“Hunk of sex?” he repeats. His dark brown eyes alight with mischief, and if I’m not mistaken, the same amount of interest that mine are projecting.
“Ah, yeah. I assume that you know how hot you are, so you’re either fishing for compliments, or just trying to make me look ridiculous. Either way, you’re still hot.” I smile, hoping for a flirty come and get me look, but with the amount of alcohol that I’ve consumed tonight, I might just look like a blubbering fool.
He laughs, his eyes crinkling slightly at the corners. “I know what I look like, and if it works for you, then I’m all for it, Babe. I’m Beck.”
He sticks his hand out to shake mine, and the second I place mine in his, I feel like my whole arm is on fire. This isn’t just tingles or awareness. This is full-blown explosion of our bodies recognizing each other. Almost as if we were meant to collide in this place. My whole being becomes a livewire of electricity.
“D-Dee,” I sputter, feeling my cheeks flame when he smiles down at me. “I’m Dee.”
I shake my head, trying to clear the images of this man taking me hard against the bar. When I catch movement to my left, I turn my head and get one hell of a buzz killing shock. I can’t even move my eyes when I look on in disbelief. It’s a tragic, train wreck happening right before my eyes, and there isn’t anything I can do about it. My whole body goes stiff, and I might have even whimpered. Beck’s hand, still engulfing my much smaller one, tightens slightly, but enough to make me wake the hell up. Lord knows, my mind is foggy enough tonight, but when I meet the eyes of our newest arrival, I swear that my heart stops.
This is going to be bad. Really bad.
My common sense kicks in about two seconds too late. Izzy turns her beautiful, ‘living life to the fullest’ smile my way, and I know she can tell something is wrong. She looks confused for a second, and before I can call out a warning for the huge cluster fuck that is about to slam right into her, she turns, and all I can do is watch it play out like a damn horror movie from hell.
“What the hell?” I feel Beck say against my back. His hands grip my hips when I sway slightly.
No, no . . . There is no way this is happening. I would give anything to be able to stop this from happening, but I know there isn’t a thing I can do. This is happening, and all I can do is wait to pick up the pieces when she falls.
It happens so quickly. She turns with her smile still in place, with only a little confusion, and when she sees what I’ve seen I watch as her legs give out, and her body falls limply into Greg’s arms. And for the second time in as many days, all I feel is fear. That same fear that I’m starting to worry will never leave me.
I go to move off my stool to get to Izzy, but halt in my tracks when I hear his voice. “Are you fucking kidding me? Isabelle is your goddamn Iz?” The newcomer, who I instantly recognized as Izzy’s old high school sweetheart, growls out in a tone that makes every hair on my body stand on end.
“Oh God,” I squeak.
“Holy shit,” Beck rumbles against my back.
“Yeah, holy shit about covers it.”
Greg doesn’t even pause. He wraps Izzy protectively in his strong arms and starts working his way through the crowd towards the back hall. Beck breaks me from my stunned immobility when he grabs my hand and pulls me after them. I can feel the others behind us, but I can only focus on the huge man barreling after Greg and Izzy, and making sure that I get where I need to be.
What a mess. As my legs race to keep up with Beck’s much longer ones, the only thing on my mind is how Izzy’s going to bounce back from seeing the man she never stopped loving again, the man she’s thought was dead for over a decade.
*
We’ve been standing in the narrow hallway outside the owner’s office for a while now. Not too long, but enough that Axel, Izzy’s ex, is pacing like a caged animal. When his patience snaps, and he starts yelling through the door, I know I have to do something. Stepping in front of a feral beast probably isn’t very smart, but if he has to physically plow over me, at least I will offer some kind of speed bump.
At this point, I can safely say that my earlier thought that this would be a mess was a great understatement. I know there isn’t much that I can do if Axel wants to get past me, but right now, the only thing on my mind is keeping him away from Izzy so she doesn’t have another episode. I can’t let her sink back into that pit of depression that she was in for such a long time. There have been times when I really doubted my ability to keep her sane. Hell, I doubted my ability to keep me sane.