I get it.
Scrolling through all their profiles, I totally get it.
I click on my page and see I have 10.5K followers now, just from that one show I have done. Crazy. I’ve been tagged in a few images, so I scroll through them as I make my way downstairs. It seems the main Midnight Mayhem page has tagged me in most of them, candid shots during acts taken by the film crew. They look good, and it’s obvious where I got the majority of those followers.
“You gonna tell me what tonight was about?”
I jolt when I hear Kyrin’s voice from the dark sitting room, nothing but the purple LED illuminating from the lining of the walls. I really need to get used to these two hiding in dark corners if I’m going to so much as survive another day touring on this bus.
“Do you need to be put to bed, too?” I lock my screen to shut off the light and stop, leaning against one of the sofas. He’s lying on his back on the three-seat, his arm shading his eyes and one leg hanging off the edge. He can’t have seen me come down, but somehow knew it was me.
“Not in the mood for jokes, Lilith.”
His abs are sprawled out in front of me and I sink my teeth into my lower lip. Every cut line is like memory lane to every single thing we did the night before.
“…Lilith.”
“What?” I don’t try to hide the fact I’m checking him out.
“Who was the man at the bar with you?”
I move toward him, unable to be this far away any longer. I lower down onto the sofa near his waist.
“What man?” I barely get the words out before his hand is on my throat and he’s shoving me down until our noses almost touch. Now that he’s not hiding behind his arm, I can see the wrath all over his face, but it’s not obvious. It’s delectably cold. I would even go as far as to say distant. He squeezes, but I keep the grin marring my face.
“Who. Was. He?”
“Why does it matter?” I manage to ask around his relentless grip.
“Because I don’t fucking trust you.”
I lean forward and I’m surprised when he allows it to happen. “You don’t have to.”
He shoves me away and jackknives up from the sofa, storming back upstairs. It’s not even five a.m. and I’m ready to go back to bed.
Kicking my door closed, I grab my phone out of my pocket and hit dial on King. He answers, despite the time.
“You still sleep like shit.” He yawns sleepily through the phone.
“What do we know about a club called The Connoisseur of the Dark?”
King pauses on the other end, and I hear covers shuffle in the background. A door closes and then a flicker of a lighter.
“P is going to kick your ass for smoking.”
He blows out. “Yeah, well, lucky for her, it only makes her look cute. The Connoisseur is an old-school club that dates all the way back to the 1800s. As far as I know, there’s no history between Midnight Mayhem and them.”
I slowly lower myself onto my bed, running my fingers through my hair. “What about Patience?”
“What about them?” King asks. He thinks we all took care of that, but he’s wrong. I just know it. Somethin’ just seemed too easy with the way everything wrapped up. They killed the leader, but everyone knows that every leader has to have people they led.
“Did they have history with them?”
“Nah, doubt it. If they did, it would be just a club to dance in while they’re in the US. Patience has hubs where they can rest throughout the country, but Patience is done with, bro. We’ve even got a couple of Dolls begging for us to take them in because they’re out on the street.”
I pause. There’s no fucking way that Dolls would want in. They were conditioned to be Patience. Even fucking Lilith, which is exactly why I don’t trust her. “What do you mean we’ve got Dolls wanting in?”
“Yesterday a couple of them got in contact with Perse to ask if we would take them. Perse told them no, that obviously we’re a ‘family-operated’ business, but they then threw Lilith into her face.”
“Hmm,” I grunt, allowing him to continue. “And what did she say to that?”
“She told them to fuck off.”
I chuckle. “She’s become quite fucking feisty. Must be because she’s carrying your child.”
“Fuck you.” The line goes quiet for a few seconds before he finally says. “What’s going on with you and the little psycho, anyway?”
“What do you mean?” I lean back on the headboard of my bed, picturing her standing at the end, exactly where she was just two nights ago.
“Don’t act dumb, Ky. You’re the smartest of us all.”
“Nothing. She’s a good fuck.”