nice night.’

‘We will,’ I answered before whatever comeback was lurking in Jase’s mind came out and started World War Three.

Onyx chose that moment to walk past me, brushing my shoulder as he watched Lincoln stalk away and resume his position at the bar. ‘I like him more and more.’

‘Hey, Jase!’ Spence called out.

‘Yeah?’ Jase responded, looking relieved for the interruption.

‘I need someone who knows their way around this place.’

Jase looked back at me, eyebrows raised. ‘This isn’t going to be a good idea, is it?’

Spence had a familiar wicked gleam in his eyes.

‘Not at all,’ I said.

Nonetheless, Jase headed off to join Spence. And I spun on my heel to see Lincoln, perched on his stool and looking right at me.

I stormed over. ‘That wasn’t necessary,’ I snapped.

‘I know,’ he replied, quietly, catching me off-guard. He sighed and looked guilty. ‘I know,’ he said again, his eyes on me in a way that somehow covered my whole body and caused an unstoppable tingle all the way down to my toes.

Damn, he knows exactly how to unhinge me.

‘But what do you want me to do? Stand by and smile while he hits on you?’

He looked down at his hands on the bar. I glanced at Nathan and Becca, who were both pretending not to notice our conversation.

Now it was my turn to sigh. ‘You know I’m not … You know it’s not … like that.’

I reached out and closed my hand over his. Neither of us spoke for a moment. His hand flattened on the bar beneath mine, fingers splaying just enough for mine to slip into the gaps.

The tiny movements – the stroke of a thumb, the slow raising of knuckles – were somehow more sensual than anything I’d ever experienced.

Finally, heart racing, I cleared my throat. ‘You could always come tonight. We’re going as a group, you know.’

He breathed deeply, his attention still focused on our hands.

I powered on.

Ignore the hands. Ignore the hands.

‘Maybe we could just have one night where we didn’t have to worry about everything else? Maybe we could just have
fun
, dance.’ I smiled cheekily. ‘We could always give salsa a go.’

At this, he looked at me, a single eyebrow raised. ‘Salsa?’

I shrugged, my blush returning. ‘Yeah, well … or anything.’

‘You can salsa?’

‘Um, no – but I’ve always wanted to learn,’ I said, starting to realise how silly I sounded.

His eyes lit up. ‘Just when I thought you couldn’t surprise me.’

I
held my breath, thinking he might just decide to come along. But as I watched, he glanced around the room and his eyes dropped.

‘You’re not going as a group, Vi, and we both know it. Anyway, it’s not a good idea despite how much I’d like it to be.’ And with that, he shut down and the walls came up. Typical Linc.

And typical me, I bristled, retrieving my hand suddenly and stepping away.

Spence chose that moment to reappear, carrying a tray of shot glasses.

‘Time to get this party started, Eden.’ He glanced over his shoulder nervously. ‘And preferably before Dapper comes back!’

Around me, everyone was smiling and tossing back their drinks. I glanced at Lincoln. He watched on, unimpressed.

I grabbed a glass and threw back the shot.

‘Cars are here!’ Steph called out.

Spence tilted the tray, holding a final glass in Lincoln’s direction. Lincoln simply shook his head. Without delay, and just because it all hurt and I needed to take it out on him, I grabbed his shot off the tray and gulped it down, ignoring the burn in my throat as I smiled.

‘Waste not want not,’ I said with a shrug before turning tail and heading for the door.

CHAPTER FOUR

‘Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve …?’

Hebrews 1:14

T
wo
hours and a couple of spiked cups of punch later, I escaped the dance floor to get some fresh air.

Everyone was buzzing, laughing at the dorky dance moves of Steph and Salvatore and at Lydia Skilton trying desperately to grope Spence – not that he minded. Jase and I danced along with Zoe and the others until finally I managed to slip away, hoping to give Zoe a chance for some one-on-one time with Jase.

I slipped out the sliding doors of our school-hall-turnedballroom and onto the small balcony. The truth was, the night was kind of a let-down. Not what I’d imagined in all the lead-up school years and, in the grand scheme of things, less important, too.

Once I was alone, I let my facade slip. My smile fell away and the loneliness I usually kept at bay rose to the surface. As soon as I opened myself up, I sensed him. And realised just how close he was.

I straightened and walked back to the doors, looking into the ballroom. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him, standing just inside the entry, wearing a suit and open-necked shirt.
There was something about the way he filled a suit – something that made me think it was the original reason for their creation. But suit-genetics only favoured the few. His hair was ruffled, light brown with golden streaks, his full lips were parted just enough, his golden-brown skin screamed to be touched and, best of all, his wickedly enticing green eyes looked right into mine.

He’s here.

My heart skipped another beat and I wanted to run, or leap into his arms, something. But instead, I found myself walking slowly towards him as he glided closer to me, hands in pockets. It felt like the entire room fell away and it was just us, staring at each other, inches apart, my soul crying out for his. I narrowed my eyes and put my hands on my hips.

‘Why are you here?’

He winced. ‘You’re slurring.’

‘Choose to ignore it and answer the question.’

He considered for a moment then nodded, as if coming to a decision. ‘Three reasons. One,’ he glanced in Jase’s direction, who was standing at the edge of the dance floor chatting with Zoe, his eyes on us, ‘to keep his hands off you in that dress. Two, the last time I let you walk out of a room without telling you how beautiful you looked, I ended up fishing you out of a volcano and you left before I could tell you …’ he swallowed, looking me up and down. ‘You look stunning.’ His eyes bored into mine, silence stretching until he blinked back to awareness. ‘And three,’ he smiled devilishly, ‘if you’re going to have fun and
salsa
with anyone, it’d better be with me.’ His look slipped into something more basic, more predatory and decidedly like … a challenge.

Holy Hell. What has got into him?

My mouth was dry. I was cemented in a deer-caught-inheadlights moment when Jase strolled up, clearly unhappy at Lincoln’s arrival.

‘Everything okay, Vi?’

I looked at him, eyes wide, mouth agape.

What to say, what to say …

But Lincoln spoke first, putting his hand up to stop me. ‘Jase, I’m sure I haven’t been clear with you on this issue. I apologise for that. Entirely my fault.’

Oh shit.

‘Linc,’ I butted in, unsuccessfully.

‘Allow me to rectify,’ Lincoln continued, stepping a little closer to Jase. ‘If you look at her again, that
way
you do – I’m going to be very upset. If you touch her in any way that you haven’t first been invited to and, well,’ he glanced at me, still frozen, before turning his full attention back to Jase, ‘even then, I won’t be responsible for my actions. Violet and I may not
be
together, but make no mistake; she is mine just as much as I am hers.’

Huh.

I don’t know how long all three of us stood there in silence.

It was Jase who spoke first, turning to me. ‘Violet?’

But I was lost – somewhere between anger at Lincoln for deciding now was declaration time and love towards him for just saying he was mine.

As if best-friend intuition had magically kicked in, Steph appeared. ‘Sorry to interrupt. I can see things are going swimmingly over here, but Griffin just arrived – and not for a dance. Party’s over.’

Lincoln
was already looking towards the door. He turned to me, ‘I’ll see you outside.’

I nodded and watched as he headed towards Griffin without so much as another glance in Jase’s direction.

So much for salsa.

‘This is to do with that stuff you can’t tell me about that everyone else, including my sister, seems to know about, right?’

I sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Jase. My life … My life has changed a lot this year. What Lincoln said was really rude, but …’

‘Not untrue?’

I swallowed, hating myself. ‘Right.’

‘Then explain to me why you two aren’t together.’

Sensational question.

‘It’s complicated.’

He shifted a little closer to me and put a hand on my shoulder. ‘Vi, if you’re frightened of him, I can help.’

My eyes widened. ‘No, no, it’s not that. Lincoln would never hurt me.’ That was half the problem.

Jase shook his head. ‘Whatever you’re caught up in, we can get you out of it.’

I smiled, sad for him, sad for me. ‘No, you can’t, Jase. And that time has passed. This is who I am now and our lives – yours and mine – don’t cross over. I’m sorry.’

With that, I kissed him on the cheek and walked away, hoping I’d done enough to keep him from coming after me again. I didn’t want to put him in harm’s way – it was bad enough I’d already involved Steph.

Lincoln was waiting in his car outside. I opened the door. ‘Where are the others?’

‘En
route. Jump in.’

Once we started moving Lincoln mumbled, ‘Really not the way I saw things panning out.’

I raised an eyebrow. I’d half expected he’d pretend the earlier conversation never took place. ‘And where exactly did you see tonight finishing?’

‘With you on your back …’ He paused to see my eyes bug out at the painful pun before he chuckled and finished the sentence, ‘after collapsing from too much salsa.’ He didn’t stop grinning.

‘Ha, ha,’ I said, but then burst out laughing. He laughed beside me and took my hand and I realised he was giving me my one night of fun.

‘I think you’ve got that the wrong way round, Linc. I’d dance circles around you. Dancing is
my
thing.’

‘You said you couldn’t salsa,’ he said.

‘What – and you do?’

He looked entirely too smug and his laugh became lower and secretive. The sound was glorious, pulsing out warmth. My fingernails dug into the seat but the pain of my soul stirring was worth it.

‘You realise you haven’t ever seen me dance.’

True. Usually, he ran a mile from me when I asked him. Suddenly, I wanted to see him dance more than anything, see him relax for once.

I licked my lips nervously. ‘Well, I guess you owe me one now – a dance, that is.’

He settled back into the seat, still smiling but focused on the road. ‘I guess I do.’

‘Do I get to collect at a time of my choosing?’

He
swallowed, his expression now more guarded. ‘Within reason.’

I looked out the window. If there was a god – I hated him. Apart from all the angelic reasons I’d been provided with, I mean, who could do this to someone – inflict this much torment? It was not right. Not natural.

Lincoln pulled into the kerb outside my apartment building. I saw everyone else at the front doors, waiting.

‘Ah … Why are we here?’ I asked.

‘Griffin just told me to come here,’ Lincoln said, turning off the engine and jumping out.

I followed and we joined Steph, Zoe, Spence and Salvatore at the doors.

Zoe raised her eyebrows at me.

‘Sorry,’ I said with a wince, knowing tonight – and Jase – had not gone her way.

She gnawed on the inside of her cheek for a moment but then shrugged, flicking a hand in the air. ‘To be honest, it was all a little complicated anyway,’ she said. ‘Not my kinda gig.’

We smiled at each other, but I saw a hint of sadness cross her face. Or was it loneliness?

Steph took a long look at Lincoln. ‘Are you wearing Onyx’s Ralph Lauren suit?’

Lincoln looked bemused. ‘How did you know?’

She shrugged. ‘He’s a good shopping partner and someone else,’ she looked at me, ‘is always busy training.’

‘He offered and I didn’t have time to go home and change.’ He glanced at me again. ‘There were things to be done.’

‘Clearly,’ Steph said dryly. ‘I do hope you left my brother in one piece.’

‘I
didn’t touch him,’ Lincoln said.

‘I meant emotionally,’ Steph replied, following as we all entered the lift.

‘Oh,’ Lincoln said, and offered no more.