Right?
Fuck, I’m so damn clueless it’s more annoying than that time my sister stuck gum in my hair and I had to chop it off.
“Actually, yeah, get the room for me,” Alex tells her while having the audacity to trace a path along the back of my neck with his fingertip.
The creature beams as she turns to leave. “Give me a second, and I’ll be right back.” She struts off, swaying her hips, with her ass cheeks hanging out of her dress.
My lips part, but then I smash them together and brew silently in my irritation. I won’t give him the benefit of seeing me freak out. I won’t. I refuse to. But dammit, my chest is simmering with what can only be labeled as rage.
“Are you okay with this?” Alex asks in a quiet tone.
I stare at a couple dancing near our table. The guy is clearly a vampire, due to the pointy fangs peeking out from his lips. “Yep.” I bounce my leg up and down, feeling like I’m about to crawl out of my skin.
“We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to,” Alex adds. “I just thought it might be nice for you to go someplace quiet since you seem a bit uncomfortable out here.” He presses his lips to my cheek. “We can stay here, though, if you want. I can make anywhere fun. I just want you to be comfortable.”
I twist to face him as his words register. “What …? But you …” I shake the stupor out of me. “You do realize she asked you to go to this back room with her, right?”
“Yeah, but I wanted the room for me,” he points out, his eyes searching mine. Surprise flickers in his pupils. “Wait, did you seriously think I was going to like fuck her or something?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about this world, or you guys, or who and what the fuck she even is.” I gesture at where the creature took off.
“You do know us. Maybe not everything, but enough that I thought you got how much you mean to us.”
“Sure, but only because I’m your cursed fire reaper.”
He studies me with a crease between his brow. “If you really think that, then clearly we haven’t explained things well enough to you.” He dips his head so close I can feel his breath dusting my cheeks. “If you let me, I will.” He lowers his voice. “Come back to the room with me, little daredevil, and I’ll show you just how much you mean to me. And I promise it’ll feel so good while I do it.” He closes his eyes and makes this low sound in the back of his throat.
“I …” Words fail me at the moment, mostly due to the tug-of-war going on inside me. I want to tell him to fuck off, but I also want to tell him yes, please.
Who the hell am I anymore?
“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” he adds. “We can just go back there and wait for Rhyland to return.”
“What about Jaxon and Blaise?” I ask. “Jax seemed upset.”
His expression is soft as he tells me, “Jaxon struggles with certain things—we all do—but Blaise will take care of him. I promise.”
“Oh.” I wonder where they are. I wonder a lot of things about the guys at the moment. And I still stand by what I said.
I don’t know them.
Not well, anyway.
Maybe that’s why I say what I say next. Or maybe I’ve just decided to embrace the insanity that has become my life.
“Okay,” I say quietly.
His brows lift toward his hairline. “Okay, you’ll go back to the room with me?”
With my lips smooshed together, I nod.
“Are you sure?” he double-checks, his eyes searching mine.
I nod again. “I …” I trail off as the creature from earlier returns to our table.
She looks rather pleased with herself as she smiles at Alex. “The room is ready when you are.”
I wonder when he’s going to break it to her that he’s not going with her to this room.
“Sounds good. Thanks, Eva. I’ll make sure to send a tip with our bill,” he tells her as he tangles his fingers with mine and leans down to press a kiss to my neck. “You ready,” he whispers against my skin.
It’s at that moment that Eva realizes the room isn’t for her and Alex. Her expression plummets, not really to anger but to disappointment, and a drop of pity for her rises inside me. But I slide out of the booth, anyway, and Alex follows, never letting go of my hand.
“Oh. Okay. Thanks,” Eva mumbles as we pass her.
Alex offers her a small smile that doesn’t carry much of anything, and she returns it with the lightest stretch of her lips.
Alex places his hands on my waist and steers me in the direction of a hallway that’s tucked behind the bar. When we reach the arched entrance, a scaly creature that’s wearing a glittery teal dress that matches her horns asks Alex his name. Once he tells her, she gives Alex a number then she lets us by.
We start making our way down the hallway that resembles the one we entered the club in. Well, at first, anyway. Then the walls become windows that reveal the inside of rooms where creatures are doing all sorts of sexual things; some by themselves, others as couples, and one room even has like five creatures in it. So much is going on that I can’t even tell exactly what.
As my cheeks warm, I look at the marble floor that’s lined with a diamond-patterned carpet.
“You’re blushing,” Alex whispered amusedly. “It’s so damn adorable when you do.”
I glare at him from over my shoulder. “It is not. And the only reason I’m doing it right now is because of that.” I gesture at one of the windows. “I mean, what is up with everyone being totally comfortable just screwing each other out in the open?” I let my hand fall to my side and sigh as he grins at me. “Please tell me there’s not a window in the room we’re going to.”
“There’s not.” He slows down as we reach a thick black door with the number twelve on it. “But the fact that you’re worried there might be makes me wonder what you think we’re about to do in here.”
I throw him a dirty look, but he keeps on smiling, his eyes crinkling around the corners.
He snakes his arm around me to twist the doorknob and open the door. Then he nudges me over the threshold. Once we’re inside the room, he kicks the door shut, and heavy darkness encompasses me.
“Alex?” I whisper, my nervousness way too evident.
“Just a second, baby.” He sounds close, but I can hear him moving around.
A few moments later, a light clicks on.
My eyes struggle to adjust to the light as I peer around the room. It’s about the size of a large bedroom, with ocean blue walls and a maroon leather sofa in the center of it. Like with the booth, an intricate black diamond chandelier hangs from the ceiling that’s been painted a glittering midnight shade of blue.
Alex shucks off his jacket, tosses it onto the sofa, and wanders back to a shelf where various shaped glass bottles are lined up in rows. Each one is filled with a different color liquid. He grabs a bottle with golden liquid inside, fills up two glasses, then returns to me and hands me one.
“What is this?” I frown, recalling the last time I downed faerie wine and blacked out.
“It’s pixie whiskey.” He sinks down into the sofa, tips his head back, and downs the entire drink.