for the hardheads.” Pecking her on the forehead, he added, “How about those drinks? Grab me a bottle of water. I need a few minutes with Adam here.”
CHAPTER 35
Eden pushed her way through the dancing bodies to the front of the bar, but the crowd was still too thick to get any service. She moved with the flow, winding her way around the edge until the people thinned out near the corner. Her hands she kept close to her sides. She cast a glance onto the dance floor while she waited, but Adam and Gabe were lost behind a curtain of colored strobes and flesh.
Eden tried not to notice the skin. Everywhere, it danced in creams and darker hues, shades of ivory. She dug her fingernails into her palms, hoping Adam was managing to cope. Finally, the bartender took her order.
She slid Gabe’s cash over as the drinks were set down, picking up the glass. Before she could twist her fingers around the necks of the bottles, an arm slid around her waist, a man’s voice yelling over the lead singer’s syrupy wail.
“I’ve got hers.”
A hand covered her own bill after slapping down two twenties. Eden jerked her fingers away. If she passed Touch once, opened the floodgates, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop. She plastered a fake smile on her lips. Swiveling in the embrace to glance over her shoulder, she caught sight of him.
In her hand, the glass slid, condensation puddling against her fingers as they grasped too late, catching just enough of the lip to send it in a lazy spiral. It crashed against the floor, splinters slicing into the skewered cherries. A sneaker smeared the dirty pond of reddened cola, tracking bits of it away. Eden’s hand froze, empty.
“Oh, fuck me,” she said.
“That happy to see me, huh?” Az tightened the arms already snug around her waist from behind. His hair against her neck, his head nestling onto her shoulder the way he had always done broke the spell. She ripped away, twisting to face him.
Her first thought was that Kristen had been right about the Emo phase. His dark brown curls were gone, dyed black and practically ironed. The hair drifted over one of his blue eyes; the one she could see was lined in kohl. He was sinewy, the tight black thermal clinging to him, defined muscles strange on arms she remembered far less skinny than they were now. Her second thought was that Kristen had been wrong about him looking like shit. He looked incredible.
“Seriously?” she asked, thrusting him away, ignoring the shiver that passed through her when her hands met his chest. For once, the feeling had nothing to do with Touch.
“You’re pretty pissed, huh?” He offered her a weak half smile of apology, one of his shoulders rising as he cringed.
“You can’t think that wounded puppy shit is gonna work on me?” Anger dislodged the words she’d wanted to say for so long. “Not after what you did.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re not gonna cut me any slack? I mean, I died for you.”
“Yeah, and I died because of you. Only for me it wasn’t an act.” She stepped back, glass crackling under her boots. Az reached for her wrist. “Don’t touch me,” she seethed.
He pulled his hands away, lifting them to show he meant no harm. “I just don’t want you to get cut.”
Looking down, she realized her hands were empty. Behind her, the bottles were gone from the bar, stolen while her back was turned. Az took a step back. She hesitated before filling the space, stepping out of the puddle.
“What do you want, Az?” she asked, wondering if he heard the tremble in the words.
“Just to talk.” He hesitated, just enough to let her know he was moving, and then brushed his hand across her cheek and back to her neck. “You cut your hair,” he said, twirling a bit between his fingers. “I like it.” He caught her gaze before she thought to turn away. His eyes, they pulled her deeper into them, drifting into cold blue whispers of comfort. Remember us, Eden, they begged. Remember how we were. She forced hers shut, breaking the hold while she could, surprised by the effort it took.
“You try to pull that shit on me again and I swear to God, Az.” She didn’t fill in a threat, couldn’t think.
“I can make this right,” he said, but without her sight she heard the uncertainty. She wasn’t the only