Keela gave me two thumbs. “Hell yay!”

I laughed.

“Yay from me, too. You look beautiful.” Alec smiled.

Aww.

I winked at him then looked at Nico when he mumbled ‘yay’ but kept an eye on Kane like he would smack him again, which I thought was funny.

“Kane, what do you think?” I asked.

Kane raised his eyebrow at me. “You care what I think?”

“No,” I replied honestly, “but you’re a lad and I’m askin’ for your opinion, so shoot.”

Kane blinked at me then trailed his eyes up and down my body. “Nice shape. Sexy even.”

My shape was sexy?

Nope, that was wrong.

“Honey, sexy is an attitude, not a shape.”

“Well, with all the attitude within your little body, you must be the sexiest woman alive,” Kane said, a grin plastered on his face.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you sayin’ I have an attitude problem?”

Kane dropped his smirk. “Uh, no... I’m saying you’re se—”

“Because if you are then you should know I only develop an attitude around you.”

Kane looked at his brothers who were shaking their heads and giving him a look that he seemed to understand. He then turned his gaze back to me and said, “You know what? I take it back, forget I even said anything.”

That was the smartest thing that had ever come out of his delectable mouth.

Keela snickered, but then narrowed her eyes at my face.

Oh, crap.

“Dude, your nose!” she gasped.

I covered it with both hands. “I know. I just saw it.”

“Saw what?” the lads asked in unison.

I removed my hands from my face and pointed at my nose with both of my index fingers. “This.”

The lads squinted their eyes.

“What are we supposed to be staring at here?” Alec mumbled to Keela.

“The mother of all pimples,” I whimpered.

Nico leaned his head forward and squinted his eyes so much he almost closed them. “I can’t see it.”

How could he miss it?

“Me either. You’re overreacting,” Kane said, and waved me off.

I was about to say something smart to him, but I caught Keela staring at my nose and it made me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

“Keela! Stop!”

Keela averted her gaze. “I’m sorry, but it’s bloody huge.”

I knew it!

“This isn’t supposed to happen! How can I go out on me date with Skull if I have to lug around this volcano on the end of me nose all night?”

Keela chewed on her lower lip as Alec suggested, “What about cover-up?”

I hesitated in snapping at him because that was a pretty good idea.

Kane groaned in annoyance. “You could try more make-up, or you could just sit down, have a beer, and relax. Skull won’t even notice, and if he does, he will be cool with it. A situation like this is what doggie style was invented for. He won’t give a fuck about any pimple if you’re face down and ass up in front of him.”

Did he really just say that?

“You’re disgustin’!” I snarled.

Kane lifted up his arm and tipped his beer bottle in my direction. “So I’ve been told.”

I curled my lip in disgust and looked at Keela. “I can’t stand him.”

“I heard that,” Kane said and took a gulp from his beer bottle.

“You were supposed to, germinator,” I growled.

I smirked when he stiffened.

He really hated that nickname, which is exactly why I still called him by it.

“Ignore Kane,” Keela sighed and stood up from Alec’s lap. “You look gorgeous, pimple or no pimple.”

I grunted then jumped when my phone buzzed. I squealed and ran to my clutch purse that was on Keela’s kitchen table. I picked it up, dug inside it for my phone, and answered it the second I got it into my hands.

“Hello?” I said a little breathlessly as I pressed the phone to my ear.

“Hello, sexy,” Skull’s voice purred through the phone as I walked back into the sitting room.

“You can’t see me, how do you know if I look sexy?” I flirted.

Keela rolled her eyes at me, Nico and Alec snorted, and Kane just stared straight ahead at the television as he watched the football game on ESPN.

“You always look sexy, dressed up or down, so I don’t need to see you to know you look good,” Skull said, a smile in his voice. “I’m outside Keela’s apartment complex, are you ready?”

“Good answer, and yes, I’ll be down now.”

I pressed the hang-up option on the screen before he could reply and hugged Keela tightly when she walked over to me and put her arms around me.

“Where are you goin’?” she asked.

I deadpanned, “Where does Skull always take me when we go out?”

Keela paled a little and whispered, “Darkness.”

I frowned at her reaction. She looked... scared of something.

I knew she had a bad experience at Darkness, but no one would fill me in on what actually happened that night after Marco’s stupid henchmen knocked me out. I’ve asked all the girls and lads but they’re all mute on the subject. Alannah was the only one in the same boat as me because she said she wasn’t at Darkness the night some sort of trouble went down. She said she had a bad headache that night and passed out on her bed. She had no clue what problems happened for the girls there that night; she just knew that bad things happened there.

“Yep,” I sighed. “Good ol’ Darkness. He is workin’ from ten to closin’, but whatever—I get free drinks.”

Keela shook her head at me and smiled. “Just... be careful, okay?”

I winked. “I always am.”

I spun on my heel and walked over to the front door. I heard a growl come from inside the kitchen mid-walk then I caught sight of it as it emerged.

I glared at the hundred-pound beast. “Did you eat up the contents of the fridge, you fat shite?” I asked, grinning.

He continued to growl at me, but he didn’t move. He was still as he watched me. He was waiting for me to leave the apartment before he walked by.

“Leave him alone!” Keela snapped from behind me.

I laughed as I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. I reached back to grab the handle of the door so I could close it, but it suddenly slammed in my face. I gasped then glared at the door when everyone inside the apartment burst into laughter.

I knew exactly what happened. Storm shut the door with his head to make sure I couldn’t get back into the apartment. The fat fucker always did it.

“I’ll be back tomorrow, you hairy bastard! You’ll never be rid of me! Do you hear me? Never!” I shouted through the door then turned and walked down the hallway of Keela’s building.

I walked down the stairs carefully—I was in six-inch heels, I had to be careful—and exited the building and walked straight to Skull’s black Ford Mondeo that was sitting out front waiting.

“Damn, babe, you look smokin’ hot!” he shouted out the window of the car.

What a romantic.

I snorted and opened the passenger side door of his car and hopped into it. I closed the door, leaned in, and let him kiss my cheek even though he tried for my lips.

“Aideen,” he groaned. “You can’t come out lookin’ like that and not give me a little taste.”

Watch me.

“If you’re good, then you’ll get more than a little taste later.” I grinned as I buckled my seat belt. “Now, shut up and drive the car. I wanna dance already.”

Skull bit down on his lower lip and smirked. “Yes, ma’am.”

I glanced at Skull as he drove and my insides clenched when I took in his attire. He always wore a suit when he went to work—all the bouncers had to wear one since Brandon, Keela’s uncle, took over ownership of Darkness—but he had his jacket hanging in the back of the car and had his white shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows with a couple of buttons open exposing a bit of his chest. It was simple, yet so delicious to look at.

“You want dinner first, or straight to the club?”

“I already ate so straight to Darkness,” I answered without looking in Skull’s direction.