Page 87 of Manacled Hearts

Have you seen Evelyn? She’s not home. Worried about drugs. Can you find out where she is?

He’s the only one of us who knows about her previous adventure and has been keeping an eye on her. I feel like a dick for using the drugs as an excuse to find out where she is, but the alternative is to tell Maddox that I rejected her attraction to me yet again. Obviously, I can’t tell him that.

On it. I’ll text when I find her.

Thanks.

“Here you go.” Maya hands me the glass of water like it’s liquid gold, and plops back next to me as I down half of it.

Placing my phone on the wood coffee table before me, I settle in for a reading session. I guess I have to brush off my intonation skills, because I think the little one will demand full immersion in the story.

Yet, even as I start reading, my mind still drifts to one question.

Where the hell is Evelyn?

EVELYN

“Girl, you know you’re not gonna find what you’re looking for here. Right?” Morrigan’s words filter through the loud music as I move my hips on the dance floor of the bar.

It’s a busy night, and the man I’m currently swaying my backside against is not the first one this evening. At least this one isn’t already drunk, and he seems less handsy than the last one.

“I know. But I can practice.” I laugh.

“You sure can. I’m gonna go get a drink. Don’t go anywhere.” I think that last sentence is for the guy behind me more than for me.

I catch a glimpse of Lulu rolling her hips slowly in the arms of a man who looks ready to kneel at her feet and kiss them. He’s a handsome one. Tall and broad enough that you know he’s fit underneath his clean-cut clothes, with the face of a clean-shaved lawyer who hikes and goes to the gym in his free time.

Yet, he looks totally wrong for her. But she seems to be enjoying herself.

The guy behind me tightens his hands against my hips and pulls me a little closer. I don’t miss the half-mast rubbing against my ass, and for a moment I want to pull away, run in the opposite direction. But I swallow through the sensation and allow him to hold me, to lead me on the song that everyone on this dance floor seems to enjoy.

“So, what are you doing for the rest of this lovely night?” he asks.

“Exactly this. Dancing. Enjoying myself.”

“Here?”

I debate the answer for a moment.

“Oh, yes.”

I know I’ve been dancing with him for quite a few songs. Maybe it was a mistake. It created expectations I didn’t foresee. Maybe being as sexually inexperienced as I am, made me more naive than I thought I was.

“I came with my friends, and I’m leaving with them as well,” I add. I don’t want to hurt the guy.

“Surely they wouldn’t mind if you decide you want to dance with me at my place.” The insinuation is clear in the way he accentuates that word.

“They are very protective of me, so I’m afraid dancing will be limited to this bar.” Okay, he’s getting a little insistent.

“Well, I’m sure we can find a spot that’s a bit more… private.”

He attempts to turn me to him, and I resist, attempting to move away instead. But I’m a little unsteady on my feet after four shots and three vodka sours, and the guy isn’t even attempting to catch my delicate rejection.

“Actually, I think I’m going to go check on my friend now.” I pull away again, but he holds me tighter.

Oh hell, what do I do? I don’t want to cause a scene.

“That would be such a shame. Give me one more dance, one more song.” He begs and I wonder if that will be the end of it.

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