Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
“ They look amazing; you did such a good job! ” Mal signed to Thea as they leaned against the wall of the packed room.
Judas Maximo had a living room with a damn stage .
The band’s instruments were all set up, and people dressed in Halloween costumes, ranging from skimpy to artistic to humorous to scary, packed the large room. Thea wanted to warn scared-y cat Draven not to look at the snake woman with horrifying serpentine eye contacts who lingered by a green, smoking punch bowl.
Judas Maximo knew how to throw a party. Halloween decorations and themed foods were everywhere, some set up at stations and others carried around by servers wearing black and orange.
Thea’s heart jumped as she spotted some celebrities in the crowd. Actors, comedians, musicians, athletes… Wow, I am totally out of my comfort zone here . Medusa’s Tears would have had its pick of makeup artists for tonight. Did they even typically use makeup artists? Pride and nerves battled inside her.
But mostly pride. Because damn, she did good , son.
She knew Wren was upset with the clown eyes she gave him, but he didn’t have to know that she did it on purpose. Wren had kept glaring at Draven, and Thea’s protective instincts flared, making her choose the one thing she knew Mallory feared the most—clowns. Thankfully, her best friend forgave her for turning her fiancé into her biggest fear.
“ Maybe it’ll be like immersion therapy ,” Thea signed to her. “ Maybe you’ll have a clown kink by the end of the night ,” she joked.
Mallory rolled her eyes and elbowed her, which Thea dodged, laughing.
To be honest, Thea might have a tiger kink by the end of the night. Not for the actual animal, of course. And maybe not for the male actors in the Musical Lion King .
It’s Draven . He made even tiger makeup sexy.
Confident, calm, collected, and predatory. He moved like a sly, lithe panther, slinking through the crowd, exuding danger and power.
The black and white streaks around his narrowed eyes brought out the bright green-colored irises.
He scanned the crowd with those mischievous and sexy predator eyes, stopping when he saw her standing in the corner with Mallory. His orange and black striped face came across as primal and striking.
The only thing better than that smolder was his smile. When he shot one right at her, Thea’s panties evaporated.
Mal nudged Thea’s arm, almost causing her to break eye contact with Draven as his band members stood on stage and picked up their instruments. Draven sank onto his drummer seat and lifted his sticks over his head. He banged them once, twice, thrice, before Mal pulled on Thea’s arm again, stealing her attention.
“ Are you still lusting after Draven ?” Mal signed to her.
Thea pointed to him on stage—shirtless, because that was how he always performed—and shot a “ Duh ” expression to Mallory.
Mal’s front teeth sank into her bottom lip, and Thea wanted to roll her eyes. Sure, Draven had been on a sex ban for a week, but Thea had only ever seen good things from him. Other than their childish, passive-aggressive tendencies in the beginning.
Now, we share almond milk . Like real adults.
“ You are delicate right now ,” Mallory signed. “ After what Alec did, I just don’t want you to make a mistake and get hurt even worse .”
Thea didn’t want to be seen as “delicate,” and who said Draven would be a mistake? The man sacrificed popcorn from his bowl to fill her empty one— good popcorn. Not just the small kernels.
He found out about her makeup dream and hired her for the greatest networking opportunity she could ever ask for. He even drove her to a store that could quickly print out some business cards for her to hand out to people tonight. He came up with a tagline: “ Deaf makeup artist with talent that will make you scream .”
She wiggled as warmth prickled through her body just thinking about it.
“ Are you just wanting to hook up with him, or do you like him? ” Mallory signed.
“ What’s wrong with both? ”
“ How about the fact that you just got out of an on-and-off relationship with a guy you thought you would marry, but he cheated on you? ”
Thea glared at her. “ I didn’t ask you for a reality check .”
Mallory was the “mother” of the friend group long before she became an acting mother to Wren’s daughter, Armie. Mal was quirky and fun, sure, but she had the temper and protective instincts of a bear. Hurt someone she cared about? And that person would find themselves clawed to death by perfectly manicured nails.
“ What if I just want to hook up? ” Thea signed. “ Other people do one-night stands. I deserve some fun .”
“ I know you, and you would not find a lack of commitment fun, no matter how many orgasms he gave you .” Mal squeezed Thea’s arm before signing, “ You need attention, acceptance, and intensity .” Ever the unsolicited therapist, that was Mal.
Thea’s lips thinned into an agitated line. “ I knew I shouldn’t have told you about my childhood .”
“ Knowing what you need in a relationship is important .”
Just as Mal signed that, the floor vibrated. The pulse of the song’s beat reverberated in the air. Though she couldn’t hear it, she felt it. Thea felt the sound wrap around her and demand she feel every beat.
Mal gestured to the side of her head, signaling to Thea that she planned to turn on her cochlear implant, allowing her to hear sound. Mal often preferred to keep it off, but since she started dating a musician, she listened to his music.
Some of Thea’s friends were able to get cochlear implants, some didn’t want them, and then there was Thea, whose version of deafness did not align with a cochlear implant. She preferred the peaceful silence but did enjoy dancing to the vibrations of music. She loved dancing.
She swayed to the beat, her hips swinging back and forth as she nodded to the vibrations. A glance at the stage stopped her dancing.
Draven stared right at her as he beat his sticks against the drums, viciously attacking them to create the beat she enjoyed. He was a god creating magic with his hands. His head banged along to the same beat as his muscled arms moved with a speed that awed her.
She had never noticed before, but drumming was in every inch of his body. The act of it jerked him from head to toe, possessing him, consuming him. The strength and stamina that took… The hard-earned talent…
Thea glanced at Mallory, who danced beside her and mouthed the words to the song.
Thea had never cared about lyrics, unable to make them out. She cared about a fast, mesmerizing, and catchy beat. Something to overpower her limbs until they flailed along to the rhythm.
Under Draven’s heated gaze from across the room, she churned her hips and dragged her hands up her sides.
He leaned closer to his drums and hit them harder as he watched her. She licked her lips and sensually undulated her hips. Was this what he wanted? A seductress?
Ha! She threw her arms up in the air and dramatically wiggled and flailed her limbs, goofily gyrating and jumping to the music.
The room was full of scantily clad women—some famous actresses and pop stars—all grinding and shaking their booties while making goo-goo eyes at the band on stage.
Meanwhile, Draven stared right at the crazy woman in the corner doing the can-can, miming throwing pizza dough up in the air and spinning it, and, of course, her signature dance move.
She leaned down and swung her arm, mimicking pulling the chord on a lawn mower, before pushing the invisible mower around with swinging hips.
His grin lit up the entire room.
And she suddenly understood the sensation of having swallowed a swarm of butterflies, ladybugs, and—honestly—hornets. Because she felt each sting in her gut as a woman in the front row flung her black lace thong at Draven’s drums.
* * *
The thing about Thea frowning was that it made Draven’s skin crawl. As powerful as her playful smiles or her giggles at her own jokes were, her lack of a smile kicked him in the gut.
She moved through the crowd after the first two songs his band played, and he eventually lost sight of her and glared at Mallory for not going with her friend. This place was packed. What if she got kidnapped? Or lost? She needed a protector, dammit.
Mallory flashed him a “ What gives? ” gesture when she noticed his glare from across the room. Wren, staring at his fiancé like the obsessed man he was, turned to look at Draven with an inquisitive and judgmental “ What did you do now? ” expression.
As the band played their biggest hit—the dirtiest, most sexual one as well—the crowd went wild for them. Typically, Draven would gobble up the attention and praise, but instead, he wanted to know where Thea went and if she was feeling okay.
Tomi sang into the mic, “ Baby, you turn me to stone, so hard for you. Medusa, baby, what more can I do? I don’t care about your snakes; bite me in two. Your venom feels like heaven. ”
Beginning to sweat, Draven finally saw a chestnut-colored ponytail emerging in the crowd, moving back toward Mallory. But then, she stopped mid-way. Talking to someone.
Draven squinted, trying to see who it was.
His knuckles went white as he held his drumsticks in a death grip.
Judas goddamn Maximo was talking to Thea.
In sign language.