Page 42 of Hot Zone

“Nah, I just want to dance with my friends and have fun. I’m taking a break from men right now.”

“Well, if you just want to dance and have some fun, I’m your guy. Although I have to say, you’re rocking that fireman’s costume.”

“That’s all Andy. He loaned me what I needed to make it work.” He pulled into the parking lot at Kirby’s, and it was packed. “It’s a good thing Andy and Caleb are already here, or I would say there was no way we would get a table.”

We showed our IDs to a big mountain of a guy who was working the door and made our way inside. I’d never really been much of a club kinda guy, so I’d only been to Kirby’s a couple of times, but I didn’t remember it ever being this full.

“Wow, this is a lot of people.”

“It is. Andy and Caleb will be at Victor and Jesse’s table.”

“Jesse’s Andy’s boyfriend and owns the club, right?”

“Yep, and there they are, come on.” He grabbed my hand and dragged me through the crowd to a U-shaped table in the back. I recognized a few of the guys from the baseball game I’d attended with Steven a while back, but Mika made introductions all around the table.

“So you’re Steven’s friend, right?” a big man Mika had introduced as Keith asked. I thought he looked vaguely familiar, so I assumed he was one of the firefighters I’d seen at the game. “You’re the one who’s staying at the chief’s house.”

“Yeah, that would be me.”

“He didn’t mention what a sexy kitty you were.” A man dressed in a pirate costume that I’d recognized from the fire at my house winked at me, and I felt my cheeks heat. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I’d heard someone call him Fox, which was fitting cause he kinda was a fox, and he’d just called me a sexy kitty, which meant I should probably flirt back, right? Sadly, he couldn’t hold a candle to my sexy silver fox.

Luckily, Keith turned to look at me with a serious expression. “Sorry about your house, Mars. That really sucks.”

“Thanks, it does suck, but I’m choosing to believe it happened as a way to redirect my path.”

“Mars owns a shop here in town called The Chrysalis Moon. Have you ever been there? It’s awesome.” Mika slipped into the booth next to Andy, who wasn’t wearing a costume but had on a pair of bunny ears, and everyone shifted around to make room for me.

“I’ve heard of it,” Caleb said. “I haven’t been in though.”

“Well, you’re welcome in any time. We do tarot card readings, and I do horoscopes based on your natal chart as well.”

“Oh, I’ve always wanted to have a tarot reading done.” Caleb smiled. “Do I need an appointment?”

“I work Monday through Friday. You can come up any day but Wednesday, and I can do your reading. If you want to do the weekend, I’m happy to do it, but for that, you would need an appointment.”

“I’m off next Tuesday. Maybe I’ll come by. You’re off shift, aren’t you, Andy? You could come with.”

“Sure, I can come to your place, and then we can hop on over.” He reached up and wiggled his bunny ears, and everyone laughed.

We sat around and talked for a while, and I had a couple of drinks when Andy put his glass down on the table and said, “Let’s dance. We’ve been sitting here long enough. It’s time to get our groove on.”

Caleb shook his head. “Nobody says get your groove on.”

“I just did. Now, are you coming or not?”

I stood up to let him out of the booth, but once he, Mika, and Caleb were out of the booth, they grabbed me and Caleb and dragged us out on the dance floor with them.

After about the third song, Fox joined us. He was a very nice-looking guy, and at any other time, I would’ve totally been into him. He reached out, grabbed my hand, and pulled me close.

“Come on, pussycat, dance with me.”

I reminded myself that I was here to have fun, and dancing with a sexy man who seemed to be into me was definitely fun. So I decided to just go with it. He spun me around so that I was facing away from him and pulled my body tight against his as we moved to the music. He was a really good dancer, and I was pretty sure he would’ve been up for more if I’d been interested.

He grabbed my hand and spun me back to face him. He looked down at me with a playful grin that made me think he knew something I didn’t.

“I’m surprised the chief let you come out here alone dressed like that.”

“The chief has no say in what I do. Besides, what makes you think he cares?” I tried to sound strong and independent, but I was pretty sure it came out more like a whine.

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