CHAPTER 3. SOUR DESIRE

ANASTASIA’S POV

Club? More like a house party. I let out a long breath and scanned the room as bodies pressed together, laughter ricocheting off the walls, a sticky throng warmed by cheap perfume and spilled drinks. I still didn’t know why he’d dragged me here only to abandon me. Isaac was everywhere and nowhere at once, going around with other women and letting them lean into him the way moths cling to a porchlight. Bullshit.

Being here only made it worse. It hammered brutally that what I wanted was ridiculous. He wasn't looking at me. He was looking at them. God, I had been such a fool to let myself hope. To imagine a cousin could want me like that.

I rolled my eyes and lifted my drink like it might steady me. I’d tell myself to forget him, to maybe forget him, but forgetting didn’t come easy when every laugh and tilt of his head tugged at something raw inside me. Forgetting Isaac Hayes felt like trying to forget a song stuck behind my teeth. Impossible.

“Hey.” A hand settled behind my shoulder and I jerked, turning on the reflex.

“Hey.” My answer came too quick and my eyes slid over him, cataloguing the dark jacket and smile. I remembered. Isaac had introduced us when we arrived. Jake Colton.

I laughed, the sound a small, surprised thing. “You’re Jake?”

He grinned. “Yeah. You remembered?”

“You were the only one he introduced me to.” I lifted an eyebrow.

He cocked his head. “Lonely?”

I inhaled, sharper than I meant to. “Not really. But I wouldn’t mind if you’d drink with me.” I tucked my glasses up the bridge of my nose like an anchor.

The room felt blurry at the edges, the drink pinning a warm haze to my skin. Conversation with Jake started easy, smooth like sliding along the surface of a slippery floor. I could feel a presence at the other end of the room, though. Those green eyes glued at me but they were not my problem, I told myself. He’d brought me here and left me to be ogled by women I would never match. They were in his league. I wasn’t, cause right now. He was hot cake. Pretty boys were always hectic.

“So, Ana,” Jake said, nodding toward the back of the house. “Wanna join me?”

“The pool?” I blurted, half-laughing. “I— I have a fear of water. I don’t—”

“We’re not going to swim. Maybe we could catch up?” He smiled, and something in my throat loosened.

I let my voice slide into a shade lower, more playful than I felt. The drink, maybe, but I was sure it wasn't Jake.

He reached for me, hand drifting close and then it stopped. An arm wrapped around his wrist. I glanced sideways. Isaac was there with his jaw tight and those fucked eyes narrowed.

“That’s enough,” he said, clipped.

“Come on, man. She still wants to hang,” Jake laughed, but my attention was fixed on Isaac.

Isaac looked at me. “Do you?”

I opened my mouth to answer and he turned back to Jake. “She doesn’t. Leave. While I’m asking you nicely.”

Jake’s smile thinned. “She’s just your cousin. She can make her own decisions.”

“I’m fine. You don’t need to act like this,” I protested, but my voice wavered when his piercing gaze found mine.

He was eight years older than me. Believe me, those gazes were piercing and I shrank instantly.

“What's wrong with you, man? She's just your cousin, not your girl!” Jake snapped and almost immediately Isaac’s fist found his cheek. He punched him so brutally. Jake staggered back, a grimace breaking over his face.

“I said that’s enough!” Isaac growled.

The music paused, and the whole house was focused on us. This was so embarrassing. My head cleared in an instant. I reached for Isaac, my fingers finding his arm.

“Isaac!” I called. He spun on me. His eyes were hot and furious and then, before I could register it, he gripped my wrist and hauled me upstairs.

A door slammed. He swung it shut behind us and the world narrowed to a single room and his breath. “What the fuck, Ana?” he barked.

I blinked, so stunned and indignant. “I—what are you doing? You were the one who dragged me here! I should’ve been home. Why would you bring me to a party like this and then leave me alone while you...” My words tumbled out faster than I meant. “Let those girls touch you? Let them kiss you? And I can’t even...” The sentence broke on a breath I hadn’t planned to take.

He scoffed and his jaw went tight. “Good girl?” He sounded bitter, with a hint of dangerous amusement that flickered behind his eyes. “You can’t wait to be kissed? Wait to be fucked?” he snapped, and the words stung.

I frowned, feeling my face tighten. “What’s wrong with that? You had all those girls touching you. Why can’t I?”

“What?” He sounded incredulous.

“What were you expecting me to do?” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. “Sit here and watch you kiss or fuck those girls? I shouldn’t even be here. And now you act like I can’t breathe without your permission. What?”

Silence dropped like a thick curtain shielding light.

“So you wanted to make out with him because you were jealous of me? That’s pathetic.” He laughed and they sounded like a brittle thing. “What then? Did you want me to pick you instead? To fuck you instead of them?”

“Yes!” It escaped me before I even thought. My chest heaved. The room tilted. Heat and embarrassment rushed to my face.

Then his angry face softened but for a fraction of a second and then a smile that didn’t reach his eyes tugged at one side of his mouth. Like we both realised something even in the silence. It was silent, but it screamed.

"You think I didn’t notice?" he murmured. "You put on that good girl act for your parents, for my mom. But not for me, Snow. Those looks they give you away. I can tell when you’re staring. I can tell what goes on in that mind of yours, even now."

Hearing him say it made something inside me both bloom and crack.