Sugarbaby by CRYSTAL GREEN

seem surprised to hear that. He’d probably already gotten his regular invitation. But he did keep his voice low. “You grew up here, so you know that place is gutted. Doesn’t that give you pause or freak you out a little?”
    â€œAs long as it’s not haunted, I’m fine.”
    â€œPeople say it is.”
    â€œI think the cops started those rumors to keep anyone from squatting in there.” Rumors had worked, too, because only legend-tripping kids went out there. I wasn’t afraid of ghosts, either, even if I’d stayed away.
    Bret shrugged, eating his burger. That gave Carley the opportunity to add her piece.
    â€œDo you know why they call it the Hellfire Club?”
    The old couple nearby didn’t seem to hear, even with her tone of voice.
    â€œBecause it sounds dangerous?” I said.
    Now Carley adjusted her volume. “It’s named after some clubs that met over in Britain during the seventeen hundreds. They were secret, and bad things were supposed to happen in them. Depraved, nasty things.”
    How was that not supposed to intrigue me even more? Unfortunately, it was the same sort of intrigue that’d gotten me in trouble with Micah Wyatt. At least I’d been able to say I was drunk that night. “Let me get this straight—you, the straight-laced darling from SoCal, were cut out for the Club. I, however, am not.”
    â€œYou’re . . .” Carley waved her hands around.
    Bret set down his burger and opened hers for her. She looked at it as if she’d forgotten it was there for the eating. Then she glanced at him with an expression I couldn’t guess at, almost as if she wasn’t sure she liked being shushed, even in a subtle way. I wasn’t positive that was what Bret had done, exactly, but I didn’t know him.
    He finished her sentence for her. “You probably are too sweet for what goes on. Then again, Carley survived.”
    She bristled. “So you want Jadyn to go there tonight?”
    â€œHell, Carley, if she wants trouble, she’ll find it anywhere. It’s easy to stumble over it at the Club, but it’s avoidable, too. Everyone does what they want to, good or bad. There’s no judging.”
    Silence descended, and we all ate. Well, this was awkward. It was as if they’d had these tiffs before, though, because Carley sighed, touching his arm, then laying her head against it. Bret gazed down at her with such burning affection that I thought she might flame right up. And when he pressed his lips to her head, I had to find something to concentrate on again.
    I watched the old couple clear their trash from the table.
    Carley nuzzled Bret’s arm, then sat back up, sighing again. “If you’re determined to go, I’m not going to let you do it by yourself.” She brushed Bret’s jaw with her fingers, as if asking if he’d come with us.
    His gaze met hers, locking. That was a “yes.” That was a “you know I’d do anything for you.”
    I started to thank them, but they seemed lost in each other, so I finished my food and said good-bye before they could kiss again, making me feel like a molecule of mist floating by.
    When I got to my car, I felt my purse buzzing, and I quickly got out the phone, anticipating what I would find. My crazed pulse hoped and hoped for it.
    555-8465:
    See you tonight?
    But it wasn’t Simmons I was thinking of as I texted back. It was someone with a devil’s gleam in his angel eyes.
    Jadyn:
    If you’re lucky.

5
    The old Elrond mansion was a moody limestone building past the lake, its arches and barred windows giving it a stern hardness, the overgrown grass around it indicating that no one came around here much. Not even vagrants, mostly because a lot of the roof had crumbled, leaving the top to resemble something with missing teeth.
    But not tonight, as lights flashed out of it and music thundered. Tonight it was