Silence that Sizzles (13 page)

Kelly walked up to the front entrance of the Urban Dwellers with Cal in tow. The bouncer at the front door saw Cal and immediately opened the door for them. She caught the annoyed glances of other people waiting in line outside to get in and heard the hisses and the boos as she walked past them. She also heard the catcalls.

She was wearing a simple pair of skinny jeans, but she had let Sophie talk her into a shimmery new top. Although it covered her upper body completely, it was flashy and formfitting in a way that she was trying to get used to. There was definitely a new side of her that was emerging. She couldn’t help but wonder if Kyle was going to like it or not. She picked at her hem and then saw Sophie waving at her from the bar as soon as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting inside the club. She wished for Sophie’s shifter eyesight since Kelly could still barely see deeper than a few feet into the huge room. The only thing she knew was that it was filled with bodies that were writhing on the dance floor or pushed up against each other up at the bar.

Cal opened a path for her to get to the bar. She was starting to appreciate having the big guy with her. Although he had been following her around the better part of a day already, she still didn’t know anything about him. She tried to ask him a question a time or two, but he had only grunted or given her a one-word reply. She figured it had something to do with his loyalty to the Urban Dwellers. He probably saw a lot of things, but of course, he wouldn’t betray their confidence by saying anything.

Sophie gave Kelly a high five when she finally arrived at the bar. “Looking good, girl.”

Kelly flushed. She appreciated hearing that she looked nice, even if it was just from Sophie. She was starting to get used to the idea of having a girlfriend again, and it was nice.

“What can I get for you tonight?”

Kelly almost felt bad. She could see that there were a ton of other patrons that were waiting for service, which she figured Sophie probably recognized. She figured she’d keep it simple. “Can I get a glass of white wine?”

“Coming up. Oh, and you better watch out. Kyle is in a mood.”

Sophie sauntered away to get Kelly’s drink. Kelly wondered if she had anything to do with Kyle’s mood. She figured she did. She hadn’t heard from him since the gala the night before, and she had been hesitant to call him because she didn’t know what she would say.

She was curious, though, if he heard anything new about her case, or if there was anything else that she needed to know. She kept the burner phone next to her all day, but it had been silent. There had been a part of her that wanted to check her voicemails and possibly even use Sophie’s laptop to check her email, but Kyle had been very clear. No communication with anyone from the outside. He didn’t want anyone else to try and track her back to where she was.

The glass of wine appeared in front of her.

“Any advice then for dealing with him?” Kelly couldn’t believe that she was asking. But Sophie knew this Kyle better than she did. She could honestly take any pointers she could get, especially with the tense way things had been left between them. She wasn’t sure what Kyle thought anymore. Maybe he had decided marking her had been a mistake. That thought should have made her happy, but it didn’t.

“No, I think he’s gonna take one look at you and forget all about it, and you are going to do the same. Then you’ll smooch. A lot. You know the way to calm a man down is through his…well, you know.” Sophie gave her a wink. “You’ll find him downstairs in the club’s suite. Don’t worry. Cal knows the way.”

Kelly waved to Sophie and let her get back to the other patrons. She didn’t want to take up any more of the bartender’s time. She understood that it was fight night, which meant that it was one of the busiest nights of the month at the club.

Kelly took a sip of her wine as she and Cal slowly moved across the dance floor. She listened to the music and felt the beat vibrate through her limbs. By the time they made their away across to the door that Cal pointed out, she was even shimmying to the music. She knew she needed to loosen up before she saw Kyle again.

Cal reached over her shoulder and rapped his knuckles on the door. A small window halfway up the door slid open. The pair of eyes on the other side saw them standing there, and then the door opened. Cal motioned for her to go ahead of him, and she moved into the small hallway. It was so dark and cramped that she immediately felt claustrophobic. Kelly focused her thoughts on what Sophie had told her about fight night.

Fight night only happened once a month and was held in the underground arena beneath the club. There were five matches that each lasted for three rounds each unless the match ended in a knock-out. The fighters came from all over the country to compete. There were several big names that were on the ticket to fight that night. She imagined that was another reason that Kyle would be on edge. Sophie said there were a lot of big name sponsors in town that were also going to be at the fight. When sponsors came into town, it was also time for the shifters to be able to talk about other shifter business. That was all Sophie said about it. Kelly got the sense, though, that there was more to it than that.

Kelly had never been to a shifter fight before. She’d heard about them, but this was going to be the first time she saw one up close and personal. Kelly wasn’t really a fan of any kind of sport that could result in blood being spilled or broken bones. She understood that the basic concept of shifter fights resembled something like boxing or MMA fighting. There were few rules, and the big difference was that the competitors could phase between their animal and human form depending on the tactic they wanted to use in the ring. It sounded brutal and deadly.

The only reason that she had agreed to come at all was because Sophie said that Kyle had asked for her, and Sophie figured they needed to talk. She wasn’t entirely sure that she was on board with the idea of shifter fighting. But now that she was in a semi-relationship with a shifter who owned the club that sponsored shifter fighting, she guessed she was going to have to start figuring out how she felt about the whole thing. Being the researcher that she was, Kelly was again looking at it as a fact finding mission. She’d never been to a shifter match, so she felt it was important that she reserved judgment until after she’d actually seen what one was like.

Cal escorted her down a narrow flight of steps. As she emerged out onto the top step between the seats that formed the top row of the arena, Kelly realized that she had been harboring an outdated idea of what a shifter fighting arena would look like. She had expected something resembling a huge cavern with dirt floors and rock walls. She thought she’d see a bunch of people yelling and screaming around a makeshift kind of ring. This was nothing like that at all. What she saw looked like a true sports arena complete with rows of seating leading down to a ring, video monitors hanging from the ceiling above it, and what appeared to be a state of the art lighting and sound system. She immediately had to wonder how deep it had been dug out beneath the building above them. She knew that no one but shifters knew that there was anything else going on in the basement of the Urban Dwellers club. It was a well-known but best-kept secret.

The person taking tickets waved her and Cal through. Cal put his hand on her arm to guide her along the top side of the ring and then to an opening that led up to into another narrow hallway. Here she saw a row of doors that obviously opened into the different suites above the general seating area. Cal knocked on the first door on his right. She heard a grunted response from inside. He opened the door, and she stepped through. It wasn’t until after he closed the door behind her that she realized that he had not followed her inside. He had probably been instructed to stand guard outside the suite.

Kyle sat slumped in one of the seats up at the front of the suite overlooking the ring. She did a quick count. There were at least eight seats in the suite, but it was just her and Kyle. There was a long bar along the side, and she saw an open bottle of scotch.

It hadn’t escaped Kelly’s notice in the short time she’d been with him that Kyle seemed to enjoy a glass of scotch more often than she would’ve anticipated. She had to wonder if he was doing some type of self-medicating with the alcohol. He wouldn’t be the first man in history to do so. Still, it was part of the problem that she was going to have to address with him, especially if their relationship was going to be anything more than it was now.

“I see you made it. I wasn’t sure if you were going to come.”

Kelly took a deep breath. “You asked for me. Sophie thought we should talk.”

“I’m so glad that
Sophie
is in charge of what you think you should do now. Guess I should go thank her.”

Kelly wondered what was going on. She had expected the conversation to be difficult, but Kyle hadn’t even looked at her yet. She moved down to stand next to him, and that was when the waft of the smell of liquor caught in her nostrils. Kyle wasn’t just a bit moody. She had a feeling that Kyle was drunk. She felt a rush of anger inside of her.

“Trying to drink yourself to death again?”

This time, Kyle’s chin came up, and he glared at her. She took a step back. His features shifted on his face in a way that she had never seen before. Was he going to turn into his bear right here in front of her? Then his features settled again, and he was entirely normal-looking.

“I just got some more bad news today.”

“Bad news about what?”

Kyle stood up. He stalked her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. She took a step back, but it wasn’t long before she bumped into the wall. He was so imposing. When he grabbed her chin, she wasn’t sure what to expect. But then his mouth drove down to meet hers. It was like he was kissing her for the first time all over again. Kelly grabbed the front of his shirt. She meant to push him away, but the sensations flaring up in her body felt so good. This wasn’t how she wanted to approach the conversation. There was so much they had to talk about. There was a part of her logical brain that knew he was drunk. She couldn’t let him cloud her judgment with lust again. She shoved against him.

He stumbled backward. “What the hell was that for?”

“You tell me,” she demanded. “You smell like you’ve drowned yourself in a bottle of Johnnie Walker.”

Kyle chuckled, but it was a cold sound that held no humor. “So maybe I did. What of it?” Kelly didn’t like this side of Kyle at all. “If I am, it’s because of what you did to me. Reeled me in, and then played me for a fool.”

What he said didn’t make any sense. “Is this about last night? I told you I needed some time to think. Surely you can understand that.”

“Last night? Hell, you’ve been playing me a lot longer than that, haven’t you, Doc?”

It was apparent to Kelly that Kyle was having some kind of episode. She didn’t want to believe that she was the one who had triggered it, but she knew that might be the case. She had to be patient with him and talk him down off the ledge. Once he was himself again, they could talk about what had happened.

“How about I ask Sophie to send down a couple of bottles of water instead? I’m sure the fights are going to be starting soon, and you don’t want to miss them.”

Kyle flopped back into his seat. That was good, but it gave her a few minutes to mentally berate herself for allowing him to kiss her when he was so upset. Now she was aroused but in so many different ways. She carefully sat down in the seat next to him and waited.

“I know you think I’m drunk, but I’m not. Believe it or not, we shifters have a metabolism that burns off liquor like you wouldn’t believe. I literally would have to be taking a swim in a barrel of Johnnie Walker before I even start to feel it.”

Kelly wondered about that. She carefully cataloged that away as a possible research project for the future. Then she mentally shook herself. At some point, if she was going to be involved with Kyle, she was going to have to start taking off her researcher hat. It would surely get her in trouble sooner or later.

“You said you didn’t know anything about the vaccine.” Kyle’s next words seemed to come completely out of left field.

“I didn’t,” Kelly said cautiously.

Kyle was silent. She heard applause as the arena started to fill with spectators. The video monitors turned on, and there was footage playing of two men on the screen. The first fight was going to start soon.

The door behind them opened, and she turned in time to see Eric stalk into the room. She saw the look of disdain cross his face when he saw her sitting there. It was official. She didn’t like him at all.

“I’ve got some more news for you.” He ignored her as he approached Kyle and dropped a file into his lap. “Do with it what you want.” Then Eric turned on his heel and left the room.

Kelly saw her name printed on the corner of the file. She felt coldness sweep through her limbs. “What’s that?”

“It’s the notes from Eric’s investigation into your case. It seems that your division was the one that was creating the vaccine.”

Kelly was still confused. “I know that it was happening in my division, but it wasn’t happening with my knowledge.”

Kyle opened the file. He scanned the paperwork inside. His brow furrowed, and he scowled. She had a feeling that she didn’t want to know what was in the file, but she wanted to find out sooner rather than later.