Vindictive #4

15. Crystal

"Much better."

He shakes his head. "It's just a housewarming party."

"I wasn't going to walk on your arm with you dressed like that." I slip my hand between his arm and side and look up at him. I also can't ignore the fact that he smells damn good. "How about a drink?"

"Sure."

He leads me to a minibar and pours me a glass of tequila. As he's handing it over, his eyes latch on to something behind me. I take the drink and turn, my eyes locking on the two men making their way towards us.

"Who are they?"

Sebastian sighs. "Old friends. I apologize in advance."

"For wha—" The word dies on my tongue when an arm suddenly slings itself over my shoulder. The action catches me off guard and some of my drink spills over the rim, splashing my fingers and dripping onto the floor. Immediately, irritation crosses my face and stays there. I don't like to be touched without permission, and I certainly don't like wasting a good drink.

"Seb! Who is this gorgeous piece of ass?"

Sebastian's eyes narrow and he takes a step forward. "Watch it, Caden. Get—"

"Remove your arm from around me before I rip it off," I say, not even bothering with a sweet pretense. I hated drunk assholes. Especially rich drunk assholes, because they feel entitled to their behavior.

The man—Caden, I guess—lets out a startled laugh. "Woah, temper. Chill out. We're just having fun."

"Don't be a dick," Sebastian spat, taking my hand and pulling me away from Caden. I yank my hand free and shoot him a warning glare, to which he ignores completely. "Why are you here?"

"You thought you could invite all our friends and leave me out of it? Come on, Seb. I thought we were cool."

"We're not."

Caden glances at his other friend who up until this point had been silently standing by with a smirk on his stupid face. He shakes his head condescendingly and looks back at Sebastian. "You can't still be mad about Laila."

"I'm not."

"Good. So what's the problem?" Caden's eyes return to me. "What's your name, Sweetheart?"

"She's not interested."

"Let her speak for herself, Sebastian."

"I'm asking you to leave."

"You plan on removing me yourself, Seb?"

Silence. The two men stared at each other, neither one of them backing down. Not interested in the macho match, I step between them and look up at Sebastian. After several seconds, his eyes drop to meet mine. I raise a brow.

"You two done? I'm bored."

"Look, I don't want trouble," Caden drawls behind me and I don't bother to fight the urge to roll my eyes. "Just trying to have a good time. My bad, man."

He extends a hand and looks at Sebastian expectantly. I can tell Sebastian doesn't want to but for appearance's sake he shakes Caden's hand and gives a reluctant nod. When Caden goes to pull away, Sebastian's grip tightens.