Kathryn

1

"It's cold as balls out here."

I glanced over at my best friend, Neely Jo and shook my head. "Well, I told you not to wear that skirt. You're showing your ass off to anyone who wants to see it."

What did she expect though? We'd come to New York with our college debate team. Neither one of us expected it to be this cold. It was only October. Being from Florida, though, we didn't really do cold weather all that often.

"Girl, you know my mama always said if you got it, flaunt it and I got it." She winked at me and shook her ass.

God, I loved her, but sometimes, she annoyed me beyond all words and measures. Tonight was one of those nights. We were supposed to be catching a plane back home in the morning, but she just had to go out and check out NYC night life.

Hence why we were standing in line waiting to get inside a club. It was almost one in the morning and I was fairly certain the place would be closing soon. I could be back in the hotel with soft sheets, room service, and Netflix.

But no.

I'd let Neely Jo drag me out to a club. Several in fact. This was the last one and I told her that too. I wanted to sleep at some point tonight or I'd be the walking dead in the morning. She'd been warned I would need several large coffees in the airport to get over my lack of beauty sleep.

We inched our way toward the front as more people were turned away. It had to be because they were closing up soon. At least I hoped so.

Sang Morte. Blood death. I didn't want to come here once I heard the name.

Yes, I was that girl—Katheryn Sinclair, superstitious to my core. It was probably because I grew up watching horror movies with my brother instead of cartoons. We used to sneak and watch them when our parents passed out for the night.

That was the reason nothing really scared me when it came to movies and books. Well, I could scare me. If I thought long and hard about the situation, which I'd been doing since Neely decided we were hitting this place before we turned in.

All sorts of creepy scenarios came to mind as we waited and froze to death. And none of them good.

"Why don't we just go home?" I asked after more people were turned away from the door. "It doesn't look like they're letting anyone in. We could be snoozing in our beds right now."

"Now why would two beautiful ladies want to go home?"

Both us jumped at the man's voice. We turned to see him standing behind us. His jeans and long-sleeved sweater didn't scream club, but he seemed to belong in a weird sort of way. Maybe it was the dark green eyes or the slicked back dark hair.

"I, uh..." Neely stuttered, her own chocolate eyes dilating like she was stoned or something. Sure, we'd had a few drinks, but neither of us were drunk. We knew how to drink and keep a glass of water handy.

The man's gaze shifted to me and I blinked, finding his attention like the soft caress of a gloved hand. He was gorgeous and I hoped Neely had no designs on him, because he was mine.

Ten seconds ago, I wanted to catch the first cab I saw back to the hotel and now, I still wanted to catch that cab, but I wanted to go home with him instead.

Neely cleared her throat and ran a hand down her side. "I'm not sure they're letting anyone else inside." Her voice was stronger, but she still seemed nervous.

"How about you, beautiful?" He came closer and I smelled his cologne. I wasn't sure what it was, but he smelled delicious. "Do you want to go inside?"