Soul Stripper (7 page)

“Hey,
Drew
.” Kayce nudged me in the ribs.

“Hey there, Kayce. Been a while since we’ve seen you around here.” He stood behind the counter wiping down a mug like some sort of Old West bartender.

“Hmm, missed me?” She leaned forward and winked at him. Seeing her flirting with Drew made me sort of want to grab her hair and shove her face in the coffee grinder. I know it’s just in our succubus nature to flirt with everyone, but he was
my
desire and she knew that.

“And look who I dragged with me.” Kayce tugged my elbow closer to the bar area and she took a step back.

Hmm, okay, she’s safe from the coffee grinder. For now. “Hi,” I said quietly.

“Hi back.” He tilted his head to the side and smiled. “How ya feeling?”

I practically melted into a puddle right there on the floor. Normally, my succubus magic helped prevent my usual stuttering. Today, however, there was no such magic to help. We stood there like idiots, locked in each other’s gaze.

“Much better, thank you. Thanks for—you know, helping yesterday.” Another growl from my stomach broke the silence. “Oh, right,” I said, shaking my head to help wake me up. “Kayce and I were gonna get some breakfast. Got any bagels left back there?”

“Sure do.” Drew smiled and threw a hand towel over his shoulder. “Feel like having some eggs too? I can whip some up on the griddle in the back. A healing lady needs her strength.”

“Oh, no. That’s not necessary. . . .”

“That would be great.” Kayce and I had spoken at the same time; me, not wanting to be too much trouble, but Kayce letting her big eyes and gluttony do the talking.

“I’ll be back in a minute. I think I have some leftovers from my breakfast earlier.” Drew slipped into the back, and I turned to glare at Kayce.

Her eyes widened and she shrugged. “What? It’s free food.”

I shook my head. “You’re one of the highest paid demons in our realm, yet you’re fine taking money from a hard-working guy like Drew?!”

“Excuse me. Could we not advertise my wealth to all of Vegas, please!”

I sighed. “Are you ever going to be able to tell me what exactly you do for a living?” Kayce was always so elusive about her job, as in
if I told you, I’d have to kill you
. Part of me thinks this is her idea of a joke, but then I’ll get a glimpse at her temper and be reminded to never push the point too far. To my knowledge, no one in our inner circle except for Lucien knew what she did. I was pretty sure it was something dark and dangerous. Every now and then, Kayce would get this look in her eyes and you just knew—this was not a woman to be fucked with. No matter how often she rationalized it, though, it always hurt that she didn’t trust me enough to reveal what she did.

She shrugged, and for a moment I thought I saw a flicker of sadness in those dark eyes. “I hope I never have to,” she said quietly.

“Fucking Hell, Kayce.” I shook my head at her.

A deep voice came from behind me. “You should watch that language, lady.”

I recognized Erik’s voice and responded without even turning around. “You shouldn’t be talking to me with your wife only a few feet away.”

“She left already. For work.” There was a bitterness when he said
work
.

“Shouldn’t you be leaving, too, then?”

“In a minute.” He leaned against the counter, forcing me to make eye contact. “I just thought I’d come over and say hi . . . maybe you can introduce me to your friend here.”

Kayce smiled and ran her tongue over her scarlet lips. Always the attention whore.

“Of course. Kayce, this is Erik. Erik, this is Kayce. My lesbian lover.”

Kayce cleared her throat, and when I looked over, standing in front of me with two plates of scrambled eggs and toasted bagels, was Drew. His mouth hanging slightly open.

Erik leaned in, not even noticing Drew. “Really? Well, maybe later you two can make me a sandwich.”

Kayce grabbed a plate from Drew and took Erik by the arm. “Why don’t you keep me company while I eat breakfast.” Erik happily followed at her heels under the Kayce spell.

“Wasn’t that the guy you spilled coffee on?” Drew pointed at Erik as he walked away from us.

“Um, yeah. That’s him.”

“He’s not harassing you, is he? Because I do have the right to refuse service to anyone.” He pointed at a sign on the wall that stated just that.

“No, no. It’s not a big deal.” I paused, taking as delicate a bite as I could from my bagel. “By the way, what I said just then . . . about Kayce and me, it was just . . . I mean, it’s not true or anything.”

Drew shrugged. “I figured. Though I don’t think talking about lesbian sex is the right way to deter a man like that. Or
any
man, for that matter.” He grabbed a fork, taking a bite of my eggs. “Unless, you don’t
want
to deter him.”

I smirked. “He’s not my type.”

“Oh yeah?” An eyebrow arched over his green eyes. “So what is your type? Oh, I almost forgot—
Wills
is your type, right?” Leaning on his elbows across the counter, he took another bite of my eggs.

I decided to ignore his pointed question. He was the one with the girlfriend, after all. “Ahhh,” I cried, “those are my eggs.” I jutted my bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout.

“I made ’em.” He chuckled. “Nor have you paid yet. So I think maybe I could claim them as my own.”

“You’ll have to fight me for ’em.” I held my fork up, en garde, like a sword. “And I’m pretty feisty.”

He laughed in that bubbly way I love so much. “Oh, I know that. Believe me.” He set the fork down next to my wrist. “You look nice again today, by the way. Different than usual.” His eyes trailed from the top of my hair down my body, taking my new look in. He quickly returned his gaze to mine, cheeks flushing.

My face went hot at his compliment. The heat traveled all the way down my body stirring up a tornado of emotions. “Really? I feel like I’m . . . um, a bit casual today.”

“You are,” he said, holding my eye contact. “That’s what I like about the look. It’s like yesterday, except you don’t seem quite so exhausted. You look more . . . relatable. You’re normally so put together. It’s intimidating.”

I smirked as I took another bite, stifling a girly giggle. “Are you telling me
I
intimate
you?
”

“Of course not,” he answered. “I’m clearly too masculine to be intimidated by
anybody.
Obviously, I meant other men who don’t have the overflowing amounts of testosterone that I do.” He posed exaggeratedly in a muscle man way. “So . . . you didn’t answer my question—what’s your type?”

“Mmmm,” I hummed in response, leaning in closer to him. “I thought you answered that for me already.”

His gaze shifted down to my breasts for a moment, and he quickly looked back to my eyes. “How’s the leg?”

“Oh, fine.” I took another bite of my breakfast. “Thanks for calling Wills last night.” Drew nodded but said nothing else. “Also, um . . . I had no clothes on when I woke up this morning. I don’t imagine you as the kind who would take advantage of a sweet girl hopped up on painkillers, but . . .”

Drew tossed his head back and laughed. “The second I got you into your apartment, you stripped off your clothes. I tried not to look, but, hey—I’m only human.” I smiled at that. Deliciously human. “I put a protein bar and a glass of water by the bed, then left you to rest.”

“Did you lock the door behind you?”

“Of course.” He held up a set of keys. “Here’s your spare set back.”

“So, you snuck a peek, huh? Like anything you saw?”

His eyes lowered and his chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. His lips parted to speak when Kayce came up behind me, slapping my ass as she walked up, interrupting the moment. “Eat up, lady. We’ve got some errands to run.”

Damnit, damnit, damnit.
I forked a few mouthfuls in one bite and swallowed quickly.

“Errands, huh?” Drew pushed off of the counter and grabbed another coffee mug to dry. “You should come to this couples’ night thing I’m going to tonight.”

Kayce nudged me. Still chewing, my mouth full of eggs and bagel, I shook my head to say no as I swallowed the food down.

Even though I opened my mouth to speak, Kayce cut in before me. “She’d love to go.” She shot me a look, eyes narrowed.

I took a deep breath. “What time is it? And where?”

He smiled wider, dimples creased so deep I could hide loose change in them. “It starts at eight p.m. at my church. Bring Wills.”

“Oh,” Kayce and I said in unison.

“Um, well, I have some plans tonight . . . but maybe we can hang out another evening.” I pushed my half-eaten plate away, getting ready to leave.

“Oh, c’mon, Monica. My church isn’t that bad. We’re very progressive. Mostly we just volunteer with youth groups and discuss passages that we still find relevant in everyday life. No exact interpretations of the Bible, no judgments. Nothing like that.” He set the mug down on the counter in front of me.

Kayce looked skeptically at Drew. “You don’t really strike me as the churchgoin’ type.”

He shrugged. “It’s a sense of community. I found them when I joined AA.”

My concern had less to do with judgmental hypocrites and everything to do with my whole minion of Hell situation. I literally could not step on holy ground without experiencing excruciating pain. Not since I fell from grace. And I was pretty damn sure Wills couldn’t, either. Even with my new current situation, I couldn’t be sure that I was exempt from that pain yet. I desperately wanted to visit a church, but my body writhing in pain would probably not make the greatest first impression on this group. “I suppose Adrienne’s going to be there with you, huh? She doesn’t exactly look like she belongs in a church, either.” I sounded a little harsher than I meant to.

Kayce looked at me without moving her head and, covering her mouth with her coffee mug, whispered softly, “Bring it down a notch, Mon.”

He stepped back from me—a slight gesture, but it didn’t go unnoticed. “I’m actually the one who put the event together.” He spoke quieter. “I’m not going as part of a couple.... I’m going as the coordinator, so, no, Adrienne won’t be there.” He turned his back to me and finished the thought without eye contact. “I guess I just thought maybe you would enjoy the night. Hang out with people outside of your stripper friends and patrons.” My face felt hot as he said that. “I’m assuming that’s why Mr. Three-way over there was over here just now. He looked at you like he’s seen you naked.” His voice was more bitter.

Shit.
“I’m sorry, Drew. I-I—” My stuttering threw me off, “I just get a little freaked out by churches. What’s the address? If I have time, maybe I’ll swing by.”

He turned back around, with a hint of a smile . . . but still not quite his normal jovial self. He wrote down an address and handed it to me, our fingertips brushing in the process. My body trembled at his touch. “I hope to see you there.”

I pocketed the address and turned to leave the store. Erik was there waiting for me. “I thought you were leaving,” I said, exiting the coffee shop. I didn’t even bother making eye contact with him. “And I thought we made an agreement. No contact outside of Hell’s Lair.”

“I know, I know.” He put his hands up in front of him as if saying
stop
. “I bought this the other day—not sure why I bought it. I just liked it. Then last night, I found it in my pocket and it made me think of you. It’s the exact color of your eyes.” He handed me a dark blue smooth stone. It shimmered in the light and was about the size of a quarter. It had a little bit of dust on it—red dust. Like it came out of the Red Rock desert or something.

I reached out to take it from him, then held it in the palm of my hand. I’d never seen a stone quite like this before. It had the look of lapis lazuli but with more shimmer. I held the stone back out to him. “I can’t take this,” I said.

“Please,” he said. “I want you to have it. It’s a rare stone and nonrefundable. Besides, I can’t give it to my wife—it’s definitely not her style. She’ll know something is up. I’m not even sure why I bought it. I guess I was just drawn to it or something.”

I was about to say that that wasn’t my problem, but the fact was there was a beauty to it that I just loved. And I thought back to his wife sitting at the café table—her mud-colored hair, her boring gray suit that didn’t even fit well, her plain white-gold chain that hung around her neck. He was right, she’d never wear something like this stone. And I wanted to keep it. It was just my style. I thought it weird that he so easily found something that was perfect for me, but the man had money. And I had expensive tastes. So perhaps it was just circumstantial luck. It did match my eyes—a dark, ocean-like blue. I figured there was no harm in keeping it. I slipped the stone into the pocket with the address Drew gave me. “Thanks, Erik. I’ll see you around.” I brushed past him and out the door.

 

Kayce and I sat in my car, silently driving down the dusty road to the strip club. Lucien was almost always there. I pulled into my usual spot and saw Lucien’s SUV parked on the other side of the lot. Demons aren’t really the environmentally conscious kind.

The door creaked behind us as we entered. The club during the day seemed even seedier than at night. The slick floors, though recently mopped, still had a layer of oil on them from the sweat of the dancers and patrons. “Lucien?” My voice trembled, though I wasn’t quite sure why.

The club had a faint odor of rosewater. I walked closer to his office door, which was cracked open.

“What are you doing here?” a gruff voice said from behind me. I jumped and turned around, face-to-face with Lenny.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m looking for Lucien. Is he here?”

“He’s in a private meeting in the back room. The door is locked with an enchantment around it. You can wait in his office if you want.”