“Lord help me,” he grumbles.
Chapter Six
MARCUS
Brooks sends Briar and DeGray in to talk to the club owner, William Perry, but he claims that he paid Grady for a single job to clean up after some remodeling and hasn’t seen him since. We also have them look into this chemistry club that no one really seems to know the name of. But so far, we have no more info on Grady, and no info about this mysterious chemistry club.
Finn flings his chair with his ass still parked into it over to mine so hard that it slams into me.
“What the hell?” I growl.
“I think we should check out the club tonight. Just go in and snoop around.”
“No.”
“I already got permission from Brooks.”
I sigh. “Why does Brooks give you everything you ask for?”
“Because he loves me, and I’m perfect.”
“Perfectly annoying. I don’t want to go to a club undercover with you. I’d rather go with literally anyone else.”
He gives me a look of surprise. “Wow! Anyone? Even Karsyn?”
“I can hear you, zanuda,” Karsyn growls.
“Yes, even Karsyn.”
“Wow, that’s impressive! I’ll pick you up at eight. Look nice,” he says as he pats my head and hurries off.
Karsyn looks up at me and audibly tsks.
“What the hell was that for?” I growl.
“You letting yourself get jerked around by that human.”
I smirk at him. “At least someone’s wanting to jerk me around. Too bad you can’t say the same.”
“Disgusting.”
I glare at him before grabbing my jacket and heading toward the door. While I really have no interest in going anywhere with the human, doing a little undercover work does sound entertaining.
Finn pulls into my driveway around eight and it annoys me that he knows where I live. Even though I’m very aware it’s because I locked my keys in the car, I’m positive it’s still his fault.
I spent far too long digging into the depths of hell—AKA my closet—to find the ugliest clothes I could possibly find. I look absolutely hideous in a green and pink striped turtleneck and grandpa pants that hang in all the wrong areas.
I get in and look over at the human who immediately assesses me.
“That’s… what you’re wearing to the club?” he asks skeptically.
“Do you have a problem with it?” I ask.
He suddenly looks delighted. “Oh my god… You dressed nicer for our date! How cute!”
Leave it to this… thing to make my plan backfire. “Can someone please just eat you already?”
He snickers before patting my leg. “Not yet, buddy. And off we go!”
As he backs out of the driveway, I notice he looks very nice in a button-up and some type of wool vest that he strangely pulls off. And those gloves.
“I need to know what’s up with the gloves.”
“I already told you. You rave about your awesome hearing, yet clearly never listen,” he says as he glances at me.
“Tell me again.”
“They keep me away from your cooties.”
I give up. Interacting with him is like telling a squeaky door to stop squeaking. At least I can rip the door off the wall. But I would get “terminated” if I threw him to the ground. Life is very unfair.
Finn gives me a sideways glance. “I wanted to go in and see your dog, but you were way too fast coming out. Almost like you were excited and waiting for me. But I wanted to kiss him and tell him how much I love him.”
“My dog hates you and growled the moment he saw you,” I lie.
“We have a connection.”
“He told me he wants to eat your face off.”
“I doubt that.”
He rambles about nonsense as he drives across town to the club and parks a block away. We get out and walk together up to a short line of people they’re letting in.
“I’m not much of a club guy, what about you? You strike me as someone who hits the club every night,” Finn says, completely deadpan.
“I have since you arrived. I try to drink away the memories.”
He hesitates, then nods at the bouncer who is arguing with someone.
“They’re refusing to let him in because he’s a vampire,” Finn whispers. “Shit.”
“It’ll be fine. He won’t notice me,” I say.
Finn’s eyebrow shoots up. “How won’t he notice you? You scream ‘I’m a fancy bitey fucker!’”
I’m not quite sure what that means but I shake my head. “Just act normal… not your normal, but like a normal human normal.”
“You don’t come off very human calling me a human,” he reminds me.
“Finnigan.”
“So much venom.”
We step up to the bouncer, and I make sure my aura is completely unnoticeable. As long as I keep my eyes down and my mouth shut, he likely won’t realize what I am.
“I need your license,” he says to Finn.
Finn holds it out and the man takes far too long examining it before letting Finn in. He waves me in without a second glance or a desire to see my ID. While my ID does state I’m a vampire, I have a fake one in my wallet that claims I’m one hundred percent human. But I look like I’m in my thirties, so he doesn’t even bother checking. Finn, on the other hand, is short and has this cute look about him that makes him look like he could be in his twenties or late teens depending on the light.
“I’m not that short,” he grumbles as he stuffs his ID in his wallet. “He was thinking about telling me no!”
“You look and act like a child,” I tell him.
He looks up at me and glares. “Sorry, Great-grandpa, that we can’t all be giants.”
“I am a normal six foot two.”
“Giant.”
“And you’re a giant pain in my ass.”
“My dick’s not that big, but I’m flattered you think so,” he says with a wink.
I glare at him. “No,” I say as the music thunders around me. “Just no.” While vampires have superior hearing, we’re not overcome with pain at horribly loud noises. We’re able to have a sort of selective hearing; otherwise, noises would be overpowering. I can’t imagine hearing everything all the time.
I assess the club to try and get my bearings. There are people dancing in the middle, facing the DJ. The rest are seated off to the left with most of the tables packed. The bar runs along the wall on the far side, so Finn starts squeezing his way through the crowd toward it. Since we have no idea what type of work Grady did for them, I keep an eye out for all employees. It seems like all of the waitresses are females and there are two bartenders. It’s immediately apparent neither are him.
“I’ll take my usual!” Finn says after squeezing up to the counter.
The two bartenders look at each other before staring back at him. “I think you’re confused or drunk,” one man says.
“Wha? No! The other bartender knows my usual.”
“We’re the only two bartenders.”