Chapter 8 The Dating Game
THE DATING GAME
For several seconds after the words left my mouth, the world seemed to freeze. The horror of what I had just said crashed over me with brutal clarity. At the same time, my brain finally caught up with my tongue, and a wave of delayed panic made my stomach drop straight through the floor.
Oh no.
Oh no, no, no.
My hands flew to my face before I could stop them, palms pressing over my mouth as if I could somehow shove the words back inside where they belonged.
“What, is wrong with me?” I muffled behind my fingers in pure mortification. But for a moment, there was nothing. No response. No movement. Just a horrifying silence that stretched long enough that I risked peeking up through my fingers.
Wye was staring at me.
Not angry. Not offended. Just… stunned.
His pale blue eyes widened slightly, and the expression on his face was so thoroughly taken aback. For a brief, terrifying second, I wondered if I had just said the single most inappropriate thing ever uttered in the history of demon nightclubs.
But then… he laughed.
Not the quiet, amused sound I had heard from him before.
Not the low chuckle that rumbled against my back when something entertained him. No, this was different. Very different, and a sound I had never heard from him before.
The rich, deep sound burst out of him suddenly. A laughter so unrestrained, I was left gaping at him. It was the kind of genuine joy that seemed to catch even him by surprise as his laugh spilled into the air between us.
For a moment, I simply blinked.
I had never heard him laugh like that.
His head tipped back slightly, one hand lifting toward his brow as though the sheer absurdity of the question had caught him completely off guard. The deep sound of his amusement rumbling through his chest, where my body was still pressed against him.
And judging by the sudden shift in the room around us, I was not the only one shocked by it.
My eyes instinctively darted toward Torin.
He stood near one of the pillars that framed the edge of the VIP floor, his usual vigilant posture still perfectly in place. Yet the moment his gaze landed on Wye, something in his expression cracked.
Surprise.
Real, unmistakable surprise. The kind that appeared only when someone witnessed something they had never expected to see.
Which made my attention drift further across the room.
Slowly, almost cautiously, my gaze moved over the surrounding tables and velvet booths.
It then didn’t take long to realize that Torin was far from the only one reacting.
Everyone was now staring.
Not openly enough to be considered rude, but enough that once I noticed it, I couldn’t unsee it.
Conversations had paused. Curious glances slid toward the throne before quickly flicking away again.
Whispers moved quietly through the nearby groups, as if the entire VIP floor had collectively realized that something very unusual was happening tonight.
Their lord was laughing.
And judging by the stunned looks scattered throughout the room, it was not something they witnessed often. Which meant, of course, that the source of that miracle was currently sitting in his lap.
Me.
The realization made my face burn hotter.
“Look at me.” The command was soft, but there was no mistaking the authority threaded quietly through it. My hands slowly lowered from where I cradled the lower half of my face.
When my eyes lifted to meet his, the laughter was still lingering there. Warm amusement softening the sharp lines of his expression as though my ridiculous question had genuinely delighted him.
“Ignore them,” he said gently, his gaze flicking briefly toward the room before returning to me again with quiet ease. Which was easy for him to say. He was not the one currently dying of embarrassment.
Still, his fingers lifted, brushing lightly beneath my chin in a touch that guided my attention firmly back to him. And just like that, the rest of the club seemed to fall away.
Then the faintest smirk curved his mouth.
“And to answer your question,” he continued calmly, as though we were discussing something perfectly ordinary rather than my spectacular social disaster,
“No. I am not a virgin.” His silver eyes gleamed faintly.
“Oh.” The sound escaped me before I could stop it.
“Right, erm… well…” I stammered, not really knowing what to say to that, as heat crept back into my face, and my brain scrambled to recover from the moment,
“You just don’t… date.”
His brow lifted slightly.
“You sound surprised.”
“Well…” I hesitated, gesturing vaguely toward the rest of the club where several strikingly beautiful demonesses were still very obviously watching the throne from across the room.
“Surely you have… you know…”
“Have sex, yes,” he said dryly, amusement still lingering in his voice.
“I still have sex, Eliza. I simply do not date.” Even more heat invaded, moving slowly up my neck as the bluntness of that answer settled over me.
“So, you erm… have never wanted… anything more serious?” I asked carefully. At this, his eyes gleamed, glowing silver for a few seconds before leaning closer to me.
“No, not until now,” he whispered, and the implications of those words hit me like a freight train, stealing the air from my lungs as their meaning became unmistakably clear. My heart hammered in response.
“But as for prior… endeavors, should we say, I suspect neither of us wishes to hear about the other’s experience in that particular department,” I scrunched my face slightly.
“Okay, so you might have a point there,” I admitted reluctantly, and a quiet laugh rumbled through his chest. The vibration of it was strangely comforting.
“Still,” I added after a moment, glancing out across the club again before lowering my voice conspiratorially,
“This isn’t really a date, though, is it?”
“Oh, is it not?” He asked in a teasing tone as he leaned back slightly on the throne.
The relaxed motion shifted me more comfortably against him, whether I liked it or not.
But yeah, if I were forced to be honest, I liked it…
very much, in fact. Okay, so more than liked, but damn, how could I not?
! Wye was the most attractive man I had ever seen.
And I wasn’t even going to get started on the insane amount of muscles I could feel now that I was this close to him.
Also, it wasn’t exactly helping that the kiss we shared was playing out on a perpetual loop, taunting me with wanting more.
“Well, for one thing, most people don’t usually have their first date in the middle of a demon nightclub, and I am not even going to mention the whole sitting on your lap thing,” I said, focusing back on the conversation we were having and gesturing toward the crowded club floor below.
His gaze drifted slowly over the room as if considering the point.
“Do mortals not often spend time together in clubs?”
“Not usually for a first date,” I replied before adding,
“But they can often first meet in one, but I’m not sure that constitutes a first date. Plus, if I’m being completely honest here, I am not really the clubbing type.” I whispered this last part behind my hand, making him chuckle.
“That’s a shame, considering you’ll likely be spending quite a lot of time in one.” His reply made my eyes widen before I schooled my features enough to say,
“We will have to see about that.”
His grin was near blinding, the kind of handsomeness that completely transformed his face. He inclined his head slightly before rumbling,
“That we will.”
“Okay, but just so you know, next time, dinner or a movie, might be the more traditional option before thrusting me headfirst into the demonic club scene.” Again, my reply amused him, but this time he looked like he was suppressing the urge to laugh.
“We had coffee, surely that counts?” he pointed out, and I turned my head just enough to give him a pointed look.
“Okay, so I know you’re lacking on the dating front, but FYI, it’s not usually a good thing if a woman bails on you halfway through one.” A thoughtful hum left him before he conceded,
“Good point, then let us consider this our first. After all, I would hate to tarnish my reputation,” he teased before I could comment.
“Your reputation in dating?” I scoffed a laugh and went on to say,
“Considering I am currently number one on that list, there is not much of a reputation to speak of now, is there?”
“Touché,” he smirked before his attention shifted past me, one hand lifting slightly. A moment later, the horned waitress I had noticed earlier approached the throne with quiet grace. The polished tray in her hand reflected her strange, flaky, ash skin on her cheeks.
Wye's fingers slid slowly along the length of my bare arm. The backs of them tracing lightly against my skin in a touch that was far too distracting for someone currently trying to maintain a serious conversation.
“What would you like to drink?” he asked softly.
I tilted my head, wondering why I was surprised by such a simple question.
Perhaps it was because I was surprised that someone like Wye hadn’t simply ordered what he thought I would like without asking me first. Or perhaps I was reading entirely too much into it and just fixating on anything thoughtful he did because I liked him…
as in, really, really liked him. A fact that made things considerably more complicated, seeing as he was still my captor and all.
“I suppose asking for a whiskey on the rocks is also not very first date material.”
“That depends entirely…” he said before leaning closer to whisper in my ear,
“…on who you are dating.” I couldn’t help the shiver his voice enticed out of me or the way my toes practically curled.