Page 5 of Suck This

I’d heard it the moment she walked into the club earlier.

It was distinct.

Of course, I heard everyone’s heart rate if I concentrated hard enough, but this woman’s had caught my attention the moment her foot had touched my stairs.

The smell of her so close was absolutely intoxicating, and I found myself unwilling to allow her to go.

“Please, have a seat.” I gestured to the rest of the table at my side.

She bit her lip and then wiggled to allow herself to slide to the seat on the inside of me, putting me between her and the rest of the room.

“Won’t you have a seat?” I gestured to the friend again, and Abraham, my second in command, took the hint and slid over, allowing the woman to take a seat across from me.

“Can I get y’all something to drink?” I asked.

The woman across from me nodded. “I’ll have a Shirley Temple, and she’ll have a red wine.”

I flicked my fingers at the waitress, the same woman that had spent the entire night trying to get me to take blood from her vein, and she hurried over.

“Can I help you, Master?”

I clenched my jaw. “Mr. Worth.”

She blinked. “Can I get you something else to drink, Mr. Worth?”

“The finest wine we have for the lady at my side, and this one will have a Shirley Temple.”

The waitress, Cassandra I thought her name was, nodded her head and backed away before hurrying in her too-high high heels to the bar where she placed an order with the bartender.

“May I please ask your name?” I asked, turning to the darkest brown eyes I’d ever seen.

Pairing those brown eyes with her black hair, they appeared almost black in the muted light of my establishment.

“Um, Acadia,” she whispered.

Had I not had supernatural hearing, I wouldn’t have heard her over the pulse and thump of the music.

“Beautiful,” I murmured. “I’ve not heard of many Acadias lately.”

“Constantine,” Abraham broke in. “You have a meeting in thirty.”

I nodded crisply and returned my gaze to Acadia’s.

“Have you been here before?”

“No,” the friend broke in. “My name is Keisha…in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t,” I replied to her haughty tone.

Keisha smiled.

“Honest.” She snickered. “I like that.”

Acadia’s hand rose to her mouth, and she started to nibble nervously at her fingers.

God, why was she so familiar?

It was like I’d seen her before, but I would’ve remembered this woman. So she couldn’t be… could she?