“You could come clean and tell him how you feel,” Imani suggests.
I wince. “That sounds?—”
“Smart.”
“Dangerous.”
Imani sighs. “Why would it be dangerous? You know who Luca is—your emotions are safe with him.”
“Do I?” I wonder out loud, thinking about Luca with what I hope is pragmatism and not rose-colored glasses.
He killed for me, but that doesn’t mean his loyalty is everlasting. He could get sick of me. Affection—love even—can warp into something insidious if everyone involved isn’t on guard. I’ve seen it happen, and I’m not interested in repeating the cycle.
“Of course you do,” Imani scoffs. “The real question mark for me is how you feel about the demon.”
“I feel nothing for Ciprian,” I say quickly. My eyebrows shoot to my hairline when my gut twists uncomfortably.That was almost a lie.
Imani rolls her bottom lip between her teeth, then shrugs. “That may be true, but I would be way more convinced if you weren’t that quick with your answer. You can’t deny there’s a spark.”
“He’s hot,” I acknowledge, seeing no reason to deny the obvious.
“You think a lot of people are hot,” she says, laughing. “I’ve never seen you stalk them during your break before.”
“Fuck you,” I hiss, pushing off the wall and brushing past her as I prowl down the hall.
Laughing again, Imani follows me into the dressing room, where a handful of other dancers are either getting ready for their next sets or taking a break.
“What’s funny?” Brandy asks, pausing to glance at us as she slides into a pair of uncomfortable-looking fishnet tights.
“Imani is delusional,” I say, crossing my arms. “She thinks I’m in the market for a man.” A chorus of boos are the response I get, and I shoot Imani a triumphant grin.
She rolls her eyes and settles in at her makeup station. “Because that’s exactly what I said.”
“What about the rich, blond one?” Brandy asks, yanking the fishnets up the rest of the way, then grinning. “He knows that Roscoe creep—the one with the coins—so that’s a redflag, but you could put that smart mouth of his to good work.” She winks at me.
“What?” I frown. “Ciprian asked you about that guy? When?”
“I bumped into him at the grocery store, of all places—gods bless it. We got to chatting. It was nice, but he didn’t flirt with me once or try to look down my shirt, which was kind of refreshing. I think he’s smitten with you, honestly, Celine. And those eyes of his are?—”
“But he asked you about Roscoe?” I interrupt her chatter as delicately as I can. Brandy is a gem, and I’d do almost anything for her, but she can’t tell a story efficiently to save her life.
“Yeah.” She nods, a bright smile splitting her face. “I had barely finished picking out my avocados. You know they’ve been bad for weeks. Not a decent one to be found, but I managed to get four nearly perfect ones. Then I saw him.”
I grit my teeth, alarm bells ringing in my head. “And he randomly asked you about Quarter Guy?”
“Now that you mention it, it was kind of odd. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I told him how Roscoe threw that coin at you, and he thought that was a dick move. Which shows good sense on his part. Honestly, who wants to be friends with the kind of weirdo that throws change at strippers?”
“No one,” I say, letting the subject drop before I can draw more attention to the situation. I don’t think anyone in this room is a snitch, but I won’t burden them with my secret either.
The skin between my shoulder blades itches ferociously. That’s twice now that Ciprian has mentioned Roscoe. For a close friend, that might be expected, but for an acquaintance in the Fringes... it’s a major red flag.The money he dropped on my dance, the obvious flirting with Luca at the bar tonight.Is he on to us?
I don’t make it a habit of asking questions about the supernaturals around me. Most don’t welcome that kind of interest. Maybedemons are more loyal to each other than I realize. Ciprian doesn’t strike me as the same type as Roscoe, but they don’t go around labeling themselves, so I can’t be sure.
With my suspicions activated, my conversation in the hall with Imani seems silly. Ciprian is nothing to me but a threat wrapped up in pretty packaging. If he suspects we were involved in Roscoe’s disappearance, I’ll have to handle that.
Dammit, Luca.This is trouble we don’t need.It was a knee-jerk reaction to turn the demon to stone, but he was watching out for me. Now it’s my turn to return the favor, I need to figure out the best way to do it without tipping Ciprian off.
Is it too much to ask for one quiet night? By the time Imani and I take the stage to debut the duet we’ve been working on, I’m pissed.
