Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(67)
“We should get back to the room,” he said, already turning to leave and pulling Leisel along with him.
“Alex,” she protested, digging her heels into the ground.
“Really?” I snapped. “You’re going to leave? Just like that?”
He turned back, his shoulders already sagging in defeat as he glanced at Leisel and saw the disappointment creasing her features.
“It’s noisy in there,” he said, to which I rolled my eyes. “It could be dangerous. We don’t know these people.”
Snorting, I gestured toward the sky as I held my arms wide open. “Alex, look at where we are. This whole place is dangerous, this whole f*cking world is dangerous!”
His mouth pressed into a thin, hard line. “This is different,” he said flatly. He was a man of so very little words, always using simple straightforward sentences, very rarely showing any sort of emotion, though right now I could tell I was pissing him off.
He looked down at Leisel, at her pleading expression, the one that had always gotten her exactly what she’d wanted when she’d been with Thomas. I held back a smile, waiting and watching as Alex’s willpower began to crumble.
“Please, Alex?” she whispered sweetly, too sweetly, even for Leisel. “We can just take a look around. We’ll leave if you don’t like it. I promise.”
Alex glanced between Leisel and me, and a frustrated noise erupted from the back of his throat. Frustrated, yet defeated.
“Fine,” he conceded unhappily, “but you stay next to me at all times.”
“Deal,” I answered. Even as much as I hated having to answer to anyone, I would do it if it meant I got to listen to music, for the first time in what seemed like forever.
Frowning at me, Alex shook his head and started for the door. Inside, it wasn’t dark like I had expected it to be. In fact, it was lit all along the hallway, as if the lighting was meant to lead us to an underground den. We followed the path down a flight of stairs, passing by other people, couples who barely gave us a second glance. Their eyes were glazed over, and their hands far too busy with each other to notice, or care, about our little trio.
At the end of a second hallway, the narrow space abruptly opened into a large, yet infinitely darker room, my eyes struggling to adjust to the dimmer, drearier lighting. Despite the size of the room, it was cramped, chokingly so in places, filled with bodies pressed against one another in a strange macabre dance, moving together in a perfect yet chaotic mayhem. Heat poured off the dancing crowd in waves, thick and stifling, yet the beat chilled me, the sounds of an earlier lifetime dancing eerily over my skin like a ghost, raising the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck.
When we reached the edge of the throbbing crowd, Alex grabbed hold of my hand as he edged closer to Leisel, pulling her tightly against him. I understood his fear. This place, it was strangely intoxicating. I could already sense it—the ambience—making us forget, pulling us apart. Suddenly, I was lonelier than ever in a room full of people.
“Can we dance?” Leisel shouted. Her eyes were round; she was obviously electrified by the sight. She’d always loved to dance, yet never in public. This would be a first for her…if Alex allowed it.
Before Alex could answer, the crowd surged against us, knocking us backward and separating my hand from Alex’s. Grabbing a nearby arm, I was easily able to regain my footing, yet I had lost sight of Alex and Leisel entirely.
I continued searching, pushing and shoving my way through the mass of people, sweaty bodies pressing up against me as sweat trailed down my back.
A warm breath danced against my ear. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Startled, I turned, shocked at the sight of pitch-black eyes meeting my own, eyes that seemed to suck the air straight from my lungs. He was a large man, twice my size, even taller than Alex. His arms were heavily tattooed with dark images that ran up and down the length of them. His neck was thicker than my thigh, his dark hair shaved into a short Mohawk that began at his widow’s peak, ending at his neck. A beard as dark as his hair framed a squared and hard jawline. All in all, he was an intimidating man, but it was his eyes that terrified me. They were an angry, dark, coal-burning black, with a deep-rooted intensity that made my stomach start to ache.
I glanced around, searching for Alex and Leisel but finding neither. Glancing back at the man, his features almost lost in the darkness, I swallowed hard.
“I can handle myself.”
A slow grin arose on his mouth. “Didn’t doubt it.”
Something like pride sparked to life inside me. Maybe it was what he’d said—believing that I could actually handle myself—or maybe it was the way he’d said it. Either way, I found myself smiling at the compliment, and my cheeks flushed.
Tilting his head, he gestured for me to follow him, and for some reason I did. Though I knew it was ridiculous to follow this man—a complete stranger, and an intimidating one at that—I couldn’t seem to stop myself.
Trailing after him, I watched his large frame move through the crowd as people everywhere hurriedly moved from his path. Who was he that they regarded him in such a way? Was it fear? Or was it respect?
We came to stop at a table, one of many set up in the far end of the room. He sat first, watching me as I emerged from the thick throng of people. Hot and sweaty, I wiped a hand across my forehead, feeling somewhat nervous, but infinitely more reckless. This place was a drug, an aphrodisiac tempting me on to a path that I knew was wrong.