Page 38 of Bloom in Darkness

I change into my first costume and finish my makeup before someone knocks sharply against the open dressing-room door. Silas leans against the frame, Rourke standing a few feet behind him. My shoulders tighten when Silas’s gaze moves over me, lingering far too long at my throat. “You’ve been busy.”

I keep blending shimmer over one eyelid. “Usually am before a shift.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes.” I look at him through the mirror. “That’s why I ignored it.”

Silas’s mouth tightens as Rourke steps closer beside him, his expression easier but no kinder. “You’re walking into Sabine’s club smelling like two Kings.”

I turn around on the stool. “Are you both taking attendance now?”

Silas pushes away from the frame. “We’re saying be careful who you let make decisions for you.” I pick up my lip gloss. “Thank you for the concern.”

“Astra.”

“I have to be onstage.”

Rourke catches Silas’s arm before he can come any closer and gives him a sharp look, but whatever passes between them isn’t worth figuring out right now. Silas finally steps back. “We’re trying to help you.”

“Then start by getting out of my dressing room.”

They leave. Lio waits until the door closes before looking at me. “That was deeply unpleasant.”

“Welcome to my life.”

He opens his mouth—probably to ask something else—but the floor manager appears before he gets the chance. “Astra, five minutes. And Sabine wants you after your set.”

My breath catches. “Why?”

The floor manager shrugs. “High roller asked for your time.”

Cold adrenaline punches through me even though it has to be Caelan. Knowing it doesn’t stop my body from hearing high roller the way it always has—a stranger behind a locked door, waiting with expectations I never agreed to. “Did she say who?”

“Nope.” He looks me over once and smirks. “Whoever it is paid enough that she’s happy, so don’t fuck it up.”

The second the door shuts behind him, I find Lio already staring at me.

“It might be Caelan,” I say.

Lio stares at me. “He asked earlier if he could buy my time. I knew what he meant.” I start shoving things back into my makeup bag because looking busy feels better than standing here thinking about it.

“You currently look like you did not know what he meant.”

I throw a makeup sponge at him. “I knew conceptually.”

The set goes better than it should. Maybe it’s the scent on me, or knowing Caelan is somewhere in the building, or the way Bryn looked at me before I left the Forge—like he wanted to drag me back against him and keep me there. Whatever it is, I move differently tonight. The Bloom never gets strong enough to dull the room completely. I feel the heat of the lights, the slide of the pole beneath my palms, hear the men closest to the stage, catch Silas and Rourke near the bar during my second rotation.

Half a set is usually spent waiting for the cream to soften everything enough that I stop noticing the room. Tonight I notice all of it and keep moving anyway. My feet ache where they press into the stage, sweat tracks slow down my spine beneath the lights, and when I let myself focus I can pick individual voices out of the noise. I should hate being this present, but for once it doesn’t feel like something I need to escape. Silas and Rourke are still by the bar when I turn through my second rotation, both of them looking unhappy enough that I decide it can stay their problem.

When my set ends, Sabine finds me backstage before I’ve finished catching my breath. She’s smiling, which is rarely good.

“Well done.”

“Thank you.”

Her eyes move over me and linger where Caelan’s scent sits heavy on my skin. “Your admirer has expensive taste.”

My pulse jumps. “Apparently.”