And the warm fuzzy feeling of being in his presence evaporated at the reminder of why I was there. And whose fault it was. Seth said his brothers had some responsibility. Funny, Alex was the asshole that threw me down the stairs.
“Let’s just say I’m no longer attached, and leave it there, deal?” I forced a smile and used my core to twist from side to side. Yes, I had resorted to nervous fidgeting.
His eyes darkened as he studied me, probably dying to call me on my bullshit, but he nodded. “Sure. I’ll just put it out there that I saw you last night, and I didn’t like the way he treated you. If you ever need a friend…” He let that linger in the air as if he wanted to say or more. “I’m that person.”
“Thank you.” I looked away, not happy at all with the turn in conversation. “How’s Gingersnap?”
He perked right up at the name of his adorable little cocker spaniel. Even taller than Seth, he had to have been around six-foot-seven inches, and his cocker spaniel was the size of his foot. It was fucking hilarious to see him play with her at the park, but it also melted my heart.
“Neurotic as always. She always tries to climb in my empty shoe and gets her head stuck. She’s not that little.” He chuckled like a proud papa.
Actually, she was that small, just her head made up at least a third of her weight.
“How’s Ranger?”
Damn it! He was getting really good at killing my good mood.
“He’s Alex’s, so unfortunately, you won’t see me at the dog park anymore.” For more than the obvious reasons.
The assignment popped in my head for the briefest of moments, and I flicked my gaze to the mirror behind the bar.
Fuck! They were gone. I swiveled around on the bar stool just to make sure but, yep, their table was empty. So not only did I get distracted, but now I’d lost my targets.
“What’s wrong?” Bish reached out a hand, barely touching my shoulder, as if he wasn’t sure we had reached that level yet.
“I thought I saw people I knew.” Wait a second. If Bish was a regular here, chances were that he knew my unfortunate targets. “Hey, you didn’t see who was at that table, did you?” I gestured where the naughty boys had sat.
He stiffened, and for a moment, the man wearing an I <3 Cocker Spaniels shirt flickered in and out, like the man I saw was an overlay for someone dark and other. Turning only his head, he glanced at the table, but like I already knew, it was deserted.
His entire frame was carved from stone as he brought his attention back to me, staring into my eyes like he could glean the answers in my soul with just a look. “Dahlia.” His voice deepened to a pitch that sent goosebumps racing along my exposed skin. “What table were your…friends at?”
Bish was the nice guy, the funny dog lover, but right now, I was thinking I shouldn’t answer him.
“Bish!” The bar vibrated as someone fell against the wood behind me. Someone with a voice smooth like whiskey, and just rough enough around the edges to melt the goose bumps right off of my body.
Where Bish incited a friendly sort of playfulness inside me, the newcomer threatened to kill all my brain cells. I knew that, because it was damn hard not to stretch out on the bar and offer myself up for his pleasure. But there was something dark there too, something that said he could make it hurt so good.
All right. I wanted to walk into this bar with a different mindset, live the last month up right. Now I realized I might be out of my depth. Especially because this chick was afraid to turn around.
“Tarus. I’d say it was a pleasure, but…” Bish shrugged, not at all concerned with his rudeness. “Where did your sidekick go?”
“Oh, don’t worry. Zhan is on his way over.”
It was time. I was not going to turn into a chickenshit for my last several weeks on Earth. Using the bar as leverage, I spun around so I could see both Bish, and Tarus at the same time.
For the love of all that was holy.
This had to be one of Seth’s brothers. And I was in trouble.
Tall. What was with these freaking men? Did they take some kind of power juice? In the dim light of the bar, he had dark hair. Luscious, dark hair. The tousled length hid some of his eyes, but not so much I couldn’t see the languid pools of endless dark pleasure. Head tilted, Tarus focused on me. My panties soaked and my nipples were so tight, either the temperature dropped to sub-zero or I’d discovered a new superpower.
A glass slid across the bar, and Quetta chuckled. “I’d say I brought you your Afternoon Delight, sweetheart, but I’m pretty sure it already found you.”
Movement behind me and Tarus flicking his attention back to Bish were all that allowed me to turn again. I closed my hand on the glass and lifted it, but before I could get it to my lips, I had to look.
Yep, I was that girl. You know, the one in the movies who runs up the stairs in the horror films to get away from the slasher.
Wait. Bad analogy.
Fuck the stairs.
Still, I’m that girl who opens the door and looks, even when I know whatever I turn and see is going to shock the hell out of me. Yep.
So I looked.
Standing not even an inch away was naughty boy number two. “Zhan,” I managed in a much slicker voice than I could possibly possess. “I presume?”
Tall. Did I mention tall? Where Tarus had dark hair like dusky shadows, this guy? His hair was almost the color of midnight. I wanted to meet his gaze, but it was his hand that caught me. The hand that was just an inch away from me, as if he’d been reaching out to touch me when I turned.
Everything tingled.
I slammed back my drink, not tasting a drop.
In. So. Much. Trouble.
That was me.
Trouble.
Instead of answering me, Zhan jerked his gaze up as Bish slid an arm over my shoulder. “Sweetheart, why don’t you go get a table and I’ll come join you in a minute. I’d introduce you to this pair of idiots, but they don’t play well with others.”
I opened my mouth and two things happened.
One, Zhan caught my arm.
Two, Bish was suddenly no longer touching me.
Instead, he was on the other side of the room, slammed against the wall by Tarus.
“Yes,” Zhan said in a low, rumbling voice that teased over every single one of my senses and actually swung me around to face him again. “I’m Zhan.” He paid zero attention to whatever was going down with Tarus and Bish. Like, none. He stared at me, and then he brushed his fingers to my cheek. “And you’re here…”
Well, I got their attention.
Yay?
4
I’ve always wondered if a ‘necessary evil’ was just something you really wanted to do and it was bad. Like, how bad I wanted to do these guys, and that would be bad. So bad. Did that make them necessary evils? Asking for a friend. The friend who is me. - Dahlia
Tarus
Fury whispered through his blood as he flexed his grip on both his temper and Bish. Pinned to the wall, Bish gazed back at him. Was that amusement shimmering in his near golden eyes?
“Temper, temper,” Bish said. Too jaunty. Almost jovial. “You’re going to make me think you want to turn me on.”
Unimpressed and unamused, Tarus studied him. The desire to punish stretched inside of him, a slumbering giant half-snorting and annoyed at having been disturbed. Ignoring the carefree words, he studied the power he’d pinned to the wall. “Why is she still here?”