Blood Ties (Book 3 of The Blood Bond Series)

41. Lounge Act

"My feet are going to be aching after tonight—and that's coming from someone who is a dancer and used to being on their feet." Quinn rubbed her fingers over the center of her forehead for a moment as she sat down at their private table near the back of the club.

Their VIP booth at Cleo's Lounge was large, but there were only a few in their group. Most everyone was at a party of their own, but Eli and Cassie were at a party of their own, and Viv and male friend of theirs, Chris, were the only ones ay Cleo's. Chris was gay, but he was also Viv's date, because she didn't want to get drunk and make a bad decision. Knowing her, any she made tonight would be a doozy if she got wasted.

New Years Eve was always a great time to go out to a club and get wasted so you didn't have to host your own party and deal with the mess afterwards. Not that Quinn or Adam cleaned the house the day after Christmas, because they had a maid who did that. She was actually quite a nice young woman who went by her middle name of Anna instead of given first name, Maria. Quinn often talked with her while she was working, because it was one of the few times she could speak openly without someone else listening in. Like Michael, for instance. Maria was learning the English language quickly, and, in turn, Quinn was picking up some Spanish. It was definitely handy in California.

Adam leaned in, kissed her moist temple and took in the scent of her skin. Clean and cool, even if she was a little sweaty from being on the dance floor. They had dancing for about thirty minutes straight and were just coming back to the table. Viv and Chris were somewhere around, but they couldn't see them the place being packed. Since they had come in Adam's SUV, they had a plan to meet up in the parking lot across the street if they got separated. If they didn't meet up at last call at 2 AM, Viv and Chris would take a taxi or rideshare home.

"Ah, you'll live," Adam told her. He bit back the addendum of, 'if you had changed to vampire before this, your feet hurting wouldn't be a possibility', but refrained because if she had changed already, she most likely would still be too volatile to hang around this many people without going all bloodthirsty. It was a moot point. They were here now and that was all they could say at this point. He didn't allow himself to have regrets, because they were a team and had their differences, but needed to come together to achieve a compromise. He'd already fucked up some of their initial time together by sowing seeds of distrust because of the way they met. Kidnapping was something that should have been much harder to get over for a normal human being. It was only because of the bond that she was able to forgive as quickly as she did.

And thank God for that.

"I'm just glad I don't have to go back to school immediately. I'd be dreading dance class if I had to." Winter break lasted until about the 8th this year because New Years Day was on a Monday. "They usually give you a few days to recover because UCLA is such a party school. They tried having it start on the 3rd, but half the students emailed in sick—half the teachers too, or so I'm told."

Adam looked askance not quite believing her. "Who started that rumor?"

She merely shook her head. "No clue. It's been around for generations, probably. UCLA students have a horrible rep. You'd think they all went from graduating to their first year in post grad at Hell University. We're not all bad. Some of us are actually even intelligent."

Adam snorted, not because the idea of an intelligent UCLA grad was so outlandish, but because it was said with such vehemence, as if Quinn's own brain power was being called into question. He reached out and placed a hand on her knee before squeezing. "Love, you don't have to twist my nipple about it. Didn't I tell you I went there for business? UCLA Anderson School of Management. It's gotten better over the years and is now in the top five for business schools in the U.S." He shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, I stayed close to home instead of heading to New York, Boston, or up in NorCal. Stanford was my second choice, but I decided to stick around here. Nia was being a bit of a pain and—well, that's over with now. Water under the bridge."