Micaela's Big Bad

“Do you know the language this song is in?”

I shook my head. “Not a clue. It came up as a recommended song on my Spotify.” I gave him a tipsy grin. “Do you?”

His eyes darkened. “Yes.”

Oh. Well, I wasn’t curious enough to ask what the song was about. The title said “Blue Jeans” so I had a good guess what it was about.

“So where are we going now?”

He looked at me, at the whiskey, and I could swear a flash of envy flashed there. Then it was gone, but so was his phone. He stuffed it into his pocket and swiped my booze.

“Hey!” I started to sit up, but he motioned to me.

“Sit down.”

I watched as he took a drink, and nothing. The corners of that impossibly pretty mouth of his turned down at the ends. “It’s been a century since I’ve drunk like a normal human. I forgot what something like this tasted like.” He handed it back. “I can see why I forgot it.”

I glared at him, swiping it and cradling it like it was a baby to my chest. I stroked the neck. “Don’t listen to the Big Bad. He’s too worldly to appreciate what we lower beings worship.”

His head turned to view the outside, but the edge of his mouth lifted. “Maybe. I’m used to power blasting me. Envy. Greed. Hate. Ruthlessness. Deadliness. I wade among the best of the best, the most dangerous in your eyes, and I’m one of them, and yet,” he paused, that corner of his mouth curving higher as a wry tone left him, “I find myself enjoying this car ride more than I’ve enjoyed anything else in the last hundred years.” Those very penetrating and probing eyes came to me, and if it were possible, they softened. “You have indeed entertained me.”

“It’s the rap.”

He barked out a laugh, then stopped, his eyes widening.

I had a hunch he couldn’t remember the last time he laughed either.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure. Why not?” I knew he was teasing me, but I ignored it.

I asked, “Where are we going? For real.”

“For real?” That slightly admonishing tone was back, but his eyes had warmed. “I’m not familiar with that phrase.”

“It means be real with me.”

“We’re going to see someone.”

Some of my buzz started to lessen. “That doesn’t sound fun.”

“Because it won’t be, for you.”

“What?”

The air was still again.

Though I was a lot more liquored up than I thought I’d be.

I sat up, and the vehicle started to dip a little bit.

A whole lot more.

I was thinking back, remembering.

He was the one who went into the store. I went with him, but he picked up the bottle. He took it to the counter. He paid for it, and he handed it off to the driver. There hadn’t been a second’s hesitation. He stepped back, motioned for me to walk with him, and we went to the vehicle.

We rounded to my side.

The door was opened.

The driver had been coming around the front of the vehicle, and he handed off the bottle to Kieran.

Kieran passed it to me.

I got in and hadn’t thought about it. I just started drinking.

A pair of white butt cheeks in mid-thrust was still on replay in my head. I was laser focused on that bad memory and keen to drink it out of me.

I looked at the bottle. I’d only had a third of it.

I shouldn’t be this drunk.

I turned back to him. “You drugged me.”

He grinned, and I wasn’t too drunk to notice how my entire body lit up at that sight. Damn, but he was really pretty. He shook his head, his tone wry. “It’s a spell to put you to sleep. Nothing else. As much as I’ve enjoyed your commentary and thoughts, I do need to do some work.”

“What kind of work?”

“You.”

“Me?”

My eyelids were getting a lot heavier.

I was going to fall asleep, but he was talking. I needed more information.

I also needed to come to terms with the fact that I’d been kidnapped.

Why hadn’t I tried to run away?

Right.

Because of him.

That’d be useless.

I needed—I needed to stay awake. I was seeing a shimmer of his energy, the one that was tight against his skin, and I couldn’t help myself. A little bite, and I’d have enough energy to stay away.

I reached for it, and I took a small strand, the thinnest, and I did what I told him I never did.

I took a bite.

Someone should’ve warned me about what would happen next.I was pulled back into that same dark place as the last time I touched his energy, but I was held suspended in the air. I felt his breath on the back of my neck, and my body warmed.

Tingles traveled down my spine.

I felt a caress around my throat, then the feel of him behind me.

He fit his body to mine.