“What do you mean, he’s dead?” Hannah yells into the phone. In the background, I can hear the bass of the club music, although it’s nowhere near as fast or as powerful as what’s in my chest. My heart’s pounding a thousand beats a minute, and it feels like I have a jackhammer going off inside me.

“I-I-I don’t know, he just—”

In panic, I pump Jake’s chest furiously. When that doesn’t work, I bitch slap him across the face with as much force as I can muster. “Wake up, bitch!” I yell. He doesn’t stir, and I slap him again. Still no response, and I stare in disbelief at his still body. How the fuck is this even possible? Is my pussy kryptonite or something?

The first night out, I fucking kill a man. Just my luck!

“Roxy, stop it!” Hannah shouts over my panicked gibbering. “Where the hell are you?”

“I don’t know,” I moan, moving away from Jake and trying desperately to remember how I got here. “Somewhere in the back. We started to—and then he grabbed my boobs and . . . oh, God, oh, God, oh, God!”

“Stop babbling! You’re not making sense!” Hannah snaps. She gives me a moment, then continues. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

Taking a deep breath, I relay everything back to her. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you out of the house!” Hannah snarls when I’m done. “The first guy you see, you go and fuck him to death!”

“Hannah!” I wail in protest, feeling tears sting my eyes. That one stung. I didn’t mean to kill this fine specimen! I was being sarcastic before!

A lump forms in my throat. She’s definitely not making this any better. “I don’t know why or how this happened, but please—”

“Never mind that,” Hannah says, hearing my pain. “Listen, I’m sure you’re overreacting. He’s probably passed out drunk. You said he started slurring, right?”

I glance over at Jake. He still has his color, but I’m afraid to go back over there. “Doesn’t look dead. But I didn’t feel a pulse.”

“Just go check, God damn it!” Hannah roars.

“All right, all right, geez. If I ever have a heart attack, you’ll be the last person I call.” Sucking in a deep breath, I go back over to the bed. I force myself to stare at him. Just when I’m about to give up, I see . . .

“Oh, God!” I cry out. “He still has a hard-on!”

“He has angel lust!” Hannah gasps before laughing. “Damn, girl, you weren’t messing around.”

My face pinches into a frown. This isn’t the time for bullshit. “What the hell is angel lust?”

“When dead guys have a hard-on,” Hannah says. “A lot better than calling it zombie cock, in my opinion.”

I almost gag. Just great, not only did I kill a guy, but I left him with a big, hard, raging boner. I can just see the news now—Horny office drone kills handsome eligible bachelor and leaves him with a big, hard dick. Film at eleven!

I take a deep breath and grab his wrist. I move my fingers around frantically, trying to find a pulse. Suddenly, I feel it!

“He has a pulse!” I nearly scream, sweat breaking out on my forehead as I’m overcome with joy. “He’s alive! Alive!” I don’t mean to, but I sound like a Frankenstein movie.

Now that I’m more coherent, I can see his chest rise and fall in shallow breaths, so faint that I can see why I missed it before.

“Jesus, Rox! Don’t do that ever again!” Hannah yells before laughing. “You got me all worked up over here! Oh, and you owe me a night out. I was about to get my own itch scratched. Don’t have time for that now!”

“How do you think I feel?” I start to feel worry all over again. “It was strange how he just passed out on me in the first place. One bottle of beer shouldn't have done something like that, even if he was drinking before. I mean, he went from rock solid to staggering in like three minutes.”

“Who is he, anyway?” Hannah wonders. “Grab his wallet.”

“His name is Jake, that’s all I know. I don’t know if I should do that . . .”

“I’m not asking you to steal his money and credit cards, Roxy! Just find out who the man is!”

I check his pants before finding his wallet in his jacket pocket. I pull it out and peek inside. It’s thick with a wide packet of hundreds, and my heart nearly stops as I pull out his ID. The photo that looks back at me is like I felt when I first saw him. That boyish smile, those sensual lips. Thank God I didn’t take him from this world.

“Like I said, his name is Jake. Jake Stone,” I say, transfixed by his photo. I thought a good looking DMV photo was impossible. I guess it just needs Jake Stone on it.

“Well, it sounds like Mr. Jake Stone needs some help.”

“No shit. What should I do?”

Hannah sighs. “It sounds like he needs to sleep it off. Just get out of there. I’ll find someone at the front and tell them there’s a drunk guy in the back room passed out.”

“But—” I say, looking down at Jake. “What if he needs medical help?”

“Then they’ll get it for him! But he’s just drunk, Roxy. Come on, you’re not supposed to even be back there.”

Hannah has a point. “Okay,” I say finally. “Meet you out front.”

Click.

“I’m sorry, Jake,” I tell him. “But I have to go.”

Jake makes a little sound. I stop, going back over to the bed and pushing his shoulder, jostling him a little.

“Jake?”

He snorts a little but doesn’t answer, but at least I can see he’s breathing more. I don’t know what the hell happened, but I’m glad he’s all right.

I hear a bang somewhere outside and quickly jump to my feet. Someone’s coming. They’ll know what to do. Maybe he won’t even remember our brief steamy encounter.

But I’ll never forget it, I think.

“Catch you in another lifetime, handsome,” I say, blowing him a kiss as I scoop up my purse and things.

I rush out of the room and nearly collide into a small man in a sharp suit. In my heels, the top of his head just about hits me in the chin. He looks surprised, his eyes going wide.

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing back here?” he demands in a thick Bronx accent, grabbing me by the arm.

“I was with a friend,” I hurriedly say, turning my face so he can't get a good look at me.

He tries to pull me around to face him. “You’re full of shit,” he snarls. “No one is allowed back here.”

“Well a guy name Jake let me in. He said he knows the owners,” I retort. “He had a key.”

“Bullshit! Jake knows not to let any sleazy broads back here.” Sleazy broads? This little bastard is pushing his luck.

A groan from inside the room pulls his attention away, and I seize the opportunity, pulling myself from his grasp as I shove him and take off down the hall as fast as I can in these heels. I guess all those performances onstage still help out. I can move in these damn things.

“Hey!” the short guy yells. “Get your ass back here!”

I grit my teeth and find my way back into the club and make a beeline outside, fearing every second that one of the club security is going to grab me. Those MIB-looking dudes are scary.

Hannah is waiting for me by the fountain, arms folded, a scowl on her face.

We walk to the car and get in, not saying a word until we’re inside. Suddenly, Hannah bursts out laughing. “This is just so damn crazy. You were saying that you were gonna unleash the Rox, but damn . . .”

“I dunno, Han.” I laugh. “It was weird! I almost shit a brick! I’m not going to want to go out for another ten months.”

“Was he at least cute?”

“Oh, gawd,” I say, relaxing as Hannah pulls out of the parking lot. A ripple of remembered heat and unquenched desire flushes my cheeks. “He was hot as fuck. And I bet you could crack walnuts with his ass cheeks.”

We talk as Hannah drives, and she fills me in on the guy she danced with. I’ll admit, I feel a little bad about ruining her night. “So, are you going to call the guy?” I ask, shifting around to try and make my ass more comfortable. “I mean, you sound like you liked him.”

Hannah thinks, then nods. “Yeah, I probably will. What about Jake? You get his number?”

“I didn’t exactly think about getting his number,” I say sarcastically. I reach for my purse and open it, looking for my phone. When I do, I’m shocked by the thick black leather object inside. My memory flashes back, and I remember taking it out of his pocket and laying it next to my things. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” Hannah asks, pulling into our parking lot. When I don’t answer, she parks and shuts off the engine. “Rox, what’s going on?”

I pull out Jake’s wallet and show it to her. “I accidentally took his wallet in my rush to get out of there.”