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“I don’t want you doing it,” Beau said again. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Nonsense,” I said again. “I will be deep in character. Schwarb, will you look up the Holy Church of the Eternal Golden Righteousness on the Internet? So I can make sure to put in a few zingers that will convince the protesters that I’m one of them?”
I looked out the window again and saw Liam attempting to hurry past the angry group, but I noticed with a thrill of excitement that he had Nate, the blonde minor league hockey player, with him. The protesters didn’t dare to harass Liam with the big Nate looking daggers at them. I saw Nate drop Liam off at the door, giving him a quick kiss goodbye.
My heart leaped with joy. There was a relationship guy if I ever saw one.
Beau finally agreed I could try to get in with the protesters, but he said he reserved the right to stop it if he felt it was too dangerous.
I met his eyes as Luis fussed around me, trying to figure out an outfit that would help me blend in, but this time when I met his eyes I held his gaze, my lips curving up as I saw the hungry look in them.
30
ELOWYN
Ilooked down at my long jeans skirt and modest, long-sleeved shirt. It was absolutely sweltering in the city, but I wanted to blend in with the crowd of protesters.
We were all standing around waving various disapproving signs as the queens moved from the cocktail tables outside to where they’d be performing indoors.
“The Lord will help us resist temptation,” said Pastor Jeffrey, who was the leader of the group. He was a surprisingly young man in his 20s with a fresh baby face but only a ring of balding curly hair surrounding his cherubic face.
“That’s right,” I said. “They really are tempting us to sin. Especially that tall blonde one.”
“Look at them,” Pastor Jeffrey said scornfully. “Men turning away from the God-given bounty of a woman’s fruits.”
“Stay back,” one of the new temporary security guards said warningly.
I couldn’t resist, though.
“My dear ma’am,” I said, grabbing Je Sweet’s arm as she passed by the group of protesters. “Do you have a moment to talk about the benefits of the female reproductive system?”
I saw Sweet turn to me, and her eyes looked furious. She turned and yanked on my shirt, trapping me against the fence. Then she bent over to hiss angrily in my ear.
“You better fucking take this seriously, El, or I won’t let you do it.”
I scoffed at the idea that Je Sweet could keep me from doing whatever I wanted, but she had already dropped my shirt and turned around into the club. I watched those shoulders walk in. I knew perfectly fucking well this wasn’t over. But the other protestors rushed over to me, asking me anxiously if I was OK.
“The devil’s hands wereonme,” I said loudly, but she had already gone inside.
“I heard that there’s a club north of town where they take out their, you know, MEMBERS,” I said sinisterly. “Maybe we should go protest there tomorrow instead. Plus, better parking.”
A few people looked a little excited at this, but Pastor Jeffrey shook his head decisively.
“No, this is the cynosure of sin. We will stay here.”
I was even more sure now that he was being paid off to disrupt Heavenly Lights. I mean, who would turn down the opportunity to protest an errant pecker?
But I wasn’t sure how I could weasel this information out of the pastor, and the next few hours were rather boring. I had run through all of my strategies and none of them seemed all that useful when the night was over and the group was turning to protest the queens leaving for the night.
I looked up with interest, but Je Sweet was not among them. I hung on the fringes of the crowd, feeling a wave of tiredness. It was exhausting being undercover with the protesters and pretending to hate the queens, when really I was anxious and hoping the show had gone well.
I suddenly felt a big hand over my mouth and another around my waist, dragging me rapidly and silently away from the crowd.
I knew as soon as I felt the hands on me that they were Beau’s. I could pick the feel of him out of a lineup with a blindfold over my eyes. And he was fucking lucky he wasn’t in a police lineup after constantly abducting me and hauling me everywhere caveman style.
He put me down when we were a block or two away from the club but kept one hand on the back of my neck, making sure I walked along with him. He was going so quickly I could hardly keep up with his much longer legs. I knew we were heading to his apartment, which was less than a 10 minute walk away from the club.
“I think it’s too dangerous for you to be with that group,” he said, his hand tight on my neck, making it impossible to get away from him. “I feel like I can’t protect you when you’re with them.”
