She smiled and nodded.
We moved onto the floor, our moves so much tamer than Jada and her partner’s, and yet, I felt as if we were on display just like them. I felt like everyone could see the desire and longing coasting between Vi and me. The lust that had not been cured at all by one night in each other’s embrace. Instead, it had been like the lighting of kindling, waiting for the full burst of flame to come.
I leaned down to kiss her, to touch those sweet lips to mine, and that was when an agent posing as a waiter approached and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned, and he nodded toward the door. I didn’t want to leave Vi. I didn’t want anything to happen to her or Jada, but I also needed to handle this. Finish it.
Violet seemed to read my hesitation.
“Go,” she said. “We’re here with a hundred guests. We’re fine.”
I looked at the guy who’d come to retrieve me. “Stay with them,” I told him quietly.
He looked like he was going to object but then nodded casually.
“Don’t leave the room,” I said to her. It was a plea and a command.
She nodded, and I left with dread and anticipation flowing through me.
Violet
SIGN OF THE TIMES
“Stop your crying.
Baby, it'll be alright.
They told me that the end is near.
We gotta get away from here.”
Performed by Harry Styles
Written by Salibian / Styles / Bhasker / Rowland / Nasci / Johnson
Worry hit the pit of mystomach as I watched Jada dance with the man she’d introduced as Malik Leskov. After he’d shaken my hand, I’d realized, with a shock, that he was Raisa’s brother. Whenever Raisa talked about him, it was with displeasure in her tone, and now I could see why. My Spidey-senses had been raised the moment I’d joined Dawson while they talked.
Malik’s red nose and sniffles were a key indicator of his drug use, but I also had a feeling he was part of whatever was going down around us with Dawson and the FBI. Raisa refused to talk about her family’s business whenever I asked. It made me wonder how I’d become friends with not one, but two wealthy females with ties to illegal activities. True, I hadn’t known Jada’s family was involved with theKyodainawhen I’d moved across the country. I’d thought Mori Enterprises was a legitimate shipping business. And Raisa and I had found each other through our love of science and the joint project U.C. Berkeley and Stanford University had done my sophomore year.
But the world felt small when I considered the coincidences.
My worry for Jada turned into worry for Dawson as he was pulled from our dance and left the room. Thoughts of him sliding his hands and tongue over every inch of me as he had the night before disappeared in a flash, replaced by thoughts of wanting him to come back at all. To be safe. To finish whatever it was that had sent him across the Atlantic and back with a hold full of cash.
I turned back to Jada, determined to pull her from Malik’s embrace, when the sound hit me. Gunfire. Barely detectable over the sound of the band, it might have been mistaken for fireworks if it were the right season. If my eyes and ears hadn’t already been on high alert, I wasn’t sure I would have caught it at all.
But Malik and the man Dawson had left behind both did. Malik froze, feet stalling, causing Jada to ram into him. He dropped his arms from her body, turned, and, without a word, headed for the doors. The man Dawson had left followed him without hesitation, leaving Jada and me with the crowd.
The crowd, which was still laughing and dancing, unaware of anything else going on.
I grabbed Jada’s hand as she started after Malik.
“Jada. No, let him go.”
The gunfire repeated. Louder. Closer. This time, it was clearly identifiable. It halted the band and caused the guests to panic. There were screams and shouts, and people began scrambling in all directions.
Jada turned to me, fear skirting her face, and she pulled me in the opposite direction of her terrified guests. We went out the open doors to the tent, pushing aside the canvas and traveling down the side of the house.
“Where are we going? Dawson said to stay with the crowd,” I said, breathless, heart beating so hard I could barely hear my own voice over the pounding in my veins.
Dawson.
