Red in the Blue

Chapter 19

James drove us. I didn't know how Irene had gotten to the house that morning, but she didn't seem to have a car. The parking lot was already packed when we got there, but James refused to drop us off at the door. She found a spot near the back of the lot and texted Elias. Minutes later, someone rapped on my window with a knuckle and then he pulled open the door, a cool smile on his face.

"Hey, june bug." He stepped back for me to exit the car and I slid out.

"What did you just call me?"

"That's what your hair looks like."

"Very nice, Elias," Irene rolled her eyes as she got out of the front passenger seat.

"I like june bugs," he said. I grinned at him. He nodded to James as she excited the driver's seat. Behind him, loosely gathered and trying not to look interested, were a handful of who I assumed were the newbie enforcers James had referenced. They were doing a bad job of hiding that they were sizing me up. I realized I must really be some source of gossip for this pack. The bitch who turned down Alpha Cade.

James fell in next to Elias, then we all turned and went in together. It was like walking into a thick curtain of loud and dark and buzzing and sweat. I must have hesitated, because without realizing I had backed up, I felt Elias' hand scratch the middle of my back. He gave me a half smile and stepped in front of me, scanning the crowd, their faces sporadically lit by the flashing lights and then left again in shadow. James was on my left doing the same check. I could feel the other enforcers edging in behind us impatiently. Irene ducked into my ear and shouted that she was going to the bar, then walked off before anyone might have stopped her. But no one tried. Elias shot a look over his shoulder and then waved his hand dismissively.

"Beat it, then," he said to the enforcers behind me. "But be around. And don't get sloppy."

There were a few steps down into a lower part of the club where most of the dancing was happening, and around the pit was a railing and then tables lining the wall. There was another level above us, and a back patio, and one on the roof. I pressed in closer to Elias as the music overwhelmed me a bit. I was feeling activated, keyed in. Not bad, just on edge.

When Irene rejoined us, we agreed to try the second level and the smaller dance floor. It was slightly less crowded. We managed to get a table—or rather, Elias made eye contact with the occupants and jerked his head to the side to indicate they should vacate—and James posted up on a stool, Irene's purse and mine pilled on its surface, Irene's drink next to one she'd brought for James. I was continuing my habit of not drinking, and it didn't look like Elias planned to either. Minutes after we moved upstairs, I started noticing some of the younger enforcers' faces up there too, as they migrated around and near us.

I knew I was safe. I knew that James and Elias wouldn't let anything happen to me. And I knew, logically, this was probably a better defended location at present than my safehouse was. Still, for once I wished that I drank. Just something to help me relax, shake the tightness in my shoulders. Irene touched my arm and when I looked over, inclined her head in question toward the dance floor. A few steps to the left and we'd be on it, received into the flow of bodies. The alternative was to stay here, backed into a corner.

I took her hand and let her lead me over to the dance floor. We eased in, claiming the corner, still close enough to James, who had stayed at the table. As Irene and I started moving to the beat of the music, one song blending into another as we caught on, I felt someone too close behind me and, turning, found Elias. Anyone squeezing along the outside of the dance floor would have to brush past him, not me. As the tempo shifted and Irene and I grinned at each other, I looked back at Elias, who leaned down a bit to me and smirked. His body started to move with mine, and he stepped closer until my back was against him, until our hips moved together, not curved around me, not flush, just close. Something about it was nice. I hadn't expected him to be the dancing kind or to dance with me. But he looked good moving to the music with us, and it felt good to feel someone solid and safe behind me. I noticed his hand hovering over my hip and so wrapped my fingers through his and brought it flush against me. He squeezed my hip once.