Page 23 of Jinx

A muscle in Bellamy’s jaw twitched. “I know one of the bouncers.”

“Well, if it’s Jake, I’m going to kick his ass. There’s a reason no one is supposed to know who we are.” I waggled my mask at him before crossing my arms under my breasts and raising an eyebrow. “It’s to keep us safe.”

“I will kill any man who hurts you.”

I didn’t think Bellamy could get any more intense, but his declaration pulsed with a certainty that had my knees feeling weak. I inched back a step, my magic pushing a little too forcefully at my chest. “You should go.”

He nodded stiffly after a moment, fighting the magnetic pull between us just as fiercely as I was. “I’ll be watching.”

“Yes. Watch us. Only us.”

I shoved my magic away. “Creepy stalker isn’t really your best pitch.”

“Oh, Blue.” He smirked, and my core tightened. “We’re way past stalker.” With that, he turned on his heel and strutted out while every bone in my body screamed to go after him.

I dropped into the seat at the dressing table, my heart threatening to beat out of my chest. Desire pulsed low in my belly, and I crossed my legs to ease the throbbing. It didn’t help, knowing that Bellamy was out there, waiting to see me, and me alone. It made me want to march out there and take what was mine, tear open his shirt and mark up his⁠—

“For fuck’s sake!” I muttered out loud, derailing my magic’s unhinged imaginings. “It’s not going to happen.” All I got in reply was talons raking down the inside of my ribs. It was a sensation I was getting pretty used to.

Glancing at the clock, I forced a few deep breaths, negotiating with my magic that we’d put on a show for Bellamy if it would find some much-needed chill. It was as close to a truce as we were going to get. I stood up just as Lana, the stage coordinator, came around the corner to get me.

“Damn, girl.” She blinked at me with wide eyes. “You’re looking extra incredible. You’re practically glowing.”

I shrugged, but stood up a little straighter, fixing my mask over my eyes. “Thanks. Feeling good about my first night, I guess.”

“Sure.” She dragged the word out with an eye-roll. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with the fine-as-hell man I saw sneaking out of here a minute ago.”

Sudden possessiveness surged in my chest before I beat it back down. Lana shooed me through the shadows and over to the cage I’d be dancing in tonight. The thumping bass of the club music beat its way into my body, making me feel electric. I carefully climbed the steps to the darkened cage, but as soon as I was in position, a flash of the lights announced my presence.

“Let’s give it up for the latest bird in our beautiful collection!” The DJ shouted over the noise and was met with wild cheers. The music swelled, and I surrendered to it.

I wasn’t planning on seeking Bellamy out in the crowd while I moved, but he was like true north to my internal compass. My eyes snapped to where he was sitting at a table on the other side of the dance floor. A delicious shiver swept through me. He looked positively starved as he took me in, body rigid like it was taking everything he had to stay at the table.

And he didn’t come alone. Lucian was sitting like a dark god right beside him, gaze fixed on me. The rings on his fingers glinted in the strobing lights as he clutched a bottle of beer. He looked like he’d devour me if given the chance. I might have let him.

I turned my back to the bars and rolled against them, a smirk curling my painted lips and satisfaction humming through my magic. It was enjoying this little game, happy for now to taunt and tease, while they remained safely out of reach. The world faded as the songs bled into one another and time lost meaning. I slid one leg over the hoop swing and bent backward, moving my shoulders with a seductive sway.

When I went to pull myself back up, a sharp pain in my skull told me that my hair had gotten caught while it floated over the cage floor. My eyes flew open, and I realized that the something I was caught on was a wasted club-goer who’d reached between the bars and grabbed a fistful of my hair.

His eyes were dark with lust and alcohol, the white blotted out by shadow. He tugged again, and I lost my grip, falling backward onto the floor with a surprised cry. My magic flared in an instant, infusing my skin with dangerous power and ready to destroy the fool who’d dared to assault us.

Someone else got there first.

“Let. Go.” A massive man with a voice like thunder wrapped his hand around the drunk guy’s forearm and squeezed until he was forced to open his fist. The tension pulling at my scalp eased. Then the sleaze found himself with an unforgiving hand around his neck. His eyes bulged when my savior’s grip tightened right before he was shoved back to where Bellamy and Lucian were waiting with furious expressions.

I sat in a daze on the cage floor, fighting for calm while my magic’s barbs wound around my skin like armor, anxious to rip into whatever it could reach. A warm weight landed on my calf and the breath stalled in my lungs. The man who intervened was staring at me.

He was huge—easily the biggest man I’ve ever seen—and the black club logo t-shirt he was wearing strained against his jacked physique. A bouncer, then. Dark ink peeked just past the short sleeve of his right arm. His ash-blond hair hung loose in soft waves that brushed his marble jaw and framed ice-blue eyes. Those pale orbs locked on mine. A flame burned in my chest, blazing like a wildfire straight to my core, and I realized one final, crucial detail.

The weight on my calf? It was his hand.

I gasped and tried to jerk away, clinging to a stupid hope that there was still time to spare him, but his grip only tightened.

“Are you alright?” His intense gaze never flickered, even though Bellamy and Lucian were tussling with the drunk behind him. Only seconds had passed. This beast of a man raised his other hand and fed it through the bars to softly cup my chin, further sealing his fate. And I sat there like an idiot, letting him do it. “Tell me, little bird. Are you hurt?”

My mouth moved, but speaking was difficult around the boulder of guilt lodged in my throat. I swallowed, and then it all came rushing out. “No. Oh, no. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—didn’t want to—” His thumb swept over my jaw, and I shivered at the feeling, hating myself even more for enjoying it. Hot, shamed tears pressed against the backs of my eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

His forehead creased in confusion, his pale gaze soft. “For what?”