He pulled it open and guided me into a gigantic warehouse space that was full of light, music, and people. It was like a carnival trapped inside the metal walls of a warehouse. I turned to look at him with huge eyes while he just stared down at me and asked, “Would it surprise you if I told you I come from a long line of moonshiners and bootleggers? My mom’s dad ran a still way up in the backcountry when she was little and got locked up for it before she had me.”
A guy that looked like he had dropped out of the 1920s exchanged some kind of greeting with Asa and shook his hand as he passed him some folded-up bills. I continued to shoot him questioning looks as he guided me through the bodies milling about.
“Asa, seriously, what is this place?”
He found a table off to the far side of the floor that was draped in heavy, tacky red velvet and faced a stage that at the moment was dark and slightly ominous looking. He pulled out a chair for me and waited while I decided if I was going to sit down or bolt for the door. Nothing in these walls seemed permanent. It was like some kind of Technicolor fantasy come to life and every hackle I had was raised up and telling me nothing about this was on the up-and-up.
“It’s a pop-up speakeasy. The guy that runs them is from out west and they only come this way once a year. I thought it would be fun.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him. “Is any of it legal?” I knew something was going on with him. He felt more on edge tonight, more intense than he had been since I started chasing him around. He was testing me and I was about to fail, because even as much as I wanted him, I wasn’t about to corrupt my own morals to be with him.
A young woman dressed like an old-fashioned cigarette girl stopped by and smiled at us both. She was adorable and I felt like I had been dropped onto an old gangster-movie set. Lord only knew Asa could play the part of Bugsy Siegel with hardly any effort.
“Can I get you anything to drink?”
Asa opened his mouth to answer for us but I interrupted with a curt, “I dunno, do you even have a license to sell liquor?” I swore that if I had my badge I would’ve taken it out and waved it in her face. I was furious that Asa thought he could bring me to an illegal club and that I would just follow along blindly.
She continued to grin at me like I wasn’t being rude at all and nodded her head. “Of course we do. We have these events all over the country, and getting shut down would mean most of us don’t get a paycheck.”
I felt a hot flush work into my face as Asa ordered us a couple of old-fashioneds, and took the seat he had pulled out for me. His gold eyes burned up at me, hot and bright, and all I could do was stare down at him.
“You did it again.” My voice was quiet and with the noise of everyone filling up the big, cavernous space, I was surprised he could make out my words. “You set me up again, Asa. You wanted me to think this was all illegal, you wanted me to think that you were trying to get me to do something wrong, and you wanted me to get mad just like you knew I would. Why? Why are you playing these games with me still?” And he had ruined all the excitement and enjoyment I had been harboring about us being out on an actual date.
“It isn’t a game, Red.” His accent was all honeyed tones and southern appeal. “You jumped to conclusions and they were the wrong ones.”
I literally wanted to stamp my foot in frustration. “Because I asked you a hundred times and you wouldn’t say anything. You wanted me to jump to the wrong conclusion. You led me there.”
He sighed and reached out for me. He caught me around the waist and forcibly hauled me to him until I was standing between his spread legs. I kept my arms crossed even though my fingers itched to thread through the waves of blond hair that were so close. He gazed up at me, and for the first time there was regret in his eyes that didn’t seem like it was killing him.
“I thought it would be fun. A little off the beaten path, and something that fit your peculiar sense of fun. I didn’t mean to turn it into some kind of challenge. I didn’t mean for you to think I was setting you up. I’ve had a few off days this last week and I think I was just trying to see if you were going to automatically assume the worst about my motivations.” His unspoken words at the end of the sentence were there. I had done exactly what he expected me to do, but I refused to take all of the blame.
“I told you if you were there, I would want to be there as well. I wasn’t lying, but I’m not going to compromise my own sense of right and wrong for you, Asa. If you had just explained what all this was, I would’ve been all over it. I would’ve been more excited than I already was to spend an evening out with you; you wanted me to fail this test.” God, he was always so damn slippery and convoluted. I was never going to get ahold of him tightly enough to keep him.
He leaned forward and I had to move my arms when his forehead landed to rest against my middle. I gave up the fight and curled my fingers through the supersoft hair that dusted the back of his head.
“You’re absolutely right.” I wish those words thrilled me; instead they made me really sad.
I sighed and looked up as the chipper server swung by with our cocktails. She gave me a saucy look when she noticed the way Asa was curled into me and I wanted to tell her it was hardly as romantic or sweet as it looked.
“Have a seat, the show is about to start.” She sauntered off and Asa pulled his head up as his hands curled almost desperately around my waist.
“Will you believe me if I tell you I’m sorry?”
I couldn’t answer that because I didn’t know, and he was so sorry for so many things I wasn’t sure I could handle being one more of them. So instead I stayed silent as he pulled me around him and settled me into the seat next to him. I picked up the fancy drink and instead of sipping on it, savoring the quality ingredients and old-school craftsmanship that went into cocktails back in the day, I slammed the entire thing down, gasping as the bourbon burned.
“What kind of show?” I gurgled the words out as Asa leaned over to place a kiss on my bare shoulder. The tension was gone, but now the air between us was filled with something heavier and denser.
“Burlesque. And yes, they have a cabaret license.” He nudged a drink toward me and I picked it up gratefully. I was back to not being sure if I wanted to hurt him physically because of how quick he was to toy with my emotions, or if I wanted to drag him to the nearest flat surface and climb all over him because I wanted to show him that no matter what he did, I wanted him. “Actually Salem knows one of the dancers from when she lived in L.A. She was the one that told me they were coming through town.”