Chapter Two
Emily
“Sorry,” I said automatically, switching over to my professional lawyer voice without a thought. “I need to get past.”
At first, I didn’t recognize him. But the tattoos, piercings, hair, and especially those yellow eyes were unmistakable. He was propped up against the wall by a shoulder, blocking my path with the sheer size of him.
Holy fuck, this dude was as big as Dom. Maybe bigger.
“Um…” I trailed, glancing past him to catch sight of the bathroom only a few feet away. “Did you need something?”
“What’s your name, pet?”
I hadn’t expected the accent, and it didn’t sound like anything I’d ever heard before.
I couldn’t place it at all. But his sultry tone that sang so beautifully had dropped to a thick, husky drawl.
It crawled over me like a thousand caresses and nearly made me ask a few more questions just to hear it again.
Instead, I folded my arms and made damn sure to hide the object of his fascination, because his eyes hadn’t strayed much from my breasts since I appeared in this hallway. “Not interested.”
My rejection didn’t seem to bother him. “That’s a weird name. French?”
I sighed loudly and readjusted my purse strap. “Look, baby boy, there’s plenty of girls in this club you can bother. This one isn’t interested. Now get out of my way before I kill your chances of getting a gig here ever again.”
A whistle left his mouth and sailed down the corridor like it’d run from one end to the other. “You’re rather feisty. I like that.”
“Good for you,” I clapped back, over it already. I sauntered up to where he stood, challenging him with my glare. “Move.”
“Or what? You’ll ruin my chances, is it? Not much of a threat for a bloke like me. I don’t have any trouble finding an audience,” came his suave reply.
That accent was already doing things to me I’d rather not acknowledge, and I didn’t want to get distracted by a gorgeous asshole.
I could already tell he was bad news. If I hadn’t been turning over a new leaf and becoming a new woman tomorrow, I might invest in training him.
But tonight I needed someone who didn’t give me hell for everything I did.
It's a hard no for me, Simon.
I set my mouth in a grim line and summoned my bedroom voice, coming close enough that he couldn’t mistake a single word. “You look like you enjoy pain, baby boy,” I whispered, and his eyes dropped to my mouth.
My hand glided across his bare, tattooed arm, sliding up until I grasped him around his bicep. His eyes followed. They always did. Suckers.
“Bet it gives you a thrill to be under a girl half your size and weight, hmm?” I went on, tone sultry, every word enunciated with the usual goading dominance I used to find and snag prey.
“A girl who knows her way around the pain you’re looking for.
But…” He barely moved, waiting for whatever lust-laced nonsense I threw at him next. “I’m. Not. Interested.”
I threw my weight into his side, knocking his body sideways into the wall, and pushed past him. The dude was pure muscle, so even I was impressed I’d pulled it off. Definitely thanking the booby distraction for that one. Songbird was all eyes on them at the end of my little seductive tease.
I tossed a little glower over my shoulder.
“Get in my way again and I’ll call security over here to kick your ass.
The pain I inflict on others is for mutual pleasure.
Stubborn dicks who think the world of themselves don’t do it for me.
Go bother someone else with your songbird seduction.
” I gave him the middle finger before finally entering the bathroom.
My phone was where I left it, next to the sink. I grabbed it and pressed my back against the wall.
I’d wait long enough to give the asshole time to fuck off, and if he was still out there when I peeked out, I’d call Dom. He wouldn’t hesitate to rescue me.
I wasn’t a fighter like Asha. The things I did that hurt were always in the bedroom and consented to—I wasn’t a monster. Well, and I hurt a lot of feelings, but Asha told me that didn’t count.
Something about Songbird rattled me in ways no man had. The way his eyes stripped me bare on the spot. The voice that was practically a caress all on its own. I really didn’t want to run into him again. I needed to be New Emily tomorrow. This was my last night to be this one.
After ten minutes of bracing against the bathroom wall, I peeked my head out into the hallway. I refused to think that the pit in my stomach was disappointment when no one was there.
Fixing my dress, I strolled out and took my time getting to the front. I wasn’t looking for him. I was glad he’d fucked off. Had we met again after tonight, I would’ve called him a good boy for listening. I gave the room one last fleeting glance before walking toward the exit.
Dom peered down at me as I headed out. “You okay there, Ems?”
I plastered a smile on my face. “Just peachy. By the way, who was the band playing tonight? I’ve never seen live music on days that weren’t Friday or Saturday.”
Scoffing, Dom shook his head. “Not really sure, honestly. The boss just showed up and said they’d be playing. Told me to let them do as much or as little as they wanted and treat that leader of theirs like a VIP.”
My eyes traced the sidewalk, noting that Blue Eyes was nowhere in sight. Guess I was back on the hunt. But not here. Not with Songbird skulking around with an all-access pass from the club owner. I’d hit the nearby bar next. “Oh? They’re that important but you’ve never seen them before?”
My large and in charge friend of five years gave me his one-shoulder shrug. “The boss does what he wants. That’s hardly shocking. It was a bit more abrupt than his other asks, but nothing to sing home about.”
“Sing, ha!” I pointed at him, and he pointed back.
“Aye.”
“Ayeeee.”
“How you doin’?”
“No, how you doin’?”
We’d both pulled out our Joey voices from Friends, making increasingly unattractive faces and nonsense sounds until one of us broke. Tonight, it was Dom. My Joey-isms were unstoppable!
I sighed and checked my purse for my car keys, just in case. My head wasn’t really screwed on straight after my encounter with Songbird. “Okay, guess it’s time for this bitch to move along.”
Dom didn’t seem the least bit torn up about my loss of prey. “Yeah, he left pretty quickly after you went inside. Still gives me the creeps, though.”
I beamed at him. “Well, I would’ve ditched him, anyway. I know how to listen to my friends.”
The big, burly sweetheart put a hand over his chest in mock offense. “Is that a dig at me for the one time I didn’t listen? That was four years ago.”
“It happened, and therefore I must remind you about it until one of us is dead in the ground. It’s the law,” I told him in my best serious voice.
Dom made a lot of noises in protest. “I guess I can’t argue with a lawyer.”
My smile faded a bit at the mention of my old nine-to-five, but I reclaimed it before Dom could suspect anything.
“Exactly. Well, I better get going. Losing prime night-light here. I’ll chat with you later, big guy.
” He started to push off the door to come after me, but I lifted my hand.
“I only parked around the block. I’ll be fine.
Go home to that pretty wife of yours, or she’ll never forgive me. ”
He glared at me. “You know my shift doesn’t end for another two hours.”
“Still,” I said with a dismissive wave and started the short trek back to my car.
The wind had been taken out of my sails a bit. Maybe this was a sign. Maybe Old Emily was already dead and buried.
I lifted my chin and straightened my spine.
Yeah, who needed a stupid hookup, anyway? Not New Emily. She was a badass, mature bitch with her shit together. She went to bed at nine—no, eleven. Definitely before one a.m. And she woke early, like seven. No, nine. Definitely before noon.
With renewed vigor, I decided then and there Old Emily was dead. New Emily was going home.
I turned the corner and nearly slammed right into whoever had decided to park themselves in the middle of the fucking walkway. Stopping short, I got ready to curse out the stranger, but a set of blue eyes had the words catching in my throat.
My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. My car was a short hop away, meaning that Blue Eyes had been waiting for me where I parked. But how did he know it was here?
I was horny, not stupid.
Leveling a glare on him, I took a step back. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Something about his grin was off. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. The comment Dom made about him being creepy crawled back in almost as quickly as he stepped forward. I put an arm out, having way too much faith in its ability to thwart him.
“Back up, buddy. I asked you a question,” I demanded on a snarl, going straight for my keychain pepper spray. I’d gotten it because Asha begged me to. I never thought I’d actually need to use it. Of all fucking nights, it had to be the one I decided to be New Emily on.
Blue Eyes paused and his stare dropped to the hand I had in my bag. He took another step, hands raised like I had a gun pointed at his chest. “I just wanted to talk, gorgeous. I got a bit huffy earlier, but I’m good now. I really want another night with you.”
I didn’t like the way he twisted the words around his mouth, like they were the little lies he told to bring my guard down. I’d been a lawyer a long enough time. I’d been around deceptive shits and their silver tongues. I knew a lie when I heard one.
But something about all of this was weird. It almost felt like he’d been body-snatched, or maybe the mask had come off. Maybe this had been him all along. Either way, New Emily was already knee-deep in shit.
I eyed my car. If I could get inside and lock the doors, I might be able to ditch him like I was the main chick in Fast & Furious.
If not, I could always talk my way out of a vehicular assault charge.
But I had to make it to my car first, and I didn’t have enough foresight to unlock the damn thing on my way around the corner.
The minute I did, he’d guess my plan. With no other option, I did what I did best. I dialed up the charm.
I took another step back, and the asshole followed. “Is that right, baby boy? You want to talk?” I dragged out each word the way he liked, my hips swaying with another few backward steps.
He recovered the distance by moving forward, his smile spreading. I took another few steps, and like before, he instinctively closed the distance. I got ready to make a dash for my car the second he was far enough away from it, but something happened I couldn’t explain.
It was only a flash, but his eyes changed. His face wasn’t his. It was barely human. Pitch-black skin, fangs, mottled flesh that almost appeared to be melting off his skull, and glowing red-orange eyes. The only word I could think of was demon.
I froze, startled by the brief flash of a nightmare. His face had already gone back to the pretty boy I recognized, so I had to be losing it, right?
I wanted to blame the alcohol, but I’d only had one shot tonight. Hardly drunk territory. I’d wanted a clear head and to escape a hangover tomorrow for New Emily and all the plans she was about to make.
Blue Eyes stopped and his gaze flicked up, aimed directly behind me. It widened enough to catch my attention, and despite it being the stupidest thing I could do, I glanced over my shoulder to see what he saw.
A huge figure loomed in the streetlight.