It sat outside Element with one of the staff monitoring it. Isolde was in the back seat, and Cade opened the door for me to slide in next to her.
She grinned at me. She looked a bit wrecked too, but didn’t seem nearly as tired as I was. Pulling off my mask, I sank down onto the seat and leaned my head on her shoulder. “Fuck.”
Laughing, she nudged me. “Seatbelt. And I’m dying to know what happened.”
“I don’t even know where to start.”
The driver’s door opened and Cade slid into his seat, now maskless. “The beginning is usually a decent place to start.”
I stuck my tongue out at him in the rearview mirror, making them both laugh. “Well… it started with me fucking up. I—” Closing my eyes, I fought the inherent embarrassment in the words. “I didn’t listen, and I didn’t read the rules closely enough.”
Quickly, I ran them through what had happened on the roof, though I skipped over what Amber had said about me being triggered. They didn’t need to hear about that. It was my issue to deal with. No one else’s.
“I know James,” Cade said, headlights briefly lighting up his face in the mirror. “He won’t hold a grudge. It’s frustrating when something like that happens, but it does. I’m sure they had an excellent scene after.”
“I hope so.”
The rest of it came out of me in a rush. How they came up and asked, the negotiations, and what happened in that room, though I brushed over the second part, with a glance at Isolde, telling her without words that I’d fill her in onthatbit later.
I didn’t know how to handle the end of the evening, having them ask questions about the Alphas and if we were going to see each other again, and everything else I knew my friend would ask. Because I had no idea. Instead, I turned the questions back on her like the journalist I was.
“How wasyourevening?”
Isolde blushed all the way to the roots of her hair. Being a redhead would do that to you. “It was good,” she murmured.
Cade laughed in the front seat. “I should have rented a limo or something so I could roll up the partition and let you guys talk about everything the way you want to.”
“That’ll come later,” I said. “At brunch. With mimosas and cake.”
Isolde was nodding. “Definitely. Ocean will want to come too.” Our friend wasn’t into the same kinky things we were, but she didn’t care. She had three Alphas who worshipped the ground she walked on.
I glanced at the floor in front of me, but I didn’t see my bag. “Where’s my?—”
Cade handed it back from the passenger seat. “Right here.”
“Thank you.”
My story had taken a good portion of the drive home. We were getting close to Clarity Coast. I lived on the outskirts, and I knew I would forget to check my sugar when I got home and beelined straight for a snack.
The process was so automatic, I barely had to think now. Testing strip out of the bottle and into the meter. New needle into the lancet. A drop of blood, a beep, and five seconds later…
I was fine. The low side of my normal range, and whatever I ended up eating would take care of that.
The test strip and needle stayed in the case. I’d throw those away at home.
“You good?” Isolde asked.
“Yeah, I just wanted to make sure.”
She placed her hand on my arm. “I’m glad you had fun. You think you got enough for your article?”
In all honesty, I’d forgotten the reason I went to Element until she said it. “Maybe. I had planned on poking around after playing, but it took it out of me. I’ll have some questions for Amber, and if I don’t have enough, I guess I’ll just have to go back.”
We both collapsed into laughter as Cade pulled into the lot of my apartment building. “Text me tomorrow,” Isolde said. “We’ll plan brunch.”
“You got it. Thank you, Cade.”
He waved. “See you soon.”
