That thought made her push up off the beer tub and stand up straight. She did?
“One, two, three.” Saxon threw out paper.
She did rock.
“Ha-ha!” he said.
But she was barely paying attention. She was wondering if her feelings for Wyatt were confused by Johnny’s death. Maybe she just wanted comfort, companionship. It wouldn’t be fair to Wyatt to lead him on if that was the case. But how was she supposed to know for sure? It wasn’t like she had any real experience with relationships. She’d never been in love. She’d been in lust. She’d had crushes. But true, deep, soul mate kind of love, that she’d never experienced. Which was kind of pathetic, now that she thought about it. How had she gotten to be more than a hundred years old and never fallen in love? Or had a man fall in love with her?
Stella suddenly felt like she was going to cry. She swiped at her face. “Saxon, I have something in my eye.”
“Yeah, your finger.”
Oh, geez. She glared at him. “I’m going to the restroom to flush it out.” To cry in private in a stall. “I’ll be right back.”
She never made it to the restroom. When she got to the entrance, arms around her waist yanked her up the stairs and into the back room.
“What the hell?” Stella kicked and elbowed whoever had grabbed her. It had to be a vampire because he didn’t let go. A mortal would have been doubled over from the impact and would have dropped her.
“Calm down.”
She whirled around and found herself face-to-face with Raven. “What are you doing?” Shoving at him, she said, “Get your hands off of me.”
He did let her go, but he blocked her entrance back into the bar. “Just give me a minute. I don’t want to hurt you, Stella.”
“You punched Saxon,” she said dryly, arms loose and at her sides. She hadn’t been in a lot of altercations but she did know how to defend herself if necessary.
“He owes me money.”
“Hitting Saxon is like kicking a kitten.”
“He borrowed five hundred bucks last night and blew it at the casino. When I asked him when he could pay me back he told me money is the root of all evil. It got worse from there. Having a conversation with him is like talking to a stoned twelve-year-old.”
Well, Raven did have a point. “Five hundred bucks is a lot of money,” she said begrudgingly. “And I’ll talk to him about paying you back. But please refrain from punching those less mentally fortunate than yourself.”
“Okay, sorry. He just irritated me.”
Stella sighed. Saxon was irritating, she couldn’t deny it. “Was there something else you wanted?” Raven didn’t look like he was quite done with the conversation, but frankly, she was. She wanted to find Wyatt and go home. With Wyatt. There, she’d admitted it.
She wanted to cuddle with him. Feel his strong arms around her supporting her while she relaxed and slept off the remnants of this wicked hangover.
“I wanted to ask you out.”
“What?” Stella just stared at him. She’d known Raven for at least twenty years and he’d never once expressed any interest in her. Not that she had noticed. Why did that always happen? You went years without any male interest and then suddenly they were crawling out of the woodwork. It was like they could smell competition and it roused them into action.
“You know, with Johnny’s death and everything, it just made me think that this isn’t forever, you know? That we need to live each night to the fullest.”
She’d never thought of Raven as a deep guy and he looked uncomfortable with the words coming out of his own mouth. She wasn’t sure what to make of the whole thing. Raven was a hedonist. Having him interested in her was just hard to believe. “I can definitely appreciate what you’re saying. But now isn’t a good time.”
“It’s Axelrod, isn’t it? You’re seeing him.”
“I wouldn’t say that precisely.” She wasn’t sure what she and Wyatt were doing.
“Shit, I knew it. I guess I shouldn’t have dragged my feet. Same with the washboard player. I’m striking out all over the place.”
Raven had been eyeing Katie, too? That was flattering to think that she was just one of a number of women on his list. Charming guy, that Raven. “Sorry. Hey, do you know Bambi, the girl my brother was dating?” It seemed likely that Raven would know a stripper and Saxon had mentioned something about Raven shooting Bambi.
“Sure.”
“Do you know where she is tonight?”
“She was at Erin Rose fifteen minutes ago.” Raven glanced back into the bar. “I have to go back onstage.”
Stella nodded. “You ever want to shoot her?”
Raven started. “What? Why the hell would I do that? Are you okay, Stella?”
Not really.
She couldn’t decide if Raven was the type to drug them or not. He certainly wasn’t acting sinister, just more like a douche bag. She decided to see if she could get a reaction from him. “Johnny’s blood vial is missing. Have you seen it?”
Raven gave her a long look. “No. I would hunt that down if I were you. Not a good thing to lose track of.”
Stella wasn’t sure what that meant but before she could question him further Raven was gone, taking the steps two at a time onto the stage and picking up his guitar.
Had he seriously just cornered her in the storage room because he wanted to ask her out? It seemed suspect. But she didn’t really have any choice but to take him at face value.
She figured she could stop at the local bar across the street and see if she could find Bambi and ask her some questions. What, she wasn’t exactly sure. Pausing on the edge of the dance floor, she glanced around. No Wyatt. No Saxon. Seriously?
She went out the front door. Still no sign of either of them. Wyatt was the one who had told her so pointedly not to go anywhere and then he disappeared. Typical man. Couldn’t make up his mind.
If he thought she was going to stand around looking abandoned, he was crazy. A woman alone in a bar was a target for more stupidity than she was prepared to deal with tonight. Or any more stupidity than she was prepared to deal with.
Erin Rose was a hole in the wall. It always smelled like fried food and something else that she’d never quite been able to identify. The counters were sticky and the air stale, but the bartenders were awesome and it was a quiet place for locals who worked the street to sneak away from the raucous tourist places. Stella hadn’t been there in a while, but she waved to the bartender in the back. “Hey, what’s up, Peter?”