of Patrón he held to his lips and taking a swig, but I could feel the hostility rolling off him.
Choosing to ignore him, I joined Kinslee on the makeshift dance floor. We were then joined by Cassius and Weston and amused ourselves trying to outdo each other with crazy made-up dance moves. By the time I remembered Joseph again, he was gone.
“Damn, that was it.” Kinslee shook the empty champagne bottle, tapping the bottom, as if more would magically appear.
“I’ll find Lena and see if we can grab some more.” I caught a flash of pink hair in the crowds and threaded my way through the masses to Lena. “We’re running low on champagne. It’s getting close to midnight, so I’m thinking we probably won’t need much more.”
She nodded and scanned the room. “Okay. This side looks like it still has plenty, so we’ll just grab another three or four bottles.”
I followed her into the hallway and back down towards the lift.
“Can you wait a minute? I want to use the loo first.”
“I’ll go on down and get the bottles, if you want,” I offered. “I’m pretty sure I can carry them myself, anyway.”
“Are you sure?” She looked torn.
“Course. Meet you back up here in a few minutes.” I gave her a reassuring grin, which she returned with a grateful smile, and waved her off, before pressing the button to call the lift.
Lost in thought, I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings as I entered the cellar.
If I had, I might have noticed the sound of someone breathing, a shoe scuffing the floor, the presence of another person in the cellar with me.
Strong arms came around my back, pinning me, and a hand clamped over my mouth.
I panicked, thrashing around, trying to throw my attacker off. I was dragged backwards, then suddenly released, and I stumbled, falling into the rough stone wall and scraping all down my arm.
That fucking hurt.
Spinning around, reacting on pure instinct, I lashed out at my attacker, raking my painted nails down his face.
“You little bitch,” he hissed, holding the side of his face and glaring at me.
“Joseph?” I clapped my hand over my mouth. Then rage overtook the shock as I realised what he’d just done. “What the fuck are you playing at?”
He took a threatening step towards me, then another, pinning me against the wall. Alcohol fumes assaulted my face as he brought his mouth to my ear, his speech slurred. “I’m here with a warning. You came here and fucked things up for a lot of people, Winter Huntington.”
My heart was beating wildly. No one knew I was here, other than Lena, and she wouldn’t be expecting me back straight away. He was too strong for me to fight off.
“What do you mean, fucked things up?” My only option was to keep him talking and hope Lena came to find me when I didn’t appear with the champagne.
“Our lives were just getting back to normal when you showed up. Thanks to Cavendish’s interest in you”—he spat the word “interest,” and I almost gagged as I got a face full of tequila breath—“and you poking your nose where it doesn’t belong, we’ve been forced to intervene.”
“What?” My head was spinning. “Who’s ‘we’? Intervene with what? And by who?”
He ignored my questions. “I’m telling you this for your own good. Stay. The fuck. Away. From Cavendish. Keep your head down, work hard like a good little student, then when you’ve graduated, get the fuck away from Alstone.”
“Oh, and you’re threatening me, someone who’s weaker than you, because you’re too scared to say this to Caiden, are you?” I was a little bit scared, but I was mostly angry. And getting angrier by the second, as he held me pinned in place, his grip tight and bruising, his veneer of civility shattered.
“Shut up,” he hissed in my face, clamping his hand over my mouth. Not tightly enough; I managed to sink my teeth into his flesh, and he yanked his hand back with a screech.
“You fucking bitch.” His hand came out, and with a crack, he slapped me across the face, hard.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, the whole side of my face stinging from the slap.
“Shit.” He looked horrified at what he’d just done.
Too late for regrets. How fucking dare he?
“Fuck you,” I spat, my words turning into a sob, the tears clouding my vision, my cheek on fire, throbbing. “How—”
He suddenly let out the most inhuman scream, and then he was ripped away from me.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Ever