is another demand made of me. Something he needs me to do that I don’t want to.
No matter what, though, no matter what is asked, I’ll do it.
I will willingly give another piece of my soul for the price of my friends.
The music blares through the space, drowning out some of my thoughts. I can barely hear anything as I feel Julia’s hand on my arm.
“Let’s grab a drink,” she says, pulling me with her to the bar. I take a moment to let my eyes scan the room. Sleek, red velvet booths surround the space, and black crystal chandeliers hang from above.
“Sure!” I yell back.
Together, we make our way across the room. Once we are standing in front of the bartender, we order drinks.
He’s quick at making them, smiling at me as he pours the liquid into the glasses.
As I lift it to my mouth, I swear I see someone staring at me from across the bar.
Yes. He’s one hundred percent looking at me.
Wow.
He’s handsome. Dangerously so. The kind of handsome you read about in romance books.
Mesmerizing eyes. Jet-black hair.
He has the perfect five o’clock shadow, and his cheekbones are so sharp my fingers itch to touch them.
Something is menacing in the way he stares at me, making my back muscles go rigid.
“Viv,” I hear Julia say, but I’m transfixed by the man across the bar. “Viv…” she says again, and I finally turn to her. “Everything okay?” she asks.
“I was just … The man over there,” I respond, gesturing over my shoulder with my head.
A line forms between her brows. “What man?”
“Across the bar.”
“There’s no one—”
“Right there . . .” I look over to where he was, and no one is there. The space is completely empty.
I shake my head in confusion.
He was there, wasn’t he?
I lift the drink to my mouth and continue to look around. But there is absolutely no one who even resembles the man anywhere in the bar.
I must have been imagining him.
“Come on, let’s dance,” Jules shouts above the sound of the music, but I shake my head.
“Next song. I want to finish my drink.” She nods with a smile, and then she is off, like her normal, crazy self.
A laugh bubbles up as I see her making her way into the throngs of people. Arms in the air, swaying her hips.
“Why don’t you join her . . .?”
I pivot to face the new voice, and when our eyes lock, I freeze in place, my breath stuck in my chest.
It’s him. The man from before.
And he is talking to me.
Although it’s dark in the club, I can make out the outline of his features better now.
If I thought he was beautiful from across the room, that image holds no candle to what he looks like up close.
He looks familiar, but I can’t place him. Hopefully, he’s not someone who knows my family. That would be a shame. A dangerous shame at that. But the way he looks at me, I doubt it. He just must have one of those faces.
A completely gorgeous one.
Even this close, I still can’t make out his eye color. If I had to guess, I would say blue or hazel. Either way, they are as I noted before, mesmerizing.
It’s as though he can hear my thoughts, his lip tipping up into what I can only describe as a wicked smirk.
“I wasn’t in the mood,” I answer.
“Her loss is my gain.” Confidence oozes in his voice, but where it might be a turn-off for some, when he speaks, my body grows warm.
It’s not often I’m able to indulge in mindless flirting. Between school and my father trying to pawn me off on every successful politician’s son or even worse, politician, I don’t often have fun.
I pivot on my heels. Now, no longer looking over my shoulder, I can see his full build.
This man is out of my league.
I reach for my glass and down the last sip.
“Would you like another one?”
Should I?
The more I drink, the worse tomorrow will be.
But now that I’m thinking of tomorrow, liquid courage might be exactly what I need.
“You know what? Yeah, please,” I answer, and the man next to me signals the bartender, who is quick to oblige us.
The music switches to a louder and more upbeat song. I can only imagine Jules is probably completely lost to me in the beat.
“Your friend is having fun,” the stranger says as he reaches for my drink on the bar and hands it to me.
“Yes. She