Page 18 of The Second Sight
I nodded, my throat too dry to form words. He already threatened me. My ears worked. I heard him the first time.
“Understand?” he pressed, his thumb into my skin.
“Yes,” I managed to whisper, hating how small my voice sounded. “I won’t tell her, or anybody.”
“Good.” Seven smiled, with his perfect teeth gleaming in the dim light. “Now dry your eyes. You’re going to walk in there and act like nothing happened. Like you got lost in the crowd, found me, and we had a pleasant conversation. Your friend is probably worried sick, and worried friends ask questions. We don’t want questions, do we?”
I shook my head, reaching up to wipe away tears I hadn’t realized were falling. My hands trembled so badly I could barely control them. Was this real? Was any of this real? My dreams were so valid that I questioned if today was even my birthday.
I’d seen a vampire feeding. I’d been threatened, manhandled, told I wasn’t human. And now I had to walk back in there and pretend everything was fine. I had to lie to Brooklyn, my best friend since sixth grade, the one person I never kept secrets from.
We reached another door at the end of the corridor. The bass grew louder as we approached. Seven stopped, turning me around to face him. His pale eyes studied my face critically. With a strong tug, he pulled me into a small single bathroom that I hadn’t noticed before I was standing in it.
“You’re a mess,” he said, his tone clinical and detached. He reached into his pocket, producing a sleek white handkerchief. “Here.”
I took it hesitantly, the fabric unexpectedly soft between my fingers. I dabbed at my face, trying to erase the evidence of my terror. The handkerchief came away smudged with mascara,eyeliner and the last of the powder foundation that hadn’t completely melted away from sweat.
“Better,” Seven said, though his expression suggested I was still far from presentable. “Try to smile.”
I forced my lips to curve upward, but I could feel how unnatural it looked. Seven sighed, looking almost disappointed.
“It will have to do.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. The gesture was both intimate and threatening. “Remember our agreement. Eight o’clock tomorrow at the Black Rose Café. And not a word to anyone.”
Seven turned the sink faucet on and used the same handkerchief to wash the dried blood from his face. After he checked himself in the mirror, he tossed the cloth into the wastebasket.
“Look, I have a reflection.” He smirked. I didn’t laugh. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to.
He pushed the door open and pulled me back into the hallway. A few steps away was the door that led us into the main room of the club. The full force of the club’s atmosphere hit me when we entered. Strobe lights flashed in seizure-inducing patterns, transforming the crowd into a jerking mass of bodies. The music was deafening, the bass so deep I felt it in my bones.
Seven’s hand moved from my arm to the small of my back, guiding me through the edge of the dance floor toward the back restrooms. His touch was lighter now, but no less controlling. I could feel the cold radiating from his palm through the thin fabric of my dress.
My heart hammered against my ribs so violently I was certain everyone could see it. My legs felt wooden and uncooperative, threatening to buckle with each step. The alcohol that had given me such pleasant confidence earlier now left me dizzy and disoriented.
I spotted Brooklyn before she saw me. She stood near the bathroom entrance. Her face was tight with worry as she checked her phone for what was probably the hundredth time. Her short dark hair had lost its volume. She looked up, scanning the crowd, her eyes moving past me once before snapping back in recognition.
Relief broke across her face, quickly followed by annoyance. She pushed away from the wall and headed toward us. I had seconds to compose myself, to erase any trace of what had happened in that alley.
“Breathe,” Seven whispered against my ear, his voice somehow cutting through the music. “Smile. Act normal.”
I sucked in a deep breath, feeling my lungs expand. I rolled my shoulders back, trying to release some of the tension. I smoothed my little green dress with trembling hands. Normal. I could do normal. I’d been pretending everything was fine since I was fifteen years old.
Brooklyn was getting closer, her expression now a mixture of relief and suspicion as she spotted Seven beside me. She wore her emotions so openly. She always had. I envied that about her. Right now, I needed to be the opposite. I needed to appear controlled and convincing.
I focused on keeping my breathing steady, and on relaxing the muscles in my face. I wasn’t a girl who had just discovered vampires were real. I wasn’t a girl who’d been threatened and manhandled in a stinking, stanking alley. I was just Kasi, celebrating her twenty-first birthday.
“Remember,” Seven said, his voice so low I barely heard it.
Brooklyn reached us, her eyes moving between my face and Seven’s hand now resting on my hip. I forced my lips into what I hoped looked like a carefree smile, praying she couldn’t see how badly I was shaking inside.
“Where the hell did you go?” Brooklyn demanded. Her eyes darted between my face and Seven’s hand snaked around my waist. “I’ve been looking everywhere! I was about to call the cops!” Genuine concern mingled with irritation appeared on her face, making guilt rise like bile in my throat. I’d never had to lie to Brooklyn before, not about anything important.
“I’m sorry,” I managed, forcing my voice to sound steady. “I got lost in the crowd after I left the bathroom.” The lie tasted bitter on my tongue, but I pushed through it. “Then I couldn’t find you anywhere.”
Brooklyn’s eyes narrowed slightly, her head tilting in the way it always did when she sensed something wasn’t right. She knew me too well. “Your phone die or something? I texted you like twenty times.”
I reached into my purse and fumbled for my phone. The screen showed a string of increasingly frantic messages from Brooklyn.
“Sorry, it was on silent,” I said, avoiding her eyes. “I didn’t even think to look at it.”
