Worried I won’t be able to meet Emil’s expectations, I bite my lip. I’ve only been able to see past sexy desires to the deeper ones of the heart a few times, most of which I did while stuffed full of ley line magic, which I no longer possess. I haven’t even tried recently, too caught up in recovering then putting my life back to normal.
“Who’s the person I’m reading?” Maybe if I learn something about them, it will make things easier.
“No one you know.” Emil’s expression softens. “If you can’t, you can’t. It won’t count in the negative against you. We just need you to try.”
A concession most demons wouldn’t give. It’s in my contract with them that I pay back my loan by using abilities I don’t have a full handle on. Or even a partial handle.
As a succubus, I pretty much suck.
But even if it would help me tomorrow, I don’t regret giving up the ley line power when it offered to make me a god. That would have come at too high a price: my relationship with these prickly demons.
I nod in acceptance. “I’ll be there at two forty-five.”
“Better hurry and change.” Emil turns back to his plate. “Kellen will be waiting.”
Heart melting at his effort to work through his possessiveness, and I zip over to press a kiss to his chilly cheek. It bunches under my lips with a smile, and I force myself to stop at just one kiss when I want to cover his entire face with them.
Straightening, I lean past Emil and boop Tobias on the nose before I zip out of the room to change into a dress appropriate for club Fulcrum.
As Emil said, my date with Kellen awaits.
At the door to club Fulcrum, the bouncer waves me past the long line that runs the length of the brick building. A couple at the front complain, and I don’t blame them. I just arrived, while they’ve been standing in the freezing night for who knows how long. But I take full advantage of my position as Kellen’s woman to cut past the wait. In the skimpy dress I chose for the night, I have zero desire to freeze my tush off in the name of fairness.
The throbbing music pulses in my bones every bit as much as it fills my ears, and I sway to the sound long before I reach the crowded dance floor. It’s busy for a Tuesday night, especially in November with the holiday season kicking into full gear.
On a raised platform across from the entrance, dancers from Julian’s HelloHell Delivery service bump and grind in time to the song, their pin-up perfect bodies enticing the people on the overstuffed dance floor. A few hands wave in the air, dollars clenched in their fists, but the dancers ignore them. They’re here to dance, not strip, and have firm orders from my cousin when it comes to taking money.
Up on the podium, the DJ bounces in time to the song he plays, and I squint to make sure Slater isn’t the one playing the music tonight. If Kellen’s second in command got pulled into playing tracks tonight, it means no one runs interference between the patrons and club’s sexy owner.
The strobe lights flash over the club, a brief streak of blue illuminating the booth. I don’t recognize the man up there. He wears sunglasses despite the bad lighting, and a pair of headphones perch on his head, only covering one ear while he listens to the music with the other.
A loud whistle pulls my attention toward the bar, and I turn, ready to slap down the not-available sign. Then I spy Slater waving at me from the end of the bar nearest to me. Smiling at the witch, I beeline for him, deftly dodging any groping hands.
These boobs and this ass are for Kellen tonight, thank you very much.
When I reach the bar, I yank Slater down into a hug. He looks healthy and fully recovered from our battle with the Dreamer.
He pats me awkwardly on the back and straightens. “How’ve you been?”
I read his lips more than hear him, and give him two thumbs up, then point to him.
Grinning, he gives me two thumbs up in return before nodding to the left, where a hall separates the employee break room and offices from the rest of the club.
He yells something to the bartender before he turns and uses his larger body to force a