He fully intended to make himself throw up the minute they were out of the club. Tripp dropped one of the capsules in his waiting palm, then gave one to Alex. Their eyes met, and Nathan saw his own trepidation reflected back at him in Alex’s blue eyes.
“Cheers,” Nathan said, tossing the pill back and working it to the back of his throat. He’d never swallowed a pill without water before, and it took him a minute to force it down. Anxious heat flashed down his spine as it went, and he hoped he didn’t just sign his own death warrant.
They both opened their mouths to prove to Tripp that they’d swallowed them. He nodded in approval, pocketed the bag, and opened the door for them.
“Nice. Enjoy. Try not to cause any problems with those questions of yours.”
Talon growled as he passed, and Nathan followed them into the dark maw of the club.
The disorienting haze and muted, multicolored lights of the club made it feel like stepping into another realm. A crush of bodies moved sinuously out on the dance floor, haloed by tables and chairs. The bar was across the room, the lights behind the bar seeming like spotlights compared to the cloaking darkness of the rest of the club. Booths lined two walls, and there were bodies on every surface. Chairs, tables, booth seats. Kissing, grinding, thrusting. People wearing leather harnesses, people wearing silky black ropes, people bound with shiny silver chains.
He didn’t know where to look, his eyes roaming from one scene to the next.
Storm’s body crowded against his back. “You good, sunshine?”
Yes, he was good. His eyes fell across a man near the back of the room, pinned against the wall by a halfling whose mouth was latched onto his neck. The man was shirtless, wearing an elaborate leather harness that secured his wrists behind his back. His head was thrown back against the wall in bliss, his spine arching as the halfling massaged his groin through his khakis.
How good would it feel to give Storm control likethat? To be bound and completely at his mercy? A bolt of white-hot lust speared through him, and he quickly tore his eyes away from the two men.
Storm’s big hand took him by the jaw, turning his head and capturing his mouth with his own. “Tell me those thoughts later, sunshine, okay? I’d love to hear whatever you were just thinking.”
Nathan was going to melt straight into the floor. If he told him—and he would, by God, if Storm told him to—then Storm would do it. Nathan knew he would. He was already half-hard at the very idea.
“Uh-huh,” he agreed weakly.
“Let’s go talk to the bartenders first,” Talon suggested. He had an arm draped around Alex, who was fairly clinging to him.
Nathan understood, because he slipped under Storm’s arm as they wove through the crowd. Storm’s body was solid and warm, fingers curving around Nathan’s shoulder with possessive intent. It felt good to be held by him. Cradled by him.
He turned his head, inhaling Storm’s heady scent. Leather and tobacco, clean soap and musk. He wanted tolickhim, and before he could think better of it, he leaned in to do exactly that, his nose skimming the underside of Storm’s jaw and following it up with the tip of his tongue.
“Sunshine,” Storm groaned. “Not that I’m not interested, but I thought we were here for a purpose.”
“We are,” Nathan said distractedly. God, his whole body felt like it was on fire. He was restless, burning with the need to move, and he wanted to move like everyone else here. Wanted to rut and taste until he couldn’t stand upright anymore.
Sounds seemed sharper. The music overhead was loud, but it took on a new pitch, like Nathan could hear details in the music he’d missed before.
“Ohfuck, little bird.” Talon’s aggrieved voice cleared some of the sticky haze from Nathan’s mind. His voice should’ve been masked by the music, but Nathan heard him clearly. He turned his head to see Talon backing Alex up against the bar, pulling Alex’s hand up from where it had slipped into the back of his dark-wash jeans. Before he could say more, Alex tilted his head back and captured his mouth. Whatever Talon was going to say was lost as he let Alex plunder his mouth.
That looked fun.
Nathan guided Storm’s head down, urging his mouth open and pressing his tongue inside. Storm’s groan rumbled through every point where their bodies touched. He wrapped strong arms around Nathan’s waist, crushing their bodies together, and backed Nathan up until he was right beside Alex against the bar.
With effort, Storm pried his mouth away, panting, and looked at Talon. “Something’s wrong.”
Alex’s face was hidden in the curve of Talon’s neck, and Talon nodded with a rapturous look on his face. “Uh-huh.”
Nathan barely registered their words. Everything around him feltfantastic. Even the cool surface of the bar behind him felt amazing, and he reached back, laying his palm flat and closing his eyes.
Dimly, he realized this wasn’t normal. He always reacted to Storm, but not like this. He’d never thought touching abar topwas a sensual experience.
“Oh God, it’s the pills,” Nathan groaned, pulling Storm closer and trying desperately not to start working himself on his thigh. He’d be embarrassed about this later, he was sure.
“The pills? What are they doing?” Storm asked. “How are you feeling, exactly?”
“I feel amazing,” Nathan groaned. “Everything feels fantastic. The music sounds sharper. Everything I touch feels good. I feel like I could take on the world.”
Talon looked at something beyond Nathan’s head and snapped his fingers. “Magda! Hey, Magda! Come here.”
