Bound to the Fallen (Prophecy #2) (29 page)

Brooke

“Good evening
, ladies,” Dr. Knight’s voice came from behind me. Spinning around, I found him and his wife standing next to Ashley.

His wife was breathtaking up close. Her skin was flawless and she had a well-defined cupid’s bow on her lip.

“This is my wife Miranda.” Dr. Knight paused. “Miranda, this is Ashley and Brooke. They are the coordinators for the research in my office.”

Miranda
smiled, unveiling starch white teeth. “It’s nice to meet you, girls. I hope Scott’s not too hard on you,” she said softly. She parted her lips and curled them up, dimples formed on each side of her mouth as her smile grew.

“It’s nice to meet you,
” Ashley and I responded in unison.

Dr. Knight nodded and forced a painful smile because he knew it was the appropriate thing to do.
“Well, enjoy your evening, ladies. Glad you could make it out for the event,” he said, placing his arm around Miranda and guiding her across the room.

I watched as the two
approached another group of people and began mingling.

“I just don’t get it,
” I said to Ashley and shook my head.

Ashley
bounced up and down, stomping her feet. Her eyes widened as she fixed her gaze on something behind me.

I looked
over my shoulder and saw Nicole approaching Dr. Knight and his wife.

“Oh,
oh, oh… here she comes!” Ashley’s voice bubbled over with excitement. She pulled her fist up to her mouth and chewed on her thumb nail. I knew the anticipation was about to kill her.

C
olton shook his head shamefully at Ashley’s behavior. “I’ll never understand women. I swear! And you say men are immature? Shit,” he said.

I watched Nicole
prance up to the group Dr. Knight was speaking with. She wiggled her way right into the middle. A sardonic smile fell over her face when Dr. Knight introduced her to his wife.

“There it is
, ladies and gentlemen,” Ashley proclaimed. “The moment that Mistress meets Mrs.” She shook her head in complete delight. “Look at Nicole, she’s eating this up!”

Ashley was right. Nicole had a look of pure empowerment as she shook Miranda’s hand.
I stared at Nicole and wondered what in the hell was going through her sick, twisted head when I felt a hand glide along the small of my back.

“Well, hello
, love. Don’t you look gorgeous tonight?” a familiar voice whispered into my ear. My heart stopped at the sound of Gavin’s voice. I turned around and my eyes met his. I was tempted to kiss him, but I knew I couldn’t. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Gavin said. “Wouldn’t think it would be so hard to find such a breathtakingly gorgeous woman, but you vanished as soon as I walked in.”

F
orcing my hands down by my sides, I scrunched the material of my dress into my palms to keep from grabbing him. “And you look like you belong on the cover of a magazine. Damn you for being so sexy,” I said.

My eyes drank in how attractive he was
. His hand was shoved in his pant pocket and he looked absolutely delectable. “How long do we have to stay here?” I asked.

Gavin
tilted his head to the side and studied me. “That dress looks just as I’d imagine on you, exquisite!” He reached up toward my face, but stopped himself. His fingers curled back into his palm and his hand fell down to his side.

“
We have to at least stay until the auction is over. Then we can leave.” He paused. “Ready to go so soon? I can’t imagine why,” he said, his panty-dropping grin painting across his face.

He
knew
exactly
why I wanted to leave.

H
e glanced in the direction of Nicole and Dr. Knight. “Damn, she’s brazen, isn’t she?” he exclaimed.

Gavin casually placed his hand on my back and slid it down to my ass. He
l tapped my cheek before moving his hand away. I looked up at him and gushed.

“You just let me know when we can go
,” I said.

“Okay, okay.”
He leaned over, placing his lips next to my ear as he whispered, “But only if you promise to let me see what’s under that exquisite dress you have on.” His finger trailed across my back and tapped up my neck.

S
tepping away from me, he looked over at the rest of the group. “You guys have fun, and keep this one out of trouble, aye?”

Gavin
made his way over to another group and struck up small talk. I rested my head on Constance’s shoulder. “Oh,” I panted out with a long, lustful sigh.

Constance pushed me off of her a
nd mumbled, “Yeah, yeah —I know. Gorgeous man, huge dong, great in bed — blah, blah.” She smiled at me and glanced back out at the crowd. A frown formed on her face as she asked, “What the hell is
she
staring at?”

F
ollowing her gaze, I noticed Nicole staring at me from across the floor. “What’s her problem?” I said and looked over at Ashley.

“Who knows?” Ashley replied.

My eyes wandered the room trying to find Gavin again and a purple blur passed by me. I watched as Amy Moore walked right up to Gavin and placed her hand possessively on his shoulder. She leaned over and whispered something into his ear. Jealousy welled inside me at the sight of her touching him. Gavin moved away from her and responded to whatever it was she’d whispered to him. I watched her take several steps toward him again, reaching up to straighten the collar of his jacket. Her lips were moving while she tugged at the material, but I was unable to make out what she was saying. Gavin shot a polite smile at her and pushed her hand away from him. He turned his back to her and ran a hand over the side of his head, making sure his hair was still in place.

Rubbing his hand over his head
was one of his nervous habits, and I wanted to know why he was nervous. I saw him glance over in my direction and I held my stare. He shrugged and shook his head. A man came over to speak with him, his body blocking my view of Gavin. I clenched my jaw and I turned back to my group of friends.

“Oh
, no,” Ashley said loudly. Her tone had a twinge of hostility in it. She pulled my arm. “Come on,” she huffed and dragged me over in the direction of Gavin and Amy.

“What are you doing
, Ashley?” I yanked my arm away and looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “I’m not going over there!”

Ashley
stopped, glaring at me. “No,
you’re
not. But
we’re
going over there to get another drink. They’re standing by the bar, and we can hear what that whore is saying to your man.”

R
eluctantly, I followed her to the bar and picked up another glass of wine. Ashley leaned against the smooth countertop and stared at Gavin.

I was panicking as I said,
“Ashley —
what are
you doing?”

She tipped her wine glass back and took a gulp.
“Oh, just givin’ em a good old stare down.”

“You look crazy.”

“Better me than you,” she snapped back at me.

We watched as Amy continued to
circle around Gavin like a vulture, striking up conversation with every opportunity.

Ashley
groaned. “Look at her! Just look at her — she’s relentless. My God, he’s not even acting interested. No eye contact, look at that body language!” Ashley shook her head in disgust.

Gavin caught Ashley
glaring at him. I glanced over at Ashley just in time to see her eyebrows arch up as she shrugged at him. I thought at any moment she might blow.

He turned to
ward Amy, gave her a slight smile, exchanged a few more words, and walked toward us.

A
pproaching the bar, he grabbed a glass of wine. He combed his hand across the top of his head again and cleared his throat to speak. “That was painful.” Gavin took a sip of wine and winced at the bitter taste. He swirled the wine in the glass and then placed it on the countertop. “Couldn’t get her to be quiet and didn’t really feel I could be rude to her in front of so many people.” He paused. “I had to endure two hours with her before we came here.” Gavin looked over at Amy and then back at me. “I’ve had about all I can take of that one for the night.”

I stood there, not exactly sure what to say.

Ashley rested one elbow on the bar, pulled her hand up to her face, inspecting her nails as she bluntly stated, “Amy wants you.”

Gavin ran his fingers across his forehead. “You don’t say?” H
e grimaced. “Too bad for her, I’m not interested — not to mention I’m already involved with someone else.” He smiled, lighting up as he glanced down at me.

I was overcome with
relief when his eyes locked onto mine.

“Lucky girl
,” I said, running my hand along the side of my neck.

He raised
the wine glass to his full lips. “Damn, that is horrid. You’d think they ’d have decent wine at these things.” He leaned against the bar, crossing one foot over the other. “I’m guessing I can stand here for a moment or two.” He pointed across the room at Nicole, who somehow kept finding her way into whatever circle of people Dr. Knight was in.

Gavin
reached over to me, the warmth of his skin brushing against my chest as he picked up the pearl dangling from my necklace. “You like pearls, beach girl?” he asked.

“Yes.” I looked down at the small pearl he was rolling between his fingers. “It’s not real
though.”

“I know.
” He let it go and it fell between my clavicles. “Still looks lovely on you,” he said. His eyes glanced behind me and his smile slowly faded. “Damn,” he mumbled, lowering his head toward his shoulder to stretch his neck. He promptly turned around to face the opposite direction.

Ashley huffed and c
rossed her arms in front of her. “You’ve got to be fucking
kidding
me,” she said.

Glancing
across the room, I saw Amy approaching us. The closer she got, the more like a bitch she looked. She was beautiful, but it wasn’t a natural beauty, it was more of a cosmetic porn star attractiveness she had about her. It was hard for me to imagine her as a psychiatrist with her large breasts bulging from the strapless top of her bright purple dress. She shook them with each step she took. I knew she had to be doing that on purpose. She had an athletic build and her long, wavy blonde hair streamed behind her as she glided across the floor. Her eyes were a cold blue and framed with thick, false lashes and smokey makeup. Her brown eyebrows were painstakingly arched and her brow bone was accentuated by bone-colored eye shadow. She had to be around Gavin’s age and I was certain she was much more experienced in the bedroom than me; I could tell by the way she carried herself while her unfaltering gaze seared into Gavin.

I
glanced over at Ashley and saw the rage building on her face. At that moment I realized she really was a good friend; she was angry because someone else thought they could have the man I was with. I briefly shifted my gaze over toward Constance and Colton. They were talking, clueless to the impending drama I feared was about to occur.

A manipulative
sneer adorned Amy’s face as she walked up to Gavin, whose back was to her. She completely ignored that me and Ashley were standing on either side of him. Tapping him on the shoulder twice, she moved her body up against his back. 

S
hifting my weight on my heels, the blood swiftly pumped through my jugular. I focused at the lack of space between Amy and Gavin’s bodies. I glared at Ashley and tried my damndest to maintain my composure. Tilting the glass of wine back, I finished it within three large gulps. Then I slammed my glass back down on the countertop, the sudden sound of it causing Gavin to look over at me.

Amy encompassed his body with her arms.
“Gavin, you left me alone with all those other men,” she whined.

I watched as she rubbed
her hand across his chest. I swallowed hard trying to keep myself from screaming. My inability to say anything was unbearable.

Gavin straightened up an
d slyly slid out from under her. His hip grazed mine as he tried to escape her. “Oh? I didn’t realize I was responsible for keeping up with you. I’m sure you can manage on your own,” he said.

I chewed on the inside of my check as the rage flew all over me. I didn’t understand why
Gavin hadn’t just told her to get the hell away from him.

Amy threw her head back and laug
hed loudly. She raised her drink to her glossy lips, polishing off the remaining cocktail. “Gav, you know damn well I’m not interested in anything those other men have to say.” Her bright blue irises rolled in my direction and a smirk slunk across her face. “Take me home,” she said, reaching up to stroke the side of his face.

Gavin pulled away
, placing his hands firmly on her biceps and pushing her away. His tone was harsh when he told her, “Amy, you’ve had too much to drink. You’re
not
going home with me.”