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I got up, leaving the paperwork undone on my desk.
I hurried into the dressing room and I saw Beau in his chair, long legs up on the table in front of him, filling out all the paperwork I had been threatening him with bodily harm over.
“Hello, El,” he said, glancing up and seeing me in the mirror, and I saw his eyes light up when he saw me, such a disorienting sensation that for a second I felt dizzy.
“What. . . are you doing?” I asked.
“Paperwork,” he said, raising an eyebrow at me.
“Yes, but why?” I asked.
“Didn’t you say you wanted this done?” he asked.
I nodded without speaking and he said, “Well, that’s why I’m doing it.”
I gaped at him. He ran his eyes over me. “I like my mark on you,” he said, his voice low and growly.
I reached my hands instinctively up to the throb of pain on my neck where I could feel a bruise forming.
“That’s not your mark,” I said.
“Yes, it is,” he replied. “It means you are mine. It means your body is mine to fill.”
This was more unnerving than anything else he had said, and I backed out of the room without another word.
18
ELOWYN
Ihad almost forgotten about the sinister letter-writer that day in my haste to avoid Beau. Then that night we were hit for the first time in weeks during a happy, rollicking Friday night show. Right in the middle of Snatch Devereaux and the Corn Queen’s big number the power went out.
There were some shouts of alarm, but most of the patrons were in a happy state of tipsiness and were excited to be given glowsticks while we tried to figure out what was wrong.
I went outside with some of the security guards to see what had happened and found that the power line had been cut.
Well,shit.
I called the power company and they said they’d have someone there to fix it within 15 minutes.
I left one security guard near the power box and walked around the building with the other. Nothing else seemed amiss. I shook my head. Who could be so anxious to shut down Heavenly Lights that they’d resort to such petty tricks?
I went back inside to check on our patrons. It was almost pitch-black as I groped my way carefully down the hallways. Then I saw the kitchen and wait staff laughing and cracking jokes as they opened a bottle of wine by the flickering lights of their phones. I saw lights bouncing in the performance hall. The queens had abandoned lip-synching, so I could hear everyone singing a cappella to popular songs. The din was horrific, but everyone seemed to be having fun. I felt relieved as I walked along the hall. Then I heard the sound of someone coming down the hallway toward me, and by the faint bouncing lights saw that it was Sweet.
She was striding toward me, and she looked furious.
“Where have you been?” Je Sweet asked sharply, and I felt her grab me with hard hands. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“What’s wrong with you today?” I protested, trying to shake her off. “I went outside to see if a tree had fallen on the power lines or something. But the lines were cut.”
“Outside?” Je Sweet growled, and her hands did not let me go. “That’s way too dangerous, El. Why can’t you just stay where you’re safe?”
“I was perfectly safe,” I retorted. “They’ll be sending technicians to fix the problem. And it sounds like the audience is still having a glow stick dance party in there. So no harm done.”
I pushed against her broad chest again, hoping she would let me go, but she didn’t.
Instead, I felt her put a hand on my chin. Her breathing suddenly sounded harsh and loud in my ears. Her other hand moved to surround my waist possessively, pulling me closer. I heard her low, wild groan.
Her mouth was on my neck, and she was kissing my throat.
