“Ophelia?” he murmured.
She turned away, pulling out of his grip and retrieving her phone, staring at it in silence for several long moments. He observed her, wishing he could jack into her mind the same way he had the holopad. He was greedy for her every thought, frustrated by the incompatibility in their hardware.
“That thing you did with the holopad,” she said at length, looking up at him. “Can you do it to find Logan’s location?”
A wicked smile stole over his face.
CHAPTER 20
Ophelia grabbedher hood with one hand before the wind could rip it from her head. The other was in Sam’s as he led her through the crowded sidewalk toward the club that Logan’s phone indicated he was at.
She had changed into a short black dress and a pair of tall boots. The lace mesh tights beneath her dress did precious little to conserve her body heat. Her face was bare of makeup, and her hair was probably a snarl, but she’d been in a hurry to catch Logan in the act before he moved on to Tiffany’s apartment.
She was like a woman possessed. She couldn’t explain why she needed to see him cheating on her with her own eyes, but something in her would never rest unless she did.
They got in line with the others waiting behind a velvet rope for entry to Neon Veil. The others were dressed for blacklights—stark whites and blazing neons that would glow once they made it inside. She felt underdressed, as per usual.
Unfortunately for her, the bouncer agreed.
“Not tonight, sorry,” he said, his unrepentant tone at odds with the apology.
She opened her mouth to argue, but Sam squeezed her hand. He gave the bouncer a dejected look, hanging his head,but he nodded complacently. She frowned at him. Where was the android who had lied his way past her father’s stringent security?
He pulled her aside as the next couple in line sidled forward, dragging her to the far side of the doors.
“Stay here,” he murmured in her ear. “Be ready to run.”
She cast him an astonished look, but he pulled away before she could grill him. He lingered in the shadows of the building for a while, watching people come and go, until he apparently saw what he was waiting for.
An outrageously drunk man staggered out of the club with a big black ‘X’ on his hand, hemmed in on both sides by exasperated-looking friends. He argued in slurred speech with his girlfriend as she paced a few steps ahead of him.
Sam slipped out of the shadows, tapping one of the guys on the shoulder and pointing at the doors. The man huffed, retreating into the club, and the other was distracted by the drunk man’s girlfriend.
Sam leaned into the drunk man and said something into his ear that made him perk up, his expression thunderous. Sam nodded, pointing with his chin toward the bouncer who’d refused them entry.
The drunk shoved his friend away, sending the man to his knees with the element of surprise. Then he was barreling toward the bouncer with a battle cry as his girlfriend shrieked for him to stop.
Ophelia didn’t see what happened next. Sam returned to grab her by the arm, and he dragged her inside as the other bouncers leaped to the aid of their comrade.
They were plunged into a dark cave filled with deafeningly loud house music, the bass so powerful that it rattled her lungs with every beat. She cringed, bringing her hands up over her ears.
Sam grinned at her, and his white teeth glowed beneath the blacklight. The lights did something strange to his normally dark eyes, making them shine with an animal gleam from within. For an instant, he looked more like a wolf than a man. Unsettled, she looked away from him, taking in the press of bodies on the dance floor.
There were several private alcoves, so dark within that she couldn’t make out much more than writhing movement, but they didn’t look like normal booths. She hedged along the dancefloor until she realized each alcove had couches in lieu of tables. Her eyes widened as she realized the people within were fucking each other in plain view of anyone who wanted to come and stand at the entrance of the alcove. Her eyes were glued to the scene like a trainwreck she couldn’t turn away from.
A hand slid over her shoulder, dipping beneath the lapel of her coat to curl around her throat.
“There are a few empty alcoves,” Sam rumbled in her ear.
She shivered, knocking his hand away. “We’re not here for that.”
“We could be.”
She turned to glare at him, but as usual, he seemed unaffected by her ire. His eyes raked over her hungrily. She was concealed to mid-thigh by her coat, but he was looking at her as though he could see right through it. Maybe he could; she had no idea what this android was capable of. So far, he’d lied, rejected orders, hacked into a device, and now instigated violence. X-ray vision didn’t seem too out there.
She searched the crowd for Logan. Would she recognize him? Even the men here were wearing heavy makeup. People ground against each other to the beat of the music, flashing in and out of focus as the lights pulsed in time to the song. It was so guttural, part of her felt called to move to it. She resisted, trailing theperimeter of the dancing bodies as she scanned for any sign of her cheating fiancé.
She’d made a full loop without any sign of him or his stupid colleagues, and she was beginning to despair when Sam tugged on her coat. His face was grim when she turned to face him, and he beckoned with one finger. She followed him to one of the alcoves, her stomach bottoming out as she realized what she was looking at.
