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Ashari is already there, pulling on his pants. He glances at me in the mirror and raises an eyebrow. "You look like shit."

"Thanks."

"Where were you?"

"Busy."

"Busy doing what?"

"Yue."

He snorts. "You're a dumbass."

"Probably," I say with a shrug.

I change into my stage outfit. Tonight, it's black leather pants that sit low on my hips, a suit jacket cut in many places to reveal my chest, and a bow tie. By the time I exit, the club is already filling up. The moment I step through the door onto the main, I look at the door separating us.

I walk through the door and see Yue at her post. She checks IDs in a black crop top and high-waisted jeans that hug her curves. She looks focused and completely unbothered. I know she can feel me behind her, but she also won't look at me.

"Yue," I state her name.

All the women in the area coo and awe, causing Yue's back to stiffen.

She doesn't glance over her shoulder. "I'm working. I can talk later."

I stare at her for a beat longer before closing the door. She can't shut me out. Later that night, after the door is closed for newcomers, Yue sits at the bar. I meander behind her, placing a hand on her stool.

"Yue."

She doesn't turn. "Stage three's got a wobble. I'll have Tide adjust the bass routing before we open."

"Yue."

"The expansion wards on the east wing need reinforcing. I felt them buckling around two in the morning." She's writing on the clipboard now without looking up. "Also, someone left a thong on the ice machine. We weren't here last night, so it has to belong to someone else."

I push off the bar and walk toward her. Not fast. Not cornering. Just closing distance. "We need to talk about last night."

"Last night was a performance, just like everything else." The words come out monotone, without emotion. She flips a page on the clipboard. "We're fake mates. That's the arrangement I agreed to."

I stop three feet from her. Close enough to see the muscle in her jaw working. "You came so hard you soaked my balls and screamed loud enough to echo off the cathedral. You clawed my back and pulled my damn locs so hard I thought the shit would fall out. Don’t insult us both by calling it something as weak as a performance, Yue."

Her pen stops, and for the first time, she looks at me. "You're a jackass."

"There's my brown eyed girl."

She rolls her eyes. "Stop it. We're supposed to be finding..." She trails off, looking in all directions. "Your mate. It's not me."

I push into her space, moving so my arm brushes her. She doesn't pull away, but she does stiffen.

"Yue," I say.

"That's my name. Don't wear it out," she replies, still not looking at me.

I snort and then blow out a breath. "You left."

"I had to get ready for work."

"You could have woken me up."