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"Maybe I can read you better than most, but it's prettyobvious what you're thinking. You were scanning for Tommy when we walked in. Now you're terrified of seeing Kenny up there."
"All true."
"Keep your cards closer to your chest."
She sat up straighter and pressed her lips together in a thin line. "Right. Got it. Poker face." She was fucking beautiful but a terrible liar.
The lights dimmed, and cheesy music boomed from speakers in the ceiling. I took her hand in mine and gave it a squeeze. Those extra long talons Stella put on her hand wrapped around and dug into my skin instead of hers. That was fine. I could take it.
Several men that looked like guards appeared in the small arches around the outside of the room. Kenny emerged from backstage with a grand flourish. His silver suit glimmered in the lights, and his red velvet cape flowed behind him. What a dufus.
His hair was longer than in the pictures I'd seen. He looked too tall and skinny to be a gang leader, but looks could be very deceiving.
"Welcome, one and all. I am your magic master, the Great Kenny Zhao. Happy Valentine's Day." He twirled his arm and bowed dramatically, when he straightened, he held a bouquet of roses in his hand that he tossed into the crowd. They dissolved into twinkling glitter before they landed. The audience eagerly applauded their leader. He proceeded to do card tricks and make corny jokes. He made solid rings click together with the help of sleight of hand and mirrors. The crowd continued to ooh and ahh over him.
Wren's eyes were huge, her mouth open in amazement.
"It's not real," I whispered to her. Was she really falling for this horse shit?
"But how does he do it?"
"Nothing is what it seems. Ever."
A stage hand wheeled out a large wooden cube to the center of the stage. Cyan lights shined down on it like it was glowing. He turned his attention to the audience and made a big deal of searching for someone. "I need a volunteer."
A spotlight blinded us, and I reached for my weapon, which I didn't have. Fuck, I hated this. I blocked Wren with my body instead.
"How about you, young lady? Come on up and I'll show you some magic." Audience members all around us werecraning their necks to stare at her, but all they got was my ugly face. "Don't be shy now. Come play along."
"She said no," I said.
"Well, how about you? Come on up."
"No."
His mouth was open like he was going to try again, but I let him know with my eyes and my tone I was not shitting with him.
He wiggled his fingers and the spotlight moved somewhere else. He wrangled a more eager volunteer from the crowd.
Once she was clear, I moved my body back into my seat and checked her expression. She looked surprised but not freaking out. She mouthed "Oh my God," to me.
My arm returned to her shoulders. "Poker face."
We started watching the show again, but she kept squirming up next to me. Her breasts rubbed my jacket and her scent pulled my attention back to her. "What?"
She smiled, her eyes lazy.
"Pay attention," I scolded her, trying to pretend she wasn't bewitching me with her antics.
"That was awesome," she whispered, her lips pursed in a shy smile.
I leaned in close to her ear. "Your poker face is shit." She smelled good as her hair brushed my nose.
She crossed her leg toward me and rubbed her thighs together. Heat was coming off her again like it did in the car. She was playing with me. "You liked that, huh?"
She smiled. "It was like the light was there shining on me, and I didn't want it, and you just swooped in like a shadow and made it go away."
"I shielded you."
