Page 53 of Serpentine Valentine
And I’d been the one to stop her.
Me.
Something like peace crowded beneath my breastbone where fear and confusion already did battle.
“Can you take me home now?” I whispered, unable to look away from the beauty of her savagery.
She sucked in a few deep breaths through her teeth, eyes scraping over every inch of me. Then instead of answering, she stalked around the bed to my side and gently, hands shaking with the strain of that gentleness after a flurry of violence, she started to button up my dress. Her bloodstained fingers left red residue over the fabric, but I didn’t mind.
“Tell me you’re okay,” she ordered under her breath. The words quivered with suppressed fury.
“I’m okay. Now.” I placed a hand over her wrist and squeezed until she looked up at me again. It was humbling and incredible to see fear for me shining in those cold stone eyes.
“Lunatic?” Haley asked softly, creeping closer. “Are you okay?”
Lex snarled at her without turning to face her.
“Hush,” I told her, then looked at my best friend. “I think I purged the worst of it. I just feel…weak and out of it.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t get up here sooner,” she whispered brokenly. “I got caught up in the kitchen and…”
“It’s okay.”
“It absolutely isnot,” Lex corrected, finally turning her head to pin Haley with a vicious glare. “If you knew Luna was like this, you should have looked out for her. Where is your sense of sisterhood? You can’t just leave another woman alone in a house with strangers when she’s had too much to drink.”
Haley blanched at her words, and tears filled her big brown eyes.
“Lex––” I tried to admonish.
But her gaze snapped to mine, and she growled, “Not now, Lux. You do not want me to get started in front of your so-called friends. Can you walk? We’re going now.”
Before I could answer, she slipped a hand under me and basically pulled me to my feet. Her scent, something dark and warm and entirelyLex, filled my nose and made me sway on my feet for a completely different reason than I was before.
“Do you need me to carry you?” she asked, her nose brushing my cheek.
I shivered. “I think I’m okay.”
She stared at me with hard eyes for a moment before nodding. Haley and the other girl, a pretty butch girl with bright-blond hair, moved out of the way as soon as we got close, but they followed us through the house as we left.
Everyone watched us with burning curiosity, conversations fading to nothing, bodies freezing midmovement.
What the hell, they wondered,was Luna Pallas doing in the arms of the most notorious girl in school?
Even though she was clearly helping me, my unlikely lady knight in silk armor, I still heard the odd snicker and murmur of “slut” and “whore.” At one point, I tried to dig in my heels to snap back at them, but Lex just propelled me forward.
The cold air of mid-October felt like a blessing on my overheated, clammy skin. I tipped my head back and closed my eyes to enjoy it, trusting Lex to guide me forward. She’d pulled up in front of the house in an old cream-colored VW Bug convertible that seemed at odds with what I knew of her.
“Do you need help?” the strange girl asked Lex as she opened the passenger door and helped me into the seat.
Lex clipped my seat belt before turning to face her, blocking me from her sight in a move that was endearingly protective, though entirely unnecessary.
“No, I’ve got it. I’m sorry about tonight…”
“Don’t be.” There was a smile in her voice. “Seeing this, I get it.”
“It’s not…” Lex trailed off, then huffed with frustration.
“Some things don’t need a label. Take care, okay? You have my number if you need anything. I hope I’ll see you again soon.”
