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Right, I tell my brain firmly because this will not be the hill that I lose myself on. Iwill notlet myself get drawn into this kind of thinking when none of this is permanent anyway. Part of me feels like I’m gearing myself up with all of these concessions and ‘discoveries’ about myself just to be let down when the Lost Boys don’t want me around anymore.
Or when I finally do make good on my threat of having the tattoo on the back of my neck covered.
I hate how that thought makes my insides tighten uncomfortably, as if that’snotthe right decision or the one that I truly want.
But it has to be.
Because I’mno one’spet or property. Not even theirs, and especially notCyril’s,who definitely doesn’t like me, anyway. Not with the way I talk to him, and certainly not with the way he threw me to the proverbial wolves and didn’t care what they’d do.
Presumably, at least. Though he did tell them not to break me, for all the comfort that was at the time.
The car slows again, and I realize that I’ve been lost in my thoughts as we pull into the parking lot behind the brick building that sits in an unassuming, industrial area of the city. All of the businesses around here are strictly open on a nine-to-five basis, meaning that the building thatThe Denis in has a complete carte blanche of the area, for the most part.
Which is probably a good thing, given whatThe Denis and just what everyone comes here intending to do. How soundproof can walls be, after all, if enough people are screaming or growling or whatever else happens between the walls of the club?
“In case it escaped you, we’re here,” Arlo hums, parking near enough to the door that it’s going to be a walk of only a minute or so to get there. “You’ve been pretty deep in thought, so I figured I could’ve taken you anywhere, and you wouldn’t have realized it for a while.” He chuckles at the awful joke, and I look at him with my lips pressed flat and a frown threatening to twist half of my mouth down.
“That’s not actually funny. What if I wasn’t down with you kidnapping me?” I point out, getting out of the car. It’s not funny, but I’m not exactly upset at the idea of him spiriting me off to the depths of Neverland with the other Lost Boys.
“But you are,” Arlo points out. “So why bother asking if you’renot?” He bats his eyes at me sweetly as he speaks, and I want to jab my elbow into his side just to make a point and wipe the cheeky, arrogant grin off of his handsome face.
It fades a moment later, somewhat, as he reaches out to twine his fingers around mine while we walk. I look at our hands, then up at him, confusion so plain on my features that it’s easy to make out, even in the dark. I can’t help how puzzled I am, however. Nor can I help the way that I like just looking at him.
Damn me and my terrible taste in men.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Arlo chuckles, pushing the door open with one hand. I expect him to say something else, so I don’t reply. Instead, he turns us into the small, dimly lit lobby ofThe Denand grins at the woman standing behind what looks like half of a ticket booth.
“Hi Dolores,” Arlo greets, and the older woman dressed in all black looks him over with something like amused disbelief on her face.
“I didn’t think you’d be back so soon,” she says after a moment, resting her hands on the counter in front of her. The woman’s eyes rake over me, and I offer her a wry grin, my free hand coming up to give her a jovial little wave. “And with a girl? What will Ezra think?”
“Ezra thinks I’ve waited too long to take Ari out on a date, actually,” my companion replies with another light laugh. “So I can assure you he’s not about to break down the door trying to get revenge on me.”
“Again,” Dolores points out, and I can’t help but snort and look at Arlo incredulously.
“Seriously?” I ask, my brows rising almost to my bangs. “Are you being sarcastic, or…?”
“No,” Dolores sighs and frowns in my direction. “They were fighting, I believe? He thought he’d make his boyfriend jealous. Now his boyfriend is one step from beingbannedfrom my club.”
Her club? I hadn’t expected the owner to be here and hadn’t even taken a moment to consider what the owner of a kink club might look like.
Either way, this well-dressed woman in her late forties isn’t what I could’ve ever conjured up. Her long blonde hair hangs loose around her shoulders, and her no-nonsense gaze sizes Arlo up once more as I watch.
“I should charge you extra to get in,” she says, taking the cash he offers and putting it in a drawer under the counter.
“You could,” my date agrees. “And I’d pay it. I definitely owe you for that.”
“I won’t,” Dolores tells him, and sounds as if she’s expecting him to be grateful for how magnanimous she’s being. “But if he does that shit one more time, Arlo…”
“He won’t,” Arlo laughs again. “He really,reallywon’t. It was just a bad lack of judgment on my part and an overreaction on his. Next time he comes here, I’ll make sure he brings you a bouquet of flowers and hissincerestapologies.”
The dark-haired man glances at me when he sayssincerestlike it’s a little joke between us.
Which, I suppose it is because Ezra’s sincere apology would be earnest, believable, and absolutely fake. Though I have no doubt, this woman would buy it hook, line, and sinker.
He’s that believable and that good atfakingit.
The woman waves us onward, and Arlo brings me down a short hallway back into the open-roofed sitting area with its deck furniture and tiki torches. Tonight they’re lit, and four people occupy the seats as they laugh at something being said.
