Pretty in the Dark (Dark and Wild #2)

Chapter 25

25

JUNIPER

D arkness engulfed us as we stepped inside the atrium, broken only by a faint, red glow from the lights that cast an eerie ambiance on the sleek, black floor as we made our way towards the second set of doors. Next to them, a pair of bouncers loomed, one of which extended his hand, signaling us to stop once more.

“Mr. Diovolo, if you would be so kind as to hold out your arms.” Kage cocked his head and turned to where the head bouncer had spoken just off to the side of us.

“I don’t recall being searched the last time I attended an event here.” Kage said to him.

“After the…” He paused and cleared his throat. “... incident , at the last event you attended, our boss thought it prudent to make sure you did not accidentally violate the rules of this establishment again.”

“I see…” Kage drawled out, and I got the distinct impression that he was considering making an incident out of the bouncer right here, before we even entered the main portion of the club. The guy was grating on my brother's nerves, and mine. But Kage only turned back around and held out his arms in compliance. The bouncer who had stopped us stepped forward, starting to pat Kage down.

His counterpart cleared his throat and nodded in my direction, indicating that I should do the same. I huffed and shrugged out of my brother’s overcoat, handing it to the man and then spread out my arms. “I seriously doubt you need to look too closely. There’s not exactly a lot of room to hide anything in this dress.”

The bouncer didn’t say a word, but gave me an appreciative once over before stepping forward to trace his hands down my ribs towards the curve of my hips. I hissed out a breath when his hands wandered dangerously close to the exposed skin of my thigh, and Kage’s voice growled low in the dim light. “Touch one inch of my sister’s skin and you’ll not have a single finger left to jerk-off with.”

The man flinched, stepping back as the head bouncer stiffened next to us. “We weren’t aware that you had a sister, Mr. Diovolo. We assumed you had brought one of your usual companions.” The man spoke as if the information had changed the dynamics in the room.

“Well, I did not. And now that you know who she is, I would suggest that you treat her accordingly. She is not to be marked.” Kage took his overcoat from the bouncer who was swallowing nervously in front of me, his eyes wide as they shifted nervously back and forth between Kage and his boss. After a brief pause, where it looked like the head guy was about to have a cranium implosion, he finally nodded. “Ms. Diovolo is exempt from the inspection. She may enter.”

I shot Kage with a pointed glare. What the fuck had he not been telling me about this club? “Well, I feel like I just passed an exam I didn’t know I needed to study for.”

None of the other people in the room laughed or looked in my direction, and I leaned in to whisper to my brother. “Are you going to tell me what that was all about?”

He settled his hand protectively on my lower back once more, and guided me toward the doors now being opened by the bouncer. “Later.” He murmured, then we were being ushered into another atrium that was larger and more brightly lit. As I approached, the distant sound of music grew louder, emanating from behind another set of doors and I could feel my nerves calming down for the first time since we entered the building. Despite the cryptic words and the creepy pat-downs by the bouncers, this was in fact just a normal nightclub, and for the first time since I’d agreed to this entire plot, I felt like I was in my element.

Two female attendants were waiting for us. They quietly came and collected Kage’s overcoat, then asked if there was anything I’d like to check before we entered the main club. Kage gave them a curt, “No.” and they skittered away with nervous glances back at the two of us, while I tried not to let his bossiness get under my skin.

As the third set of doors opened, the pulsating bass from inside the infamous Club Eros hit us like a wave. We stepped out onto a balcony supported by tall, Roman columns, and I gasped in amazement. It was like someone had taken an ancient colosseum and dropped it right in the middle of the Colorado mountains. And just below us—where the gladiators would have fought, bled and died, throngs of bodies were intertwining and grinding themselves on each other in a sweaty mess, to the beats of deep house music that reverberated off the walls.

The dance floor was flanked by an amphitheater on three sides, its tiered rows of seating and tables providing a perfect perch for partiers to gaze upon the chaos of bodies writhing to the music. Suspended from the ceiling in varying degrees of heights, were gilded cages filled with dancers clad in barely-there costumes from the ancient world. Some were nymphs or cupids, others were gladiators or goddesses. All of them exuded nothing but pure, sexual energy as they moved in time with the dark music that was pumping through the crowd.

My jaw dropped. I’d never seen anything like it in my life. And I’d seen a lot of crazy shit as a bartender at the Pit.

Kage grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind him as he started down the stairs. “Come on.”

My jaw snapped shut, and I dug my heels in, forcing Kage to come to a complete stop atop one of the sets of stairs that would lead us down to the main dance floor. “No.”

From where we remained halted on the balcony, the columns and heavily draped curtains dampened the music and the noise of the crowd. Kage turned to me with a frown, his dark eyes glittering in the dim lighting. “We don’t have time for this, Juniper.” I could hear the barely contained impatience in his voice. My brother didn’t like the word ‘No’. Too fucking bad.

“No.” I repeated and stepped closer to him, the height difference now level between us as he stood just a few steps below me. “What we don’t have time for, is cryptic games and you acting like I’m a piece of property you can speak and make decisions for. Tell me what the hell that inspection was about and why being your sister makes me exempt from it.”

His jaw muscles pulsed with tension, those glittering dark pupils narrowing into menacing slits, as his gaze bore into mine. I couldn’t see my reflection in them. “Nothing about this place or these people is what it seems, June.” He growled through clenched teeth. “If I hadn't spoken up and claimed you as my blood, they would have inspected you, drugged you and then separated us. And I would have been utterly powerless to protect you.” He hissed the words climbing up a step, elevating himself slightly. “The rules here are different, Juniper, and we have to play by them or they will become suspicious. So if that means I act like an overbearing asshole, it’s because that’s exactly what they expect me to be.” He gripped my arm but his touch was gentle, even as he towered over me once more. “You need to trust me.”

I swallowed, my gaze flickering around us as I suddenly noticed that we were being watched by a few waiters and waitresses who kept glancing up from the floor below us. Chills went up my spine, and I recalled Cade's warning before I’d left with my brother. “Club Eros is not what it seems, and neither is your brother. But where you can trust Kage, you can’t trust what you see at Eros. Keep close to Kage. He’ll keep you safe until I can get there.”

I nodded, and Kage visibly relaxed then turned around and descended the steps once more as I dutifully followed behind him.

At the bottom of the steps, a pretty blonde woman in a glittering black gown approached us.

“Mr. Diovolo,” she curtsied, her head bowed in graceful subservience. “We are delighted to have you this evening. Will you be remaining in the Asphodel room this evening? Or shall I prepare for your usual entertainment?”

“Neither.” Kage cast a bored look around the room aptly named after a place in the Greek underworld where the minds of the dead were numbed. I wondered how many of the drugged and drunken bodies that were grinding against each other on the dance floor actually understood the double meaning. “We’re here to see your master.”

The girl's gaze snapped upwards for the briefest of seconds, her lips curling in a condescending smirk as she glanced between us, before she once again bowed her head in an apology that didn’t quite feel sincere. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Diovolo, but Master Salerno is not here this evening. I shall prepare a private suite for you and your guest in the meantime.” She turned to go, dismissing us, but Kage snatched his hand out and grabbed her by the arm. This time there was nothing gentle with his grip and I could see her porcelain skin blanch where his fingers dug in tightly. “You will tell your master that I am here and that I would like an audience with him. I have a special guest with me who he would not want to miss meeting. Do you understand?”

I thought the girl would cry out in pain, but instead her lips turned down in a sultry pout and I swore I saw her eyes glaze over with lust for the briefest of moments. “Of course, Mr. Diovolo. My apologies for misunderstanding. If it pleases you, follow me.”

My head felt like it was on a swivel as I looked back and forth between the woman and my brother. What the hell just happened? I wouldn’t get any answers though, because Kage released her roughly and she quickly recovered, turning on a graceful heel before leading us away from the dance floor toward an almost invisible alcove near the main staircase.

Kage shortened his stride enough that I could catch up with him, and he leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Stay close and remember what I said.” And then we disappeared behind thick, velvet curtains and I was once again plunged into darkness.