“Again.” She swirled her martini. “The films.”
The idea of Zephyr waiting and worrying I wouldn’t come back nagged at me. I needed to hurry this along.
“He told me he can’t leave,” I began again. “Something about the bouncers. I need you to distract them.”
The crowd burst into cheers, lauding some move Marvel pulled on the stage. Colette and I both missed it, and she looked perturbed by the fact.
“Haven’t youborrowedhim before?” she asked. “Without the car?”
“Yes,” I admitted grudgingly.
“Then why do you need it now?”
“Why do you care?”
Colette huffed. “Because the dick kissing can be messy. The fluids. Like a fountain.” She pantomimed an almost volcanic eruption, then began ticking items off with her fingers. “On the windows, the seats, the floor?—”
“Thebouncers, Coll.” I snatched the martini glass from her hand, then grabbed her shoulder and spun her toward the entrance. “Keep them busy. Once Zephyr’s out, you can rejoin the ogling masses. And when you get back, give Marvel a tip. He’s earned it.”
With a grumbled protest about sticky upholstery, Colette headed for the door. I watched long enough to make sure she didn’t deviate from her task before downing what remained of her martini and offloading the empty glass onto a passing waitress’stray.
Cutting back through the crowd, I found the doorway Zephyr had led me through earlier. The hall was as vacant as before, and near the end of it, the redheaded incubus stood near the wall, bundled up in my suit jacket.
His head whipped my way, and his wide eyes softened. But the pinch of his brows and the press of his lips betrayed something other than relief at my return.
I came swiftly within reach, then offered my hand. “Are you ready, Beauty?”
Zephyr hesitated, his fingers white-knuckled on the lapels of my jacket. The damn thing looked enormous on him, drowning his narrow shoulders, but he clutched it like a shield.
“Beck…” His lashes fluttered. “Mister Beckett, I really can’t go. If Mazzy finds out?—”
“It’s just the parking lot,” I replied while leaving my hand extended. “You aren’t actually going anywhere. Though if you’d like to leave, the cardoesdrive.”
His gaze darted to the ceiling—no, the corner, and the camera mounted there. Always watching.
When his jaw clenched, I could almost see the words he wanted to say being crushed between his teeth.
“Please,” he whispered. “Let me stay. If I leave, even for a minute…”
“Then what?” I had to ask. He’d been hedging around some unspeakable thing. Something that frightened him more than the onsite porn studio. Or someone.
Maslow had bragged about his hellish pipeline. All the young demons eager to escape the lower plane. It was a deal the wraith could offer, but under what terms?
“What happens if you leave?” I prompted.
Maybe I should have let it go. He was giving me the outI’d come for. Where other incubi would see me as a fly caught in their web and take their chance to strike, he shied away from it. But I saw the hunger gnawing at him. I heard the longing in his voice. I knew what he was denying himself, but I didn’t know why.
His lack of reply left me grasping.
“I’m not dragging you to another world.” I offered a coaxing smile. “It’s just the parking lot. You step outside, breathe some different air, that’s all. Hell, we don’t even have to get in the car, but it’s there.”
His stare dropped to my waiting hand, and for a moment he didn’t move. Then he reached out and slid his slender fingers across my palm.
“Okay,” he breathed. “Just the parking lot.”
We retraced our steps back down the corridor and out onto the club’s main floor. I felt the tension winding tighter in Zephyr’s frame with every inch closer to the entrance. When we hit the short hall at the edge of the room, he slowed. Not stopping, but nearly.
I turned my hand and threaded my fingers between his to give a squeeze.
