Page 39 of Vicious Reign

The smile slips from his face as he looks at me. Heat fills his gaze, his eyebrows low over his dark eyes. “I’ll have to remember that for next time.”

My lips part, a response on the tip of my tongue. Someone bumps into me from behind and breaks the moment.

“Sorry,” the woman mutters as she weaves around me with three girls tagging along behind her. They beeline for one of the bars toward the other side of the room.

Aries leans into me, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear. “Let's check out the octagon. Maybe they got cocky and Leo's just sitting in there.”

I nod, and Aries slips his palm into mine, leading me toward the tent in the middle. It’s the most logical place to start. It gets louder the closer we get to the dance floor, the music thumping against the walls. The noise absorbers tacked onto the walls don’t seem like they do that much for the sound.

The macabre circus tent is even larger up close. It has the classic big coned top with a red flag sticking out of it. With the flaps tied back like this, I can see into the tent a little. A few people mill around the amateur boxing ring, but I can’t see much else.

“Follow my lead, yeah?” His voice is low enough for my ears only. He untangles our hands and tosses his arm over my shoulder in one swift movement. He leads us directly toward the entrance, a cocky little sway to his gait.

Right as we're about to enter, a big dude wearing a black polo steps in front of us, blocking the way. “No one goes into the octagon before a fight.” He folds his arms across his barrel chest, his biceps right in front of my face. Jesus—they’re as big as my thigh. With his shaved head and too long beard, he looks every bit the menacing bouncer.

Aries leans in toward him. pitching his voice louder for my benefit, I'm sure. “Hey man. My girl here just wants to get a look around. You know, see where all the action is.” He sends a cocky smirk my way, and I do my best to act the part needed to get us in.

I wrap my free hand around Aries’s arm and bat my lashes at him with a sly smile. “Something about the ring just . . . works for me, ya know?”

The bouncer’s gaze flashes down my body before he looks at my face, and then back at Aries without saying anything.

“Seeing this kind of thing gets her a little hot, if you know what I'm saying.” He claps the bouncer on the shoulder in a good ol’ boys sort of way. Like two men congratulating one another on picking up some woman at the bar as if it's all just a sport.

The misogyny is thick, and I have to grit my teeth against spouting off. I'm not going to jeopardize getting Leo out of here safely. I can take a few leers, especially with Aries at my back.

The bouncer looks me up and down one more time, before looking at Aries. He takes a step back and shakes his head twice. “I don't give a shit what your girl needs to fuck you. She's not coming in here.”

Aries pauses. I can see the moment of indecision warring on his too-handsome face. He’s wondering if we could just muscle our way in, but that’s assuming Leo will be in there, unguarded and able to sneak away. I shake my head, a nearly imperceptible movement.

He takes a half step back, his free hand up in the air palm facing outward. “Hey, man, I get it. We'll just have to wait for the real thing tonight.”

“Nine o'clock,” the bouncer says before he settles in the tent’s entrance with a blank expression on his face.

Aries walks us backward a few more steps with his hand still in the air. I wait until the bouncer looks the other way to tug Aries around the side of the tent. “What now? He could be in there right now.”

“I know. There should be at least one more break in the wall, a back entrance.”

We walk around the back of the tent, the strobe light flashing brighter the closer we get to the dance floor. I feel like a bobblehead, looking from left to right to see if anyone has taken notice of us. So far, so good. Aries was right—there’s another entrance. It’s closer to the Diamond Room than the dance floor, but as we slow down next to it, no one so much as looks our way.

Aries peels the heavy fabric back and peeks inside, yellow light spills onto our legs. He pulls back and blows out a breath. “Fuck.”

“What’s wrong? Did you see him?”

Aries wipes his hand across his jaw. “I don’t know. There was a group of guys in there, but I couldn't see enough from this angle.”

I step toward the entrance, anticipation thrumming in my veins. “Let’s go then.”

“No. I’ll go, but you have to stay here.”

My eyebrows hit my hairline. “What? No. We have to stick together.”

He turns to face me. “What that bouncer failed to mention was that there are only guys inside right now. I didn’t see a single woman in there. If we both went in—”

“We’d be spotted in an instant, possibly jeopardizing everything.” I look over his shoulder without seeing anything and sigh, my mind spinning and my adrenaline spiking. I meet his gaze. “Okay. You go in, and I’ll wait right there at that empty table.”

Aries follows my outstretched hand to the empty two-top bar table ten feet in front of us. He looks at me for a moment before he slams his mouth to mine in a brutal kiss.

He pulls back too quickly, his hands framing my face as he stares into my eyes. “Don’t move from that spot, Raven. Or I will tear this fucking warehouse apart, regardless of who’s inside.”

I shouldn’t be so pleased at the casual mention of violence, but I am. I shiver at his intensity. “I won’t willingly move until you come back.”

His gaze scans my face again, his thumbs sweeping along my cheekbones. “I’ll be right back. You got this, Raven.”

I nod, and he steps back. I turn my back to him and walk toward the table, hoping my movement distracts any prying eyes from Aries slipping inside the tent. I sidle next to the table, leaning an elbow on the small clean patch on the sticky table and people-watch.

I try to reason with my anxiety that this is temporary, and with any luck, I’ll see Leo in a few minutes. Then this nightmare can end.

---