Chapter Eighteen
S tanding outside the club, I sighed in relief. It turned out, teleporting was a breeze… as long as I didn’t count my detours through a cow field, a movie theater, and someone’s sweet sixteen birthday party.
Watching the ghosts drift in and out through the walls, I decided this had to be the place. Plus, where else would you expect to see two guys with scythes smoking cigarettes, a green-skinned woman vomiting on the sidewalk outside, and three women parking their brooms next to a line of Harleys? Forget electric cars, brooms had to be the cleanest mode of transport.
Glancing down at my go-to shirt and sweats, I decided I needed to give myself a makeover if I wanted to blend in. Closing my eyes, I thought about the red silk dress I’d bought but never had the chance to wear.
In the front, the silk fabric draped loosely over my breasts, before dipping low enough to nearly show my belly button. Thin straps held up the front of the dress and tied in a bow at the back of my neck, creating a halter top that left my back bare.
The dress wasn’t as short as what some girls going into the club were wearing and fell a few inches above my knee. But thanks to the slits that ran from the hemline almost to the top of my hips on either side of the dress, I was flashing a lot more skin.
I gave up my fuzzy socks for a pair of black strappy heels and replaced my lop-sided, messy-hair-don’t-care bun for dark curls that fell halfway down my back. My makeup skills veered more toward a birthday party clown, so I opted for a simple smokey-eye and a crimson lip. I needed to blend in, not stand out.
Satisfied I’d done the best I could, I headed toward the front door of the club. The bouncer blocking the door gave me the once-over from head to toe, licked his protruding tusks, and let me inside without a word.
Stepping into the dark interior, I blew out a relieved sigh. The first part of my mission was complete. I’d made it to the UnderGrave with time to spare before the meeting.
Next, I needed to make my way around the club and see if I could spot Zacharias. Discreetly, of course.
There was a circular bar area set up in the middle of the room, and deciding that would be the best place to scope out the place, I made my way over and slid onto a bar stool. Sitting down in my dress was a challenge I hadn’t anticipated, and the slits in the side showed a lot more thigh than I was comfortable with.
Maybe I should imagine some glue and stick the skirt to my thighs. I was a ghost who conjured clothes out of thin air. Getting those clothes to stay in place seemed like something I should be able to figure out.
A warm hand pressed against my lower back. “Hey… sexy. I’m buying. Whatcha drinking?” the owner of the hand slurred.
I squinted, trying to figure out what type of paranormal he was since he could see me and touch me. Although I suspected the reason Wasabi had been able to touch me was due to the massive energy dump Saul had poured into me.
“No need. I like to buy my own drinks.” I scooted forward in my seat, staring straight ahead and hoping he would get the hint.
“Don’t be like that, sweetie.” His breath stank of liquor and tooth decay, and I nearly gagged as he leaned in closer. “Just because your date didn’t show up, doesn’t mean you have to be nasty to all guys. I’ll watch out for you.”
This was exactly why I hadn’t gone out when I’d been alive. And apparently, being dead didn’t exempt you from being hit on either.
“Mister, you’re wasting your time. I’m here for the boo- ze, not the boys.” Angling my body away from him, I hoped he would finally get the hint.
“That’s just because you haven’t given me a chance. Let’s go to the booth in the corner over there and get to know each other.” He wiggled his eyebrows when he said the word know , leaving me with zero doubts about his intentions.
Before I could tell him to go take a long bubble bath in a witch’s cauldron, his clammy fingers curled around my elbow. With a hard jerk, he yanked me forward, causing both the stool and me to topple sideways.
It happened so fast that I forgot I could simply have floated away. Instead, I braced for an impact that didn’t come.
An arm circled my waist, catching me mid-air and pulling me back against a hard chest. My rescuer gripped the creepy dude’s elbow, and an instant later, there were two sickening cracks and the man dropped to his knees.
“When a lady tells you no, listen the first time.” My rescuer’s voice was eerily calm.
It was the kind of calm that had warning bells clanging in my mind, telling me I was in peril. But I didn’t need the alarm. I’d known I was in danger from the moment the newcomer touched me.
Saul.
The last person I wanted to deal with at that moment.
“What’s your problem, man? There are plenty of great tits here tonight. I saw this one first.” The guy on the floor shrieked up at Saul. If he’d been sober, I doubted he would’ve been so bold. “I think you broke my arm!”
He’d reduced me to a pair of boobs and tried to call dibs? Oh no, he didn’t!
I tried to free myself from Saul’s hold. “Let go of me!” I hissed. “I’m going to go ghost and bust his?—”
Saul’s arm might as well have been made from granite because it wasn’t moving. Ignoring my futile efforts to escape his hold, the reaper focused his full attention on the man who’d staggered to his feet and swayed unsteadily in front of us.
“You’re wrong. I broke your arm in two places.” With the speed of a striking viper, Saul’s fingers wrapped around the man’s uninjured arm. There was another sharp crack, and the man roared in pain. “And now you have two broken arms. Since your arms are out of commission, it looks like you’re going to be celibate for a while. Use that time to think about how you treat women. You should appreciate the mercy I’ve shown you.”
“All this because of her?” the man wailed, his face turning a mottled maroon from either pain or rage… or maybe a mix of both.
Shadows leaked out from around Saul as he tucked me against his left side and stepped forward. Before the man could blink, Saul’s right hand gripped his throat. The guy had to weigh well over two hundred pounds, but Saul lifted him as though he weighed nothing.
This time when Saul spoke, his voice had lost its polished elegance and raw malevolence seeped from every word. “Remember this warning. Death will come for you if you so much as look at her again. And I won’t be merciful the next time we meet.”
Saul dropped the man to the floor as though he were a sack of potatoes. Then, giving me a slight bow, he offered me his arm and led me away from the man who lay broken and cursing on the floor.
As soon as we were away from the man and the small crowd of spectators who thought they were getting drinks and a show, I tried to pull away.
“Thanks for the help, but I didn’t come here to see you. I’m here to have a night off and enjoy myself.” The lie didn’t roll off my tongue the way I hoped, and Saul’s smirk told me he wasn’t buying what I was selling, either.
“You’re going to come sit with me so I can keep you out of trouble,” he stated, clearly expecting me to fall in line and behave.
Wrapping an arm around my waist, he guided me toward a velvet booth at the back of the bar.
I gritted my teeth. “You aren’t the boss of me, Saul.”
“Tonight is not the night to try me, pet.” He smiled at me, but his tone carried a warning.
“Listen, just because I have a soft spot for you and I go weak in the knees every time you touch me…” I trailed off, realizing I’d gone off track. Wrangling my free-ranging brain cells, I tried again. “Just because you’re hot doesn’t mean I’m going to be your toy.”
Not as powerful as I’d hoped, but he should still get the point.
One minute, I was digging my heels in and staring up at him defiantly, and the next, I was on his lap in the booth at the back of the bar. His lips captured mine in a panty-melting kiss, and his fingers trailed up my leg and exposed hip.
When the kiss ended, he leaned back against the booth and twirled one of my curls around his finger. “You’ve got things backwards, beautiful. I’m your toy to use however you desire.”
Heat rushed between my thighs and I tried to think about anything except how much I wanted this man.
Centipedes. Tampons. Pea-green baby food.
It didn’t work. I’d been drawn to him the first time I saw him, but with each encounter and soft touch, my attraction to him grew and my desire to have him as mine became more demanding.
What had started as fate screwing with me had turned to something more. Could it be that I was falling for him?
“You aren’t going to like what I’m about to say, but I need you to listen to me.” Saul’s teasing expression was gone and an expressionless mask was fixed firmly in its place. “I need you to remember that things aren’t as they seem. To keep you safe, I’m going to ask you to obey me without argument until I can get you away without drawing suspicion.”
The urgency in his words had my stomach flopping around like a fish out of water. “What’s going on?”
“I will tell you everything later, but right now, I need you to do as I say.” Gripping my hips, he shifted me on his lap so that I was straddling him instead of sitting across his thighs.
He tugged down my dress as best as he could and used one of his hands to hold it in place over my butt.
Leaning forward, his lips brushed my ear as he whispered, “Pet, I need you to remember that nothing I say or do in the next few minutes is how I feel about you.”
“I don’t understand.” Leaning away from him, I searched his eyes for answers.
“Trust me. Please,” he whispered.
“Saul! You got here early!” a male voice boomed from behind me.
I started to turn, but Saul caught my chin between his fingers and held me in place.
“I’m always early, Zacharias.” Saul rolled his eyes at the other reaper. “You have always been chronically late.”
“Truer words have never been spoken,” Zacharias laughed. “Although, I wish I’d been a few minutes earlier tonight. I heard chatter as I came in that you caused a scene among the other paranormals.”
Saul lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “A drunk was acting up, and I dealt with it.”
“Now I’m even more intrigued. You never dirty your hands by getting involved in matters that aren’t reaper related.” Zacharias wasn’t going to let it go, and I caught the slight twitch of annoyance at the corner of Saul’s right eye. “They are saying it was over a woman. Is it this one?”
“Yes,” Saul answered in a bored tone. “Did you invite me out to quiz me about my love life? If so, I’m going to head home because I have better things to do.”
“Of course not. I just find it funny that you finally lowered your standards to have sex for the first time, and you’re already looking for your next lay. I never thought I’d see the day when Death would be gathering broken hearts instead of souls.”
Saul scoffed. “I think you’ve confused me with someone who cares about hearts and emotions. We both know that’s not me. Sex was entertaining, that’s all. Tonight, I grew bored while waiting, and I decided to try a different flavor.”
Sitting on Saul’s lap, mere feet from Zacharias, my mission as a spy was going better than expected. So why did I feel like someone was stomping on my grave and grinding my soul to dust? My heart ached at his callousness. Is that why he was at the club? To find someone to get him off because I’d ghosted him and left him with a bad case of boo-balls?
Saul still held my face, and his thumb brushed my cheek with what felt like tenderness. Was he trying to remind me he wasn’t the cruel, cold man his friend thought him to be?
He told Zacharias we’d had sex, which was a lie. So maybe it was all a lie.
“Well, was this one worth the fuss?” Zacharias asked. “If you want to stick around until I wrap up my business, I can make it worth your while, hun.”
Saul’s hand on my butt tightened, and the muscles of his thighs flexed beneath me. “Go get your own plaything. This one is mine.”
Saul’s fingers sank into my hair, holding me in place as he kissed my mouth and neck. I couldn’t figure out if he was proving a point to Zacharias, or needing to let off some steam before he attacked another man for making a pass at me.
Whatever the reason, my body eagerly responded to his touch. It didn’t matter that we were in public, or that I could feel Zacharias’ gaze burning my back. All that mattered was that Saul was mine, and he wanted me.
Which was a problem, since I still didn’t know who he really was. Hex! I didn’t even know if he was a good guy or a villain. My heart said he was a good man, but my track record for picking guys when I was alive worked better as a cautionary guide. I think my brain saw red flags and thought it had to catch them all.
And now I was sitting in the lap of an arrogant reaper who may or may not have tried to kill the collectors, and who may or may not be doing some sketchy stuff with the ghosts in town, and who may or may not actually care about me.
Stop it, Axe. That isn’t fair. He’s shown you nothing but care. And so far, you haven’t caught him lying to you.
Zacharias was making small talk, and Saul listened with his hand wrapped around my throat, and his thumb absently brushing my skin.
He was wearing a mask, but he’d let me see the real him when I showed up in his room. Saul had teased me, made me laugh, listened to every word I’d said, fed me, healed me, touched me, and had given me several hours of the best sleep ever while cuddled in his arms. I didn’t care what the rest of the world thought about him. I knew the real Saul.
My Saul.
Joy bubbled up in my chest and I forgot where we were. Leaning forward, I pressed myself against him, capturing his face between my hands and kissing him as though I were starving and he was dessert.
He started to groan but caught himself just in time.
“Tiny Tank will be here any minute. You need to get her under control so you can focus,” Zacharias snapped.
Saul’s fingers dug every-so-slightly into my derriere, but his face remained impassive as though he were unbothered by the other reaper’s words.
“She’ll behave,” Saul assured him. “And if she doesn’t, I will handle it.”
It was like the man didn’t even know me…