Page 12 of Pretty Pink Poison
Too wrong.
Still, the pain of knowing I wanted it when he didn’t sliced through me and made me reach for a bloody flute of champagne. I wanted control over the emotion brewing within me. I wanted to squash the jealousy with something worse. I got to control that… at least for now. “Should we all take some shots?” Tonight was where I’d start to live my life even if the Black brothers were ultimately going to ruin it.
Rafe gave me a look like he didn’t approve, but I downed my champagne and went toward the study where I knew a bar and dance floor had been set up. I had them line up shots of alcohol I knew would be bad for my blood sugar, and we downed them before we got lost in a sea of costumes dancing around us.
The night devolved minute by minute after that. Angela’s bodyguard wouldn’t let her dance with anyone else, Ezra said he needed air, and more people were saying they wouldn’t go through the corn maze because of the screams coming out of it.
That meant more drinking. More partying. More heat. And more bodies. I relished in it, wanting chaos surrounding me now. The planning was coming undone, and I danced in it, unraveling by not following the rules or schedule of the night because at this point I didn’t want to either.
Especially not when I saw him.
Bane Black stood with Morgan on his arm, taller than the rest, staring me down in the middle of the makeshift dance floor, his eyes burning with some emotion I couldn’t place. Probably disgust.
He wore all black and no costume like he was above all our fun.
I didn’t care. I turned my back to him. He’d disappeared for the whole week without so much as a text to see how I was doing after everything.
But not a minute later, I heard, “You look devastatingly bloodthirsty tonight. Want something to quench your thirst?”
I glared at him over my shoulder as I swayed to the music. “You offering to get me a drink from the bar after sending me that note and then not responding to my calls or texts for a week?”
“No. I’m offering to slit that guy’s throat because if you keep dancing with random men, I’m going to give you that blood you’re thirsty for.”
I wrinkled my nose and stopped dancing so I could stand chest to chest with him in my anger. “Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Bane.”
He didn’t seem at all bothered with that statement and shrugged, before informing me, “It’s not jealousy, Bianca.”
I could tell that was the truth, that he wasn’t burning from the inside out like I was with seeing Morgan walking in on his arm. “What is it then, huh? You protecting your family’s legacy again?” I scoffed at how futile the connection I thought we had was. “You can’t own up to feeling anything for me, Bane. That’s fine. It doesn’t matter anyway.”
That statement got to him. He didn’t have to flinch or flex his jaw or anything for me to know that it did. I felt his anger. I felthim. I’d known him long enough to know that a loss of control made him want to restrain everyone in the situation further.
I swayed my hips and bent my knees to drop down low to the beat, keeping my eyes on him. One of his hands fisted, but that was the only movement I got that told me I might have affected him a little before Morgan reappeared and slid her arm into his.
She was pretty with her stick-straight red hair and tall frame. And she stood there waiting for Bane like she wouldn’t ever step out of the lines he provided her.
He’d found another person he could control. Good for him. Had he fucked her exactly how he wanted to before they came? Made her ride his hand the same way he’d made me?
I wanted to vomit at the thought. “I’m going to go through the corn maze.”
“I’ll go with,” Cora murmured, ambling up to my side like she knew something was off with the volume of my announcement.
“We all going?” Rafe said right next to her and then he extended his arm for me to take but Cora hooked an arm in mine and marched off with me in tow before Rafe could. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Nope.”
Cora was the quiet person in my circle that somehow always knew what to say. “Well, I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk.”
“Would you two wait up?” Rafe hurried to catch up to us and I realized some of the crew was following us in. I didn’t care at this point if we all went in together or not, I just needed to get away from Morgan andhim.
We entered the darkened maze of cornstalks and haystacks to a man jumping around the corner at us immediately. It got to most people, but I didn’t flinch at it. I knew where they all were.
I’d designed most of it.
The rustling stalks seemed alive with whispers and unseen hands tugged at my dress. It was spooky for most considering I’d had each section of the corn maze themed. At every turn, grotesque illusions flickered. There was the butcher shop with bloodied men and women. They held knives and appeared to be strapping one another down to feast upon. “Come in for a meal,” A man with rubber skin hanging from his face coaxed us.
The strobing lights confused my friends, and they screamed as a woman jerked up from a gruesome dinner table.
The screams, the hanging distorted objects, and the fog distracted from the men who would meet us all around another corner. Masked clowns jumped out and we entered the carnival themed sections. The jokers were especially scary with the makeup I’d helped them apply. And I enjoyed how the reaperscontinued to follow us through with the girls pleading not to be in the back of our line at that point.
