Glass Jaw

Chapter 18 - Landon

Holy fuck this was awful.

These people were shit.

This food was shit.

The whiskey was fucking phenomenal. But the glasses they served it in were shit.

I watched Ryan disappear into the foyer and turned to Jules. "Did she tell you that her family was like this?"

Jules' shoulders folded down in defeat as she pushed some hair out of her eyes. I could see the guilt in her eyes and I knew she felt like she'd let Ryan down.

Fuck.

I think we all kind of did.

That was fucking brutal. That little William prick was about as pretentious and arrogant as they got. I wouldn't mind running into him in a dark corner later. For once, Jackson would definitely be on board with me fighting outside of the ring.

Not that it would really be a fight.

I wanted to beat some god damned manners into that pipsqueak. And that was saying something coming from me.

"We should fucking get her and leave," Tatum said with a slightly erratic look in his eye. "This is fucking bullshit. These people can all suck my dick."

"Let's just calm down," Jackson said soothingly. "We're guests right now and if we act out I have a feeling it'll only be worse for Ryan." He let out a hiss of breath and muttered, "We should make a fucking wall around her though."

"I should go find her," Jules whispered as she shifted on her feet.

Jackson shook her shoulder gently and said, "You need to calm down or you'll only wind her up more. Let's go outside for a minute."

Jules nodded absently as she stared in the direction that Ryan had just left. I could see how stressed she was and I grit my teeth. It felt like we were in enemy territory and my protective instincts were flaring more than normal. Jackson's influence must have finally set in because I felt responsible for getting everyone out of this place together.

I realized, only a bit begrudgingly, that everyone included Ryan.

"I'll go check on her," I said through my teeth.

Jules stopped fretting and turned to me with raised brows. "Really?"

I avoided looking at Tatum's smirk or Jackson's confusion. "Just go chill for a bit. I'll make sure Ryan's okay."

Jules tilted her face at me as something clouded over her eyes. A slightly confused smile twitched her lips as she squeezed my arm. "Thank you," she said. Jules turned to leave with Jackson then paused. She looked back at me as though she were fighting with herself over whether to speak or not.

I rolled my eyes and huffed gently. "I'll be fucking nice. Just go."

"Don't say a god damned word," I grumbled as I held a hand out toward Tatum and walked away. I didn't even have to look at him to know what he thought.

Little shit.

I escaped the crowd into the foyer where I'd seen Ryan walk. From there, she could have either gone out the front door or up either one of these ridiculously wide staircases. Looking up, I confirmed that they both led to the same landing.

How fucking pointless.

I jogged up the stairs and stopped at the head of a very long hallway with wide doors on either side. Moving slowly down the hallway, I listened for any sound of life.