Violet Eden Chapters 04 - Endless

been so careless with his Grigori strength.
    Jase looked around at the rest of the group, giving them an all-inclusive hello nod before turning back to me, putting his hands on my shoulders and leaning in towards me with his whole body. Then he kissed me on the cheek.
    Out of the corner of my eye I saw Onyx watching with a huge grin.
    Son of a …
    Onyx wasn’t the only one who reacted. From behind me I felt the spike of Lincoln’s fury. I couldn’t stop myself from turning and looking over my shoulder into his green eyes that were ablaze. He was already on his feet and moving towards us. I sighed.
    This will not be good.
    He stopped beside me, but focused on Jase.
    Jase held out his hand. ‘Lincoln. Did you come by to see us off?’
    Lincoln shook his hand in response and I could almost feel the effort it took him not to snap it in two.
    ‘No. I just stopped in with Becca and Nate to have a drink.’
    ‘Oh, right,’ Jase said, showing his disbelief and following it up with a dangerous smirk. ‘Well, I get that you have a big-brother thing with Violet, so I promise I’ll take good care of her and not keep her out too late.’
    Mother of God. Does he want to lose his life?
    Lincolnshrugged, too calm. ‘I wouldn’t describe our relationship as the brother-sister type, Jase. I believe that would be frowned upon. Nate?’
    Nathan looked up briefly, a twinkle in his eye. ‘Definitely.’
    Blushing? Me?
    Jase was speechless, too, while Lincoln was looking increasingly satisfied with himself.
    ‘Stop it,’ I said, under my breath.
    ‘Well,’ Lincoln said, now considerably lighter in tone, ‘have a nice night.’
    ‘We will,’ I answered before whatever comeback was lurking in Jase’s mind came out and started World War Three.
    Onyx chose that moment to walk past me, brushing my shoulder as he watched Lincoln stalk away and resume his position at the bar. ‘I like him more and more.’
    ‘Hey, Jase!’ Spence called out.
    ‘Yeah?’ Jase responded, looking relieved for the interruption.
    ‘I need someone who knows their way around this place.’
    Jase looked back at me, eyebrows raised. ‘This isn’t going to be a good idea, is it?’
    Spence had a familiar wicked gleam in his eyes.
    ‘Not at all,’ I said.
    Nonetheless, Jase headed off to join Spence. And I spun on my heel to see Lincoln, perched on his stool and looking right at me.
    I stormed over. ‘That wasn’t necessary,’ I snapped.
    ‘I know,’ he replied, quietly, catching me off-guard. He sighed and looked guilty. ‘I know,’ he said again, his eyes on me in a way that somehow covered my whole body and caused an unstoppable tingle all the way down to my toes.
    Damn, he knows exactly how to unhinge me.
    ‘But what do you want me to do? Stand by and smile while he hits on you?’
    He looked down at his hands on the bar. I glanced at Nathan and Becca, who were both pretending not to notice our conversation.
    Now it was my turn to sigh. ‘You know I’m not … You know it’s not … like that.’
    I reached out and closed my hand over his. Neither of us spoke for a moment. His hand flattened on the bar beneath mine, fingers splaying just enough for mine to slip into the gaps.
    The tiny movements – the stroke of a thumb, the slow raising of knuckles – were somehow more sensual than anything I’d ever experienced.
    Finally, heart racing, I cleared my throat. ‘You could always come tonight. We’re going as a group, you know.’
    He breathed deeply, his attention still focused on our hands.
    I powered on.
    Ignore the hands. Ignore the hands.
    ‘Maybe we could just have one night where we didn’t have to worry about everything else? Maybe we could just have fun , dance.’ I smiled cheekily. ‘We could always give salsa a go.’
    At this, he looked at me, a single eyebrow raised. ‘Salsa?’
    I shrugged, my blush returning. ‘Yeah, well … or anything.’
    ‘You can salsa?’
    ‘Um, no – but I’ve always wanted to learn,’ I said, starting to realise how silly I sounded.
    His eyes lit up. ‘Just when I thought you couldn’t surprise me.’
    Iheld my breath, thinking he might just decide to come along. But as I watched, he glanced around the room and his eyes dropped.
    ‘You’re not going as a group, Vi, and we both know it. Anyway, it’s not a good idea despite how much I’d like it to be.’ And with that, he shut down and the walls came up. Typical Linc.
    And typical me, I bristled, retrieving my hand