Fierce Dawn (11 page)

Elijah didn’t know why he’d thought Lyric would for once prove helpful. Unless, it went beyond animosity. “You can’t, can you?”

“
Can’t what?” Lyric said.

“
It isn’t that you didn’t have enough time. It’s that you can’t read her, isn’t it?” He was right. Lyric didn’t have to answer for Elijah to see it. “It doesn’t matter.”

“
No. I couldn’t just now but I will.”

Elijah sensed a faint vibration nearby. “No need. We can’t wait any longer. You’ve done enough.”

Lyric’s jaw set, his lips thinning. But he didn’t argue. Instead, he pulled his goggles down, revved the engine and peeled onto the street. Elijah watched as he lifted off into the sky, the propulsion blurring the lights in a white, steaming tail. Movement caught his peripheral attention. Quickly, he expanded his senses outward again.

A low hiss
ing
sounded reached him. Elijah lit onto Sadie’s rooftop again before transporting down to her bedroom. Last night he’d watched her sleep. So peacefully, oblivious to the change about to come.

The room had been left tidy. Elijah found the fact promising. She was holding up after the near attack last night. The hissing in the distance hushed away.

Elijah transported back out to the street. Satisfied he hadn’t been seen or followed, he pushed off the ground and spread his wings wide into the dark night sky.

He had to trust Holly was correct. She could be
a
change
l
ing and she definitely was in danger. Though it knotted his gut with tension, Elijah knew he couldn’t wait any longer. He had to warn Sadie. Tonight.

~ ~ ~

Chapter Seven

The car’s music pulsed from the speakers, drowning out the engine, burying Sadie’s fears. The hypnotic notes and heady lyrics swept her racing thoughts away as night air pushed through her hair, pulling her toward possibility. By the time they arrived at the sushi bar, Sadie’s body pulsed, too, with anticipation.

Tonight she would live out what she’d envied. She would be herself again.

Jen pulled the car into valet and closed the top. Without a missing a beat, Sadie joined her cousin, exiting the Mustang and passing the line outside the restaurant. The hostess waved at Jen and let them bypass one very long line. A high table awaited and after they ordered appetizers, Sadie let herself take a look around. Lots of skin. No glowing
-
eyed beasts. She fit right in. Possibility practically scented the air. “Jen, I don’t know if I’ve ever told you how much I appreciate all you do for me.”

“
Of course, Sadie! I love you. And I miss old Sadie. It is so good to finally have her back!”

Sadie clucked. “Good to be back.”

By the time their California and Reno rolls arrived, the place had really filled up. Heat lamps spotted the outdoor patio, where they sat, though the late autumn evening hadn’t grown cold yet. Two hard
-
bodied and brunette guys headed their way, pausing a couple feet back. Even rusty, Sadie saw through the ploy. She grabbed her ice water for another sip.

“
I do have to say, though, and it’s none of my business,” Jen said. “But I think that getting laid would do you a world of good.”

Her mouthful of water went down the wrong way. Sadie coughed, spewing plenty. “Did you just say ‘laid’?”

The taller of
the
two guys spun around. “Ladies! Are you looking for volunteers over here?”

Jen laughed. “You wish.”

Sadie balked.

“
Mind if we join you?” the shorter friend chimed in.

“
If you can fit,” Jen said.

There wasn’t much room around them to pull the spare chairs out. So they didn’t. One guy wore black. Somehow, it wasn’t Elijah black.

“
We’ll stand. So, what are you drinking?”

Sadie stuck with water. Jen ordered a martini.

“
So, who is it that needs to get laid and why?”

Sadie felt her eyes bulge.

“
Huh-uh,” Jen said. “Eavesdropping gets you nothing. You gotta earn a secret like that.”

“
How about I guess?”

“
Sure, but you’ll be wrong.” Jen winked at Sadie.

“
What do you mean wrong?”

“
There’s no right answer, is there, Sadie?”

The pair looked at her, hopeful.

“
She’s right. If I need to get laid
,
I’m labeled as easy. If she does, she gets the label.”

“
And if we need to?” the other
guy
said.

“
Exactly,” Sadie said, feeling cocky.

Jen abruptly stood and said, “You ready?”

Sadie suppressed her gasp and followed her cousin out. At the exit, she sent a shrug and a grin to the pair they’d left standing. Their gaping mouths reminded her of back in the day. Maybe she wasn’t so rusty after all.

A tip to valet and they were off to the club. “You were awesome back there.” Jen tossed her long hair. “See, I knew you could do this! So, one half of the club is Ice and plays trance and techno
,
while Fire is the dance and hip
-
hop side. In the middle is a lounge and after midnight, they wheel out a grill,” Jen explained. “The burgers are heavenly
,
but the plan is to stay, dance our asses off, then head to after hours at Denny’s.”

“
Denny’s?” That sounded lame.

“I know, I know. Denny’s of all places, right? Not exactly cool. But you’ll be amazed.”

Again, they bypassed the line and Jen kissed the bouncer on the mouth on their way in. She quickly ordered them two pomegranate martinis. “Denny’s has perfect drunk food. Just find the picture of what you want and point at it. And it’s so brightly lit you can see who you were actually dancing with all night.”

Amazingly, their fruity martin
is
arrived fast. Sadie sipped the tangy concoction slowly. No way was she getting drunk and ruining this night. “But you said they serve amazing burgers here.”

“
Yeah, yeah. Okay. He might be there.”

“
He?” Sadie asked immediately
,
thinking of Elijah. But Jen couldn’t possibly mean him. Her belly ached just a little anyway.

“
The guy I met.” Jen got that far off look from last weekend as she swirled her drink. “The perfect one?”

“
From the club?” Sadie tried to sound forgetful. She’d mentally replayed the conversation a hundred or so times, inserting herself as Jen and Elijah as
—
. She stopped herself from finishing the story. What if Jen had met Elijah?

No. She had to stop thinking of him.

She’d made a deal with herself on the ride over. No Elijah tonight. No whimsical winged fantasies, no wishing for the chance to fix that first impression, or plotting exactly how she’d fix it. None of it. Period.

“
No. Not from the club.” Jen took a long drink. “From Denny’s.”

Sadie frowned. “Wait a minute. You’re saying
you
met the perfect man at Denny’s? Isn’t that some kind of movie gimmick?”

Jen laughed. “I know, right? Of all places.” She motioned for Sadie to follow and they strolled the perimeter of each half of the club, pausing in places to chat. At seventeen, sneaking in with a fake I.D.
,
they never did this walking stopping thing. They weren’t alone doing it. The dudes traveled in pairs, hardly looking at each other, eyes on the crowd, searching for a hot target.

“
Sadie? Did you hear me?”

“
Say it again?” The music ebbed and flowed around her, making her hips move.

“
If we get separated, not that we will, but if we do, we meet in the ladies room. Do you remember the lounge? Good. If the club is closing, we meet there. If you need me, text me.”

Sadie nodded, her hips nodding too. “Got it.”

Her body wanted to be out there under the strobe, moving and writhing, disappearing into the beat. But she couldn’t. It was early. The dance floor was too empty for Jen’s taste.

“
Seriously, Sadie,” Jen said, a bit slurry now. “No taking candy from strangers. No lost puppy finding. We stay together, okay?”

“
Okay. I promise.”

Two martin
is
later
—
four for Jen
—
Sadie itched to dance. They stood at the side of the Ice dance floor, Jen rapt in conversation with one of two guys
;
the other one kept sending Sadie meaningful smiles.

The dance floor, swirling in azure lights like water under the dancers’ feet, called to her. Bodies moving in short jerky stops and smooth liquid sways. The music thumped through her.

Sadie couldn’t keep faking interest. Her body was sick of standing, her eyes were sick of watching. Screw it. The next great song, she was going out there, Jen or no Jen. The way things were looking, Jen would never dance, making Sadie wonder if she ever did. Her cousin seemed happy to see and be seen.

Not Sadie.

She wanted more. She felt stuck. Would dancing a few feet away, promising to keep within sight, be wrong? A little voice reminded her, there was always the just
-
in
-
case clause. They could text, right. And it was only a few feet. Just one song.

The music hummed low in her veins, calling. She let her hips sway to it, closed her eyes for long seconds, allowing the story to sink into her bones.

She snapped her eyes open and looked over. Jen winked her way
,
then returned to her conversation. The extra guy angled his shoulders her direction, facing her by inches. He nodded his head, drank his beer, looked away. Sadie did the same, her gaze finding the dancing bodies again.

He leaned in. “I love this music,” he shouted.

Sadie nodded reverently. She did too. She smiled. He was tall and handsome in a contained, safe kind of way. She liked it. He smelled nice, too. Spicy. When her brain rushed to dismiss him, comparing him to the incomparable Elijah, she resisted. She buried the name down, his memorable face with it.

What was this guy’s name again? Jake? Drake? Maybe it didn’t matter. He wasn’t looking at her anymore. His eyes were on his friend. If she wasn’t mistaken, he was giving him a let’s
-
move
-
on kind of stare. Here she’d thought he’d been about to ask her to dance.

Did guys do that at clubs anymore? Was she on her own if she wanted to break girl code of honor and indulge her body’s craving?

Jake returned his attention and rolled his eyes.

“
Is it love?” she joked.

“
What?”

She waved off her words. His name had to be Jake. He looked like a Jake. Clean cut. All American. He motioned to the dance floor, wanna dance? The tempo felt like it was trying to lift her skirt over her head. The lights flirted with her, the swarm of bodies beckoned.

But Jen’s rule kept her in place. She shrugged a shoulder.

“
I can’t dance for shit anyways,” he shouted, leaning in enough to share his cologne with her buzzing senses.

She could see it in his smile; she’d bet money he could dance. “Liar.”

He winked. The challenge incited her. So many people underestimated her. He was toying with fire and had no idea. She could make a man beg if she wanted to. Music spoke to her that deeply.

She glanced at Jen who sent her another apologetic look. Sadie flipped her hair back and called Jake’s weak
-
ass bluff. The idea of seeing his mouth fall open, hunger in his eyes, hunger for her, for what he’d never get
,
fed her own hunger to escape into the music.

Adrenaline spun through Sadie. She shifted her hips and sent him a what
-
the
-
hell look. The music changed. She didn’t know the song but the beat had a sexy hook. The kind of song she could melt inside.