Spell Bound - Kelley Armstrong [90]
Only problem with that plan? She loved Aaron and she was miserable without him. Only an idiot couldn’t see that. Fortunately, Aaron understood her. Maybe even understood why she did it. It took him seventy-five years, but he’d forgiven her. For a long time, they’d only been friends. As Cassandra reached the final act of her vampire life, that had changed. I was sure of it. As discreet as they were, there was no hiding the fact that Cass was a whole lot happier these days. No less bitchy or opinionated, but happier in her misanthropy.
twenty-eight
I actually thought calling a bar “The Meet Market” was a clever play on the bar scene. If I owned a place like that, I’d do it up right. Lots of double entendre advertising. Decorate it seventies swinger style. Adorn the walls with old-school porn posters. Make it the kind of bar where you could hang out with your friends and not get hit on nonstop, because guys would feel cheesy doing it in a place that poked fun at the stereotype.
Apparently, the owner of The Meet Market and I did not share the same sense of humor. The name wasn’t tongue-in-cheek; it was truth-in-advertising.
The sign on the door advertised half-price drinks for “ladies” after ten.
“Damn,” I said. “We’re early. No, wait. Cass, you can still get a discount.” I pointed at a second sign, offering the same deal for any women participating in the hourly “wet T-shirt hosing.”
“Tempting,” she said. “But I’m wearing silk. You go ahead. I’m sure it wouldn’t be the first time.”
Before I could reply, a voice said, “Oh, she doesn’t need to worry about paying full price.” The bouncer waved us forward and whipped out a red band from his pocket. He caught my wrist and snapped it on. “There you go. The Meet Market special.”
“Um, okay.” I twirled the plastic band. “What is it?”
“The hottie bracelet.” He winked. “Half-price drinks all night for you, gorgeous.”
I turned to Cass. “Sorry.”
“Oh, no,” the bouncer said. “She gets one, too. There’s always a place at The Meet Market for someone a little more mature than our regular clientele.” He grinned. “And a lot more classy.”
He reached for Cassandra’s wrist.
She yanked her hand back. “Put that thing on me at your peril.”
His grin grew. “Classy and sassy. I like it.”
“Oh, trust me, you wouldn’t like it,” I said as I steered Cassandra past him. “Her bite is a lot worse than her bark.”
As we entered the bar, I leaned down to whisper in her ear, “I think you could have gotten lucky.”
“I wouldn’t consider that luck.”
“Oh, come on. Big. Brawny. Young. Not blond, but a wig would fix that.”
“Nothing could fix that.”
I laughed. Gazes shot my way. Chest first, face second, wrist third. A few guys broke from their packs and started to swoop in.
“What, they need a wristband to confirm that I’m hot?” I said.
“I suspect it serves the dual purpose of confirming that you’re available.”
I put my hand in my pocket.
“Which you are not,” she murmured.
“Of course I am.”
“You have not been available since you were twelve.”
She sighed as I tried to stuff the band down out of sight, then she veered past a table where the lone occupant was watching her two friends at the bar. The women had left assorted flotsam and jetsam behind, including what looked like a collar for a pursedog.
Cassandra snagged the band, and brought it over. It turned out to be a leather bracelet studded with spikes. She lifted my wrist and snapped it over the hottie bracelet.
“Oh, that’s so much better,” I said.
“Biker bitch or hottie hoochie, it’s your choice.”
I left the bracelet on.
I texted the number Aaron had given us for Eloise. At the end of the bar, a tiny girl with platinum hair bobbed out from behind a throng of suitors. She waved frantically. The guys gave us a onceover, and seconded the waving.
“Absolutely not,” Cassandra said.
“Agreed.”
I motioned for Eloise to join us and went in search of a table. As we cut through