Free Hero - The Ambush: Special Forces Romance by M. S. Parker Page B

dance floor. Time blurred around me, swirling in time with the music. We swayed and ground against each other. Then the dance floor got crowded so I moved to a tabletop. Then up to the V.I.P. balcony where the black-haired man handed me a joint. It wasn't until I was doing a body shot of tequila off Zoey's bare stomach that I realized the flashes around me weren't from the club's lighting.
    The dark-haired man was a photographer. I straightened, swaying on my high heels. I wasn't sure if I wanted to hit him or kiss him and give him something to really write home about.
    Before I could decide, however, someone knocked the camera from his hands. I blinked blearily, and then sighed.
    “Haze? How did you find me?”
     
     

Chapter 10
    Haze
    I knew Leighton was in trouble when I found the alley with the red neon arrow. I may have grown up in Kansas, but I wasn't some small-town hick from the middle of nowhere. This was bad.
    Black-haired, leather-clad people stood around in clumps smoking cigarettes and, based on the smell, more. One fanged girl actually snarled at me as I passed. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. A bunch of kids toying with darkness because it was their only escape from the sun-drenched reality of Los Angeles.
    Leighton obviously didn't want to be found, evidenced by the fact that she'd gone out of her way to find this hole in the wall to disappear into. Finding her car at the Hilton had been easy since Devlin had every car on the property low-jacked. Once there, however, things had gotten a bit trickier.
    Management had known better than to reveal Leighton's location, even to her bodyguard, because she regularly spent money there with her jet-setting friends. When I'd finally found the valet who'd parked her car, it had taken a brief, but intense conversation to jog his memory. Before I finished, he even remembered the medallion number of the cab that had picked her up.
    It'd been easy enough to find the right cab, and when I did, the driver seemed relieved that someone was asking after his fare. That had been my first clue that Leighton had done something even more stupid than I'd originally thought. He'd said she had that look in her eye, like someone who'd wanted trouble. He'd given me the address of the club then. The Seventh Circle. Not exactly the most welcoming of names.
    I walked down the stairs without sparing a look for anyone else. The club was pumping out dance music into a hazy dungeon atmosphere. The decor tried too hard to be dark, resulting in a lot of black paint and very little of anything else.
    Leighton was easy to spot. She glowed, her white dress lit up by the black lights. I watched as a tall dark-haired man untied a black satin ribbon from her throat and replaced it with a studded leather collar. My hands curled into fists and I took a step forward.
    The bartender took a twenty-dollar bill from the black-haired man and boosted herself onto the bar. I really didn't like where this was going. Leighton leaned over the bar tender's bare stomach to do a body shot of tequila, and even as I went down the last couple steps to the floor level, I realized what the dark-haired man was after. A camera came out and I pushed the shadowy party-goers out of the way, reaching the photographer in time to knock the camera out of his hand.
    “Haze? How did you find me?” Leighton slurred up at me.
    “He's taking pictures of you to sell to the tabloids.” I shoved the black-haired man back before he could pick up his camera. He glared at me, but didn't try to do anything about it.
    “So what?” Leighton asked.
    She swayed on her heels, but managed to retrieve the camera and hand it back to the photographer. She gave the dark-haired man a grin and then grabbed a nearby man who wore red horns and kissed him long and hard. The camera flashed half a dozen times before the photographer saw my look and ran, clutching his camera to his chest. I longed to go after him and wipe that smug look from his