Luring Light - K.E. Osborn Page 0,3

popping up from between Dash’s legs. She spots me before I turn to storm toward the exit.

“Shit! Void,” she calls out, but I don’t stop, because if I do, I might turn back and break Dash’s face.

When my feet hit the stairs, a wave of something crashes over me.

Regret.

That’s what this feeling is.

I let it go on for too long, and now Ivy’s giving her firsts to Dash.

My stomach rolls, almost making me heave as I take the stairs three at a time. I have no one to blame but my stupid fucking self.

“Void, stop!” she yells, but I don’t turn back.

I can’t.

I won’t.

I must find something to take this pain away because I’ve just found out that Ivy can indeed be poisonous.

And I have just gotten a toxic fucking dose.

Chapter Two

IVY

Adrenaline surges through my veins as I shoot up from between Dash’s legs. “Void, stop!” I yell, my heart pounding so fucking hard I can’t catch my breath, but the idiot has taken off quicker than I can even comprehend.

“We weren’t doing anything wrong, Ivy.” Dash scowls at me.

I huff. “Dash, I had my head between your legs. It would have come across a whole lot different from where Void was standing.”

Dash grimaces, his eyes dropping to the now lanced boil on his inner thigh. “Well, I appreciate you helping me. It does feel better since you released the pressure.”

My eyes shift to the stairs. “I should—”

“Go… I can patch myself up.”

“Don’t forget the antiseptic,” I add as I pull my gloves off with a pop and throw them in the trash, then head for the stairs.

It’s not like Void and I are in any sort of a relationship. It’s not as if I was actually doing something with Dash, I was merely helping him. I shouldn’t feel the need to explain myself, but the hurt in Void’s eyes was clear, and I know he thought I was sucking the life out of Dash.

That’s not okay.

I don’t want him upstairs wallowing over something which just isn’t true. Void and I might not be in a good place, but I don’t need to make matters worse by letting him believe something that simply isn’t there.

So, I rush upward to find him, to stop him from spiraling out of control, which he seems to have a university degree in.

Entering the clubhouse, it’s calm and quiet. At least Void hasn’t come up here in a rage, making a damn scene, and embarrassing the shit out me. My eyes quickly scan the area. There, over to my left, I find him sitting at the long, concrete slab bar.

His strong tattooed arms are resting on the black marble-effect slab as he sips on something amber in color—probably whiskey. His dusty blond hair is swept back over his head haphazardly like he’s been running his fingers through it brutally. Void’s overtired, and he looks frazzled. His strongly defined jaw is wracking from side to side in what appears like aggravation. Void’s nostrils are flaring, the way they do when he’s angry. The left one turned up slightly more due to his crooked nose from one too many fights, but for me that only makes him more endearing. His muscles flex under his shirt—it’s clear he’s having trouble holding himself together.

I hate that I’ve put him in this rage-fueled state.

Void might be revved up, but damn, it’s a good look on him.

Stacey wipes the countertop while Pepper stocks liquor bottles on the shelves behind the bar. I take in a deep breath while striding over to Void. He’s drinking his problems away as per fucking usual.

It’s time Void faced them head-on like a man instead of running away like a fucking child.

His eyes shift to mine as I approach, then focus back in on his short glass. “Didn’t even let the poor bastard bust a nut? That’s shitty of you, Ivy.”

I scoff. “You’re a fucking asshole!”

Void turns up his lip then takes another drink.

Stacey spins, walking down the other end of the bar, obviously to give us space to argue in private.

Void swivels on his chair, turning his back to me. All the action does is cause my anger to flare inside me even hotter. Never upset a Cuban woman if you want to live.

“You know what? You’re not even w-worth it anymore, Void.” My voice comes out a little louder than I wanted it to, breaking a little with the pain searing through me at Void’s detachment.

He shrugs with his back still to me. “Good.