The Price of Possession by Dakota Brown (universal ebook reader txt) 📗

sky when we leftthe pizza shop. I slid into the car and let the air conditioner run while Ithought. I didn't mind taking him out tonight, but while I had money, takinghim to the strip joint every night would get expensive. Not to mention I reallydidn't want to spend that much time there.

"You could call Mal instead," Sabianoffered.

I sighed. "I'll let him think about things for aday or two before I call him. Make sure he doesn't want to change his mind orsomething."

"There are also other options," he offeredsoftly.

I glanced at him, expecting a sly smile or something,not the hesitance I found in his expression.

"Eh, we'll get you good and full tonight and thenI'll see what me and my vibrator can accomplish tomorrow. How's that?"

A smile flickered briefly across his lips and mypanties tried to melt again. "Okay."

"My biggest hesitation is that I know the ownerfrom before."

"Is that bad?"

"Eh, it's not the best. It's also not the end ofthe world. Haven't seen her in years, though."

"Before what?"

"Oh, yeah. Before I quit being an exorcist."I pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the desert.

"You quit?"

"Yeah, five years ago." Mostly, anyway.

"Then how?" He waved his hand at himself tofinish the question.

"How'd I end up with you? Darius didn't think tocast a reveal spell, or you might have been stuck with him instead."

Sabian's eyes glittered with lust when I glanced athim. "I'm glad I'm stuck with you."

I cleared my throat and tried to focus on the road.

Sabian studied me while I drove, and I did my best toignore him and the heat settling in my belly that his intense gaze caused. Iwas practically squirming by the time we made it to the strip joint.

Darius was really going to owe me.

I dug out my wallet and tried to hand all the cash Ihad over to Sabian. "You do know how a strip club works, yes?"

He nodded. "This is one thing that I have kept upon, places for incubi to feed when on earth, and how they work. Just in case Iended up here. It wasn't necessarily my plan, but now that I'm here I'm glad Ipaid attention."

He waved away the money and held up his hand,revealing a whole bunch of cash.

"They need real money."

Sabian grinned. "It's real. Call it a demonicpower."

"Where'd you get it?"

"We lust demons have our ways."

"Okay, I probably don't want to know, anyway."

We climbed out of the car and he bounced on his toes,reminding me of an over excited kid.

It was a weekday and a little early, so hopefullythere would be enough going on to feed the demon. There were a few other carsin the parking lot and the neon sign flashed open. Maybe I would get lucky and Andiwouldn't be in. She was a former dancer. She started the place after winning aharassment lawsuit from her previous employer. I assumed she was still doingwell but I hadn't heard from her in quite some time.

I went over to the door and pushed it open, Sabian onmy heels. Loud music, the smell of cheap booze, and the musk of sweat assaultedmy senses as I blinked, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the darker interior.

A bored looking bouncer with forearms as big around asmy thighs was perched on a bench inside. He raised his eyebrows when he saw me–probablydidn't get many female patrons–but gestured for us to come in.

"ID's?"

I hoped Sabian had that under control, too. I dug mywallet out of my jacket pocket and handed over my ID.

Somehow Sabian also had an ID and after the bouncercarefully studied both, he gestured for us to enter.

The narrow hallway turned a corner and entered intothe main room. It was a small club, bar along the back wall, three stages,chairs scattered around the stages and a few private tables. I knew there werea few back rooms here, too. I'd been in a couple of times way back in the daywhen Andi had first bought the place. I called it seedy, and it was to somedegree, but Andi ran a tight ship. Her girls had talent, they did draw incrowds, and she did not tolerate shenanigans from her patrons. Her bouncers hadlong memories and if you messed up more than once, you never got back in.

This early in the night, there weren't many patronsyet, and only one stage had a dancer. She was a light skinned red head,currently getting frisky with the pole and, despite the light crowd, she reallywas killing it.

Sabian rumbled softly, pleased. I tried not to moan asthe sound washed through me. This demon was going to wreck me. Probably in agood way, but still.

I gestured for him to go have fun while I headed tothe bar. If I was going to lurk in the background, at least I could get adrink.

Sabian went up to the stage and took an empty seat. Iignored him for the time being, asking the bar tender, a relatively attractiveblond man that could have doubled as a bouncer, for a whisky sour.

"What brings a lady like you to a place likethis?" the bartender asked as he mixed my drink.

I didn't answer for a minute, vaguely annoyed by thecliché line before shrugging.

"Mate needed a night out." I gesturedvaguely toward Sabian.

"So you're the wingman?"

"Something like that," I allowed. I knewbartenders were supposed to be friendly and all, and normally I would haveappreciated it. Unfortunately, tonight I just wanted to sulk in a corner, and Iwasn't even sure why. I refused to be rude to servers though, so I forcedmyself to answer his questions with as little annoyance as possible coloring myvoice.

 "Where are you from, anyway?"

I tilted my head, wondering what to say. If I saidSanta Fe, which was the actual truth, he was definitely calling bullshit on mymostly adopted accent. I'd traveled enough that I'd picked up phrases from hereand there, and the cadence I'd added to my speech was the bastard child of myfather's British accent and growing up in the South West. The more my motherhad tried to correct my speech, the more I'd