Page 61 of A Taste of Bliss

He’s in the center of a group of people all dancing, a beer bottle in his hand. He wears a plain black mask, same with all the other members of Dead Hearts. Jinx with his blue hair is super obvious, and I can make out their drummer and bassist as well.

I force a smile at Grim. “Can you excuse me again for just a few minutes?”

“I suppose I can put up with your absence for a bit, but it’ll be very touch and go. Have pity on me and return to me soon, Bliss.” He grins shamelessly and I roll my eyes playfully at his over-the-top words.

I turn and grab Reese’s arm, pulling her towards Amelia, who’s talking with Taser. I look pointedly at him with raised eyebrows. “Can you give us a second?”

He sighs and leaves without saying a word. My stomach plummets. That was super rude of me. I ignore the look Amelia is giving me, the one that says she thinks I should forgive him already.

“Jordan’s over there,” I say, angling my head towards the dance floor. Amelia and Reese’s eyes follow the motion, and I can see when Amelia picks him out of the crowd, her entire form seeming to tense up.

“How’d you find him?”

“His laugh. Every time I hear it, it makes the hair on my neck stand straight up.”

Amelia squeezes my arm in support. “Let’s get this over with.”

I take a deep breath and nod, squeezing my hands into fists and following Amelia and Dericia to the dance floor. There are enough people dancing now that it should be easy to get close enough to look into his eyes quickly and then leave.

Amelia grabs my forearms, pulling me into a dance with her. I sway my hips to the beat, Reese beside me, but I can’t get into it like normal when the three of us are just having fun dancing. My heart pounds in my chest and I canhearmy pulse beating. I hope Jordan, with his vampiric hearing, doesn’t notice it.

Slowly Amelia turns me so that I’m facing towards where they all stand, with her between me and them. She backs up, looking like she’s just really getting down to the music, and pulls me along with her. Dericia sticks to my side. I reach out, giving her hand a grateful squeeze.

Jordan is facing me and it takes everything in me not to bolt right then and there. But I still can’t see his eyes well enough. I’m not close enough, and even though the ballroom has more than enough light, his face is in a bit of shadow.

“I’m not close enough,” I whisper to Amelia, and she nods, a plan forming in her head.

She pulls me a few steps forward and turns me, holding our hands up interlocking until we’re almost bumping into the group of Dead Hearts. But in a crowd like this, jostling against someone is normal. So I act natural and I turn, Amelia still holding my hand up in the air as she spins me. I try to get a good look at Jordan’s eyes, but my feet get caught up in each other and I fall to the ground.

My knees hit the wooden dance floor with a crack that isn’t heard over the music, but I can definitely feel it. I wince in pain and a hand helps me up. I get to my feet, wiping with my freehand at my knee that’s now bleeding. I must have scuffed it against the floor.

“Thanks,” I say, looking up at the guy who helped me and freezing as I stare right at Jordan. We lock eyes, and I breathe out a sigh of relief when I see they are completely free of any runes.

“You okay?” he asks, reaching out an arm to steady me, taking both of my hands now in his.

I involuntarily take a step back. I nod, not trusting my voice. He’ll recognize it immediately. I push away from him and run from the dance floor, deciding last minute that I can’t go to where the boys of Goddess’ Trance are still talking with the Phantoms and Bill or he’ll definitely know it’s me. I veer to the side, deciding another drink isn’t totally out of the question after almost getting caught.

I get into line at one of the bars and a few moments later someone queues up behind me. I glance back at them and smile.

“Simon!” He’s not wearing a mask, but his black hair has been artfully arranged to look as if he just woke up. A bit of it falls into his brown eyes.

He leans in a little and studies my face, and then his cracks into a smile. “Bliss, right? It’s good to see you. You look amazing, that mask suits you.”

I almost laugh. I specifically picked the mask because I didn’t think it suited me. “Thanks,” I say and take a few steps forward as the line moves. Simon moves with me and we end up standing side by side. “I’m surprised you recognized me.”

He laughs. “I spend too much time with people in masks. Gotten really good at recognizing people just by their eyes.”

“Makes sense,” I respond, grinning. And that is exactly why I end up reaching into my very limited power source, coaxing a bit of my power out, and letting it flow to Simon. If I could flirt myway into getting an introduction to Wrath, then this whole thing might be easier than I originally thought.

“Let me buy you a drink,” Simon offers, as we reach the bar. I smile. It’s working.

“Oh that’s okay,” I start to say, and then arch my brows at him. “It’s an open bar.”

He grins at me and winks. “I’ll get a gin and tonic, please, and whatever she’s having,” Simon says to the bartender, who looks at me expectantly.

“Make it two gin and tonics.”

The bartender nods and gets to work on our drinks, handing them over to us a few moments later.