Page 1

Chapter One

"Nora?" My question left me on an exhale laden with surprise.

I stood there, staring into the small room illuminated by blacklights while bass-heavy music boomed around us. Three masked people stood around the woman, who I believed to be my colleague. She wore a familiar button-down shirt that glowed neon white. The light radiated off her feathery blonde hair, turning it to an ethereal blanket of glimmering silver around her shoulders. She swung around, her eyes widening when she saw me.

"You know her?" a male voice asked her.

Nora gaped at me, her mouth slightly ajar. Her hands gathered at her chest in a sort of innocent bashfulness that I'd witnessed from her a few times before.

"What do you want with her?" asked a second masked person, the voice a pitchy feminine, as she stepped up to me.

"Is she yours, Ravana?" I asked, gesturing to Nora. "Have you claimed her as so?"

The masked woman glanced back at her. Nora stood frozen in place with wide, horrified eyes.

Eventually, the masked woman said, "No."

"What about you two?" I bullied my way into the room, hitting one of the brawnier masked folks with my shoulder. "Did you?"

The man stared me down, despite the thick leather mask covering his face, I could tell his eyes narrowed with the challenge I posed.

"No," he answered, his lips pressed together after. "Did you?"

I ignored him and addressed the other person in the room. "How about you? Is she yours?"

"No," he answered right away, shaking his head.

"Fine. Get out." I pointed to the open door while my angry heart slammed in my chest. "All of you, out."

The two men left, but the woman remained behind. She swept in front of me, her nose two inches from mine.

"Get. Out." I emphasized each word as I fought the urge to strangle her in a non-consensual manner. "Now."

"Fucking hate you, Caroline," she spat, ramming my shoulder with hers on the way out.

I let her go, then slammed the door in her wake, sealing us in the underground room in the basement of the Leather & Lace Speakeasy. With the door shut, the music quieted, and I flicked on the regular lights now filtering out the black.

Nora flinched, still clutching her hands to her chest. Along with her blouse, she wore a short plaid skirt, but her bare legs and feet on the shiny black tile stood out like two icy pillars in the night sky. She said nothing, her entire body shaking when she met my gaze.

"What are you doing here?" I approached her and finally, she shifted her position.

"What are you doing here?" she rounded on me, her tentative pose long forgotten.

"I belong here." My brow narrowed, and I fought the urge to tear into her. "Fucking Christ, Nora."

"Don't get pissed off at me for the fact that you interrupted my evening." Nora snatched her jacket off the leather sofa, unearthing a pair of leggings with it. I watched as she tugged them on under her skirt followed by knee-high boots. Her angry movements stole away the coyness and grace she carried usually.

"Stop fussing with everything and just fucking talk to me for a minute," I spat.

"I talk to you all day long, Donovan." She threw her jacket on and pulled it harshly around her shoulders. "I don't need to see you here, too."

"I've got news for you, blondie." I folded my arms across my chest while leaning against the wall beside the door. "If there's one place in the world anyone would look for me other than work, it'd be here. The question is, why are you here?"

"Just shut up and move." She waved to the door. "I'm leaving."

"You're drunk."

"I'm fucking leaving, Caroline!" Nora shouted at me, her voice cracking. Her angry tones never made it to her glimmering eyes, like pools of moss damp with rain. I saw no rage in them, only embarrassment.