Three
Ihad just stepped out of the shower when my cell phone rang. My friend Evan was on the other end. He reminded me that it was his birthday and I had better be at the club by nine. Like I would be late for a party.
Amnesia was a dance club on Halsted that I really liked. It was way over the top with the go-go dancers in cages, purple neon everywhere, and the bar that ran the length of one wall. When I walked in, I saw Evan in his group of friends and crossed the floor to get to him.
“Hey, buddy.” He greeted me with a wide smile, grabbing me in a tight hug. “You came.”
“Have I ever missed your birthday?”
“No,” he said, looking me over. “You’re the most dependable person I know.”
“Good.” I squeezed his shoulder tight. “So what’s your plan for tonight?”
“First, I gotta tell ya…I just saw Kevin.”
“That’s okay. I knew he’d be back this month at some point.”
“But you’re not pissed he’s out at a club?”
I shrugged. “It’s not my business anymore, E.”
He nodded slowly, then suddenly smiled. “What’d you get me?”
I pulled an envelope from my back pocket and presented him with two tickets to the ballet.
“Oh, baby.” He reached out and hugged me again. “When are we going?”
“Uh-uh.” I shook my head. “Take your mom.”
He gave me a look.
“You know you should. You never go over there, and she lives, like, ten minutes away.”
“She always wants to know who I’m dating. What am I supposed to say? I don’t date, Jory, I have sex in the back rooms of clubs. I’m not looking for anything serious.”
“One of these days, Ev…love’s gonna get ya.”
“Not likely.”
“Whatever.” I shrugged. “Back to Mom. I bought the tickets for you and her.”
“She drives me nuts.”
“She’s awesome.”
He grunted and slid an arm around my neck to pull me close. “Come say hello to the girls.”
Evan’s fellow flight attendants were catty and flirty and drank more than I would have thought possible.
Three of the women and two of the guys propositioned me, and by the time midnight rolled around, I realized I was starving.
I was on my way back from the bathroom when Kevin Wu stepped in front of me.
“Hey,” I said, moving back so I didn’t touch him.
“Jory.” He smiled and reached for me.
I took another step back. “What’s going on?”
His smile fell away, and I saw his jaw clench. “You’re still mad.”
“I’m not mad,” I assured him, because I wasn’t. I truly could not have cared less one way or another if he was there or not. “Good to see you.” I brushed past him.
Last year Kevin Wu had told me he loved me.
He’d taken me to a very romantic dinner and, after much hedging, blurted out that he didn’t think he could stand it if I slept with anyone but him for the rest of my life.
At that point I wasn’t on the same page, but in time I was almost certain I would have been.
We had dated for three months solid, and it was the closest I had ever been to a grown-up relationship.
His only complaint had been that he wanted to sleep all night with me.
I wasn’t ready for that step, and in the end I had been right.
When he’d told me he was coming out to his family, I had eagerly gone along with him to offer support and meet them for the very first time.
It had been a disaster. Not only did he chicken out, but he also told them I was just a friend.
He ended up dancing with a girl his parents had invited, all night long.
I was left alone at the table, and when I confronted him, he told me that I couldn’t possibly understand since I was an orphan; I had no familial obligations.
Later that night, on the curb in front of his place, he asked what we were doing.
Wasn’t I coming in? He wanted to get in bed with me.
I asked him how stupid he thought I was.
I could see the writing on the wall. I was not partner material.
He agreed but quickly went on to say that once he took his place in the family business, he would be able to set me up in style.
Apartment, cash allowance, car…he would keep me very comfortably.
I was so glad we were at his place so I could leave and thrilled that we’d never exchanged keys like he wanted.
We were done. I had obviously been suspended in some dream state for the entire duration of our relationship.
I was very thankful that the drugs or trance or alien mind meld had worn off so I could get back to my life and pretend Kevin Wu had never happened to me.
“Jory.”
I turned and waited while he caught up with me.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to Evan. It’s his birthday.”
He looked confused. “Jory.”
“What?”
“I wanna see you.”
“Here I am.”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”
I shrugged and turned to go.
He grabbed my arm. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing.”
“Jory, I—”
I peeled his fingers off my arm and got a few feet away before he caught me again and held on while he stepped around in front of me, blocking my escape.
“Don’t be a jerk just because you can. Please let me see you.”
“No.”
Furrowed brows. “Jory,” he argued. “C’mon, please don’t—”
“Let me go, Kevin.”
“Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t call as soon as I got back from Hong Kong, but—”
“It doesn’t matter.” I brushed his hand off me.
“Why doesn’t it matter?” He had miscalculated, and there was the first glimmer of concern in his eyes.
“It just doesn’t.”
He grabbed my arm fast, holding tighter this time. “Jory, just calm down, all right?”
“I’m calm, you’re the one who’s bein’ weird.”
“C’mon, J. All I did was think about you while I was gone.” His voice was rising as he spoke.
“That’s crap. The only thing you thought about was the stuff I did to you in bed.”
He smiled slyly and stepped in closer to me. “There was that.”
Not having had a lot of partners, Kevin was much less experienced than me.
My lovers numbered in the high double digits, and I had learned something I liked, or something someone else would enjoy, from each and every one of them.
What I had learned from Kevin was that I didn’t want to do the one-night stand thing anymore.
Orphans wanted homes, and I was no exception.
I wanted to belong to one man, just like every woman in every Hollywood three-handkerchief chick flick I had ever seen.
I was done sleeping around. That was another reason I felt bad about Nick.
I’d been drunk and messed up on my own resolution.
The hand on my cheek startled me, and I looked up at Kevin. “Where did you go?” He smiled, stepping in close to me, both hands on my face. “You’re thinking so hard about something.”
I lifted my chin out of his hands and pulled back. “Nothing. I’ll see ya.”
“C’mon, J,” he said gently, staring into my eyes. “I just want to talk to you.”
I turned to go, but he grabbed a handful of the front of my shirt and yanked me forward, off-balance, so I almost fell into him.
“Jory, what can I do to—”
I stepped back before I pushed him away.
“Get off me, man,” I warned him, more annoyed than I probably should have been.
I realized suddenly that I was in no mood for anything but being home on my couch.
I definitely didn’t want to be out at a club.
I needed to spend some time processing everything in my head from the night before.
“Listen,” Kevin said, still holding on to my arm, “I’m sorry, all right? I didn’t mean to… I really have been thinking about you like nonstop for—”
“You’re bein’ a dick.” I cut him off, pulling free.
He got hold of me again, this time yanking on my arm hard. “Stop playing hard to get. We both know you’re gonna give me whatever I—”
“Let go of him.”
We both froze and turned to Detective Kage. He was standing there, looking at me with that permanent scowl of his, furrowed brows, deep lines between them, the smoky-blue eyes cold and his gaze pure irritation. I was amazed that Kevin still held on to me.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked him flatly, because that more than anything was amazing. Frankly, I was stunned.
“I could ask the same of you,” he growled at me. “Is this your idea of lying low?”
“Oh.” I was even more confused. “Is that what I’m supposed to be doing?”
“You know you are.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I do?”
“Yeah, ya do.”
“Huh.”
He turned his gaze on Kevin. “Let him go. I’m asking nicely.”
It wasn’t so much the words as the look. Just standing there doing nothing, he seemed menacing. Like a gunfighter or a samurai warrior…like the stillness could be broken at any second with violent movement. Kevin let me go, and I took a deep breath.
Detective Kage put a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” Kevin reached for me.
“Don’t,” Kage warned him, “I don’t wanna hurt you.”
But you could just tell from his tone that he hoped Kevin would try.
“Hurt me?”
One eyebrow arched slowly.
Kevin’s jaw clenched tight. “You think you could hurt me?” It sounded like a dare.
“Oh hell yeah,” the detective replied smugly, smirking.
In his street clothes, Sam Kage looked even bigger than he had in his shirt and tie the night before.
The jeans showed off his long, muscular legs and slim waist, the T-shirt clinging to his wide chest and shoulders, tight across bulging biceps and triceps, the veins in his arms and hands visible.
He had that whole V-shape to him, all solid, heavy, rippling muscle, and I realized that standing there in a gay dance club he probably had more than just Kevin and me looking at him.
The slate-blue eyes, short, coppery dark-brown hair, thick brows, full lips, chiseled jaw…
I had not missed that the man was a walking wet dream the night before, but it was tempered by the way he looked at me. Like he hated me.
“Who are you?” Kevin snapped.
Detective Kage just shot him a look before he gave my arm a tug. It was different from when Kevin had pulled; I nearly came off my feet. The man had no idea how strong he was.