back, he leads me to the exit. I only stumble a few times on my stilettos, and he helps me right myself.
His driver waits at the end of the pathway with the Rolls-Royce running, and he steps out to open the back door when we approach.
Once we’re situated in the back seat, Garrin says, “We’re going to be taking Miss Flores home now.”
“No!” Panic grips me from nowhere at the idea of going home tonight. Of walking by my parents’ bedroom door and feeling the need to check in on him and putting my finger under his nostrils to make sure he’s still breathing, as if I’m the parent to an infant. I just don’t want to feel that overwhelming sense of heartbreak and desperation that I did inside that house tonight.
Garrin looks over at me with a confused expression, his forehead wrinkled.
“Please? I don’t want to go home. Not tonight,” I practically beg, emotion thick in my voice.
He stares at me for a moment, unblinking, and doesn’t look away from me when he says, “Langley, change of plans. We’re both going back to Titans’ Tower.”
A sigh of relief leaves me and I lean into him, pressing my cheek to his shoulder. He stiffens under my weight but doesn’t force me away.
For tonight I can pretend I’m someone else. Someone who isn’t scared for her father’s life. Someone who wasn’t run out of town because of one bad decision. Someone who is capable of a normal sex life.
Just a girl who finds herself falling for a boy, except he’s no longer a boy and she’s no longer a na?ve girl. That’s what too much champagne does to you. Makes you forget who you are deep down in your core.
20
Chapter Twenty
Garrin
I don’t know why Isla wants to come home with me, but it’s clear that she’s dodging whatever is bothering her. I cave like the bastard I am when she pleads with me using her desperate eyes.
Langley pulls into the underground garage and parks by the bank of elevators.
Why can’t I treat her like every other girl? I have no business bringing her home. Just like when I saw my father with her at the gala, a protectiveness flares up inside of me. The worst part is the person she might need protecting from most is me.
The Rolls comes to a stop. Langley slides out and is there at my door a minute later. I glance at Isla. She hasn’t said anything since she leaned her head on my shoulder, and neither have I. Anyone else and I’d have gently swayed her to lean her head on the side of the car. Then I would have had Langley see her home.
My first mistake was letting her drink so much champagne. My second was assuming she would never put herself in a vulnerable position in my presence. I am a Classhole. The friend of the guy who was involved in the sex tape with her.
“Isla?” I ask in a low voice.
She bolts up and looks over at me like she’s calculating where she’s at. “Yeah, I was just relaxing.”
How na?ve is this girl? Most people are always on edge around me.
“Come on.” I slide out of the car, bend down and offer her my hand.
Her small hand slides into mine and she smiles up at me as she elegantly climbs out of the car.
Christ, she’s stunning. Even with her eyes half-lidded and glazed over from drinking, she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Normally any woman I bring back to Titans’ Tower only has an invitation to the Titans’ Den, never my personal residence. There’s a reason we all have our own bedroom and en suite on the den level, after all.
But the thought of bringing Isla to that room doesn’t sit well.
“Is everything okay?” Isla asks.
“Yes.”
“You’re doing that thing with your forehead.” She reaches out to touch me and I rear back before she has a chance.
“What thing?”
She giggles. “Your forehead gets all wrinkly when you’re deep in thought.” She tries to touch me again, and again I dodge her.
I give her a wry smile. “Does it now?”
“It does.” I’m so busy trying to keep her up, I miss it when she uses her pointer finger and places it in the middle of my forehead near my hairline and drags it straight down, smoothing out the skin. “That’s better. Handsome.” She pats my cheek like a grandma.
She stares up at me like I’m her fucking hero, her gaze dipping to