Ten
Keir
Inthestarklightof day, Heaven & Hell looks boring and kind of ugly. Like many nightclubs, the exterior is nothing but a big, gray building and without the pumping music, flashing lights, and line of people, the place is downright plain. But the front door is unlocked and that’s really all that matters to me.
I slip inside and make my way toward the manager’s office in the back. The overhead fluorescents are on, highlighting the dinginess of the interior, and I nod at the two guys cleaning the floors as I go by. The door to Drew’s office is closed, but there’s a sliver of light underneath indicating he’s likely in there. I tap my knuckles against the wood.
“Yeah?” grunts Drew. Not exactly an invitation, but I’ll take it.
“Hey, man,” I say as I push the door open and enter the office. “I need to ask a favor.”
Drew looks me up and down from behind his desk, frowning. “Can’t help you.”
“You don’t even know what I’m going to ask.”
“You’re in here at ten AM wearing raggedy sweats and looking like you barely slept. You either want drugs or money. If it’s the first, I’m not the guy, and the second is a hard no.”
I move farther into the room and prop my hip on the corner of the desk, giving him a coy smile as I glance at him from under my lashes. “Come on, Drew. I just need a small advance. You owe me.”
Completely unaffected, he snorts. “I owe you? How do you figure?”
“You gave out my address last night,” I say, my voice going flat. I gesture at my clothes. “Which is why I’m dressed like this. I had to jet when those goons showed up at my door. If you hadn’t violated my privacy, I—”
“Get out of here, kid,” he says in a flat voice.
“I’m one of your most popular servers,” I say. “Guys ask for me by name and—”
“You’re a pretty face I can easily replace.” He smirks. “Check it out, I’m a poet.” He jerks his chin toward the door. “You want to keep your job? Get out of here.”
“A hundred bucks,” I say. “That’s all I need.”Not quite, but it will get me further away than thenothingI have.
“It’s not happening,” he says. “If I gave money to every kid coming in here with a sob story, I’d go broke.”
“Sob story?” I stand up, a snarl tugging at my lips. “All I asked for was an advance on the moneyyou already owe mebecause it’s your fault I need it in the first place.”
Drew also stands, straightening to his full height. He’s a big guy. Six foot or so and probably close to 300 pounds. He could break me in half.
If I were human.
A low growl rumbles in my chest, a sudden and unexpected surge of aggression moving through my body. Just as quickly, the anger drains away and anxiety ratchets up my heart rate as sweat beads on my forehead.
What the hell?
Drew doesn’t seem to notice my weird physiological crisis. He makes a shooing motion with his hands. “It wasn’t me who gave out your address anyway. That was the night manager, so don’t go blaming that crap on me.” When I don’t move, he continues. “Get a move on. I got shit to do.”
Heat builds in my chest and my stomach flips. A pain like I’ve never experienced builds in the space where my neck meets my shoulders and I shrug a few times trying to relieve it.
Doesn’t help. At all. Maybe even makes it worse.
I tug at my shirt, my throat going dry.Too hot.
The previously unconcerned Drew is now looking very concerned, maybe evenworried. A chuckle escapes my lips, followed by another and another… Before I know it, I’m doubled over with the force of a half-hysterical noise that bypasses laughter and heads right into some sort of keening.
This is not normal. But damned if I canstop.
“You don’t look so good. Is this an OD? Do I need to call an ambulance?” Drew steps around his desk, approaching me slowly with his hands out. “What are you on, kid?”
“Not a kid,” I spit out between—oh fuck—sharpened teeth. I curl my lips inward and hide my mouth with one hand as the weird whining continues.
