Josie Lynn smiled, but Drake could see that she wasn’t comfortable with everything that had happened. Last night or just earlier.
“Okay, have a good night.” Marcus left them.
After Marcus left, Drake glanced at Josie Lynn, who appeared very focused on her glass of wine. Yeah, she wasn’t going to want to discuss their kiss, or how fabulous it had been. In fact, he suspected she was going to attempt to act like it never happened.
As if just to validate his thoughts, she said, without looking away from her infinitely fascinating wineglass, “So maybe Obsidian is the one who put the drugs in the punch.”
Drake nodded. “She seems like she could be a likely candidate, but we should keep looking for the Chers. There’s definitely something suspicious about them. And as we discussed, it seems like they would have needed an inside person to drug the guests.”
She polished off her wine like it was shot of tequila. “Let’s keep moving then.”
Oh, she was absolutely not discussing the kiss. No way, no how.
“Okay,” he said.
* * *
KEEP MOVING. THAT was Josie Lynn’s first instinct, just like it always was. She wanted to forge ahead and get the answers they needed. She certainly didn’t want to be making out with a Bourbon Street band guy. Talk about the king of all bad boys.
No, she had to amend that, she did want to be making out with a Bourbon Street band guy, and that was why she had to keep moving. Get this mystery solved and get away from him ASAP.
Hadn’t her last bad-boy boyfriend taught her enough of a lesson about why this type of man was exactly the type of man she needed to avoid? Sure, this guy would be fun for a while. But then things would go horribly wrong. He’d want to “borrow” money. He’d want a place to crash for “just a couple days.” Or he’d be seeing other women on the side. Or all of the above. Josie Lynn had experienced it all. And she wasn’t going there again. Ever.
“So should we head to your place?” she asked as she stood, reaching for a pocket she realized she didn’t have—not that it mattered, since she didn’t have any cash either. Shit, this no-money thing was a real pain in the ass.
“Don’t worry,” the bartender, a pierced and tattooed woman in her early twenties said as she brushed a shock of fuchsia hair out of her eyes. “Marcus picked up the tab on these for you.”
“That was nice,” Drake said, clearly relieved, too.
“Well you did buy all the rounds last night,” the woman said, giving them a look that stated it had been a lot of rounds.
“Oh right,” Drake said, not sounding nearly as worried as Josie Lynn felt. How much money had they spent last night? And did that mean they’d had their wallets—and clothes—at that point last night? And exactly how much money did we spend, she thought again. She didn’t have money to spare.
She didn’t have any money at all, it would appear.
Drake thanked the bartender again, then waited for Josie Lynn to lead the way.
“You first,” she said. She had no idea how they’d gotten to this back room, and frankly the combination of loud, thumping metal music, dim lighting, and winding hallways was too much for her to deal with.
And it definitely wasn’t the fact that she was so shaken by Drake’s kiss. No, not at all.
She followed him through the hallways that just seemed to lead from one bar or nook to another. The Dungeon didn’t seem like an appropriate name for this place. The Creepy, Really Loud Maze seemed like a better name to her.
The operative word being creepy. A cold shiver snaked up her spine, and she found herself looking behind her. She expected to see another patron—after all, it was a bar and club, but the hallway was empty.
Drake made another turn only to end up in another hallway. They passed another strange little alcove and again, Josie Lynn felt that weird shivery feeling at the back of her neck.
She looked behind her again just in time to see a flash of purple and red and black slip into the nook they’d just passed.
Obsidian.
Was she following them? The idea unnerved Josie Lynn. A lot. Marcus made it sound like the woman had a reputation for being more than a little strange. And they’d just considered the idea that she was nutty enough to drug a whole wedding party.
Josie Lynn touched Drake’s arm, and he immediately stopped.
“I think Obsidian just stepped into that alcove,” Josie Lynn said leaning close so he could hear her over the thundering industrial music. “I think she might be following us.”
“She is,” he said with full certainty.
“Did you see her, too?”
Drake shook his head, which suddenly turned to a nod. “Yeah, I did.”