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Freya
Isatbackdown.
“People have done that to you?”
His cheeks were flushed with heat and he moved in a way that was half a shrug and half a nod. I was taking the embarrassment as a yes.
“How old are you?”
“150 years.”
“Andallthe dates you’ve been on have been like that?”
“I gave up after a while.” Turning back to the pinball machine, Cas slid a ticket in to start. “Didn’t see a point to trying anymore. Of course, I still had to feed, but I got by without the emotional side. Now I only feed on Shan and Em, our other team member.”
“And yet you, for some reason, trusted me to take you on a date to an undisclosed location? After I’d been antagonistic toward you for two weeks?”
He missed the ball and the lights that had been lit up dimmed with the loss. “I guess I did.”
Fuck me.
What had I said about not getting attached?
Not getting attached to Caspian was downright impossible after an admission like that. Sometimes I forgot about the hatred some people had for mixed breeds because we forbid hate crimes of any kind in Club Chaos. Mattie had created the space to be a place of harmony and did a good job of enforcing his beliefs. Out in the world at large, though? Especially in rural areas, or if he’d ever spent time in Zemterra or Apilion? It was dangerous for him.
The realization made me want to wrap him up in a blanket and keep him secure in my nest for the rest of time. I may have seen him kill a man without a second thought, but he was emotionally fragile. My irritation over talking about my past fell away. He wasn’t intentionally trying to pry, as much as I wanted to believe he was.
Putting another ticket in the slot, I played a few rounds while he played pinball. He was surprisingly bad at it, but his attention was half focused on me, just like mine was on him. The only reason I wasn’t losing was because I’d played a thousand times. When the ball fell again, I let myself die on purpose. “You have bad reflexes for someone who’s in some kind of Alpha special forces.”
“Don’t need good reflexes when you’re the distraction,” he said.
His arms stretched overhead, exposing a bare line of flesh on his stomach. My near constant arousal made a pronounced appearance and I swallowed, trying to shove it down. He would be a great distraction in the field. “Does Shan usually do all the fighting, then?”
Chuckling, he stood from the chair and grabbed my arm to pull me up. His path took us in a straight line towards magical mini golf. “Em is our muscle when he’s in the field. Shan plans and observes and subdues when necessary. I wouldn’t call anything he does fighting, exactly.”
Caspian had a point. Shan had subdued my attacker without a fight. I’d attributed the quick win to him taking the vamp by surprise, but it made sense as his overall style. Wait until they’re not expecting to lose and take them down. Sneaky, underhanded in some ways, but effective.
Playing mini golf with Cas was more fun than I’d had in months. Years, maybe. His reflexes continued to be poor, though I’m sure he was playing it up for my benefit. No one could be that bad at mini golf. I beat him by a significant amount of points because I was showing off. My hand eye coordination was exceptional, thank you very much. Despite my need for glasses, which I’d worn for his benefit tonight instead of sticking to contacts. Unfortunately, without them, things got a little dicey.
“Want to bowl?” I asked as Cas took his last shot on the final hole.
It missed, despite being merely three inches away. He looked up to watch me roll my eyes with a grin.
“Do you really want to see how bad I am at bowling?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
True to his word, he was equally bad at bowling. We took a lane on the end, the one next to us empty, and laughed our way through a game. I was bowling strikes and spares every turn — except for the time he bumped my hip with his on my release. A dirty trick. Needless to say, I won again. By that point, I was sure he was letting me. It was cute, the date I’d always dreamed of going on as a teenager, before everything changed.
“There’s a twenty-four-hour diner down the street,” I said as we wandered around the arcade floor once again. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
He was staring at me and I had a feeling greasy fries and burgers weren’t the only thing he was starving for. Giving in to temptation was a terrible idea. I had to keep reminding myself, because the night had been wonderful. I had to hold on to the idea that sex would connect us too much and make my body long for him even more. That way, I could pretend I wasn’t too attached to his personality already.
“Let’s go, then.”
We held hands as we walked down the street, lit up by streetlights and neon signs advertising the latest and greatest club event, or the best Chinese food on the street. Our destination was the bottom level of a high rise building, retro style awning beckoning customers inside. A neon sign blinked on and off at a slow pace, proclaiming the establishment asHex Sisters Kitchen.
