Read Quicksilver Dreams (Dreamwalkers) for Free Online Page A

insisted. “It’s cool.”
    I almost laughed seeing the look of relief that crossed Shep’s face. “Okay, then. If you’re sure.” But he couldn’t get away quickly enough. He moved toward the stage at a fast pace and didn’t look back.
    Adonis tossed bills my way for the beer he was leaving behind. “Let’s go.”
    “No,” Cynthia snapped, getting comfortable on one of the bar stools. “I’m here for a good time.”
    “You want to do this here?”
    “I want you to leave me alone. We have nothing to talk about.”
    “Can’t do that.”
    “Cynthia, do you need help?” I lowered my voice. “Charlie and Bill can handle this for you.”
    “I’m fine.” This was a Cynthia I didn’t know. Her face was composed in unusually hard lines, and though she was definitely angry, I thought there was a hurt look to her eyes. Had this guy hurt her in the past? Was he the lying, cheating bastard from long ago?
    “Let me know if that changes.”
    “I will. I’m just going to sit here and listen to the band.” She turned to Adonis. “You want to talk, do it here. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
    “We’ll see about that,” he muttered.
    “Tay, I need help.” Sally, one of the servers, was grabbing up a dozen beers from the fridge and trying to grab as many frosted mugs from the freezer. “Got a large party crammed around three of the tables, watching the screen over there. Can you grab that tray?”
    “Sure.” I turned to Cynthia. “Be right back.”
    “No worries. I’m not going anywhere.”
    An old pro at this, I hefted a tray carefully and made my way across the room, expertly anticipating and sidestepping customers who suddenly stepped in my way because they were a little toasted and not paying attention.
    But here’s what really sucks about being a server, and why I was so determined to get behind the bar and off the floor:
    When your arms are loaded and you can’t protect yourself, drunken guys try to get away with shit. I was able to ignore the carefree pat on my ass as I followed Sally around the large group of men seated and standing at the tall, round bar tables and stools that Johnny had scattered around the outskirts of the dance floor, but then I felt a hand on the bare skin of my thigh, and it was moving up.
    “Hey! Cut it out!” I scowled, trying to dislodge the guy’s hand with an elbow to his chest. It was the best I could do while carrying this stupid tray. Didn’t work. He’d had a few too many to be thinking clearly. His eyes looked bleary and empty, and a goofy grin was spreading across his fleshy cheeks.
    “You sure are pretty,” he mumbled. His hand started climbing toward my ass cheek!
    I set the tray down, but it turned out I didn’t have to. One second the guy was in his chair, and the next he was kneeling and crying out, holding his fingers. It was a blur, some simple maneuver involving twisting the fingers of his offending hand, which totally incapacitated him.
    And who was towering over him at approximately six feet two inches with muscles bulging, ready for action, murder in his eyes? Who was my dark knight to the rescue? Ryder. My heart quivered. I was breathless. I couldn’t seem to stop staring at his face. It was so beautifully masculine; his scruffy square jaw was clenched, a sneer curling his top lip, his eyes looking stone cold at the guy on the floor.
    He raised them to meet mine, and they narrowed and heated as they did a body scan. They sent a shiver through me before he looked back down at the guy on the floor nursing his fingers.
    “Leave her the fuck alone.” His voice came out all low and deadly sounding. Tingles went up my spine.
    “Ryder,” I whispered, forgetting where I was for just a fraction of a second.
    But the rest of the world wouldn’t let me forget. Some of the guy’s buddies stood up, looking like they wanted a piece of whatever was going on, and I knew what that could mean. I wanted to get ahead of it.
    “You all want to get