Page 3 of Unzoned

Chapter 3

Jade tried to ignore Carissa's conversation with the Neanderthal sized man that greeted them. He’d come out of nowhere, introducing himself. He had inclined his head toward Jade, when Carissa introduced her, but only gave her a cursory glance before diving back into a conversation with Carissa.

Feeling every bit the third wheel, and getting warm from all the people crushed into the area, she waved to Carissa and headed further in. The nerves she'd been catering since getting dressed for the evening hadn't disappeared but had morphed into more excitement than nausea.

She found the bar easily enough and ordered a white wine. Red would have been her preference, it helped her jittery nerves more, but it also tended to put her to sleep.

"Hey, there." A cool voice greeted her. She turned her head to the right to find a man openly leering at her breasts as he greeted her. "I don't think we've met."

"Maybe if you looked at my face, you'd have a better idea," she snapped. The dress did advertise her curves quite loudly, but that didn’t mean he had to be an ogling ogre.

Wide blue eyes fluttered to her face. "I'm not sure you should be talking to me like that. I mean, you have your bracelet on your right wrist." He pointed to the red and green beaded bracelet she'd received as part of the admission when she arrived. Then he thrust his left wrist out to show her the same bracelet. "See, left wrist."

She sighed. "I can see that." Her lips tightened into a smile, and she thanked the bartender when he slid her drink in front of her.

"So?" He raised both eye brows at her, waiting for something.

She shook her head. "I give up. What?"

His brows furrowed and his lips pierced together. "It means you have to watch how you talk to me." He demanded in much the same way her five-year-old patient demanded she stop trying to force him to take his medicine. Jonny's pout only worked to make him even more adorable; unlike the grown man looking ready to throw an all-out tantrum over her disapproval of his leering.

"If that's what you think it means, perhaps you should join the newbie group that meets on Saturday afternoons." A familiar voice interrupted them.

She nearly dropped her glass of wine.

"Garrick, I can handle this. Thanks," her suitor said with confidence. The sour puss barely looked over at the large figure looming over his shoulder, but Jade couldn't take her eyes off of him.

Standing off to the left of the asshole, Garrick stood with dark eyes fixated on her. Not the dirt bag, but on her, and looked more than a little irritated. He looked out and out pissed.

Too many questions popping into her head stopped her from speaking at all and instead concentrated on trying to stop the heated blush from taking over her entire face.

"I was talking to you, Sam."

Another angry scowl crossed the man's face as he turned to look up at Garrick. Most men had to tilt their heads back to meet his gaze, but he didn't usually stand so close to them to force them to crane their neck the way this asshole had to. An Alpha making his territory known?

Sam huffed and looked back over his shoulder. A lock of his thick, dirty blonde hair fell in front of his face, giving him a boyish look. "Whatever. She'll need too much training anyway." He gave a forced shrug and stalked off into the crowd.

Jade watched him saunter off, noting the forced swagger of his walk. She shook her head and pushed a smile onto her lips before turning back to Garrick.

Garrick was there. In a BDSM club, standing right in front of her, and he knew Sam. More curious, Sam knew Garrick merely by the sound of his voice. This wasn’t Garrick’s first trip to the dungeon. He had to be a regular.

"Uh, hey." She leaned an elbow on the bar and positioned her other hand on her hip. Trying to look like she belonged there. Because why wouldn’t she belong at a BDSM club? It wasn’t out of character for her at all. Right?

"Hey?" Both dark brown eyebrows shot up, and he stepped forward until the toes of his boots brushed the tip of her platformed heels.

"Uh, hi?" She let go of her hip to grab her wine glass, checking out the surroundings as she took a sip. The heat of his glare could have warmed the room if it wasn't already simmering from the body heat. The dungeons hadn't opened yet for play and the lounge, although decorated beautifully with mistletoe and garland, began to resemble a pressure cooker.

"Hi?" he laughed.

She sighed, obviously unable to escape the conversation he wanted to have and put her drink back on the bar. "Okay. Hi, Garrick. What brings you here tonight? Come here often?"

Before he could respond, a woman dolled up, wearing a silvery dress, and mistletoe tucked into her blonde up-do snaked her way through the crowd and butted right up to Garrick.

"Garrick! I was afraid I wouldn't find you." She gushed, running her hand up and down his arm. "It's so crowded in here, are they ever going to open the dungeons?"

Garrick didn't break his stare with Jade when he answered. "Just a few more minutes, Kimberly."

"Good, It's so hot in here." She began to fan herself with one hand, still resting the other on his arm. "I didn't get a chance to talk with you before tonight, but I was hoping we could talk now?"

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