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Meg gives me a look over the smoke from her vape. “Girl. When you’ve been having sex as long as I have, it stops being exciting after a while. Stardust takes me back to the beginning. It makes everything feel raw again.”
She pours a line onto a mirrored tray, then another for me without asking. She knows me too well. Meg does hers first, smooth and practiced, then pushes the tray toward me before taking another slow drag from her vape.
“I heard about Julian,” she says. “Strange business. Something’s shifting in the city. Marcus created his new prince, Vito brought his son back, the witches are making moves. I don’t like it. Territory wars are bad for business.”
I pause with the rolled bill in my hand. “Vito brought his son back? Piro is always here.”
“Not Piro.” Meg exhales a thin stream of vapor. “The older one. Antonero.”
My stomach tightens. “Antonero. Like Nero?”
“Yeah. He’s been fighting with wolves in the South for some time. Family business. I heard he came back recently. They say he’s a psycho. Vito sent him there to cure his anger, according to some people. Others say he sent him there to use it.”
“Fuck.”
Meg lowers the vape. “What?”
“I might have been mean to him.”
“Lara.” She says my name like she’s exhausted by me personally. “Why do you have this impeccable skill of getting yourself in a mess?”
“You know me. Well…” I look down at the stardust and try not to think about Nero’s hand around my throat, his arm turning black beneath my touch, and the way he looked fascinated instead of afraid. “I might avoid the Moon for a while.”
“I would if I were you.” Meg leans back in her chair. “You know the stories about Vito. Apparently, the firstborn is exactly like his father.”
I snort the line, and the rush hits fast enough to make my scalp prickle. A shiver moves through my body, cold first, then pleasantly warm.
“I gotta run,” I say, leaning back in the chair for one more second before forcing myself up.
Meg watches me with too much softness. I hate when people look at me like that. “Lara, please. Take care of yourself.”
“Can you let Max off early tonight?”
Her brows lift. “Oh. This one really is a charmer. Fine. But give him back to me in good condition.”
I reach the door and glance over my shoulder. “Don’t worry. He doesn’t like to play rough.”
Meg rolls her eyes as I leave.
When I get back to the entrance, Max isn’t there anymore, I text him:
Got you off work early. Come to Le Vertige.
I work a few smaller vampire clubs on the way, staying under the radar, moving enough to make it worthwhile. I need to step up the game.
At the end of the night, I finish at Le Vertige. Ezra is already there with a handful of witch friends. He spots me from across the floor and waves me over. He has a space in one of the cheaper VIP lounges along the side wall.
The place is full, and the vibe is good. Everyone around me is drunk or high or both. I finished my runs so it’s just stardust for me now, maintenance dose, enough to keep me alive. Before coming, I even decided to change into a blackless silver dress. I like to pretend that I don’t care, but even I want to look sexy sometimes. I sit and watch the room.
“Lara.” Ezra leans over. “You know you can smile sometimes. Do you even remember how to have fun?”
“I’m having fun.”
“Oh sorry, I cannot tell because of your slavic smile.”
“I don’t want wrinkles.”
He gives me a long look. “You take too much stardust.” A sigh. “You’re becoming so distant.”
