Glancing around with what I knew would be a huge smile, I stopped on Adrik, who watched me. “This is cool. I’ve never been in a limo and always wanted to go in one. I’d thought about hiring one for prom. I had it all planned out,” I told him as the limo started driving, and I opened the mini refrigerator at the side to see bottles of water and champagne. “I was going to ask the guy I’d been crushing on for years to prom. He’d be ecstatic and fall in love with me, and we’d get matching suits and have a dream night.” I snorted out a laugh, leaning back into the seat, which was super comfortable. “It didn’t work out that way. The guy punched me in the face, called me a faggot, and told me if I showed my face at prom, he and his buddies would kick my ass.” Shrugging, I added, “I hadn’t thought my dream would crash, especially when it was about a month before that I’d seen a friend of his giving him head in his car in the parking lot.” I chuckled. At least I was able to laugh at it now. “Still, I had a good night. I went out to my first gay club.”
Oh shit… there I went again, telling the man things about my real life.
“What is his name?”
I jerked back at the venom in his voice. “What?”
“His name. Tell me,” he clipped.
Whoa, okay. If I had to guess, Adrik was pissed on my behalf and might have the idea to hunt this guy down to kill him. That wasn’t good.
I laughed nervously. “Adrik.” I shook my head, scooted a little closer, and put my hand on his knee. “It’s fine. I’m over it, and I’m sure wherever he is, karma has fucked him hard for being a douche.”
Adrik’s gaze was on my hand. He grunted, jaw clenching. “You won’t give me name?”
“No, sorry.” God, why was I apologizing for saving someone? It was weird, yet my chest expanded and warmed because it was then I knew Adrik cared.
Shit.
I removed my hand and waved it around. “Anyway, can I get a hint as to where we’re going?” My heart was beating so fast in my chest. I didn’t need to know Adrik was protective or sweet in an aggressive way, because knowing it made him more appealing.
“Nyet,” Adrik said softly. He smirked over at me. “You do not like surprises?”
“They’re great… for other people.”
He snorted.
“Is it far?” I tried.
He crossed his arms and kept his smirk in place.
Rolling my eyes, I huffed. “Fine.”
“How is college?”
This was normal. Too normal. Like a couple seeing how their day was. I wanted to cry because my heart wanted it to be real.
Brushing invisible lint off my jeans, I shrugged. “College is college. Hard, but something needed for the future.”
“Had you always wanted to be a doctor?”
I smiled. “Pretty much. My mind is inquisitive. I love puzzles of any kind, and besides helping people, I knew becoming a doctor would be a good challenge.”
“You will practice in a… doctor’s office?”
“Yes, being a surgeon wouldn’t be for me. I get a little queasy with blood.”
When he chuckled, it drew my attention immediately. He looked beautiful laughing like that. He shook his head. “You will still need to deal with blood.”
Smiling, I shrugged. “I know, but not as much.”
I liked this. Talking with him.
Too much.
Sadness gripped me for a moment, but I pushed it away. Client, client, client, I chanted in my head. Hell, Adrik probably thought nothing of our time together anyway. I was behaving like a lovestruck teen with a silly little crush. I had to put my man pants on and stop this shit.
“We are here,” Adrik said.
Pushing everything aside, I grinned and shifted over to the window to look out. My eyes widened. “A casino?”
“Da.”
“We’re going into a casino for dinner?”
“Da.” He grinned.
“Well, I certainly didn’t expect that,” I told him when we pulled into the underground parking. We were lucky enough to get a spot right in front of the doors and one that would fit a limo…. Wait, how were we so lucky? I laughed at myself. Of course we were lucky. Adrik probably paid them to save a spot.
Our door opened, and I jumped since I was looking at Adrik. He was still grinning, and if I was right, I had a feeling I was missing something.
“Ready, sir?”
“Da,” Adrik answered and nodded at me.
I climbed out, and nerves rolled through to my stomach when I saw Death parked in a spot next to our car. He got out of his and shut the door just as Adrik stepped up behind me.
“Do you wish to follow or stay here?” Adrik asked. I thought he was asking me, but I saw his gaze on Death when I looked over my shoulder.
“I’ll follow.”
“Come then,” he ordered. His men, and somehow he’d gathered four more, spread out. Two went ahead. Another two stayed with us as we made our way in, and the last kept a distance behind us. Death followed a little closer than what they were.
Adrik and I walked side by side, but I stopped and took in the view when we entered.
“Holy shit,” I whispered. Lights and noise bombarded me. There were people everywhere, and even though it looked like this was the only floor, which was huge on its own, I’d seen from the outside it was at least twenty stories high.
My view caught on Adrik, who stood a couple of paces in front of me and looked back at me with a soft smile. One I hadn’t seen before. One that caused my dick to throb.
Fuck.
“Sorry,” I said, catching up to him. “Even when I turned legal and we weren’t far from all this, I never went to a casino.”
“Never?” he asked, surprise evident in his voice.
“Nyet,” I said, and grinned over at him as we walked.
His gaze was in front of us, but I didn’t miss his smile.
“I never felt the need to. Life kept me busy, and there was also me saving every penny I had for college, books, and rent.”
We stopped at a row of elevators. “Your parents, they helped?”
“In elementary and high school, yes. But not for college. It was lucky I got a scholarship, but they didn’t like I moved away from them, so they weren’t… um, forthcoming in helping when I could have gone to a community college where they were and lived at home.”
Goddamn it. I was sharing again. Telling him too much. I glanced behind me to see Death was closer, and his brows were pinched. He was also frowning.
Why could I hold myself, my real self, back with other clients but not with Adrik? There was something about him that made me want to share the real me.
The doors before us opened, and we stepped in with two guards and Death. Did I need to introduce Death to him? It felt weird he was there, but I didn’t know if Death would want me to share his name, his biker name, with them.
“It must have been hard,” Adrik said.
What was?
My dick?
I glanced down and noted I didn’t sport a hard-on, but there was a slight bulge.
Death snorted and covered it with a cough.
Oh crap, what had we been talking about? Right, my parents, college. With a burning face, I met Adrik’s amused gaze in the mirror in front of us and said, “To start off with, yes. But when I realized I had my freedom, I loved it and made sure it worked.”