Page 2 of Marked
Damn.
I gulp the glass dry to hide my fangs as they creep deeper into my bottom lip. The alcohol burns going down, but it has little effect on my kind. At least not in such small doses.
When I set it back down, she is watching me over the rim of her glass. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before ...”
It’s not a question. “I work.A lot.” My words are an unintentional warning. As cute as she is, there is no time in my life right now for any woman. Human bartender or otherwise.
She looks down at her glass, expression darkening. “I know how that is.”
I tap my glass and she refills it. “Busy night?” I ask, not sure why.
Her eyes roll. “This is Carnage.” She turns a little, sarcasm lacing her voice over the music. “It’s aptly named.”
“Lilah.” We both glance up.
A tall guy in a cheap, three-piece waits at the end of the bar. His eyes are murderous as they track between the two of us. “I called down for you thirty minutes ago.”
Her shoulders tighten under her tank top, and I grip my glass harder.
Who the fuck is this guy?
“I know. I got super busy and—”
“No fucking excuses. Get your ass upstairs. The VIPs are restless.”
She sighs. “I’m coming.”
“Now,” he snaps.
Her lips tighten, but the icy color of her eyes flash with anger. “I fucking got it, Vic.”
He narrows his gaze but walks off, leather dress shoes clacking in my sensitive ears.
She offers me an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Got to make a living, right?”
I can only nod as I climb to my feet. “Yeah.”
When she starts to slip out from behind the bar, I press my lips tight to keep from calling out to her.
Her gaze is darker as she looks back at me, almost sapphire and heavy-lidded. For a split second, I imagine those eyes staring up at me as I cradle the slim column of her neck, her pulse pounding under her skin. Or down at me as I slip between those lush thighs...
“See you around?” she asks.
My thirst scorches my throat. Grinding my teeth to get my fangs to retreat, I shrug and run a hand through my spiked hair. “Maybe.”
Her face flames, but she offers me a sweet smile in return. Innocent even.
Fuck.
My heart thrums in a steady purr as she walks off. Tugging my wallet out my back pocket, I drop several bills on the counter and a few more in her tip jar. “Sweetheart, you have no idea how lucky you just were,” I mutter under my breath as I walk away.
***
Tanner and Gage offer me amused glances as I meet up with them beneath Carnage’s second-floor overhang. The shifter makes a big show of inhaling close to my skin.
“Damn, Cap, you fall in a fucking brewery?”
I clamp my lips closed. “It was two shots, asshole.”
