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James wrapped his arms around my waist from behind while Rafe beamed at me. “It’s all of us. This way you don’t need to call. Everyone will be with you always.”
A tear ran down my cheek and dropped. Rafe’s hand shot out and caught it before it could mar the image. “None of that. We love you, Lux. This place? Hell, even I wouldn’t be the same without you looking out for all of us. We do the same for you, emu girl.”
That made the tears flow thicker.
James laughed and turned me in his arms. I cried into his corset, tracing my fingers over the ties and the back and wished it could be a waistcoat instead.
I knew he’deither ducked out to clear his head or snuck up to one of the offices for a power nap. The latter was least likely; Killian never stopped, ever. Being beat on hadn’t kept the roo shifter down, but maybe he’d stepped away to take a break.
I hoped.
The alternative hit me like a sucker punch in the gut.
“I love you guys.” I covered my fresh wave of tears in a substitute emotional rush.
An envelope appeared in front of me.
James nudged me. “Bird Girl. This one is from—”
Rafe cleared his throat and James shut up, but I already knew what he would say.
Myfingers hesitated over the envelope. Tracing over the embossed edges, I flipped the folded cardstock open.
Inside sat another voucher, but this one wasn’t for a tattoo parlor.
It was for a sensory deprivation experience.
“Inner City Cave,” James read over my shoulder.
I shrugged him away, reading the handwritten line penned in Killian’s fine cursive that I watched him sign orders with every week.Happy Birthday, Little Bird. Soar for me.A flourish ended the sentence, decorated with part of a wing lifted and open on an unseen sky.
New tears welled and my head shot up.
The club stood empty apart from the staff clustered around the bar.
Rafe gave me a knowing look and slid a key across the bar.
Dungeonone.
I swallowed hard, my gaze flicking back to myboss.
Rafe jerked his head. “He’s waiting for you.”
I closed my hand around the key that would lead toward the man who’d kept my attention all night, though I hadn’t seen him for hours, and tried not to run.
Chapter Seven
Killian
Fast, light footsteps approached the half-open dungeon door. Without looking, I knew who stood there. I kept my back to the room’s entrance, standing off to one side from the whipping post Rafe had helped me set up earlier.
Before I had my face used as someone else’s personal beating post.
The sadist in me had cringed at the uneven blows as each one fell, the lack of appreciation for an art form I’d spent the better part of the last decade perfecting. All I needed was a clean canvas to work. Tonight provided additional motivation.
“Killian?” Lux hesitated at the doorway.
I kept my back to her and smiled. She wouldn’t get any more of those for free from me, not for a long while.
