Seduction's Kiss (The Allure Chronicles) (5 page)

“How about we just do a
girl’s night then, Reyna?” I joked.

She gave me a panicked
look which told me everything. She would have agreed to it if she
thought I really wanted to. That’s all I needed to see.

I smiled lightly. “I
really want to hang out with Reyna tonight, Duncan. But I
appreciate the offer.”

“I have a better idea.
Are you ready to go, now?” Duncan asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Why don’t we go hang
out with my friends first? We can meet up with these guys later.”
He gestured to Reyna and Chad.

I thought about it. The
idea seemed reasonable enough. If I was having tons of fun with
Duncan’s friends I could just stay with them. If not, I had an out.
“Sounds good.” I grabbed my purse and double checked I had
everything inside that I needed.

Duncan waited for me at
the front door. I hugged Reyna to put her at ease. “Call me when
you get down there.”

“I will… be safe.” She
held on longer than necessary.

“I will be.” I followed
Duncan outside.

From inside I heard
Reyna. “Is she safe?”

Chad reassured her.
“Yes. At least I think so.”

I shivered. Did Chad
dislike his roommate that much?

“Don’t worry about
him.” Duncan patted my arm.

I waited for more of an
explanation of why I shouldn’t have worried about Chad’s
hesitation, but none came.

“How are we getting
downtown?” I didn’t want to make a scene, but I also didn’t plan on
getting into a car with a guy I barely knew.

“The streetcar. Finding
parking on Halloween would be impossible.”

“Oh, the streetcar
sounds great.” Public transportation sounded perfect.

“You were afraid to get
in my car.” He gave me a small smile as we walked.

“Maybe a little.” For
good reason. From what Shaun had demonstrated, you couldn’t be too
careful. I figured I’d be safe enough in public though. At least I
hoped I was. “Why did you invite me tonight?”

He looked at me like I
was crazy. “Because I wanted you with me, and I thought you’d
prefer to spend time with me than Shaun.”

“You’ve got that much
right.”

He stopped walking. “My
offer from last night is still on the table.”

“Your offer? Wait,
about killing him?” I contemplated an excuse of why I couldn’t
go.

He smiled, and I
relaxed. Had I really thought it was anything but a joke? “He’s
okay. I’m leaving in the morning anyway.”

“Oh. Leaving to where?”
He stopped on the median to wait.

“To school. This was
only a weekend visit.”

“You want to go back?”
He put an arm around me as a group of guys without costumes walked
over.

I assumed it was a
protective gesture and didn’t shrug it off. “Yes. I’ve been ready
since I got here.”

“Because of Shaun?”

“Because of everything.
I knew Reyna was into Chad, but I should have predicted just how
into him she was.”

“You’re single.” It was
a statement and not a question.

“Yes. Very much so.”
What was with everyone asking me that? Kalisa was obsessed with
it.

“Are you a virgin?”

If I’d been drinking,
I’d have choked. Instead I coughed. “What?”

“A virgin. Have you had
sex before?” He watched me carefully.

“How is that any of
your business?”

“It’s not, I’m just
curious.” He buried his hand in his pocket.

“I’m not a virgin.”
Considering the less than stellar experiences I’d had though, I’d
have been better off being one.

“Good.”

“Good? Why is that
good?” Shaun and Chad were right. This guy was really weird.

“Because I’d feel
guilty having the thoughts I’m having right now about someone
untouched.”

“Uh.” Seriously? He had
to get creepy too?

“Maybe I should just
call Reyna.”

“No.” he removed his
arm from around me, but stayed close. “I want you to stay.”

“Evidently.”

He smiled. “I promise
you’ll enjoy yourself.”

“No weird, creepy
business then?” I knew his word didn’t really mean anything, but
maybe it would help me emphasize I wasn’t in the mood to be toyed
with.

“No. Just a fun night
out.”

I needed to keep the
conversation going. “What year are you?”

“Oh, I’m not in school
right now. I was at Baylor for a while, but I’m taking a
break.”

Not in school? There
went the comfort from knowing he went to college with people I
knew. Not that that fact would have changed anything. “How’d you
end up living with Chad and Shaun then?”

“They put up an ad
looking for a third roommate, and I responded. The place isn’t
great, but I wasn’t allowed to stay where I was living before.”

“Were you living with
your family?”

“Something like that.”
He looked down the road. “It’s coming.”

Although the streetcar
was mostly empty when it pulled to a stop, it was nearly full by
the time Duncan paid our fare, and we walked on. He gestured for me
to sit in a seat next to a girl. “I’ll stand.”

I wasn’t sure if he was
doing it because he wanted other people to find seats or because
for some reason he enjoyed standing, but either way I appreciated
having a seat. I still wasn’t used to the jerky stops and starts of
New Orleans’ most famous form of transportation.

By the time the
streetcar reached Canal Street, it was filled to capacity. I
couldn’t see Duncan when I got off the car from the back. I hadn’t
even realized you could do that. He was waiting for me on the
sidewalk.

“Where to?” I asked. It
looked like there was a party pretty much everywhere.

“This way.” He took my
hand in his, but I didn’t fight it. Otherwise we probably would
have been separated by the endless crowds. I was really glad I’d
visited the quarter in the morning so I at least had an idea of
what it was like without thousands of people filling every nook and
cranny. “I want to take you to one of my favorite bars.”

“Ok, cool.” I hoped
this one was eighteen and up too.

We wove our way through
the crowds. I glanced into the rows of bars and clubs teeming with
people dressed in various degrees of costumes. Despite my
apprehension of hanging out with someone I barely knew, the
excitement seemed to be rubbing off on me. I found myself moving
along to the music spilling out of one club when we were
momentarily stopped.

“Duncan!” A girl with
long blond hair yelled and proceeded to wrap her arms around
Duncan’s neck. She was dressed as a pumpkin, if a pumpkin was just
a skimpy piece of orange fabric. “Come dancing with us.” She was
visibly drunk.

“Oh, hi.” He gave me an
apologetic look.

I shrugged. It wasn’t
like we were on a date.

“Why aren’t you dressed
up? It’s Halloween. You’re supposed to be dressed up.”

He shoved a hand into
his back pocket. “How do you know that I’m not dressed up?”

“Laurie!” The girl
yelled. “It’s Duncan, the stripper who did Debbie’s party last
week.”

Wait. What? Did he
strip? Wow, that was pretty surprising. He wasn’t bad looking, but
I hadn’t met a male stripper before.

Another girl ran over.
This one was appropriately attired. She had an awesome lollipop
costume on. She also gave Duncan a hug, so I decided to people
watch while I waited. That’s when I saw him. The gorgeous guy from
the bar. All six plus feet of his perfectness. This time he was
wearing one of those sleeveless white t-shirts that showed off his
muscular arms. But it wasn’t his muscles that jumped out the most.
It was his beautiful set of black wings. Now that was a
costume.

He glanced up just as
he passed, and my chest tightened. He looked at me with curiosity
for a second before continuing on. Maybe he vaguely remembered my
face but didn’t know why. I wasn’t sure what would be worse, if he
remembered the humiliating moment, or if he didn’t.

I suddenly felt
embarrassed of my cat costume. Were the whiskers too much?

“Daisy?” Duncan called
my name and snapped me out of my daze. “Ready?” The girls must have
walked off while I was distracted because Duncan was alone watching
me. I wondered how obvious my ogling was.

“Yeah, sure.”

Duncan towed me along
until he turned into a dark and completely unappealing dive. This
was his favorite place? I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to
offend him. Maybe this was one of those hidden gems you always hear
about. Just to be safe I texted Reyna the name of the place as
inconspicuously as possible, Grounddiggers.

“Who are you texting?”
Duncan asked as we walked through the entrance.

Evidently I wasn’t as
inconspicuous as I thought. “Just a friend.” I’m not sure why I
didn’t just tell him who it was. I just felt like it was safer not
to.

He nodded at a bouncer,
who like Duncan was dressed all in black. The bouncer grunted
something unintelligible to Duncan. Duncan must have taken the
grunt to mean enter because he pulled me further inside.

The interior of the bar
was no more appealing than the exterior. The faded black paint on
the walls looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. The worn
wood floors made the stairs at Chad’s apartment look high quality
in comparison.

I tried not to make a
face, but with the musty smell in the air, I was having some doubts
about whether the place could pass any health code.

A large, dilapidated
bar dominated the room. Otherwise there were a few tables all of
which had no chairs. Compared to the other bars on Bourbon Street,
this one was mostly empty. The dozen or so customers were all
dressed exactly alike. Black dress shirts and matching slacks.

Black was a popular
color for Halloween, but wearing it head to toe seemed a bit much.
Then again I was wearing all black.

“Can I get you a
drink?” Duncan asked.

“No thanks.” I needed a
few minutes first. This was not the type of bar I was used to. The
bars we’d been at the other night were similar to the ones near
East Madison, but this place was something else entirely. I
couldn’t ignore the sense of unease spreading through me.

I took a closer look at
the customers. They were all male as far as I could tell. Was this
a gay bar? If so, it was probably the worst looking one in the
world. I had no problem if Duncan was gay, but why bring me here?
And hadn’t he admitted to having inappropriate thoughts about me?
The last thing I needed was some confused gay guy trying to use me
to experiment or something. That would have fit with the theme of
the weekend though—messed up.

“You brought some
company, Duncan.” A deep throaty voice asked from behind me. I
turned around and came face to face with a tall guy, maybe in his
mid-twenties. He was wearing black like everyone else, but his
shirt was satin. “Hello, little one.”

Little one? What was
that about?

“She’s in town
visiting.”

“Oh. She’s from out of
town.” The new guy smiled in that ‘I’m picturing you naked’ sort of
way.

I stepped closer to
Duncan. “Do you not like locals?”

He laughed. “I just
like meeting new people. I am Jeryl.” He held out a hand, and I
accepted his awkward handshake. He then brushed his lips against my
hand. “Lovely to meet you, little kitty.”

Kitty? Oh yeah, the
costume. “My name’s Daisy. Nice to meet you.”

“Daisy? Isn’t that
perfect?” He rubbed a thumb against my cheek. Was he checking to
see if the whiskers were real? I stepped back. He was definitely
stepping over the socially acceptable behavior line. That also fit
perfectly with the weekend’s theme.

“Perfect?”

“Yes.” He still held my
hand. I wanted to pull it away, but how did I do that without
offending him? “You’re named after a flower, a symbol of life.”

“Oh. Yeah.” My name
seemed to always get people talking. Sometimes in good ways, and
sometimes in bad ways.

“Nice find, Duncan.”
Jeryl nodded at Duncan.

“Find?” I looked up at
Duncan. What in the world was Jeryl talking about?

Duncan put a hand on my
shoulder. “Isn’t she? I noticed her yesterday, but tonight I
couldn’t resist her.”

“Absolutely perfect,”
Jeryl repeated himself.

Duncan squeezed my
shoulder. “Let me show you around.” As weird as he was being, he
sure wasn’t getting frisky. That was something.

“No.” Jeryl put a hand
on my other shoulder. “I’ll show her around.”

The two men stared each
other down. Something seriously weird was going on. This exchange
caught the attention of several of the other customers who turned
to look at us. Or maybe I should say turned to look at me. There
went the gay bar question. The looks on their faces left no doubt
of what was on their mind. Maybe these guys just didn’t get out
much.

“I will be showing her
around,” Jeryl once again repeated himself. This time Duncan
nodded. Jeryl didn’t seem particularly bigger or stronger than
Duncan, so I wasn’t sure why he caved to him so easily. I also
didn’t get why he thought it was okay to hand me off.

“Uh, I’m going to stay
with Duncan. You know the whole rule that you stay with the guy you
show up with?” I didn’t know if it was actually a rule, but it was
a pretty good attitude to have.

“Is that some sort of
joke?” Jeryl narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah…” His gaze made
it hard to think straight. Agreeing seemed like the only
option.

“Why don’t we both show
her around?” Duncan’s hand returned to my shoulder, and although I
took some comfort knowing he wasn’t ditching me, awkward took on
new meaning.

My two escorts walked
me over to the bar. “Would you like something to drink?” Jeryl
asked.

“Uh, no thanks.” I may
have made some bad mistakes this weekend, but I wasn’t going to add
getting wasted in a bar full of weird guys to the list.