Carissa. Damn. She needed to get out of this city.
“That will do it,” I smiled up at him when he tossed a glance at Kandy. “Is he in there?” I asked, and he knew exactly who I meant.
“You might not want to go in tonight, Daph.” Blade released his grip and shifted his weight back onto the brick wall.
“Why?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“It, ugh… well, they’re celebrating, and you two are way overdressed.”
“What does that mean?” Kandy made a face, glancing at her sheer, sparkling piece of fabric masquerading as a garment.
“Itmeans, it is naked night for all the females.”
“Gross, Blade,” I glowered, nudging him in the ribs. “Fucking gross.”
I arched a brow at Kandy, suddenly understanding Threx’s earlier warning for me not to come tonight.
“Still want to play?” I asked her, and Kandy dropped her dress right onto the broken step with a sloppy thud. Blade laughed, but I only shook my head and blinked.
“Yeah, I am not doing that,” I shot him a look that made him smile.
I’d grown up in the clubhouse, but Wolfe and Thay were the only ones who had ever seen me naked, and I intended to keep it that way.
“But he is in there?” I asked again, staring past him into the fog.
Blade bit his lip as if he were about to give away a secret and nodded.
“Open the door,” I sighed.
“Daph, it is…”
“Open it, Christopher,” I ordered, angling his name as if it were a blade of my own.
“Fuck you,” he growled, planting a playful bite on my neck. “But don’t come after me when you discover how much you hate this,” he added, offering a slow warning before ushering us into the industrial grit of pulsing rock and swirling lights.
I paused in the shadow, catching his collar and pulling him back toward me.
“Was Carissa worth it?”
“Fuck yeah,” he cheered, his smile turning everything bright, and I threw my hands up in victory.
Sometimes it was difficult to remember every shade of darkness that threaded into their charm, or the smell of red permanently stained on their fingers. To me, Blade was the guy who licked the flavor packet after making his second bowl oframen, not the hands around some man’s throat or the black whisper playing cards with fate.
I blew him a kiss before Kandy took me by the arm and dragged me into the music.
Deftones pulsed, breaking the edges and blurring the world into silver lights and sex that sweats. Kandy felt it in her thighs as we moved past naked bodies doing naked things.
“Holy shit,” she breathed, feeling the distortion roll through her, pressing her lips together as we approached the bar. “I want to feel everything!”
“Hey Daph,” Lyla leaned over the smooth surface, her messy features lit by the faded blue lights twisting over her head. I was happy to see her tits all safe and warm, trapped behind her everyday wardrobe of black on black. “Your usual?”
I nodded.
“Neat?” she confirmed, and I reached for the whiskey, wanting the burn more than anything else.
“And for you?” she looked at Kandy with a dull smile.
“I’ll take a White Russian!”