Page 14 of Holy Sinner

“This used to be a freight elevator,” Rafe says and taps the metal door. “Led down to a cellar and tunnels that connected to a few different drop off points. Tunnels aren’t in use anymore but the cellar is.”

“And that’s where we’re going?”

The elevator dings softly. “We are. Though it’s not a cellar anymore,” Grant says and when the doors open my breath catches at the sight of the low lit club in front of us. It’s chic and sexy and my writer’s brain goes to vampires, there’s no helping it. Golden lights shine along the red walls, dark marble floors absorbing the light and making everything feel more intimate. I look up and swallow hard. I can’t see the ceiling. Or, maybe I can and it’s black marble too. It makes me remember this used to be a cellar and I grab Rafe’s arm at the thought. Everything has weight down here. We’re closed in, so far below the surface. Maybe the thought should make me panic but it doesn’t, because I’m with Rafe and Grant.

Anywhere with them is heaven. The fact that this cellar turned underground club would be the perfect backdrop for a sexy vampire movie isn’t really a downside. I crane my neck to take it all in. Even the patrons and staff I see would make the perfect denizens of the dark. Everyone is beautiful and perfect, impeccably dressed and for once I don’t feel out of place. Who knew it was going to take a vampire bar for me to feel at home? The thought makes me smile and I can’t stop the grin on my face as I follow Rafe into the club. He catches my eye before he nods at a man standing guard by the elevator with a clipboard in his hand.

“Burdock, party of three, right this way,” he says, motioning a woman in a slinky silver dress towards us. “Lilah will see you to your seats.”

“Something funny, shy girl?” Rafe asks, his attention right on me, even though Lilah is easily the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen in real life. She’s elegant and ethereal. I can hardly keep my eyes off of her but Rafe and Grant are focused only on me.

“This place looks like something out of a vampire movie,” I whisper to him. His lips turn up in a smile before he takes a look around and he nods.

“You’re right,” he chuckles. The sound has Grant leaning in close to us.

“What’s funny?”

“Kit thinks this place looks like a Blade ripoff,” Rafe tells Grant matter-of-factly.

Grant glances around the club and then snorts. “She’s right. The whole thing with the mirror was over the top but there’s a reason for it.” The hallway we’re walking down has dark wooden doors with curved golden handles that remind me of fixtures in a period drama.

“Oh and what’s the reason?” I ask.

“We didn’t want to spend our anniversary anywhere someone could find us,” Grant replies. Lilah stops walking and gives us a smile.

“Your seats for the show,” she says and pushes open the heavy door in front of us. The room is small and intimate with a circle table in the middle of it. A feast has been laid out for us but that’s not where my eyes go. They go to the curved window that spans the width of the room. When I enter the room, I get a better view point to see it overlooks a stage.

Rafe pulls out a seat for me while Lilah pours us wine. “Will there be anything else?” she asks, setting the bottle down beside Grant.

“No, that will be all. Thank you.”

“Of course. If you need me, there’s a button by the door,” she says, giving the doorframe a tap on her way out. The sound pulls my attention from the stage where no one has appeared yet and when I look at her, Lilah is gazing right back at me. Her eyes move over my face and down my neck. It feels like a caress and when she looks back up to my eyes, she smiles.

“Enjoy yourself. I know I would.”

I shiver at her words and nod before the door swings shut softly behind Lilah. The telltale sound of a lock sliding into place makes me raise an eyebrow.

“Did she just lock us in?” I whisper.

“Only away from the outside,” Rafe tells me and snags the linen napkin off the table and drapes it across my lap. “We can leave if we want but it keeps everyone else where they belong.”

Where they belong. He means outside. Away from us.

All my life I’ve felt like the one on the outside but with Grant and Rafe? Everything is different. It’s different because the men have made me their world, their center. As uncertain as I am about what they see in me or what keeps them with me, I know enough to recognize devotion when I see it. I rub my fingers along the gold bracelet with our names on my wrist.

“They mean loyalty and fidelity. It’s our promise to you, Kit. We’re yours forever.”

It’s not just pretty words they’ve given me, but their hearts. A feat when I know men like Grant and Rafe shouldn’t be capable of it but for me they do. When men like Rafe and Grant love, it’s for life.

Rafe pours wine in my glass while Grant shoots me an indulgent smile. “Are you hungry? I’ll serve you.”

“I’m fine,” I whisper, because my stomach feels like it’s full of butterflies. My heart starts to pound and it's hard to breathe. Oh my god, am I having a panic attack? I take in a quick breath and count to three before I let out my breath and take in another.

Men like Grant and Rafe are killers. That’s why they love the way they do. Everything they do is a balance of life and death. There is no in-between with them. I shiver at the brush of Grant’s thumb along my shoulder. My body knows it, just like my mind does. That’s why my fight or flight instincts are trying to kick on.

Run. Run and don’t stop.

I should but I don’t. My heart won’t let me. My stupid idiot heart loves Rafe and Grant more than it loves me. Even if I knew they would kill me, I wouldn’t leave them. I couldn’t. There would be nothing worth living for if I didn’t have them.

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