Page 60 of Warrior

Kade and I skip the line. The bouncer, Barry, waves at me. He holds his hand out to Kade, though, and the big man beside me glares down at Barry.

“He’s with me,” I tell Barry. “Is Tem here?”

He narrows his eyes. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Okay. Are you going to let us in?”

“Any funny business, and the report goes straight to the top,” he warns.

“Understood.” I clap him on the shoulder. “Thanks, man.”

He unclips the red velvet rope barring the entrance, and we enter through the heavy metal doors. We go to our right, straight up a set of stairs with a glass railing on the left. It gives an impressive view of the dance floor below—which is better when the club is open—and the different levels with glass walls, both even with us and higher.

We get to the restaurant, which is buzzing. A hostess blinks at me, seeming to take a second to recognize my face. Her expression closes.

“Sorry, Antonio isn’t here,” she says. “And neither is Artemis.”

“I’m hoping we can cut through to get to her apartment,” I explain.

Kade watches passively.

The hostess seems to debate, then finally nods. She leads us in through the kitchen, which is a flurry of activity. Down a hall with closed doors that hide Tem’s and Antonio’s offices, then into a stairwell.

“You know the way from here?”

“Yeah, thanks.” I trot down the stairs and land at Tem’s apartment door. I’ve been here a few times, usually coming to seek her out and drag her back to the condo on Jace’s orders. Never because I wanted to be in the space…

Kade, however, seems perfectly comfortable kneeling and picking the lock when no one answers our knocking.

It swings inward, and he glances up at me.

Jesus, why is aglanceerotic?

Why am I thinking about the word erotic andKade Laurentin the same sentence?

I shake it off. He goes in first, flicking lights on.

Weird that she’s in the dark…

“Tem?” I call.

I never call her Tem.

I am seriously so off my game, it’s not funny.

“Artemis?”

Nothing.

Kade moves to her bedroom—I don’t want to know how he knows where it is, but I suppose itisa small apartment—and peeks in. “She’s not here.”

“What?”

I check for myself.

Bed is made. Clothes are on hangers, not spread across her floor.

What the fuck?

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