Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
“Shit! Somebody’s about to get kicked out,” Mad muttered.
Red snorted. “And it’s still early. Drunk idiot.”
Sky followed his friends’ stares toward the small knot of people standing near the round banquette booths along the far wall. A man was shouting at someone seated in the booth. He lunged forward, making a grab for the seated person, but a bouncer stopped him at the last second, pulling him a safe distance away from the table. Ryder—the large, scary bouncer he’d met through Gideon—was wading through the crowd to help.
The first bouncer was still trying to drag the angry man away, but the pissed customer shrugged him off. That little twist gave Sky the perfect view of the would-be brawler’s profile.
Sexy neighbor Nolan!
He would know that man’s perfect face anywhere, even distorted in rage.
“That’s my neighbor!” Sky shouted before plunging into the crowd of people. He had to get to him.
This didn’t make any sense. Okay, so maybe he could count on one hand the number of times he’d talked to Nolan, but he’d given no sign that he was prone to drunken outbursts or starting fights. He was a quiet recluse. Fuck. It was insane to see him in a nightclub in the first place.
But fighting here was a bad idea.
Nolan Banks was one hundred percent human. There was nothing paranormal or magical about him, and that meant there was a damn good chance he didn’t know there were such things as vampires.
As Sky shoved his way through the crowd vying for a good view of the argument, he prayed Nolan hadn’t picked a fight with a vampire. And he really fucking prayed that Nolan wasn’t swinging his fists. A bloody lip or minor cut would put the scent of blood in the air. Combined with the excitement of the fight, this would not be a safe place to be for humans.
Plus, he didn’t want to see his neighbor get hurt.
He reached Nolan’s side as the bouncer got him under control. Sky glanced at the black leather banquette for only a second, but that was all he needed to confirm that a pair of vampires sat in the center while scantily-clad human women bracketed them. The female vampire appeared amused by Nolan’s anger while the male vampire seemed to grow more annoyed. Not good.
Sky forced his way in front of Nolan and pressed a hand on his chest. His neighbor’s heart slammed against his fingers. Nolan’s face swung to him and his mouth opened, his face screwing up as if he were going to shout at Sky, but no words came out. His russet-brown eyes widened, and he blinked a few times as if his brain were struggling to register what he was seeing.
“You’re…you’re my neighbor,” Nolan said, his words coming out slurred. His face and the tendrils of black hair hanging in front of his eyes were sweaty. He didn’t look good. How long had he been drinking here?
“Hey, Nolan. That’s right. I’m your next-door neighbor, Sky. How about we get out of here?”
Nolan’s frowned, his scowl darkening all of his features before his gaze snapped to the vampire couple in the banquette. “But…” His argument fell off as if he were trying to remember what had made him angry.
“It’s okay. I can help you get home.”
“No!”
“Sky?”
The necromancer twisted to stare at the speaker while keeping one hand on Nolan’s chest. He offered a weak smile to the scary tall vampire. “Hey, Ryder. Sorry about the disturbance. This is my neighbor. Let me get him out of here. I don’t want him to get hurt.”
Ryder frowned at Nolan first, but then the huge bouncer directed his glare at the couple. Sky watched the two smile back at Ryder so fucking sweetly, as if they were all perfectly innocent in this mess, which convinced Sky that they’d somehow started everything.
Yes, fuck, okay. He was totally biased where Nolan Banks was concerned. He was a hot goth boy who needed someone to take care of him, and Sky really wanted that person to be him. Was that so wrong?
Ryder returned his gaze to Sky. “You’ll make sure he gets home safe?”
“Yep. Totally got it handled,” Sky lied. Nolan had at least four inches in height on him and while Sky just might outweigh him—Shut up, curve haters—Nolan was currently rocking all that lanky, drunk strength. If Nolan fought him, Sky wasn’t entirely sure he could hold on to him.
Ryder’s thin, hard lips twisted a bit as if the scary vampire were fighting the urge to laugh in his face. “I’ll help you get him to your car.” Ryder gave a jerk of his head to the other bouncer and the vampire instantly released Nolan, who swayed on his feet.
Sky slid closer, putting Nolan’s arm across his shoulders and wrapping his own arm around the man’s slender waist. Holy fuck, this boy needs to be fed! Nolan leaned on him and moved with him toward the entrance, but his footsteps felt grudging, as if he wasn’t ready to give up his fight. Ryder took up position on the other side of Nolan, helping to keep him steady while urging all the gawkers out of their way. People murmured to each other, but Sky ignored them. This was none of their business.