19 Ariuk
Ariuk
I still would have liked more time with just Nick and Luc before Dante started throwing the rest of the sins at me, but apparently that wasn’t happening. His text had sent us straight to Pink Flamingo, where both of my demons already knew exactly who we were going to find.
“Ari, you can’t wear that.” Luc tried pushing me back into Nick’s room to change, but I planted my feet and refused to move.
I looked down at the low-cut forest-green dress, then back at him with a grin because he had absolutely no room to complain when he was the one who bought the damn thing.
“Why not? It’s just a dress. That you bought me.
” Nick peeked down the hall from the living room at exactly the wrong moment and groaned when he saw me, which only made my smile widen.
I adjusted the no-show bra we had picked up with everything else and smoothed my hands over the skirt.
“We’re going to a club. I’m dressing for a club. ”
“We’re going to find Gluttony,” Luc corrected, his gaze dropping over me one more time before he forced it back to my face. “There’s a difference.”
“Not to me.” I stepped around him and headed toward the living room, where Nick was still staring like he had forgotten whatever he had been doing.
“I like Pink Flamingo. Dante happens to be sending us there. Those things can coexist.” Nick’s mouth curved as he muttered that I had a point, earning himself a glare from Luc and another laugh from me as I slipped my shoes on near the door.
Pink Flamingo was familiar territory, one of the few places on Earth I had always enjoyed, and if Gluttony was there, at least I was walking into something I understood.
Music, alcohol, dancing, and apparently a demon who had trouble knowing when to stop once he wanted something.
That last part probably should have bothered me more than it did.
“Take me to the club,” I said as I stood and smoothed the dress over my hips.
Both of them hesitated, their eyes lingering on me long enough to make heat crawl over my skin, but neither tried to stop me again.
Luc asked if I was sure I didn’t want to stay in, and I shook my head before gesturing toward the door.
“Nope. We’re already going there for Gluttony.
I’m getting drinks out of the deal.” Nick laughed behind us and called me their girl, which made something warm tug low in my chest before Luc muttered that the two of us were impossible.
The walk was short, and as soon as the glowing pink sign came into view, excitement started working through me.
The bouncer at the entrance looked at Luc, then Nick, then me, and waved us through without asking for identification.
The exchange lasted barely a few seconds, but I still caught the familiarity there.
Apparently Luc and Nick had not been exaggerating when they said they knew Zel’s placement.
Once inside, the music rolled through my body hard enough to make my ribs vibrate.
Pink and purple lights swept over the crowd, catching on glasses and sequins while the smell of fried food, perfume, liquor, and too many bodies blended together.
Somewhere beyond the main floor, someone cheered as another performer stepped onto one of the smaller stages, and I immediately headed toward the bar until Luc caught my wrist.
“We are technically here for a reason.”
“I can multitask.” I tried tugging free, but Nick slid up beside me and draped an arm over my shoulders like he was helping my case.
He agreed with me immediately, which made Luc look between us before sighing that he hated both of us.
“That feels dramatic,” I told him as Nick steered me toward the counter anyway.
Luc reminded me that I had known him three days, and I smiled over my shoulder. “And yet.”
I ordered two rounds of shots without bothering to ask how much anything cost, and a bartender slid six glasses toward us before moving on without taking money. Nick looked at the untouched bill tray and then at me. “And who’s paying for all this?”
“I’ve never paid.” I separated the glasses into three groups, then paused when both of them stared at me.
“I just kind of smile and people usually stop asking. Is that not how this works?” Luc’s expression flattened while Nick started laughing, which gave me my answer before either of them spoke. “Fuck. Is that a Temptation thing?”
“Maybe,” Luc said carefully. “Or maybe humans are stupid around pretty women.” When I told him that was not useful, he added that they still didn’t know how far my influence reached, especially now that whatever Dante had loosened inside me was getting harder to ignore.
That answer was significantly less fun, but it made enough sense that I filed it away with everything else I still didn’t understand.
People had always been unusually easy around me on Earth.
Rules bent. Doors opened. Strangers offered me things.
Whether I had been influencing them or just benefiting from being attractive and weirdly lucky remained to be seen.
I lifted my first shot and announced, “Research,” which earned a clink from Nick and a muttered insult from Luc before both drank anyway.
Tequila burned down my throat as I turned toward the nearest stage, where a scantily clad woman had just stepped beneath the lights.
The second the music changed, she launched herself onto the pole and spun hard enough that my mouth fell open.
“This is what I love about Earth,” I said as Nick handed me the second shot.
“Everyone up there talks about humans like they’re constantly failing some giant purity test, meanwhile they’re down here having significantly more fun.
” His hand settled against my waist while Luc came up on my other side, effectively boxing me between them.
Neither seemed particularly upset by the arrangement.
I leaned into Nick while watching the dancer execute something that looked physically impossible, then felt Luc’s fingers slip carefully into my braids as he asked if I was enjoying myself.
“You two are making it difficult to concentrate,” I admitted, which only made Nick murmur that it sounded like a me problem.
Luc gave my braids a light tug, enough to tip my head back without hurting, and his other hand settled high on my waist rather than wandering beneath my dress.
Somehow the restraint made the touch more distracting than if he had gone straight for my tits.
I turned toward him, already angling my chin up for the kiss he clearly intended to give me when something crashed against the bar a few feet away.
All three of us jumped. Nick moved first, one arm sweeping around my middle as he pulled me behind him while Luc’s whole posture changed beside us, shoulders tightening as he tracked the source of the noise.
I had never actually seen either of them fight, and considering the way their essence reacted to mine, a brawl in the middle of a crowded club sounded like an exceptionally bad idea.
“Luc, don’t,” I warned, reaching for him, but my fingers caught empty air because Pride had already moved.
“Of course,” Nick muttered before catching my hand and pulling me after him.
I barely had time to register what was happening as Luc shouldered through the crowd after one of the bouncers and disappeared through the back door.
The strangest part was how quickly everything returned to normal around us.
People looked for a second, then went right back to dancing and drinking as though demons rushing into alleys were a normal part of the entertainment.
By the time Nick and I stepped into the cold night air, Luc had a large man pressed against the brick wall.
“What the fuck is going on?” I whispered, mostly to myself, because Luc didn’t answer and that was concerning.
Luc had one forearm braced across the man’s chest, but the stranger didn’t look particularly frightened.
If anything, he looked annoyed. He was enormous, easily taller than both Morningstars, broad through the shoulders and thick everywhere else beneath dark clothes that should have made him disappear into the alley.
Instead, my attention kept catching on him.
Then his head turned.
His nostrils flared, and every bit of annoyance disappeared from his face.
Oh.
That had to be him.
I stepped closer before I consciously decided to move.
Luc’s fingers tightened around mine but he didn’t stop me, while Nick glanced over his shoulder, noticed where I was going, and swore under his breath.
The stranger breathed in again, his attention locking on me so completely that the alley seemed to narrow around it.
I had expected Gluttony to feel like Nick’s anger or Luc’s heavy control, some obvious supernatural pressure announcing exactly what he was.
Instead, what rolled off him felt like appetite.
Not hunger in the simple sense. Want. Interest. The unmistakable pull of someone who had found something worth experiencing and had already decided one look wasn’t enough.
It should have made me nervous. Instead, I wanted closer.
“That’s super fucking unhelpful,” I muttered as Luc’s hand slid from mine to my waist like he had been waiting for an excuse. Nick stepped back toward us, and without thinking, I caught his wrist with my other hand. He looked down at where I was holding him and immediately started laughing.
“What?” I asked, already suspicious.
“Nothing.”
“That is absolutely a something.”
Luc chuckled near my ear, his arm settling more firmly around my middle as he explained, “You should see newly bonded mates in Hell. Personal space basically stops existing for about a week.”
Nick’s grin widened. “Sometimes longer.”