The Bargain

Chapter 15

~GWYN~

She didn't want to leave the pantry, but she couldn't stay in there either. The space seemed both blessed and cursed. Gwyn could hear the pounding bass from the speakers in the other room, but she couldn't summon up the strength to rejoin the party. There was only one place that she wanted to be right now, one person whose company she craved.

Fishing her phone from her purse, Gwyn dialed Nesta.

"I didn't think I'd be hearing from you so soon," her roommate said in lieu of a proper greeting. "Please tell me this isn't you bailing on the party?"

"I need you to come get me." There was a groan of frustration on the other end of the line. "Please, Nesta. Just... Just please, alright?"

There must have been something in her tone of voice that let Nesta know not to press the issue. "Are you someplace safe?"

"Yeah, I'm still at the party."

"And you'll be okay until I get there?"

"Yes. I'm fine, really. I just want to leave."

"I'm on my way." And with that Nesta hung up.

Gwyn closed her eyes and tipped her head back to rest on the wall behind her. Did she wait in the pantry? Or did she go wait for Nesta up by the front door? No sense sitting alone in her self-pity in the dark. She opened her eyes and took a series of deep breaths, centering herself as she warded off tears. Then Gwyn opened the door and stepped back into the kitchen.

There were a few guys standing by the drinks filling their cups. They turned and smiled at her as she stepped from the shadows back into the light. Gwyn briefly wondered what she looked like to their eyes. Was she still flushed from Azriel's kisses? Had he left a mark on her neck when he had bitten her? Were her lips swollen; her lipstick gone? Was her hair a wreck from his fingers?

One of them gestured toward her with his cup. "You need a drink, gorgeous?"

"I'll get her one." Gwyn hadn't even heard him come up behind her, but Tarquin Summers was standing behind her.

The two boys turned back to the array of drinks on the counter and Gwyn turned to Tarquin. "Thanks, but I don't need a drink. Actually, I'm just on my way out, so if you'll excuse me."

She moved to step around him, but Tarquin stopped her. He flashed a smile with just the right amount of dimple. "Hey, you're not really leaving already, are you? I've been looking for you all night, Gwyn, and now that I've found you, you're just going to run off?"

It was funny, two weeks ago she would have been over the moon to have Tarquin notice her. She would have been beside herself that he knew her name. She would have fainted away dead on the spot to know that he had been looking for her. But right then, with him standing in front of her, with his dimple of full display, she felt absolutely nothing for him.

"Afraid so." Gwyn couldn't even muster up enough emotion for him to shrug.

Tarquin's smile fell and his dimple disappeared. He shifted to the side and Gwyn moved past him down the hallway back toward the front of the house. She expected him to stay in the kitchen but he trailed after her. Like a lost puppy. Even though it had only been a few minutes, Gwyn looked around near the door for Nesta.

"If you're looking for Moreno, he left," Varian supplied. Gwyn hadn't even noticed him standing there. "He seemed pretty upset." Her heart twisted inside her chest.

"You really came here with Moreno?" Tarquin asked. His brow was furrowed in confusion.

"Yes." That was the only answer Gwyn felt like giving. Tarquin certainly wasn't entitled to more. There was a brief dip in the music, just low enough and long enough for Gwyn to hear his scoff. And that small noise was enough to set her off. "What?"