“Hey Josie Lynn, how are you feeling tonight?”
Some of Drake’s protective concern tamped down as he realized the man knew her. Then he looked at Josie Lynn and realized from her puzzled expression that she had no idea who this man was.
Even though she’d just informed him she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, he moved to stand close beside her.
“Drake,” the man greeted, extending a beefy hand toward him.
Drake accepted in, knowing for a fact he’d never met this man before.
“I bet you’re feeling even rougher than this little one,” the man said, jerking his head toward Josie Lynn. “You two were pretty wrecked. And wild.”
The big guy smiled, but Drake didn’t sense any lasciviousness or even judgment in his grin. He’d genuinely found them amusing.
“Yeah, we were,” Drake agreed, really hating that he had no idea what he was referring to.
“Come have a drink with me before I start my shift,” the giant said jovially.
Drake looked at Josie Lynn, who shrugged. It probably made sense to do so, since clearly this guy remembered them from last night. And from his familiarity must have talked to them for quite some time.
“Sure,” Drake said and waited for the man to lead the way.
It shouldn’t have surprised Drake, but it did, as the man led them straight to The Dungeon.
They entered the dark entryway that seemed to be set up more like a novelty haunted attraction than a bar. The man led them through a few hallways to a back bar that was mostly empty, although the hard rock still pounded off the walls and made it hard to hear.
“What can I get you?” the man asked.
Drake ordered his usual whiskey, neat. Josie Lynn hesitated, then after an uneasy look around the place, asked for a glass of wine.
“So dude, you two had a pretty kick-ass night last night,” the man grinned with approval. He turned to Josie Lynn. “You are pretty damn feisty.”
Even in the shadowy light, Drake could see her blush.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone get the better of Obsidian. Woman or man.”
Well that answered two suspicions of Drake’s. Yes, Josie Lynn’s run-in had been with Obsidian. And he’d been right to avoid that chick. She was scary.
He glanced at Josie Lynn, who looked embarrassed and bemused all at once. But she did seem to find her voice, having to practically shout over the music.
“Why did I fight with her?”
The man gave her a somewhat surprised look himself. Apparently he hadn’t caught on to the fact that they had no clue what had happened. For the entire night.
“She was trying to make moves on your man here.” He tilted his head in Drake’s direction. Then he frowned, his gaze moving over Drake. “Interesting outfit, buddy.”
“Yeah, I know. Thanks.” This guy clearly wasn’t terribly quick, if he had just noticed Drake’s look.
The man frowned at him a moment longer, then turned back to Josie Lynn. “You definitely put her in her place.”
“Then what happened?” she asked, her words coming out stiltedly as if she really didn’t want to know, but knew she needed to.
The burly guy grinned again. “Well, let’s just say a good fight seems to turn you both on.”
Josie Lynn reached for her glass of wine and downed half of it. Drake personally wanted to ask for more details, but he was pretty sure Josie Lynn would have turned her Cajun fighting skills on him.
Instead he settled for saying, “We didn’t cause too much of a scene, did we?”
“Nah,” the man said. “Nothing that hasn’t happened here before.”
Drake wasn’t sure what that meant exactly. He was pretty certain a lot of things had happened here before.
“And you two got interrupted by Zelda, before you got too hot and heavy.”
“Did we leave with her?”
The man nodded, gulping down his Jägerbomb.
“She said she needed to find her wedding dress. And her groom.” The guy chuckled, his laugh deep even over the pounding bass of Nine Inch Nails reverberating in the room. “In that order.”
Drake smiled, not finding that information as amusing as this guy did. Where had they gone after that? Zelda’s sex room? Or somewhere else before they ended up there? And how hot and heavy had he and Cupcake really gotten? Damn, he wished he remembered. Especially that last part.
“Oh shit,” the man suddenly said. “Looks like your nemesis is back.”
Both Drake and Josie Lynn turned to see Obsidian walk into the room. Tonight she wore even more black eyeliner than last night, obviously trying to mask a pretty impressive shiner. But it did little to hide the injury, especially since tonight she wore a purple corset that just seemed to bring out the black-and-purple bruise all the more.
She paused when she saw them at the bar, but strode into the room anyway.
“She must be a masochist as well as a sadist,” the giant said, shaking his head and pretty much voicing Drake’s own thoughts.
She walked over to the bar, taking a seat just one down from Drake. The bartender, whom Drake didn’t recall either, shot all of them a rather wary look before going to take Obsidian’s drink order. Clearly she remembered them, too.
“Maybe we should just go,” Josie Lynn said, making her voice loud to be heard over the music. But the song ended midsentence so everyone could hear her, crystal-clear.
“Yes, maybe you should,” Obsidian said wryly, but then she smiled invitingly at Drake. “You can of course stay. Surely you are bored with the company of some uncouth, backwoods Cajun by now. Only good for one night. And only good for one thing.”
She gave Josie Lynn a withering look. “If you’re even good for that.”
Drake stared at the woman. Maybe the reason he instantly had found her so unnerving at the wedding wasn’t because she was a whip-wielding domme, but actually because she was nuts. What the hell was she thinking when Josie Lynn had already kicked her butt once? Masochistic was right.
Drake then shot Josie Lynn a look, because he sensed her shifting beside him. This was going to get ugly. Josie Lynn had already been annoyed when she’d walked in here, and he suspected Obsidian’s goading was not going to improve that mood.
And Drake was right. Josie Lynn now stood. There was going to be another brawl, and frankly he didn’t think Obsidian was going to just luck out with a black eye. But instead of pushing out her barstool, and going over to the clearly non-too-bright domme, Josie Lynn pushed the stool aside and stepped closer to him. In fact, she didn’t just step closer, she placed her hands on Drake’s knees to get him to swivel toward her, then she stepped in between his spread thighs.