Who? The demons in Hell? Maslow?
No. I chose Zephyr because it was air, lightness, and freedom. Everything I wanted to have and be. And what was a name if not a wish?
I shook my head, and Beck leaned back.
“Well,” he said, “you might want to come up with something. Here on Earth, most people have a first and last name.”
The disparagement in his voice made me feel small in a way that was both humbling and terrifying. Of course he could do that; he wasvast. Not just in size, but in presence. He was a force like gravity, pulling everything toward him and reshaping the room just by being in it.
I waited, eyes on my bare feet, wondering again why he hadn’t walked away.
And then he spoke.
“Listen, Zephyr?—”
“I’ve been thinking about you,” I blurted, then blanched.
Had I said that?
Out loud?
My face went slack as I looked up at him. What did he make of my misstep? A pitiful bid to make myself matter, a tentative step out from behind the curtain. Beck’s yellow eyes gleamed as they caught mine, and I breathed through my next statement.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come back.”
“I didn’t plan to,” he replied, but his tone lacked the expected bite.
“But you did.”
I ventured closer, emboldened as the stage seemed toopen before me. Inches away, I could smell the fragrance that had perfumed my dreams for days. The warmth radiating through his designer suit coat was the comfort I’d craved on long, lonely nights.
He shied back, but only barely, staying close enough I could have touched him. Or he could have touched me.
Please.
“I already said that had nothing to do with you.” Beck angled his gaze toward the upper level. We were out of view of Maslow’s office, worryingly near the club’s entrance, in an alcove that allowed for privacy in case the other guys came back to use the stage for practice.
My eyes followed his, recalling the panic I felt while they had convened out of sight. “You really didn’t tell him?” I asked.
“About the other night?” Beck verified, as if I could have meant anything else. “Why would I?”
I should have been grateful. I’d been spared unpleasant consequences. Granted undue mercy. But it felt like another dismissal, a reminder of how desperately I wanted to belong to someone who could erase me so easily.
“You asked me not to,” Beck reminded me.
“I did.” I took an unsteady step backward. “Yeah.”
Beck mimicked my retreat with his own, then his nose scrunched.
“Hey, look…” He glanced toward Maslow’s office once more. “Thatwasmy business, and I don’t mean to tell you how to do yours, but… this may not be the best place for you.”
The change of topic threw me, and I settled on my heels as he continued.
“Maz is…” His brows drew down. “There are other places you could work. You could do something else. Work somewhere else.”
He gestured to the closed doors a few feet away. The Las Vegas Strip lay beyond them as the wide, bright world I’d seen through my bedroom window. It seemed vast, crowded with people and lights and an endless stream of traffic ferrying visitors and residents in and out of sight.
“Like where?” I asked.
