Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty-Six

Feenix Blaylock

W e’ve been driving for at least an hour to the party, and all the while, during our small talk, I’ve caught myself staring at her from the driver’s side. She’s stunning tonight in her black dress and pink heels. She wears a diamond necklace I bought her with earrings to match, and in her lap is her mask.

Not that the mask will help. It won’t. Everyone will know who she is immediately. As an employee, she’s not supposed to wear one anyway, but I plan to bend the rules tonight.

Her appearance isn’t the only reason I stare. She said she loved me, and right now, I can’t say those words back. I’ve never said them to anyone but Megan. Not once in my life. Not my mother, nor past girlfriends. I don’t know how to say those words without feeling like a fool, without dropping my guard for a second just to express myself. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why.

I’ll have to find a way eventually though. Charlie is the type of girl who needs those words said back to her. Not right away – she won’t expect it right away, but she will want the same security she’s given me. She’ll want acknowledgment for what we have.

I’ll have to find a way to do it. I’ll have to push through my own walls to give her what she needs. To give me what I need, too.

“This is the place?” she asks as I pull up toward the river.

I stare out the front windshield as we approach our destination. Along the river’s edge, there are rows of expensive boathouses. I’ve only been to this particular area once, back when I was a worker, but I remember the place clearly.

The party will be held both inside and outside of these boathouses. Even though it’s a chilly night, that’s the way it will go down.

“Yes,” I answer honestly as we pull into a parking space. There’s little room left.

“Won’t the party annoy their neighbors?”

I shake my head. “These are vacation boathouses. There’s a reason it’s held in late autumn – none of them are staying in them.”

She unbuckles her seatbelt. “How many boathouses are owned by the people attending this party?”

“A few,” I answer honestly as I unbuckle my own belt.

“Okay,” she breathes out.

She puts her hand on the door handle, and I place a palm on her bare knee. “What’s the rules?”

She touches my hand and curls her fingers around mine. “Never leave your side. Only speak when spoken to. Keep the conversation small. Let you do the talking.”

She didn’t like those rules, but it’s what would be expected of her if she were really here as a worker and nothing more. If she asks too much, if she talks too much, it’ll be suspicious.

“Are you going to be able to handle that?” I ask skeptically.

Carefully, to avoid ruining her curled hair, she places her mask on her face. “Only if you ask the right questions.”

“Mama,” I growl.

“Relax,” she says with a chuckle. “I’ll be your obedient little servant.”

I raise my hand, tuck my fingers around her chin, and bring her face to mine. Gently, I press a kiss to her lips. “Good girl,” I murmur against them.

I don’t miss her shiver.

I let her go, and together we get out of the car. As we both begin walking side by side, I want nothing more than to grab her hand and yank her back to the car, but instead, I tuck it into the crook of my arm and guide her through the parked cars.

Even from where we are, I can hear the water knock against the docks. The full autumn moon does a better job of lighting our path through the parked cars than the street lamps provide, but up ahead, surrounding the party, are blazing blue and purple fires that make those there wearing sparkles on their dresses reflect. Some are talking by the fires to get warm instead of going into the boathouses. It’s easier to have a private conversation outside than it is inside.

Once we reach the head of the party where we’re to enter, I nearly stop in my tracks .

“How the hell am I going to get through the detectors?” she hisses.

I start my way to it even though everything screams at me to turn us around and leave, but my feet aren’t getting the memo. If we leave, if we never show up, it’ll get back to him, and we’ll be in deep shit. If we go through with it, and they find the tracker on her shoe, we’re going to be in deep shit. Either way, we’re fucked.

“Stay calm,” I whisper to her as we get in line behind a couple in masks. The woman’s perfume shoves its way up my nose, and I flare my nostrils, both at the offending smell and the situation we now find ourselves in.

They go through the detectors, and Charlie’s hand tightens on my arm. I glance down at her, searching her body for a way out of this like it has all the answers. I have to protect her. I have to keep her safe, and I –

“You made it!” an annoyingly familiar voice hollers, but at this moment, I’m grateful to hear it.

The woman in front of us sets off the detector at the same time as I lift my gaze and find Andre making his way over with a swagger in his step. Like me, he’s not wearing a mask. He walks right past the detectors, wraps an arm around my shoulders like we’re friends, and steers us past the couple who are now complaining that they have to leave their phones behind.

Relief washes over me, and I look down at Charlie, who is still tucked into my arm. Her tense shoulders relax. She spares the detectors one last look before she strides forward with us into the outside party.

“I didn’t honestly think you two would show since you’re an item now.”

I slam my gaze back to his, but his eyes are forward, and he’s wearing a malicious grin.

“Yes, I was told. I was also told to keep an eye on you two to make sure you don’t make it obvious.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I growl.

He rolls his eyes. “She’s still our property, Nixie.” My body goes rigid at that nickname because the last person who called me that . . . she got a bullet between her eyes. This can only mean one thing: He knows I killed the IT girl.

He grins at his hint and continues, “If someone wants her for the night, they’ll have her.”

The fucker always knows the right thing to say to piss me the hell off. I have half a mind to see how much his nose bleeds if I smash my forehead into it. Over my dead body will anyone touch her, and if they try, it’ll be theirs I step over.