My view caught on Adrik, who stood a couple of paces in front of me and looked back at me with a soft smile. One I hadn’t seen before. One that caused my dick to throb.

Fuck.

“Sorry,” I said, catching up to him. “Even when I turned legal and we weren’t far from all this, I never went to a casino.”

“Never?” he asked, surprise evident in his voice.

“Nyet,” I said, and grinned over at him as we walked.

His gaze was in front of us, but I didn’t miss his smile.

“I never felt the need to. Life kept me busy, and there was also me saving every penny I had for college, books, and rent.”

We stopped at a row of elevators. “Your parents, they helped?”

“In elementary and high school, yes. But not for college. It was lucky I got a scholarship, but they didn’t like I moved away from them, so they weren’t… um, forthcoming in helping when I could have gone to a community college where they were and lived at home.”

Goddamn it. I was sharing again. Telling him too much. I glanced behind me to see Death was closer, and his brows were pinched. He was also frowning.

Why could I hold myself, my real self, back with other clients but not with Adrik? There was something about him that made me want to share the real me.

The doors before us opened, and we stepped in with two guards and Death. Did I need to introduce Death to him? It felt weird he was there, but I didn’t know if Death would want me to share his name, his biker name, with them.

“It must have been hard,” Adrik said.

What was?

My dick?

I glanced down and noted I didn’t sport a hard-on, but there was a slight bulge.

Death snorted and covered it with a cough.

Oh crap, what had we been talking about? Right, my parents, college. With a burning face, I met Adrik’s amused gaze in the mirror in front of us and said, “To start off with, yes. But when I realized I had my freedom, I loved it and made sure it worked.”

We stepped off onto a floor. I didn’t take notice of which number, though. The guards retook their positions, and I walked beside Adrik. This floor seemed more salubrious, and I really felt underdressed.

I leaned closer to Adrik. “I feel out of place here. You should have told me to wear a suit.”

He stopped and faced me. “I noted the first time you wore one, you seemed uncomfortable.”

“Um, I was a bit, but I’d still wear one for places like this.”

“You are with me. You do not need to worry.”

Stupid heartwarming words.

Ignore them, West.

I shrugged at him. “Okay.”