by Sarra Cannon
Her tongue tripped over the word people and it sent a shiver up my spine. Plus, her words were eerily similar to the ones Selena had used out front.
“Franki here got an invitation to come to this place, but no one seemed to know where it was,” Katy said. “You know, you really shouldn't put your main entrance down a dark alleyway. That can't be good for business.”
“So, how did you find us if no one told you where it was?”
Katy pointed at me. “Psychic wonder over here had a feeling about it. She just knew it was here. Don’t ask me how.”
The bartender turned her focus on me, looking me up and down. For the first time since she'd come in here, I noticed how icy blue her eyes were. I shifted uncomfortably, not sure if I should thank her for helping Katy or punch her in the face for serving us something weird to begin with.
“What?” I asked, annoyed. The booze—or whatever it was—flowing through my veins was taking away both inhibitions and good sense. I opened my arms and stepped forward. “Why does everyone here keep staring at me like that? Just what do you think you see?”
Her eyes widened and a startled smile broke out on her face. “I see—”
Someone pounded hard on the bathroom door. “Azure? Get your ass out here. We’ve got customers.”
The bartender shrugged, her thoughts cut off. “Sorry, that’s my cue to go,” she said, turning toward the door. “Stay and hang out a little bit if you want. Drinks are on the house. No funny stuff, I promise.”
I was supremely annoyed. None of my questions were being answered and the strange warmth flowing through me only seemed to heat up, the angrier I got.
“Wait,” I said, taking a step in her direction. “What was in that shot, anyway?”
She opened the door and stood half-in, half-out, the noise of the club almost deafening after the silence of the bathroom. “I really have to go,” she said. Her icy blue eyes met mine. “You guys should stay, if you want. Just be careful not to leave with anyone you don’t know. Selena will call you a cab and make sure you get home safely when you’re ready to go, okay? Promise me.”
I nodded as she turned on her heel and left the room. The bathroom door closed, leaving us in muted silence again.
This was definitely turning out to be the strangest night of my life.
And it had only just begun.
Trust Me
Katy and I walked out of the bathroom and back into the neon glow of the main club.
“If you want to go home, I completely understand,” I shouted over the music.
She turned to me, her green eyes bright. “I feel great,” she said. “And I realize how completely insane that sounds after you were just holding my hair back so I could throw up in the trashcan, but whatever she gave me really helped.”
She looked down, as if realizing she was still holding the bottle of clear liquid.
“I wonder what’s in it?” I asked. “And what was in that shot to begin with?”
She shook her head and shrugged. “Hell if I know,” she said. “But the way I see it, we’re here, there’s music, there are a ton of hot guys on the dance floor, and there are still fifteen minutes left of your birthday. Let’s just have a good time and forget about the rest of it.”
She reached for my hand and I placed it in hers, smiling.
“Sounds good to me.”
“Just no more funky shots.” Katy laughed and together we worked our way through the crowd and onto the dance floor.
The buzz from the shot was still flowing strong in my system, somehow amplified by my anger earlier in the bathroom. And now that we were out here on the crowded dance floor with the strange lights and pounding music, my entire body began to hum with energy.
I looked around, at first feeling a little bit self-conscious around all these beautiful people. But then I started to lose myself to the music.
I closed my eyes, letting go of everything else but the vibrations running up through the floor and into my bones. My lips parted and the lights and energy seemed to flow straight into my mouth and through my soul. My blood pulsed with the rhythm of this place.
I had always considered myself a pretty good dancer, but tonight, I was electric. It was as if someone had plugged me directly in to one of the speakers and turned me on.
My body moved in ways I never knew were possible. Smooth and fluid. Sexy and sensual and confident.
The taste of the cinnamon-flavored shot lingered on my tongue, warm and slightly sweet.
I pulled my long black hair up, letting the air blow across the back of my neck. Every one of my senses was amplified.
That’s when I felt him watching me.
A darkness washed over me, dread pooling in my stomach. The sticky sweetness of the drink went sour in my mouth, making me long for water and fresh air.
His gaze passed like a shadow across my skin, pulling me into the dark places where no one would see me. No one but him.
I let my hair drop heavily down my back and opened my eyes. I didn’t stop dancing or try to draw attention to myself, but I no longer felt free. Sadness and fear pushed through me and I shivered.
Who is he?
I knew it was a man, even if I couldn’t tell you how I knew. I just felt the maleness of him. The territorial claim of his eyes on my body. I didn’t like it.
I didn’t like it at all.
I turned and scanned the crowd behind me, concentrating on the shadowy places beyond the dance floor. He was up there somewhere, sitting down. Watching me from the darkness. Whatever I’d done to get his attention, I wished I could take it back.
Was this the same person who had sent the invitation?
I swallowed, my throat thick with syrup. Someone had invited me here, but who? Katy was right. It had been a mistake to come.
In my bones, I knew this wasn’t just some secret admirer or old friend trying to reconnect. This definitely wasn't my mother. There was something much darker at play here.
And much more dangerous.
Strong hands encircled my waist, fingers slipping into the belt loops on my jeans and pulling me back. I gasped. My body tensed and I tried to pull away. To turn around and see his face.
But his strength was too much for me.
He leaned forward, his warm breath against my ear. “Don’t struggle,” he said. His voice was rough and deep. “Just play along. Trust me.”
It was the way he said the word trust that calmed me.
This was not the man from the darkness. This was someone trying to protect me.
Only, I couldn’t shake the question of what, exactly, I might need protection from.
I turned my head, but still couldn’t see his face.
“Keep dancing,” he said.
Our bodies moved together, his hands firm on my hips as he pressed his solid, muscular body against mine.
I moved my hands to his and when our skin touched, an electric shock went through me for the second time that night. It was like a static shock times ten. I gripped his wrists and pulled his fingers from their hold on my jeans.
“I need to see your face,” I said, turning my head slightly so that my cheek was practically touching his.
He gave way, letting me turn around, but never taking his hands from me.
In the pulsing lights, I recognized the deep black of his eyes and the wild black hair.
The bartender who had been staring at me earlier.
I stepped back in surprise, but his arms reclaimed me, pulling me closer, as if we were lovers reuniting after being apart for far too long. My heart pounded so hard against my ribs, I was sure he would be able to feel it beating against his chest.
“What's happening?” I asked, barely able to hear my own voice over the music. “Someone is watching me.”
“Now they’re watching us,” he said, a hint of a smile on his lips that disappeared so fast I wondered if it was ever really there.
I let my hands wander up his arms, gripping the muscular biceps that bul
ged against the sleeves of his black t-shirt. He was taller than me by several inches and I had to look up to meet his eyes, pools of black liquid with veins of silver running through them. I disappeared into them for a moment. My knees went weak and I fell against him, blinking to force my gaze away.
I was not the swooning type, so I refused to believe I had just swooned over this dark-eyed stranger. Maybe my blood-sugar was low. There had to be a logical explanation.
“You okay?” he asked, steadying me.
“I’m fine,” I said through clenched teeth. “Or at least, I think I am. Something is definitely not normal about this place.”
His smile played another disappearing act. “You’re just now figuring that out?”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to punch him or pull him closer.
“Care to explain?”
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head, amused.
Punch. I definitely wanted to punch him.
But that was impossible considering the fact that our bodies were pressed tighter than I’d been with any man in months. And like it or not, mine was definitely responding to him. If I thought my skin was on fire earlier, it was burning up now. I thought I might turn to ash at any moment.
“If you didn’t know what kind of place this was, why did you come here?” he asked.
I narrowed my eyes at him. Why did everyone keep asking us that? “It’s a public place, right? People come here all the time? Why not me?”
He cocked his head slightly, studying me. “Not many people wander in here on accident,” he said. “It’s not that kind of club.”
“So I've heard,” I mumbled. “What no one seems to want to share with me is exactly what kind of club it is.”
The music changed and his hands shifted on my hips. The tip of his thumb brushed against the bare skin at my waist and I tensed, flames rising up through my core. I gasped for breath.
He raised his eyebrow again. He was getting a kick out of my reactions, and I hated him for it. I hated that one tiny touch of his skin against mine could tilt my entire world on its axis.
Maybe it was the alcohol still working its way through my system. That had to be it. Men just didn't affect me like this. At least none who had ever touched me before.
“You’re not going to answer me, are you?” I asked, my voice unsteady. I straightened my shoulders and tried to put a little space between us so I could think straight.
“Not until you answer my question first.”
He was toying with me. Why come over here to protect me from some unseen stranger if he just wanted to play with me?
I didn’t like to play games.
“I was invited by someone,” I said.
Darkness crossed his features. That wasn’t the answer he’d been expecting.
“Who?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea.” I shrugged, trying to pretend I wasn’t completely distracted by the way his body moved against mine.
“Someone you don’t know invited you to a strange club and you came?” he asked, his voice raw with anger. His muscles tensed against my hands. “Expecting what? Some kind of affair? A fun time?”
I pushed against him, but he only held me tighter.
“Who the hell are you to judge me? I don’t even know you.”
“You don’t know the person who invited you either,” he said.
“Why are you getting mad at me for that?” I raised my voice over the music a few heads turned toward us. “You don’t own me. You don’t even know me. If I want to come to a club to meet up with a guy, that's none of your business.”
The muscles in his jaw tensed and he took a deep breath. “Lower your voice,” he said.
“Or what?” I challenged him. I had been on my own for most of my life. I didn’t do well with people spouting orders at me. I certainly didn’t need this asshole telling me what I could or could not do on my own damned birthday.
He pulled me closer, bringing his mouth close to my ear again. “Or you’re going to end up getting into a lot more trouble than you bargained for when you walked through that door tonight. Trust me.”
There went that word again. Trust. Not a word to be taken lightly in my experience, and I wasn’t about to let this guy threaten me.
I moved my hand up his arm and shoulder, then around to the back of his neck. I threaded my fingers through his long dark hair and tugged slightly, pulling him toward me.
“In my world, people have to earn my trust, so don’t throw that word around like it means nothing,” I said. “Just because you’re stronger than me doesn’t mean you have the right to push me around, you got that? So if you have something to say, you’d better start talking.”
I loosened my grip on his hair and he pulled his head back, his eyes wide and the first solid smile on his lips.
At first, he didn’t say a word. He just stared at me, as if in shock. Then, after a long moment where I thought my heart might beat completely out of my chest, he pulled away from me and held out his hand.
I stared at it, not knowing whether to take it or turn and walk away.
“You want to talk?” he asked. “Come on, then. Let’s talk.”
Was he really offering me answers? Or was this just another part of whatever game he was playing with me? There was only one way to find out.
I took a couple of deep breaths, then placed my hand in his.
In The Shadows
Katy grabbed my arm as I passed by her. “Who is that?” she asked, her face turned away from him so he couldn’t see or hear.
“One of the bartenders,” I said. It was the best answer I had at the moment.
“He's hot,” she whispered.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, biting my lip. Yes, he was hot, but he was also mysterious and way out of my league.
“Don’t you dare leave me here by myself,” she said with a nervous laugh.
“I won’t,” I said. She should have known better.
She squeezed my arm and went back to dancing with the guy beside her. I hadn't noticed him before and wondered if he had appeared on the dance floor at the same time the bartender had.
“She’ll be fine,” the bartender said. He was still holding onto my hand. “That guy’s a friend of mine. I told him to keep an eye on her.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he tugged on my hand, pulling me through the crowd. People seemed to part for him with ease, letting us pass. A few of the people smiled, but many of them lowered their gaze as he moved by, stepping back to give him plenty of space.
Who was this guy? I certainly couldn’t just call him the bartender all night. Especially not after he’d had his hands all over me.
I followed him to the edge of the dance floor, past the bar and into the shadows at the back of the room. He finally stopped in a dark corner. Hadn't the girl out front made me promise not to go into any shadowy placed with a stranger?
A shiver traveled down my spine and moved into my stomach, making me feel jittery and unsettled. The alcohol in my system wouldn't let me think clearly. All I could concentrate on was how I felt. And how his hands felt on me.
He finally released my hand, but the warmth of his skin lingered on mine. I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans and leaned against the wall, hoping I looked casual instead of completely and utterly affected by his presence.
“Let me see it,” he said. He had this way of giving orders that made me both angry and aroused.
“See what?”
“The invitation.”
“Oh,” I said. So not what I thought he meant. I reached deeper into my pocket and found the folded piece of red paper.
Before he’d even touched it or read a word of it, his face turned almost pale. I held it out to him, but he hesitated, just staring at the paper as if it were made of thorns.
He drew in a loud breath, then reached out for the red invitation. He unfolded it and stared at it for a second. I knew he was reading the words I’d seen this morning when i
t had arrived with the mysterious black roses.
Happy Birthday, Little Bird
The address to the club was typed in neat letters at the bottom of the paper.
The bartender crumpled the invitation in his fist, squeezing it down into a small ball. His lips were pressed tight and his shoulders were tensed.
“Where did you get this?”
“Hold on just a second,” I said. “You haven’t even told me who you are or why you care. I’m not going to tell you everything if you aren’t going to talk to me first. You said you’d explain what was going on.”
He stuffed my invitation into his back pocket, then ran a tense hand through his hair. “What do you want to know?”
“Your name would be good for starters,” I said.
“Rend.” His eyes followed someone walking past us, then moved back to my face. Every time his eyes met mine, it sent a warm rush of desire through my body. “Now will you tell me where you got this invitation?”
Rend. An unusual name for a very unusual man.
“What’s going on in this place?” I asked, determined to get some answers while I still had the upper hand. “Why did you say people don’t typically come here on accident? And what was up with that Red Dragon stuff your friend gave us when we first got here? Why did it make me feel good and make my friend feel like crap?”
He raised an eyebrow again. That seemed to be his signature look. “Anything else? You sure you don’t want to ask me a few more questions?”
I didn’t humor him with a response. I just stared at him until he started talking. I didn’t owe him anything, so if he wanted me to talk, he’d better start answering my questions, too.
“You don’t give up, do you?” he asked. “Look. None of those are easy questions to answer. You’ve walked into something here you couldn’t possibly understand, and I’m trying to protect you. You have to believe that.”
“I don’t have to believe anything,” I said. “This whole night has been incredibly strange and not at all what I expected.”
