“You don’t have to give me a ride to my car later. I can walk.”
He flung me a sharp glance, his blue eyes sinking straight into my hot core. “Are you crazy? You can’t walk by yourself, especially at night. Didn’t you hear about that pack of shifters that are supposed to be lurking around?”
I gulped. Of course, I’d heard about them. It was plastered all over the news, and my co-workers never stop talking about it for lack of anything better to gossip about. The existence of shifters and other supernatural creatures wasn’t exactly anything new. They seemed to keep mostly to themselves, though, so in previous years no one was too concerned after the initial buzz of their “coming out.” But in recent months, a particularly nasty motorcycle gang had settled around the Tacoma area. Wolves. And they didn’t seem to care too much about keeping quiet about their feral nature. At least, they had stayed out of the city for the most part. But in the last few months, a new strip club had opened up downtown, one that catered to shifters.
The rumor was Satan himself ran the place.
Yeah, right.As if. Probably just a marketing stunt to pull in business. Or at least that was the easy-to-swallow explanation.
Yeah. Just a marketing stunt, one that worked because no one ever shut up about it. Though no humans, at least the ones I worked with, seemed to be able to pluck up enough courage to actually go.
Jess had asked me to go once. But I had turned her down. I usually played the good girl, who always ate her greens and was in bed by ten. Getting drunk in a bar full of shifters was more Jess’ speed. I’d rather stay in and chill at home with Gabe, chowing down on IHOP take-out and watching a show about a bar run by Satan, rather than personally meeting him.
Nope, that’s just not something a normal person would want to do on a Saturday night.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, flashing him a nervous smile. “You can cool it with the bodyguard shtick at least sometimes, ‘kay? You’re not Kevin Costner. Besides, aren’t shifters mostly into a different type of girl?”
Gabriel flung me a sharp look as he turned the car onto Broadway like I’d said something incredibly stupid. “What, you mean like beautiful women?” I didn’t miss his sky-colored eyes running over the length of my body, settling on the exposed flesh of my thigh peeking out from the slit in my skirt. After a moment, he ripped his attention back to the street, clearing his throat.
“They’d like you just fine, and that’s why you’re not going to walk by yourself. This city is getting more dangerous by the day.”
As if by some kind of dark magic, we passed the infamous club that had been the talk of pretty much everyone. The “gentlemen’s” club wasn’t like any other, not that I was an expert in titty bars. But Mr. Morningstar—yup, that was his actual name—had decided to set up shop in an old catholic church.
The red neon sign flashing “Siren’s” looked so misplaced against the century-old stone church, with its stained glass windows depicting the holy mother.
Whoever this Morningstar was, he had a kind of twisted sense of humor. Guess he’d have to name himself after the devil.
While humans were too shy to frequent the place, it was a shifter magnet, at least for the Tacoma wolf pack going by the dozen motorcycles parked outside.
Jerking my attention back to Gabe, I gave him a teasing wink. “What’s the matter, afraid a wolf shifter is going to pluck me up from the street and make me his mate? Or better yet, Lucifer himself?” My laugh died in my throat when I saw the venomous expression on Gabe’s face.
“Don’t fucking joke about that.”
“Jeez, lighten up. It’s not like he’sactuallySatan running Siren’s. Just some billionaire psycho, probably.”Hopefully.
Gabe arched a brow. “You don’t believe in the devil?”
I lifted both my brows at him. “Should I?”
At that, he scowled at the road, knuckles tightening around the steering wheel. “I’m not going to tell you what to believe. But you sure as fuck should stay away from any man who parades around as the devil.”
He had a point there. And that’s exactly why I had no intention of going to Siren’s.
Having enough of our little tiff, I shrugged my shoulders, unclipped my seat belt and climbed rather gracelessly into the backseat with my backpack in tow.
Gabe looked back over his shoulder just in time to catch a glimpse up my skirt as I wiggle into the backseat. I’m glad I decided to wear my cute lacy panties today, with the crisscross ribbon backing that frames my ass cheeks nicely. I peeked over my shoulder to see his wide-eyed, flustered gaze in the rearview mirror. His eyes were glazed with something that made my womanhood pulse.
“W–what are you doing?”
“I told you, I’m changing clothes. I can’t go to Club Glow or wherever, dressed in my work clothes. So don’t peek.” I scowled at him through the mirror with an impish grin that suggested I wanted him to do just that.
