Page 38 of Obey

What a great fucking way to try to not think about Maddox in a sexual manner.

“How are we supposed to find your person in a place like this?” Maddox gets right up close to me to shout. He has to brush right up against me for me to be able to hear him, and goosebumps run down my arm.

Yeah, I can definitely imagine Maddox dressed like that.

“She said she’d stand out,” I grumble, but I’m starting to doubt it. I elbow my way to the bar, where the music is a little quieter. Unfortunately, it’s a Friday night, so people have come out en masse to party. I pull my phone out and find a new text from our contact.

Near the VIP lounge! I’m the one in bright pink.

Great, like we haven’t passed plenty of women in bright pink shirts already. I order a drink for both of us, and once those are in hand, I walk toward the VIP lounge.

It turns out, she does stand out.

Her hair is bright pink, styled in two high pigtails like she’s some anime character. She’s leaning against the wall next to the VIP door, checking her phone.

“Nevaeh?” I ask as I step closer.

She looks up and gives me and Maddox a dubious look. Her entire face is full of piercings—eyebrows, nose, lips, along with several in each ear. “You’re Knives?” She stops to laugh. “I’d ask what kind of name that is, but my boyfriend goes by Pyre.”

“And you’re heaven backwards,” I point out, bristling a little at her jab.

“That’s my actual legal name,” she says. “My parents were fucking hippies. They’re so disappointed in me right now.” She pushes away from the wall and waves. “Okay. Let’s go somewhere just quiet enough where I don’t have to shout to be heard.”

She goes through the VIP doors with barely a glance at the security, and after a quick glance to Maddox, I follow.

Nevaeh is right that it’s quieter in there, although not by much.

I also immediately notice that one table near has a man with a naked woman over his knee.

So much for this not being a kink club.

Maddox flashes me a glare, but I ignore it.

“You come here often?” I ask Nevaeh. We take a seat near the balcony that provides a decent amount of privacy.

“Yeah, well, when your brother runs the place…” Nevaeh stretches, and her shirt rides up, exposing her flat belly. I wonder if she gets a lot of stares from the straight guys.

“You and Thunder are tight?” I sip my drink and try not to bump against Maddox.

Nevaeh shrugs. “Tight enough. He’s the one that got me interested in bikes and all. Which is how I ended up meeting Pyre—he was working at the shop I got my bike serviced at.” She glances at us. “But I don’t think you’re here for small talk.”

“No,” Maddox says. “We need to know more about the… Demon Gators.” I can tell he’s trying not to snicker despite the severity of the occasion, and I shoot him a look. He gives me a raised brow, “what can you do?” sort of look.

“Yeah, them.” Nevaeh makes a disgusted expression. “He surprised me with a bunch of really expensive gifts all of a sudden, and talked about buying new bikes and a new house. I got suspicious, and Pyre is… Well, I love him, but he’s an idiot. He ended up joining the Demon Gators to make more money, and you can bet your ass I had to look into that whole situation.” She pulls a small piece of paper out of her pleated skirt’s pockets and slides it across the table. She keeps her hand over it and looks me straight in the eyes. “I’m trusting you because Thunder vouched for you. You use this to mess with the Gators. But if anything happens to Pyre… I’m gonna fucking hunt you both down and kill you myself. Got it?”

“We won’t let anything happen to him if we can at all help it,” Maddox says. “That has to be good enough. We don’t know what kind of situation we’re going to find ourselves in.”

Nevaeh’s eyes narrow. “I’m serious. Yeah, I look like some weird goth anime chick, but I’ve got resources.”

“We won’t hurt Pyre,” I promise. “As long as we know what he looks like so we know who to avoid.”

She meets my gaze and nods, finally pulling her hand away.

The paper has a set of GPS coordinates on it.

“Their super secret club hideout,” Nevaeh says.

Maddox frowns. “And they just told you its location?”

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