CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Ailsa
THE BAR WAS fun.
Surprisingly so.
It felt strangely alive. The low hum of a jukebox crackled in the corner, the tune pulling at something in me that I hadn’t felt in weeks. And I let it.
Nikolai laughed beside me, the sound easy, his hand brushing mine as he tugged me a little closer to where the music bled out into the room.
“Let’s dance,” he said, already swaying slightly. My body followed before my mind could catch up, a quiet laugh slipping from me as I shook my head.
Nikolai spun me lightly, not quite a proper turn, just enough to make me stumble a half-step before catching myself, his grin widening at my reaction.
I liked him. He was easy to be around. There was none of that constant tension I’d grown so used to.
My gaze flicked, almost unconsciously, toward the bar where Davien sat, half turned away from the room, glass in hand, posture rigid. He hadn’t joined us, hadn’t even tried. He just watched. He pretended not to but I noticed.
“What’s the deal with you two?” Nikolai asked, nodding at Davien as he grabbed two drinks from the nearest table.
“What? You mean the dick that practically kidnapped me and keeps me hostage?”
“Harsh.”
“It’s the truth,” I said, taking a glass that was half filled with what looked to be whisky from Nikolai.
“You don’t look chained up to me,” he said, taking a sip from his own drink.
I couldn’t argue that, but what other choice did I have?
“At this point, I’m pretty much out of options.
I’m here not because I want to be, but because what else am I supposed to do?
Feels like everything is trying to kill me.
” I looked down, nursing the drink in my hand.
Saying that part out loud didn’t make me feel any better.
“And you’re not… you know?”
I looked at him, puzzled.
“You know, doing more than sleeping in that shared bed.”
“God no,” I said, after almost choking on my drink.
“The thought really that bad?” He half laughed. “Poor guy.”
“Poor guy?” I repeated, brows lifting incredulously. “Are you forgetting about the part where I said he kidnapped me?”
“No,” Nikolai said easily. “But from where I stand, it clearly looks like he did that because he felt like he had no other option.”
I hesitated. Just for a second, because… was that true? I hadn’t really let myself think too much about what he might be going through.
I scoffed, pushing the thought away before it could root.
“He’s a good guy,” Nikolai added, watching me a little too closely.
I shifted my weight, folding my arms across my chest. “Maybe I don’t care for ‘good guys’,” I said, lifting my fingers in mock quotation marks. No, I’d found those to be no better than the bad ones. At least the bad ones knew what they were.
Nikolai huffed a quiet laugh, shaking his head “No, I don’t suppose you do.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Either way,” he went on, tone light but pointed. “He’s into you, so be careful with his heart.”
I barked out a laugh before I could stop myself. “He is not.”
I thought of all the times he’d been an ass to me. Had I misread him? No. There was no way. Sure, maybe he liked the idea of screwing me, but he wasn’t into me anymore than I was into him.
“Trust me,” Nikolai said, entirely unfazed by my reaction. “He is.”
I shook my head, already dismissing it. “You’re wrong.”
“In fact,” he continued, as though I hadn’t spoken, “how about we make it interesting?”
I glanced at him sideways. “Meaning?”
“A bet,” he said, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “You flirt with him—and I mean properly—and I guarantee he flirts back.”
I snorted. “As if.”
And yet, despite myself, a small part of me was curious.
I tilted my head slightly, considering him. “What do I get if I win?”
Nikolai’s smile widened, slow and knowing. “I’ll give you that hidden blade hair pin you were eyeing back at my place.”
I thought over the offer, I did really like the idea of wearing a weapon in my hair. And it’s not like Davien would flirt with me, not in a million years. I was doubtful he even knew how. I was sure he’d never had to work for a woman’s attention a day in his life.
“You’re on,” I said, outstretching my hand for him to shake.
I turned the glass over in my hands, watching the dark liquid catch the low light before finally bringing it to my lips.
“For courage,” I muttered under my breath, knocking it back in one go.
It burned on the way down and I welcomed it. Anything to quiet the sudden, inexplicable nerves twisting in my stomach.
This was ridiculous.
I didn’t even believe Nikolai.
But here I was.
I set the glass down with a soft click just as Davien pushed back his seat, looking over at us and then getting up to join us.
Well.
This was it, no point dragging it out.
I turned slowly, letting my gaze find his, holding it just a fraction longer than I normally would and I smiled, not my usual sarcastic fake one.
His brow furrowed slightly, suspicion flickering there as he stilled completely.
Good.
Davien eyed me suspiciously, but then to my complete and utter surprise, he took off his hoodie—painfully slowly, to the point where I couldn’t not watch.
The way he revealed his tanned, muscular inked arms in the loose sleeveless vest he wore.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, he then nonchalantly pulled a hand through his hair, tousling it slightly.
What the fuck was happening?
Was he flirting?
No, it was worse.
He knew what I was doing and he was playing me.
He bit his lip, lightly pulling at one of his lip piercings as though he was trying to stifle a smile.
I ground my jaw.
Well, fuck.
I was wrong. It seemed the gloomy vampire did have a fun side. But that didn’t mean I’d let him win this.
“New bet,” I said to Nikolai, keeping my voice low so Davien wouldn’t hear. “I bet he’ll break before me. He’s not actually interested. He just hates to see me win at anything.”
Nikolai simply laughed. “Alright. Work away. This is going to be the most entertaining thing I’ve seen in decades.”
I took a step toward Davien, just as the song changed, closing the space between us with an ease I didn’t quite feel but committed to anyway.
He didn’t flinch.
But there was something dangerous in his eyes.
I reached out, fingers brushing against the front of his vest as I moved past him, slow, deliberate, letting the contact linger just long enough.
I circled him slightly, not touching this time, just close enough that he’d feel it—the shift in the air, the awareness. He watched me, tracking every step I took.
“I know what you’re doing,” he said, voice lower than usual. “It won’t work.”
I ignored him.
Instead, I stepped closer again, stopping just in front of him, close enough that I had to tilt my head back slightly to meet his gaze. My fingers found his wrist this time tracing lightly just above his pulse point as I held his eyes.
And before I could register it, his hand landed around my waist, pulling me in. Closing the space between us.
Oh fuck.
The scent of him wrapped around me, masculine and dangerously tempting. It was like it spoke to me on a chemical level. He smelled so damn good.
“Careful,” he murmured, voice still low, edged with something dangerously amused. “You might find that you like this.”
My pulse stuttered.
But I didn’t break.
I refused to let him win this. So… I started moving, slowly and intently to the beat, the curves of my body against the muscle of his.
His thumb pushed in slightly at my waist and his grip tightened as he held me there, against his—now moving—hips.
My breath caught.
Damn him.
We moved together in a way that felt far too natural.
The heat between us shifted.
My body wasn’t cooperating. Warmth was pooling low, and my pulse had picked up. The awareness of every inch of space—or lack of it—between us was too much.
He leaned in slightly, just enough that I felt his breath brush my cheek. “I think that you like it,” he taunted, his voice rough and baritone.
“Like what, exactly?” I feigned ignorance, forcing steadiness into my tone.
“You like that I don’t fall at your feet like every other man.”
“So what exactly do you call what you’re doing now?”
He chuckled, dark and deliciously tempting. “If I was on my knees for you,” he whispered against the nape of my neck, pausing, waiting for me to picture it. “You wouldn’t be forming sentences.”
Oh God.
My body reacted instantly.
Traitorously.
I tightened my jaw.
The music carried on around us, the world shrinking to something tight and charged. The worst part of it all was that I wasn’t so sure I’d win anymore, or whether I even wanted to.
Much to my dismay, Nikolai reappeared with drinks in hand as he slipped neatly between us, one arm slinging over my shoulders, the other hooking easily around Davien's neck.
“Well,” he declared, pressing a drink into my hand, “this is interesting.”
Davien stiffened a fraction.
“It was,” Davien muttered and I swore I saw disappointment on his face, but Nikolai just laughed.
The three of us tangled in something that resembled dancing, the music cracking on, glasses appearing and disappearing between hands as the night blurred at the edges.
And still, throughout it all, Davien flirted.
And I flirted.
And the lines began to blur, my body clearly not understanding that this was a game.
“I’m going to find the bathroom,” I said, already stepping away before either of them could respond.
I wasn’t throwing in the towel. I just need a little break. A chance to breathe. To cool down.
“Left, then down the corridor,” Nikolai called after me.
I nodded, weaving through the dim space, until the noise dulled behind me. I pushed into the bathroom, splashed cold water over my wrists and fixed my hair, staring at my reflection for a moment longer than I meant to.
What was I doing?
I should just put an end to this.
Let him win.
It’d be easier than wherever the fuck was happening now.
But that stubborn part of me refused to let him win. I mean, how could I? He’d never let this go and would remind me about it forever.
I just needed to remind myself that this was a game, nothing more…
Right?
Right.