Page 16 of Marked By Night

“Hey, I’m going to go get some more water, want to tag along?” I holler so Ash can hear me over the noise.

She nods. “Sure, but let’s hurry and be back before the intermission is over!”

As I’m elbowing my way through the crowd, there’s a large commotion in front of us. I’m forced to stand on my toes to be able to see over the man in front of me. I watch in awe, as a large group of people lift a boy in a wheelchair into the air to crowd surf him. The crowd propels him forward as he slowly makes his way to the front. Never mind there’s not any music playing, the kid looks like he’s on cloud nine. Surprisingly, they don’t drop him.

“Holy shit.” I don’t realize I’m still walking until I smack into a wall of solid steel, bouncing right off. I land flat on my ass and know I’m going to have a bruised tailbone tomorrow.

Perfect. It’ll go nicely with the fingerprints around my wrist from Ben.

I groan. “Who the hell decided it would be smart to put a wall right out in the open?”

Ash bursts out laughing, and I shoot her a murderous glare over my shoulder as I use the wall to climb back to my feet. Huh, why does this wall have a belt buckle—oh, shit.

Well, this is awkward.

Turns out the wall isn’t a wall at all, but a man. One whose dick I used to climb like a ladder. Fuck me. Awkward Sadie wins again.

Time to face the music, I guess. My eyes dart up, connecting with dark blue orbs that capture me whole. My wall—I mean the man—peers at me curiously under dark lashes that I’m instantly jealous of. I watch transfixed as his eyes travel down the length of my entire body and up again.

My skin buzzes under his scrutiny like there are tiny little fires all over my flesh from his eyes alone. He visibly swallows and it highlights his chiseled jaw, sporting a bit of stubble and I wonder what it would feel like to run my tongue down it and feel the harsh scrape against my lips as I nibble—Nope. Down girl. Bad ovaries. I somehow manage to hold back the groan that wants to escape my throat.

“I—I’m so sorry.” Apparently, my lady balls have also left the building.

“That’s quite all right. Besides, I should be the one apologizing to you.” His statement catches me off guard. I used his dick as a pull-up bar… and he thinks he is the one who should be apologizing to me?

Steel—as I’m dubbing him—grins and it lights up his whole face. His presence demands my attention and like a moth to a flame, I’m powerless to take my eyes off of him. Something about his presence niggles at the back of my thoughts, but my brain is thoroughly fried from our casual eye fucking.

My gaze snags on his t-shirt and I realize he’s wearing the same one as me, then dips lower. The jeans he’s wearing are perfectly tight in all the right areas if you know what I mean. Steel clears his throat, snapping me out of my inspection. I’ve been standing here checking him out for way longer than what a normal person would consider polite and I still can’t place where I know him from.

Talk to him, Sadie.

“Twin-sies!” I blurt and then clamp a hand over my mouth.

Nice. Nailed it.

Ash cackles behind me and leans forward to whisper, “Real smooth, babe.”

I shoot her another death glare without any real heat behind it. It’s not her fault I’m a dunce when it comes to men. Like I said, I suck with the opposite sex. Throw me in a training room with them and I’ll hand them their ass, but knowing how to flirt? Not my area of expertise.

“Yes, I see that.” Steel’s deep voice rumbles over my skin, and I wonder if he can make me come while reading some lady porn out loud. I’m fairly certain I would have a mini orgasm from it alone.

“You—uh, you’re hot.” I complete my awkwardness with a two-finger salute. I did not say that. I did not give him the two-finger salute. Oh, but I did.

Why does he look so damn familiar?

Another solid wall of muscle comes barreling through the crowd knocking into my side. I fall flat on my ass for the second time in less than five minutes.

“Whoa. Falling for me already, Angel? That has to be a new record,” A second voice says, but his voice is much lighter and way more amused, like everything in life is a joke. It can be, I guess. I’m more of a glass half-empty gal.

As I rise to my feet, my eyes ping-pong between the two men, mesmerized by their magazine-worthy looks. Suddenly I’m itching to reach out, to touch them, and know exactly what their skin would feel like against mine. I quickly snatch my hands back—who have a mind of their own and are already halfway there—before I can follow through with that last thought.

Bad hands. It’s not polite to touch strangers.

I level my gaze on the one who knocked into me. “Is that supposed to be a corny pick-up line about me falling from heaven? Because you’re going to have to do better than that.”

His amber eyes meet mine as he runs a hand through his sandy locks that seem so damn familiar. The first guy has black hair and observant blue eyes. The second one has blonde hair and a smirk fixated on his kissable lips.

Wait a damn minute.

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