Page 18

SEVENTEEN

For the past two nights, I looked for Draco at the club. When I was on stage, I looked for him. When I arrived and when I left, but he never showed. Rachel sent me a text telling me she left with the others an hour after Rose arrived, and we started the first haunted house. After the reading with the fortune teller, I couldn’t sleep. I would stare at the doll, like it was going to come alive and tell me all I needed to know. I would play what she said in my mind on a loop, trying to pick it apart for clues.

I lean back on the headboard of the bed in my motel room. I Google reincarnation and feel stupid for doing it but find there are cases that exist. People meeting again from a past life. People claiming they knew things from their formal lives. People also claim to have visions or a sense of déjà vu when they arrive at places. New countries. Meeting people. But I knew what the old woman told me was entirely different. This was fate for something that I did, but the question is, who is Draco in this life compared to his past life?

“I would die for you,” a man’s voice whispers in my ear.

“It’s time,” a little girl’s voice whispers.

My body starts shaking on the bed, and I feel like I’m hovering over the mattress. “Mommy, help them.” The little girl’s voice starts fading to a whisper. “Help them.”

I jerk awake, my eyes pop open, and I gasp for air. I feel something in my chest. I look down, realizing I fell asleep scrolling through my phone.

”It was a dream,” I mutter, wiping sleep from eyes with one hand.

I unlock my screen and see that it’s six a.m., and my mouth feels like sandpaper. The diner is open, and it will be daylight soon.

I take a shower and freshen up. I throw on a pair of jean shorts and a cropped hoodie, pairing it with my Converse sneakers. I need to go car shopping. I can’t rely on Uber or walking to and from work.

Activity at the motel has picked up, and soon it won’t be safe enough to walk to and from work or anywhere. It’s getting colder, and walking in the cold is not an option.

I walk out and make my way to the diner. The sky is gray, heavy with fog. The air is crisp as I make my way down the stairs.

When I make it to the diner, the same server greets me. “Good morning, have a seat wherever you like, sweetheart.”

“Thanks,” I say with a smile and then scan the diner. There are three men inside having their morning cup of coffee. Two must be truckers. There are two rigs parked out front, their logos matching the trucker hats they wear. The third, which I don’t recognize, is seated at the back table, choosing the booth that is furthest away from the men.

I’m scrolling through my phone when I feel the table tremble and hear the groan of vinyl as someone slides into the booth across from me.

I look up and spot Draco’s grin, making my heart stop and my stomach flip.

“Good morning, Athena. Sleep well?”

If he only knew how sexy his voice sounds in the morning. I could never stop wanting to hear it. He picks up the menu I didn’t realize he brought with him instead of using the tablet.

“Do you stalk girls in diners too?”

He looks up from the menu. “No, just you.”

Fuck me. I squeeze my thighs together remembering what he did with his tongue. The memory haunts me in the most delicious ways.

“Why?”

“Why not?” he says, his British accent making an appearance, “Is there a problem?”

“Not at all, but you don’t know me that well.”

“I’ve had a taste.” Jesus. “Besides, how am I supposed to get to know you if you have a problem with me showing up?” he counters, making my heart gallop.

“I thought it was rude to show up unannounced.”

“I don’t have your phone number,” he points out.

“You know where I work. You could have shown up there.” I want to know why it’s taken him this long to find me.

“Why would I show up there? Then you’ll think I want to fuck you for money,” he mocks.

“What do you want?” I ask, getting annoyed.

His eyes smolder, hinting to me exactly what he wants. What he wants me to agree to.

He tears his gaze away and continues to peruse the menu. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

I pick up the tablet to scroll through the menu to act like I’m doing something, placing my phone on the table, already knowing what I want. I usually order a cup of coffee and a muffin. I got used to eating light and saving every dollar I made for a car and apartment by ordering the same thing almost every morning.

“What am I thinking?” I challenge putting the tablet down and taking the opportunity to check him out.

He’s wearing a leather jacket with a white T-shirt that does nothing to hide his inked muscles. I swear the man gets better looking every time I see him. His complexion is perfect. White skin, dark-framed lashes, sharp cheekbones, and a chiseled jaw. All the ways to slice a girl’s heart open.

“It doesn’t matter what you’re thinking because the truth is, I want to get to know you.”

“So you want to be friends?”

He chuckles, and my palms sweat on the vinyl surface adjacent to my thighs, causing my hands to become slippery as he licks his lips, eager to feel them against mine.

I’ve never kissed a man, but I wouldn’t mind him being my first.

“I think we’re past being friends.”

“Then what are we?”

“I’m trying to figure that out,” he says honestly. “I’ve never met someone like you.”

“Like me? I ask, surprised.

“Yes. I find you intriguing.”

“You find me attractive because I work at a strip club.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asks, changing the subject.

“No, but I think it’s a little too late to be asking me that.”

“It’s only fair that I ask you the same questions you asked me the last time we saw each other here.” Funny how he skipped our last encounter. “I’m continuing where we left off now that I know how you respond to me.”

“But I didn’t finish. Is that a good response or a bad one?”

He places the menu down and drags the tablet toward him, tapping the menu on the screen to place his order. “A good response. Now you know how I feel when I watch you dance.” My inner thighs begin to sweat, wishing I wore tights, but he ruined my last pair. “And for the record, you’re a dancer, not a stripper. I haven’t seen you naked.”

“Do you want to?” I ask, lowering my voice. “Would that be a good response, Draco?” I can’t believe I’m practically throwing myself at him. Every time he’s around, a part of me I don’t recognize has me doing and saying things I normally wouldn’t.

“It’s not a question of me wanting; it’s a question of when.”

“I thought I might find you here,” a male voice interrupts. My eyes lift and see a familiar face. It’s the same guy who was in the next room on my first night at the motel. His eyes shift from Draco and then to me. “Hello,” he says.

Draco gives him a disturbing look and asks him, “What are you doing here?”

“You’re so rude, Draco. Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

Draco rolls his eyes to the ceiling. “Athena, this is Kaden. Kaden, Athena. You might know her as Trix from the Church.”

Kaden slides in next to Draco. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, officially.”

“I haven’t seen you in a while,” I reply with a smile, knowing I’m talking about the motel.

He smiles but gives me a troubled look. “I took your advice”—he clears his throat—”and stayed away from the fake ones.”

“Good to hear. Do you work at the haunted carnival, too?”

He snorts, glancing at Draco like they share a big secret and then back. “Something like that.”

“What do you guys do when you’re not scaring people with your costumes?” I ask casually.

The door to the diner opens, and the redhead and blond walk in with three other guys I recognize from the club. The redhead glances over to where we are seated, her eyes narrowing to slits.

“Did you tell them you were here?” Draco asks in annoyance.

“No, they were looking for you, though,” Kaden replies.

I’m betting it was the redhead.

“They work with you guys, too?” I ask, watching them sit in the booth on the other side facing us.

“Something like that,” Kaden says, giving me the same response while Draco continues to stare at me, oblivious to his friends watching us.

“They don’t like me, do they?” I tell Draco.

“They don’t know you,” Draco remarks, implying that if they knew me, the redhead would smile instead of glaring at me. “They’re trying to figure out who you are.”

Dread pools in my stomach, not sure what he means, and I grimace. “Oh. Is that why you followed me here?” I ask.

“Like I said, you intrigue me,” Draco says while I continue to stare at his friends. The redhead is still glaring at me with fierce eyes while the blond seated next to me smiles. “I can’t explain it.”

“Have you ordered breakfast?” Kaden asks, interrupting whatever else Draco was going to say.

“No,” I say truthfully. I haven’t placed my order. “Your brother…”

“He’s not my brother,” Kaden corrects me.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I say apologetically.

“He’s my uncle,” he says, but I can tell that’s not entirely true, or maybe he sees Draco as an uncle.

I pinch my brows in confusion. Kaden looks a tad bit younger than Draco, and Draco doesn’t look like he could be an uncle. I put him around a year or two older, tops. Maybe Draco has an older brother.

“You have a sister or brother,” I ask Draco.

“I have a brother,” he divulges.

“Oh, that explains it. Is he here?” I ask, looking over at the three guys, all wearing black sunglasses.

“No,” Draco quips, scrolling through the menu on the tablet. “Coffee?” he asks.

“Yes, and a muffin,” I reply.

Draco makes the selection.

“That’s it?” Kaden says incredulously, like I’m starving myself. “Is that all you eat?”

“I’m saving to get a car and my own place,” I say honestly.

“Right, that makes sense,” Kaden says, “The motel.”

“It’s temporary,” I say tentatively.

“You could stay with us,” Kaden offers, earning a hard glare from Draco.

“That’s impossible,” I stammer, and from the look of contempt on Draco’s face, I could tell it’s not an option if I agreed.

I’m convinced that what the fortune teller told me about my past, my purpose, and him might be true. I’d want to know more if I could. I woke up today feeling a stronger connection to what she had said, and I now know more than ever that Draco, by showing up at the most random places, feels the same connection.

She said he was stubborn. I can see it in his eyes.

“Why not? We have room,” Kaden says, too convincingly.

“I don’t know you that well,” I counter as an excuse.

“Then get to know us,” Kaden says hopefully. “We won’t charge you. It’s not like…”

“She said she doesn’t know us well. She wouldn’t feel comfortable,” Draco interjects.

“She wouldn’t feel that way,” Kaden promises. “I would make sure she wouldn’t feel that way. She could stay with me in the…”

“We don’t allow outsiders into our circle,” Draco snaps. “It ends badly.”

I could sense the tension growing thick between them as Kaden frowns at Draco disapprovingly. I don’t want to cause a rift, and it’s clear Draco doesn’t want me in his circle. It’s obvious what his intentions are. What I’m good for. I intrigue him sexually, but I’m not allowed to get too close.

When I swipe my phone off the table, grab my small bag, and slide out of the booth, ignoring the crestfallen look on Kaden’s face, I don’t care if I’m being rude.

I need to leave. To get away from him before it was too late. He’s already taken too much time and space in my head.

“Could you cancel my order?” I rush out standing at the end of the table. “I just remembered I have to do something.” I turn to leave. “See you around.” I push the door to the diner and walk out.