“Well, why doesn’t he just freaking ask me what I’m up to?”
“Lily,” Deacon said, squeezing my hand, “I don’t know. But I don’t think that a sit-down is Gabriel’s typical modus operandi.”
I sighed and drew my knees up to my chest. “I have to fix this. Rose. The gate. The whole freaking Apocalypse. I have to make it better.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “You will.”
I could only hope that he was right.
I drew in a shaky breath. “They know who I am now. All of them. Demons. Angels.” I twisted around to look at him directly. “Why haven’t they come to my apartment? They come here to the pub, but never there.”
“Protections,” Deacon said. “Penemue had Clarence endow Alice’s apartment with protections. Make sure the demons couldn’t get in without being invited.”
I nodded. That made sense. Though I supposed I needed to be even more on my guard from then on. Since the memo about my secret identity had apparently circulated, and there was nothing to keep them off my street. I frowned, not worried about myself so much as I was about Rose.
“You can stay with me,” Deacon said. “I assure you my place is safe. And secret.”
I almost took him up on that but ended up shaking my head. “You don’t want Johnson in your house,” I said.
He nodded. “True enough. But for you, I’ll take the risk.”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s a good idea,” he said, then bent low and whispered his cell phone number into my ear, his voice holding so much heat I was certain I would either melt or change my mind and go home with him right then.
After all that drama, I really wasn’t in the mood to go to Thirsty, but Gracie was expecting me, and I wasn’t going to disappoint the one non-demon-related friend I now had in this world. I invited Deacon to join me, but he declined, his expression amused. Apparently whatever the parameters of our fledgling relationship were, they did not include the traditional, old-fashioned date.
Probably just as well. Because although I was not interested in Brian, he was interested in Alice. And even in my darkest funk, I knew that it would be beyond rude to show up at Thirsty with a date in tow.
“There you are!” Gracie said, as I pushed my way through the crowd to their booth. More restaurant than club, Thirsty still had a great dance floor, and tonight the patrons were making full use of the live band that management had brought in.
Brian scooted over, and I slid in next to him, the incubus in me picking up on his attraction. And, yeah, I felt the desire in me ratchet up. Felt the sensuality flare. And I felt the darkness in me murmuring that I could have this boy. Could do whatever I wanted, wherever I wanted. And all the while, I would be thinking of Deacon.
I snatched up a menu and clutched it tight, determined to back those thoughts down. To fight the darkness that not only threatened to explode, but which threatened to make me hurt an innocent guy.
“We were beginning to wonder if you were going to stand us up,” Brian said, leaning in close so that I could hear him over the music. His breath tickled my ear, and despite myself, I felt that tug of heat. I glanced away, torn between wanting the heat to dissipate and wanting to stoke it, and I found myself looking at the doorway—and right at Deacon.
The burn I’d been trying to push back erupted, and I knew then that I’d lost the battle. I hadn’t yet learned to control my incubus side, and that was only too apparent with the way Brian now put his hand on my thigh. “So, um, Alice, do you want to dance?”
Gracie’s eyes were narrow, but she didn’t say anything. I left my coat on the seat, and Brian and I slid out of the booth, then eased onto the dance floor. “Do you want to do a movie sometime?” Brian asked, as I raised my arms above my head and let my hips move with the music. I’d been looking over his shoulder, watching Deacon, the way he stood straight and tall. The way a muscle twitched in his cheek.
I moved closer to Brian.
And, yeah, one part of me felt like a shit for doing it. For smiling at him when he slipped his hands around my waist. For arching my back so that our bodies brushed when my hips gyrated. I was driving both of us a little crazy—and Deacon, too.
That, of course, was what I’d wanted, what I craved. That sexual spark. And if the dark part in me wanted to use Brian to get there . . .
Well, I’m ashamed to admit that the part of me that knew better had been soundly subjugated.
“Alice?” Brian pressed, moving his arms up to hook around my neck. “The movie?”
I slid my fingers through his hair and spun around on the floor, giving Deacon my back, and then closing my eyes and letting myself pretend that it was his arms I was in, not Brian’s. “Maybe,” I whispered. “Right now let’s just dance.” I wanted to do nothing more than move to the music. To be the old Lily, who danced and drank and bummed smokes off her friends. A Lily who didn’t hunt demons and didn’t care about the dark.