Read Club Nexus (Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective) for Free Online Page B

my finger on it, but there was
something about Puck that set off my internal bullshit-meter.  I just wasn’t
buying his harmless kid act, and I was pretty sure his groping wasn’t due to
inexperience.  With the bruises from Hans’ temper still visible every damn time
I washed off my makeup, I was on high alert for abusive asshole warning signs. 
And Puck squeezing my ass?  Yeah, he was making me wish I’d brought my crossbow
onto the dance floor after all.
    “No, but all my friends call me Jinx,” I said.
    I tried to force a smile and bat my eyelashes.  Let the faerie
creeper think I was a dull-witted human.  I was only going to finish out this
one dance and then tell him to get lost.  I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell
him my real name; I wasn’t stupid.  There’s power in a name, especially for
stalkers and magic wielding fae.
    “Well, you can call me Robby,” he said.
    Puck, or Robby, or whatever bent down and I watched his lips
descend toward me like two bloated worms.  Oh hell no.  This had gone way too
far.  I was not kissing this guy.
    I sucked in rapid puffs of air and belched.  Puck frowned
and I pulled away, one hand flying to my mouth.  I placed my other hand on my
stomach and blushed.
    “I am so sorry!” I said.  “Wow, how embarrassing.  I should
never drink beer.  Do you think we could go sit down?  I don’t feel so good.”
    Actually, now that the faerie creeper wasn’t trying to kiss
me, I felt just fine.  The belching was a childhood trick.  I’d been able to
suck in air and belch the ABCs better than all the neighborhood boys.  Who knew
it would come in handy getting rid of a faerie?
    “Sure,” he said, smile returning to his face.  “Let me buy
you a proper drink.  No beer.”
    He guided me back to the bar, his hand on my ass.  I didn’t
want a drink, but if it got us off the dance floor, I could turn him down at
the bar.
    “Back so soon?” Ivy asked.
    “Your friend wasn’t feeling well,” Puck said, reaching over
the bar and grabbing a bottle of vodka.  I could hear the sound of liquid
pouring into a glass and he turned around holding a drink out toward me. 
“Here, this will help settle your stomach.”
    I’d never heard of vodka settling a person’s stomach and was
trying to come up with a way to politely turn down the drink when Ivy solved
the problem for me.
    “Cheers!” she exclaimed.
    She crashed her glass into the one in Puck’s hand, knocking
the contents to the floor.
    “Oopsie,” she said, listing precariously on her barstool.
    “How much have you had to drink?” I asked, moving toward my
friend.  Ivy hardly ever drank, she was too much of a control freak to get
sloppy drunk, but she certainly looked wasted now.
    “Just a few drinks,” she said, flashing a silly grin.  “I
love you guys!”
    Ivy opened her arms wide—considering her touch phobia, if
she tried to give us a hug, she was drunk for sure—and fell off her stool onto
the vodka soaked floor.  Puck glared back and forth between me, Ivy, and the
broken glass, his hands clenching fitfully.
    “Um, sorry, Robby,” I said.  “Looks like I better get my
friend home.  Thanks for the dance.”
    “Wait, we never had that drink,” he said, his frown again
eclipsed by that dimpled smile mask.
    “Rain check,” I said, pasting on a false smile of my own.
    He shrugged.
    “Sure,” he said.  “I have business to attend to.  Some other
time.”
    He flapped his hand in dismissal and walked away, heading
toward one of the vampires who’d approached us on the dance floor.
    “You okay?” I asked, turning back to my vodka soaked
friend.  I shook my head.  She was a mess.  “We better get you out of here. 
Good thing you wore pants, or Kaye would be picking glass out of your butt
tonight.”
    Ivy stayed on the floor, watching Puck through the curtain
of her hair.
    “I’m not drunk,” she whispered.
    Puck handed something to the vamp and moved on, making his
way to a