Turning my attention to the voice, relief filled my chest as a blonde in scrubs sitting at a small table in the corner waved me over.
I stumbled toward my friend like she were a desert oasis. It had felt like an eternity since I’d seen her, rather than a couple of hours.
“Oh. My. God.” Her eyes widened as I approached. “You had sex!”
She gave a hasty pat to the seat beside her. “Sit down, tell me everything.”
“How did you know? Are you a witch now? Can you read minds? If you’re supernatural, you have to tell me like now because I don’t think I can take any more secrets.”
“Girl, I don’t need to read minds when you’re sporting just-got-fucked hair like yours. And with those grass stains on your dress, it looks like you and the entire Seattle football team just took Safeco Field out for a spin.”
She jerked her head toward the wall next to our table, where a mirror was mounted. There were mirrors everywhere reflecting the dancers on stage and the naked servers who strode by so that there was almost a naked woman near even when there wasn’t.
It was straight-up genius. As weird as he was, Lucifer Morningstar seemed like a savvy businessman. He was hot as Hell and rich as fuck. So if I wasn’t completely in love with Gabriel, I might be horrified to discover I’d met the billionaire looking the way I do. Because Jess was right. Ididlook like I just got gang-banged by a fleet of men. My hair was tangled, my dress wrinkled where it had been pulled up around my hips when Gabe had pushed me against the alley wall. My neck was covered in marks where he’d suckled and bit.
“He really gave it to you, didn’t he?” Jess asked, her reflection in the mirror waggling her eyebrows at me. Her smile slipped when tears began to well in my eyes. She slid closer, clasping my hand in hers. “Hey, hey. What’s wrong? Tell me what happened, babe.”
So I did. I told her everything that had taken place from the moment I’d stumbled into the alley where I was nearly assaulted by three gang-bangers to when Gabe kicked their leader’s ass like he was Chuck Freaking Norris, to when he’d fucked me against the wall, all the way up to now.
“Holy crap,” Jess breathed, chewing her lip in deep thought as she processed it all. “That’s a lot to unpack, Mel. And you had no idea that he could fight like that?”
“No. I mean, I knew he lifted weights, but… That doesn’t explain him being able to toss a guy like he was made of paper mâché.”
“You didn’t ask Gabe about it?”
“He said it was adrenaline. Then he started kissing me, so it wasn’t like I was about to stop him to have a chat.”
“So you guysfinallybanged, then he fed you some bullshit line about how he couldn’t be with you because it’s ‘forbidden’ by his cult? What a fucking asshole.”
“I don’t know, Jess. I almost believe him. Something is up with Gabe. Something…huge. He’s keeping something from me because he thinks he’s protecting me.”
Jess gave me a theatric roll of her eyes. “Fine, he’s a cagey asshole. Still an asshole.”
“Jess. This is serious. I—” I couldn’t believe what I was about to say. “I don’t think he’s human.”
Jess sat up a little straighter. “Do you really think…? Mel, we’ve known him a long time. He’s always seemed—”
“Normal. I know. I’m finding out he’s a good liar.”
“Helookshuman, though.”
My gaze skimmed over the strip club, carefully inspecting the dancers for the first time since I’d entered. They were beautiful, young women. Some seemed too hot to be real, almost like they had a filter applied to them. But other than the strange energy rolling off them, they appeared human. The same went for their patrons.”
“Those bikers outside looked human, Jess. But they were a part of the Tacoma wolf pack.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Gabe said they were.”
“Shit.” Her brows shot up. “Do you think Gabriel is a wolf?”
I gave a slow shake of my head. “I don’t think so. A cat maybe, going by the way he cringes whenever wolves are mentioned. Whatever he is, he’s been lying to me this entire time.”
“I hate to side with Gabe here, but the existence of supernaturals only recently came to light to us boring folk. There really isn’t a good time to tell your childhood best friend that you’re really a chicken shifter or a—.
“We don’t keep anything from each other.”
“I don’t know. If I was secretly a chicken, I wouldn’t want that sort of thing getting out. It would also be hell on my dating life. There, I cracked the mystery of why he wouldn’t sleep with you.”
