“We can always cancel it,” Addie said. “If you’re scared about what your brain scan might show.”
“Is that it?” Leelah turned on me. “Did you ask me to read your brain and now you’re finally scared of what you might see?”
Fuck that.
“No, I’m not scared.”
Except I was. At least when I looked up to see two of the most beautiful people I’d ever seen exit the Platinum Room, the special, cordoned-off space for the private dances. The first was a short, stacked blonde with all-natural, all-perk breasts and the body of an Olympic gymnast. The second was a Celtic king with unruly red curls and a promising package hidden beneath his tight black clothes.
Double trouble. I didn’t evenwantto know what Clara’s credit card statement would look like after this.
“Is that them?” I asked.
“Mm-hmm,” Leelah said. “Clara told us to get only the best for you.”
My nerves turned to fire. Which then turned into a raging inferno when I just happened to look up and see someone come through the club’s front door.
Hudson Fuckin’ Bailey.
My vision tunneled around him.
Of all the strip joints in all the world, he had to walk into mine.
My first thought was:This is the worst coincidence of all time.My second thought was:We’re dating and he went to a strip club without me?My third thought was:You’re not dating, you have no right to be jealous.And my fourth thought was:There’s no such thing as coincidences. Not when you’ve got meddling friends around.
I turned on them both, hissing low. “What the hell did you two do?”
Leelah winced. “I may have called him.”
“No way!” Addie nearly spit out her drink. “You too?”
“What?”
Leelah’s speech slurred slightly as she bristled. “I thought it would be instructive. That you could compare your two options—sexy strangers and Hudson—and see the results more quickly than running the two tests separately. But…I can now see from your expression that it wasn’t such a good idea.”
“You think?”
Addie was much less apologetic. “And I just thought it would be funny.”
“What, exactly, did you tell him?”
“He texted me and asked if I knew where you were. He’s been trying to get in touch with you and couldn’t. He was worried. So I told him.”
Leelah nodded. “Same.”
With friends like this…
“Youbothare on my shit list.”
Shrugging, Addie sipped her cocktail again. “We’ll live.”
A response boiled to the tip of my tongue. She didn’t care, waving and raising her voice over the music. “Hudson! Hudson, we’re over here! Pull up a seat! We’re getting bottle service.”
The contents of my nearly empty drink were now incredibly interesting. I’m not sure I was ashamed that Hudson had found me here, and I wasn’t embarrassed, exactly.
What was I talking about? Of course I was embarrassed. I was wearing an electrode headband and taunting myself with other sexy bodies so I could delve into my subconscious electrical impulses to determine if I’d really fallen for him. A normal person would have just known. I, on the other hand, put more stock in data than myself.
How was I going to explain this?
