Sacrifice Me: The Complete Season One (24 page)

I couldn’t resist him even if I tried.

“Of course I’m not firing you, but I
don’t want you here looking like that,” he said.
Mercifully, he backed away, running a hand through his dark hair.
“You can’t possibly understand how difficult this is for
me.”

“I have an idea,” I said, my voice a
whisper.

What I didn’t understand was exactly why he
was having such a hard time being around me. Was this just about the
smell of the blood running through my veins? Or was Katy right? Was
it more than that? Was I special?

I wanted to ask him, but the words caught in my
throat.

“Do you want me to leave?”

He closed his eyes, his profile half in shadow
here in the dimly lit room. “No,” he said. “I just
wasn’t expecting you to show up after what happened before. I
was afraid you weren’t ever coming back.”

“Would you have come looking for me?”
I asked, my breath hitching on the last word. “Or would you
have let me go?”

He turned to me, dark eyes flashing with
intensity. The muscles in his jaw rippled as he clenched his teeth,
his lips tight and his shoulders rigid.

“I don’t think I could let you go even
if I tried,” he said.

He took two long steps toward me and slid one hand
behind my back, pulling me into his arms. I pushed against his chest,
my heart in panic-mode. I wanted him and hated him at the same time.
How did he always have this power over me? How could I possibly
protect myself against this?

“Rend.” His name was a prayer against
my lips. Only, I wasn’t sure what I was praying for most. I
knew what I really wanted from him, but I was overcome by fear of
never being able to have him that way. And if I couldn’t have
him all, I didn’t want any of him. It would destroy me, piece
by piece.

His eyes locked on mine and our bodies pressed
tight against one another. My struggle stopped and I grabbed his
jacket into my fists instead, urging him closer.

His lips descended on mine and I gave in to him,
releasing my grip so that I could wrap my arms around his neck. I
knew first-hand how dangerous kissing him could be, but I didn’t
care. Let him take my blood if he wanted it. I couldn’t deny
him anything.

Rend pulled me close, his hands roaming over my
back as his lips explored mine. We broke apart and came together in
fits of passion, my leg hooking around his as he pressed my back hard
against the closed door. He groaned, then pulled away, but he didn’t
release me. Instead, his eyes met mine and he placed his thumb along
my jawline as his hand cradled my head. “Franki, I don’t
ever want to hurt you again,” he said. “But I don’t
know how to resist you.”

“I can’t keep playing this game,”
I said. “I need to know how you feel. I need to understand what
it is you want from me.”

His eyes searched my face, but before he could
answer, someone knocked on the door.

“Rend?”

It was Azure. Rend’s body tensed and he
released his hold on me. “I’ll be out in a minute,”
he said.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve only
got about ten minutes before the doors open,” she said.

“I said I’ll be there in a minute,”
he said.

I ducked under his arm and moved away, feeling
exposed in the skimpy outfit, my body pulsing with desire for a man I
swore I would protect myself from. I immediately regretted our kiss
now that it was over. Was I really this girl? The kind that let a man
constantly get away with this push and pull, never committing or
fully giving in? I didn’t want to be her. I swore I’d
never be her.

“I have to go,” he said. “I want
you to get changed and come back out as soon as you can.”

He was back to business now.

“Rend, I—”

“I know,” he said, cutting me off with
a gruff tone. “We’ll talk later, I promise. After your
shift. For now, get out of those clothes before I rip them off of
you.”

I shivered at the thougt.

“I’ll see you out there,” he
said. He straightened his suit jacket and opened the door, but then
he turned back to me before he walked out. “And by the way. I
like your natural blue better.”

My hand fluttered toward my eyes as he walked
away. There was no doubt the desire was still there between us, but I
was no closer to understanding whether he wanted me for the right
reasons or the most horribly wrong ones.

When I had changed back into jeans and a Venom
Staff t-shirt, I walked into the main room to catch the tail end of
the staff meeting. As I’d feared, most people turned to stare
when I walked in. They all probably thought I had done something
horrible to incur Rend’s wrath the way I had, which was
actually better than them suspecting the truth.

I was so confused, I didn’t even know what
the truth was at this point.

“Why did you change?” Lyla whispered.
“Are you not dancing again tonight?”

“No, she’s going to be behind the bar
with Azure tonight.”

Rend had this terrible habit of stepping into
conversations when I least expected it. I hadn’t realized he
was even listening to Lyla’s question.

At the sound of his voice, my heart raced. My
cheeks flushed, and I prayed no one could tell in the half-darkness
of the room. I took a deep breath before I dared to look up at him.
All it would take was one very competent observer and everyone in
this room would know we’d kissed. And more.

I needed to get myself under control. If I was
going to be working here, I’d have to keep my feelings for him
under tight lock and key.

Thankfully, when I finally did turn toward him, he
had already moved away. If I’d had to stare into those dark
black eyes right now, I might have cracked. Instead, I was able to
collect myself with no one watching.

And did he just say I’d be working with
Azure tonight? Awesome. And here I’d thought this night
couldn’t get any better.

As Rend finished going through the instructions
for the evening, I picked a random spot behind him to focus on. The
glowing exit sign on the back door. That way I didn’t have to
stare directly at him in those black pants that clung to his body in
all the right ways. I didn’t have to think about how the white
dress shirt he wore reminded me of the fact that hours earlier he’d
practically torn a shirt just like that off my body.

“Franki?”

I snapped to attention, embarrassed I’d been
caught not listening.

“Yes?”

He raised an eyebrow and tensed his jaw. “Is
that good with you?”

I had no idea what he’d been talking about,
and I looked to Lyla as if she could somehow telepathically fill me
in on the last ten minutes.

Rend sighed. “These meetings aren’t
just for my own amusement, Franki. I need you to pay attention.”

I wanted to crawl under one of the tables and
disappear into shadow.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

Lyla reached over and squeezed my hand. I gave her
a half-smile and she looked at me with pity. Poor Franki. What a
complete idiot.

“I was asking if you would mind spending a
few minutes behind the bar with me before your shift so I can show
you the basics of what we offer.”

“Oh. Sure,” I said. Did it matter if I
was okay with it or not? It wasn’t like I had other options. I
damn well wasn’t going to say I’d rather be dancing. Or
cleaning toilets. Being behind the bar was probably one of the best
jobs in this place. I especially liked the idea of the actual bar
standing between me and most of the people coming in here. There was
a feeling of safety in that barrier.

Still, the thought of spending time that close to
Rend right now had me all tingly and nervous.

Was it too much to hope that he would stay twenty
feet away from me at all times for the next few hours? At least until
his kiss wasn’t still raw on my lips?

When the meeting was over, Lyla squeezed my hand
one more time. She leaned close to me, her back turned so Rend
couldn’t see or hear her. “If you need anything, just let
me know, okay? He can be a real ball-buster sometimes. Don’t
let him get to you.”

Too late.

“Thanks,” I said, genuinely touched
that she cared. And relieved she had obviously mistaken my awkward
nervousness for fear that I was in trouble.

Azure however, was staring daggers at me again
from behind the bar as I approached.

“Looks like we’ll be working together
tonight,” I said, trying to infuse my voice with some level of
enthusiasm.

“Oh joy,” she said. She gave me a
sickly sweet smile.

This promised to be an interesting night. Maybe I
should channel all my nervous energy into annoying the shit out of
Azure. That would help to keep my mind off Rend, at least.

I waited for him behind the bar, busying myself
with cleaning glasses and getting acclimated to the arrangement of
everything back there, but my eyes kept drifting over to where he
stood talking to Selena.

God, he really was the most gorgeous man I’d
ever seen in my life. Just catching him out of the corner of my eye
made my body yearn for him. How was I going to survive working so
close to him and not being able to touch him?

I was crazy if I thought I could convince myself I
didn’t have real feelings for him. The moment his lips had
touched mine, I knew it was hopeless to deny it.

But at the same time, it was dangerous to give
into those feelings.

Normally, I would have just walked away and cut
him from my life. A clean break was the only way to get over feelings
like this. But that wasn’t even a possibility for me right now.

I sighed and glanced up at him again, unable to
keep my eyes off him. He’d been talking to Selena for quite a
while and now their discussion had escalated into more of an
argument. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but from the
tension in their shoulders and faces, I could tell they were both
angry.

I looked to Azure and she raised her shoulders in
a shrug.

“Then do it yourself, dammit,” Selena
shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. “I’m not about
to put my life at risk for some—”

Rend grabbed her arm and leaned in to say
something in her ear.

Selena’s body grew softer as she listened.
Rend loosened his grip on her and she looked over her shoulder, her
eyes meeting mine for a brief moment. She nodded at him, then opened
her palm. Rend took something out of his pocket and handed it to her.
Selena closed her fist around it before I could see what it was. She
dropped the object into the back pocket of her jeans and stormed out
to take her place in front of the club.

“What was that all about?” I asked
when Rend came over to stand beside me behind the bar.

“What makes you think that’s any of
your business?” Anger rolled off him like a dark cloud.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that
she said she wasn’t going to risk her life for someone and then
looked directly at me?”

He shook his head. “You never let up, do
you? Have you always been so blunt?”

I shrugged. I couldn’t tell if he meant it
as a compliment or an insult.

“I just don’t like when people keep
things from me,” I said.

He gave me a sideways glance and I met his eyes,
letting him know that yes, I meant that exactly the way it sounded.

“I asked her not to let Fallon or any of the
Devil’s other minions into the club tonight,” he said.

I swallowed. “Do you think he’d
actually try to come back?”

“I have no idea,” he said, keeping his
voice low and looking around to make sure no one was listening.

Azure stood at the end of the bar polishing
glasses, but I’m sure she was listening to every word. He
didn’t seem to mind, though. Maybe he trusted Azure more than
most of his other workers. I wondered again exactly what their story
was. And whether there had ever been more between them than a simple
boss-employee relationship.

“Thanks,” I said. “You know, for
trying to keep me safe in here.”

“It’s my job,” he said. He
reached for a shot glass and set it up on the top of the bar. “Okay,
so here’s all you need to know for tonight. We serve five basic
drinks to ninety percent of the people who come in here.”

He leaned over the top of the bar and pointed to
the first of five bottles lined up in a row just beneath the bar top.
“We call this one Blue Frost. It goes down with a cooling
effect, drawing the heat from your body and heightening the senses,
particularly touch and sight. Drinking this makes people remember
details more clearly. They think better. A lot of the people who ask
for this drink are here to have some kind of meeting where they need
to be sharp and clear and calm.”

He nodded to the bottle. “Pour me a shot,”
he said.

I had worked behind bars before, so I was
comfortable with pouring a normal shot. But when I picked the bottle
up, it was much lighter than I expected. I used way too much force to
lift it, banging the top hard against the underside of the counter.

“Oh, shit.” I jumped back as the spout
on the top shot off and disappeared under a mini-fridge behind me.

At the end of the bar, Azure snorted. I shot her a
look.

“Potions aren’t like normal liquids,”
Rend said. “They aren’t like water or scotch or whatever.
They actually have different weights, so something you’ll have
to get used to is how each bottle feels. You don’t want to
break any of these bottles because you weren’t prepared for the
weight of the correct color.”

I nodded, my heart racing. Okay, so now I was a
little bit nervous. Not that I wasn’t smart enough to figure
out five basic shots. It was more that I knew he and Azure would be
watching my every move tonight. Azure in particular would be waiting
for me to mess up, snickering each time, I’m sure.

“How can I tell them apart? You said they’re
each a color, but they all look clear to me.”