Abbi Glines - Rush Too Far

Once she was finished circling the room, she left, and I felt lost. She hadn’t seen me, nor had she seemed to be looking for me. I had hoped she would scan the crowd for me. But she hadn’t. Not once. Did she not want to see me? Did she think I didn’t want to see her? Fuck . . . did she not know I was here? Would seeing me with Nan be a surprise? Hadn’t Woods told her I’d be here?

Before I could get too worked up, Blaire walked back into the room, carrying a tray of martinis this time. She made another round. When she finally turned and her eyes met mine, I felt like my breath left me. A small smile touched her lips, and I fought the urge to take the damn tray out of her hands and shove it at the people reaching for drinks. I forced a smile I didn’t feel, and then someone spoke to her, and she turned to smile at them. She didn’t look back my way again before she left the room.

“Rush,” Nan called. I saw her motioning me over to where she was standing. She was with the Drummonds and their daughter, Paris. Nan and Paris had gone to boarding school together. I was sure that at some point, I had made out with Paris when she had been at our house. I wasn’t sure we had actually had sex. She’d still been seventeen, and I didn’t mess with the illegal ones.

Nan grabbed my arm as I approached and reintroduced me to people I had already met. I nodded and listened to Nan and Paris talk about their last skiing trip together. When Nan tensed beside me, I turned to look at the door, knowing Blaire must have entered the room. Bethy was talking to Blaire, but Bethy wasn’t working. She was dressed up. Confused, I watched as Jace stepped from a crowd to join Bethy.

He’d brought Bethy as his date.

I hadn’t expected that. He was making a statement that she was more than a fuck for him. The smile on Blaire’s face didn’t surprise me. She was never jealous. She was happy for people. Bethy was here as a guest because Jace had brought her, but Blaire was serving people, while I stood in a fucking tux.

Did she think I didn’t want to acknowledge her as anything more than just a fuck? My stomach felt sick. She had to know the truth. Blaire never looked my way, but she knew I was watching her. The tense set of her shoulders told me she was ignoring me. Shit. Motherfucker.

She was reading the wrong thing into this. I hadn’t wanted to come. I was here to escort my sister. I wasn’t not acknowledging her. I was protecting her from Nan, but I wouldn’t keep doing that if it meant I was hurting Blaire.

“Isn’t that right, Rush?” Nan said, her overly bright voice sounding too high-pitched. She was pissed. She didn’t want me watching Blaire, and that made me angry. I was here with Nan like she wanted. I was pretty sure she was wearing about ten grand’s worth of clothing and accessories I had paid for, not counting our mother’s necklace. And she was going to control whom I watched and spoke to? Fuck, no. She wasn’t.

“Excuse me,” I said, meaning to walk away, but Nan’s nails dug into my arm.

“I was just saying that Mom and Abe should be home soon from Paris. They can’t honeymoon forever,” she said with a fake smile.

I didn’t want them home. “I hope not,” I said. Nan’s nails dug deeper into my arm. I jerked free of her death grip.

She laughed and slapped at my arm. “He’s a grouch at these things. Doesn’t do tuxes well.”

“He’s a rock star’s son. I doubt that requires you to wear a tux often,” Mr. Drummond said in an amused tone.

I didn’t point out to him that my rock-star father could buy him and his company several times over. I wasn’t going to waste my breath. “No. Not a lot of reasons to wear one.”

“What is Laney saying to that server? She looks like she’s about to—” Paris slammed her hand over her mouth, and I turned to see what was going on.

Blaire stood in the middle of the room with escargots all over the front of her clothing, and the tray she’d been carrying clattered loudly at her feet. She was frozen with shock and horror. Laney, Nan’s friend, was cackling with laughter.

“Oh, and look, she’s super clumsy. Woods should be pickier about his employees,” Laney said loudly.

Nan’s hand grabbed my arm, but I threw her off and stalked toward Blaire. That Laney bitch would pay for this.

“Move,” I roared, shoving Laney and her friends out of my way so I could get to Blaire. Grabbing her by the waist, I stared down at her. “Are you OK?” I asked, checking for any harm done to her body other than the buttery slime all over her. She nodded, but her eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and I was ready to start tearing limbs from bodies. No one was allowed to touch her. No one. I couldn’t turn to look completely at Laney. I was too close to hurting her. “Don’t come near me or her again. Understood?” I said in a voice meant for Laney and anyone else standing around who thought messing with Blaire was acceptable.

“What are you mad at me for? She’s the clumsy one. She dumped the whole tray all over herself,” Laney said in a high-pitched, annoying voice. God, she was a bitch.

“If you utter one more word, I’ll threaten to remove all my contributions from this club until you are escorted out. Permanently,” I warned her.

“But I’m Nan’s friend, Rush. Her oldest friend. You wouldn’t do that to me. Especially for the hired help.” Laney sounded shocked. I was about to give her something to be shocked about.

“Test me,” I said, leveling my furious glare on her so she knew not to go there with me. I turned back to Blaire. “You’re coming with me,” I told her.

I glanced back to see Bethy standing there, ready to take Laney down right in front of everyone. “I have her, Bethy She’s OK. Go on back to Jace,” I said. Then I turned back to Blaire. “Watch out for the snails; they’re slippery.” I had to get her out of here. Safely. She had gotten hurt. I hadn’t protected her again. I should have been here with her. I fucked up. This was my fault. I always failed her.

When we stepped out of the ballroom and into the dark hallway that led back to the kitchen and offices, Blaire broke free from my hold and moved away from me. She crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive move. She was upset. I had let this happen.

“Blaire, I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting something like that to happen. I didn’t even know she had issues with you. I’m going to talk to Nan about this. I have a feeling she had something to do with it—”

“The redhead hates me because of Woods’s interest in me. Nan had nothing to do with it, and neither did you.”

That didn’t make sense. Why was Laney pissed over Woods? “Is Woods still hitting on you?” Blaire’s eyes went wide, and she spun around and started to leave. I reached out and grabbed her arm. That was the wrong thing to say. Damn jealousy. I had to get a grip on that. “Blaire, wait. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. That isn’t the issue right now. I wanted to make sure you were OK and help get you cleaned up.” It sounded like I was begging, which I was, to an extent.

She let out a sigh, and her shoulders slumped. “I’m fine. I need to go to the kitchen and see if I even still have a job. I was warned by Woods this morning that something like this might happen and it would be my fault. So right now, I have bigger problems than you suddenly feeling the need to be possessive of me. Which is ridiculous. Because you were doing your best to ignore me until this incident happened. You either know me or you don’t, Rush. Pick a team.” She jerked her hand from mine and started toward the kitchen again. She was mad because I had ignored her? I had watched her every move, dammit.

“You were working. What did you want me to do?” I asked her. She stopped, and I took my chance to defend my actions. “Acknowledging you would have given Nan reason to attack you. I was protecting you.”