Page 3 of Stalked By Pestilence

I flicked my gaze back to the club. “I think I left my phone in the bathroom.”

Blue Eyes stared at me, sure I was pulling a line. “Did you really?”

“Yes, you useless asshole, and now I’m going to go get it.” I left him standing there because I didn’t owe him or any other man an explanation. If he waited, I’d reward him by taking him back to my place. If he didn’t, I’d find someone else.

I heard him sigh again as I stopped in front of the bouncer. “I need to go back inside really quick. I left my phone,” I told him, and his body weight shifted in open question.

“Bet you did.” His eyes narrowed on the guy behind me. “If you want me to get rid of him, just say the word, Ems.”

I patted the beefy guard’s shoulder with a shit-eating grin. “That’s my prey tonight, Dom. Please don’t scare him off. I’ve had a really shitty week. I need this.” I bit back the part where I was turning over a new leaf and it’d probably be a while until I was back at the club making trouble.

He gave me that deep-belly laugh that never failed to make me smile in all the years I’d known the gentle giant. “Sure thing, Ems. Just do me a favor.” I cocked an eyebrow at him. Dom leaned in, his dark-brown eyes stuck on my victim. “Ditch that one. I don’t like him. He makes my skin crawl.”

I glanced over my shoulder. “That guy? The one who followed me like a puppy for a week and whined about how I’d abandoned him?”

The more I thought about it, the less it felt like a good idea to give the guy another night. It’d taken so much effort toditch him the last time.

Dom’s thick arms bulged, staying firmly crossed in front of him. “You get a sense about these things when you’re around the nightlife enough.” My insulted pout made him laugh again. “Oh, right. You’re a demon who prowls at night, too. I forgot.”

“Demon is a strong word,” I clapped back, all teeth. “I’m just a bit bitey.”

“I still prefer not to know that,” he admonished, but it didn’t have any feeling behind it. The asshole was all smiles.

“Suit yourself.” I shrugged and glanced at Blue Eyes again.

The humor had slipped from Dom’s expression when I looked back at the over six-foot-four Italian, most of his almond complexion hidden under a jacket and completely black outfit. “Still, be careful, okay? Who knows what’s lurking around here.”

He was probably referring to what happened recently. There’d been five guys killed in a nearby alley, but also a string of sexual assaults leading up to that night. They weren’t sure if there was a connection between the two, but I hadn’t heard about anything recent to suggest one way or another.

Criminal law wasn’t my usual field of expertise, though Asha made it part of my life with her low tolerance for assholes. And I absolutely loved her for it.

Dom was the protective type. He’d always been the one to walk me to my car when Asha didn’t make it out. My bestie was ironically more lethal than he was. My lifestyle wasn’t exactly safe, so I got it.

Smiling, I gave him another gentle pat. “Will do, big guy. Say hi to your crazy hot wife and tell her she still owes me a drink.”

With a chuckle and salute, he sent me off. I went back into the club. The music had changed, and I didn’t see the singer frombefore. Didn’t they usually do sets? Was this a one-song wonder band? Weird.

I deliberately walked slow to make Blue Eyes wait, Dom’s words rattling around my head.

I didn’t get his hesitation, and normally I did. I was around horrible men enough to know when I needed to steer clear of one. I hadn’t gotten that feeling around Blue Eyes the last time we were together, but I trusted Dom. Maybe more than any man who’d ever been in my life. He and his wife had been a rock for me when I started playing around at the club.

I decided to give it more thought for as long as it took to retrieve my phone. It didn’t take long to get back to the hallway leading to the bathrooms, but I didn’t expect to be intercepted before I made it there.

Chapter Two

Emily

“Sorry,” I said automatically, switching over to my professional lawyer voice without a thought. “I need to get past.”

At first, I didn’t recognize him. But the tattoos, piercings, hair, and especially those yellow eyes were unmistakable. He was propped up against the wall by a shoulder, blocking my path with the sheer size of him.

Holy fuck, this dude was as big as Dom. Maybe bigger.

“Um…” I trailed, glancing past him to catch sight of the bathroom only a few feet away. “Did you need something?”

“What’syour name, pet?”

I hadn’t expected the accent, and it didn’t sound like anything I’d ever heard before. I couldn’t place it at all. But his sultry tone that sang so beautifully had dropped to a thick, husky drawl. It crawled over me like a thousand caresses and nearly made me ask a few more questions just to hear it again.