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“Titan,” I repeat, standing taller in the nude Louboutins I’d worn to make my long legs look even longer in the minidress.
“One name?” Her voice drags it out so I can read a hundred other questions in the single phrase.
“Yes. He’s back in town after spending some time in Europe.” I vamp, attempting to bring her attention back on me.
“He’s European?” Her brown eyes flick with interest back to Titan and then me.
“Yes. Well, his family is.”
She gives me a knowing smile. I’ve dropped enough hints to make it clear that my date is a wealthy and important man she should definitely be aware of.
Titan moves up behind me, and I feel his heat before his touch. He wraps his arm around my lower back. I prepare myself for it, steel myself against it, but as his thumb strokes over my spine, I shiver.
“You two have a great time tonight.” The woman smirks.
“Thank you. We will.” Titan guides me into the lobby, large hand still on my back.
The moment we walk into the lobby, Titan stiffens. I feel his hand tense on my back, and he nearly stumbles. His mouth forms a firm line as he clears his throat.
“Are you okay?” I ask as we pass another matching set of security officers into the elevator. “Is it the Pull?”
“Yeah, yeah.” He waves away my concern. “Just feeling it a little stronger now.”
“That’s good, isn’t it? That means the Keystone is here?”
“Yes.” He smiles. It’s uneven and distracted by whatever reaction is coursing through him.
As the elevator dings, the doors part to reveal a massive apartment packed with people. The luxury two-story loft is awash in red and purple light. A DJ is set up in the corner, playing thumping dance music low enough that the volume of guests rises above it. Despite the party setup, I can see that the space is all sleek lines in shades of white and gray. From the steel floating stairs and curved walls, there appears to be an attempt at some sort of unique design, but the space comes off as cold and generic.
I remember going to wrap parties like this one, getting dressed up and feeling every bit the grown-up I wasn’t, as I chatted with the assistant director or reminisced with the lead makeup artist. They never felt like parties, just another opportunity to network that I wasn’t allowed to pass up.
A surge of nerves grips my stomach before I remember this isn’t my wrap party and I’m not hunting for my next job. I’m just a guest of a guest. No one even knows I used to act, and I look too different from my eighteen-year-old self for anyone to guess. Still, there’s comfort in the familiar sensation.
“Do you see Freddy?” Titan asks as we step out of the elevator.
I scan the room as best I can, trying to match the faces in the crowd with the ones I’d researched in online tabloids and gossip magazines. One or two faces look familiar, not Freddy, but people I’m sure I’d been on set with over a decade ago.
“I don’t see him,” I tell Titan. “We should mingle first anyways, blend in.”
Titan nods and guides us into the crowd. His movements have relaxed a tiny bit from his initial reaction entering the building, but his normal easy and commanding pace is still stilted. I can tell the Pull is directing his gaze as it darts around, seeking out the object of his desire.
At one point, he stops us abruptly in the middle of two chatting actors, Mark Something and Jordan Something with an A. They stare at us both, though at mostly Titan as he stands between the two of them, looking over their heads and out the large windows into the dark night.
I yank on Titan’s arm hard. I have to drag him out of whatever Pull daze he’s in and keep him moving.
Titan finally snaps out of it and moves out from between the two men.
He is still staring straight ahead, head above the partygoers and looking into the middle distance, as I turn to face him at the edge of the room. I expect him to be searching the crowd, but instead he seems to be listening for something. The party is noisy, with the music going, people chatting, and the clinking of glasses.
“There is another Strange nearby,” he says abruptly.
“Here?” I swallow hard and scan the room.
“Close,” he says cryptically, “but not so close as to be in the room with us.”
“Stiel and Dredd said there were only humans here. You said that the rest of the Strange doesn’t even believe the Keystone or Relic Room exist.”
He looks down, and his stern expression instantly softens at my confused frown.
