Free Burn For Him by Kristan Belle Page A

from behind. He was just lucky that I didn’t fall or stumble or he would have been in for a world of pain. I had already made a royal idiot out of myself in front of Milligan once tonight, I didn’t need a repeat performance.
    “Would you like to come and sit down with me?”
    My throat suddenly dried up once again. I didn’t know why he had such an extreme effect on me, but I felt the nerves tingling through my body.
    “Sure she does.” Harper said, the laughter ringing in his voice.
    I swung around to glare at hm. He really wasn’t helping matters. I didn’t have to say anything to him. He knew that if he carried on this way that he would be in deep shit and he quickly held up his hands in mock surrender.
    “Sure, let’s go and sit down. Somewhere away from him.” I growled, only half joking. Luckily enough, Milligan seemed to see the funny side of it and he held out a hand to introduce himself to my friend before I quickly walked away from the bar.
    “Over here.” Milligan pointed to a table with a reserved sign placed in the middle of it and placing his hand at the small of my back, guiding me.
    As soon as we sat down, one of the bartenders walked over and placed a shot glass in front of Milligan and a bottle of ice cold water in front of me.
    “Is there anything else I can get for you?”
    Milligan glanced over at me and I shook my head at him, telling him that I was fine with the water. He waved the bartender away and leaned on the table to look at me intently. I hated that he made me feel so goddamn nervous when he seemed so composed and self-assured. I could usually talk to just about anybody about anything, but he left me choking on my words like a nervous teenager.
    Just as I opened up the bottle and took a long, cool swig, a scream rang through the club, overshadowing the pounding music in his intensity. Milligan quickly shot up out of his seat and spoke quietly into the device on his wrist.
    “What was that?” I asked, standing up and looking around myself, but I couldn’t see anything.
    “I’m not sure yet. Stay here.”
    I didn’t appreciate the stern manner in which he spoke to me. He had only known me for five minutes. That wasn’t anywhere near long enough to give him the right to boss me around. Harper had known me most of my life and I didn’t let him get away with it, so Milligan didn’t stand a chance.
    I took a couple of steps away from the table and saw a crowd gathering at the foot of the stairs that led to the VIP lounge.
    I was as bad as the rest of the rubber-neckers. You see a car crash, you have to slow down and take a peek. You see some kind of accident and you have to check out what happened. You hear a scream, you follow the crowd to find out what had gone one. It was simple human nature.
    I couldn’t get close enough. I heard a lot of chatter, but seeing as the music was still blaring out, there was no way to decipher what was being said. A sudden push through the crowd and Harper appeared in front of me, looking pale and shaken.
    “Destiny.”
    It was all he had to say to get me moving.
    I shoved my way through the heaving crowd of people, elbowing and kicking my way through when they wouldn’t move out of my way. I didn’t care. If Dee was somehow involved in this, then I had to get to her. Harper grabbed hold of my hand and dragged me through the remaining people, who were stood around, talking and staring.
    Destiny lay in a broken heap at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing at first. Why was she on the floor like that? Then it hit me and I crumpled to my knees at her side. A terrified sob rose in my throat. I reached out a hand to touch her, to let her know that I was there with her, but my hand was quickly snatched away.
    “Carrie, don’t. She’s badly hurt. We can’t risk touching or moving her yet.” Harper said in a voice that was thick with emotion.
    “The paramedics are on their way.”
    I turned to see Milligan