When I laid another ten on the bar and lifted my cup toward the bartender, she nodded, grabbing the money before going to work mixing another drink.

The second one I sipped a little more slowly, mostly because of the cute guy who took the stool beside me.

“Hey, I’m John.”

“Eden.”

“You here by yourself?”

Instinctively, I knew I should lie. Smart Girl Bar Rules 101. “My friends are dancing. I’m taking a break.”

“Yeah, it gets pretty wild here, especially during Mardi Gras.”

We yelled to each other over the music and the noise for a few minutes while he ordered a drink and told me stories of some of the crazy stuff he’d seen tonight. I ordered my third drink and he insisted on paying. I insisted right back that I could buy my own drinks. It started going down just as quickly.

He pointed out another drunk idiot, and I turned my head toward the street.

And that’s when I saw him. Bishop. Like an avenger just inside the bar, his tattoos lit almost neon by the lights, he shoved through the crowd toward me in the corner of the bar. His eyes locked on the guy next to me as I lifted my cup and sucked down another swig.

Before I could lower my drink to the bar, Bishop grabbed the cup from my hand and dumped it down John’s shirt.

“What the fuck, man?” John jumped off his bar stool as the purple liquid stained his blue-and-white-striped polo.

Rage. That was the only emotion I could make out on Bishop’s face.

“I saw you drop something in her drink. Don’t fucking tell me I didn’t.”

My eyes darted everywhere. From Bishop to John and then to the bartender, a wooden club clenched in her small fist. She looked between the two men, as if unsure who she should be threatening.

“All of you. Get the hell out of my bar.”

Bishop didn’t say another word before wrapping a giant hand around my upper arm and pulling me off my stool. As he dragged me toward the door, he turned back to John, who was now patting his shirt down with napkins.

“Get the fuck out of this town before I can track you down and show you what I do to guys like you. Piece of shit.”

The bouncer, probably attracted by the commotion, stepped to Bishop and looked down at me.

“You okay, miss?” He had to yell so I could hear him.

I nodded because I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Was I okay? I thought so. My head was swimming and my legs were unsteady, but that was just the alcohol, right? I hadn’t been drugged. Had I?

“That piece of shit dosed her drink. I don’t think she had much, though.”

The bouncer immediately spun around and stalked across the bar toward John.

Bishop didn’t wait to see what the bouncer did before tugging me onto the street. Thankful for my flats, I stumbled along after him.

“Slow down. Please.”

I tripped on a crack in the sidewalk and pitched forward toward Bishop’s side.

Shit.

He didn’t let me land on my face. Apparently, he was good at that. His strong arms wrapped around me, and he caught a handful of boob.

Holy shit. Bishop is touching my boob, was the only thought in my alcohol-soaked brain. My nipple peaked into his hand, which he yanked away before setting me upright again.

“What the fuck are you doing out here by yourself?”

I blurted the only answer that came to mind. “Living.”

That’s when my knees gave out, and I pitched forward into Bishop’s chest.

LIVING. THE WORD ECHOED IN my head as Eden’s body collapsed into mine.

Fuck. I scooped her up into my arms.

“Shit, you’re hammered. How much did you drink?”

Her head lolled against my shoulder. “Enough. But only a little of the last one. You spilled it.”

“No shit. Because you were getting fucking roofied. I thought you learned your lesson when someone tried to grab you in front of Voodoo. You need to smarten up if you’re going to spend any time alone in this city.”

“Sorry I’m not doing a good enough job for you.”

I stepped in the direction of the hotel. She needed a keeper, and it wasn’t like I was in the market for another job.

“Where’s your room key?”

She lifted her arm to show me a little purse dangling from her wrist.

When we reached the door to the lobby, I set her on her feet and she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Don’t let go.”

“You smell good.” Her face buried in my neck as I unzipped the purse and fished out the keycard. “Really good.”

I shook my head, trying to tell myself that she was just drunk and had no idea what she was saying.

“Come on. Let’s get you inside.”

Eden untucked her face from my body and looked up at me. “Are you coming inside?”

“You think you can get up there yourself?”

Her brows drew together as she considered it. “I don’t know. What was in those drinks? They didn’t taste like anything but grape.”

From the way she was stumbling, I had to guess it was the Purple Circus Punch, made with Everclear. And I also had to imagine that Eden didn’t have a clue what that was.

I slid the keycard into the reader and pushed open the door to the lobby. Keeping her tucked in tight to my side and helping her walk, we avoided too many strange looks in the lobby before we reached the elevator.

Thankfully, I remembered exactly which room she was in, because Eden was already on the edge of passing out by the time the elevator stopped on the third floor. I lifted her into my arms and carried her down the hallway.

“I’ve never been like this before . . . not even when I raided my aunt’s wine collection when she spent the weekend at the spa.”

If I needed any more clues to figure out just how sheltered the girl in my arms was, that would have done it.

Adjusting my grip on her again, I used the key to open the door to the room and pushed inside. She hadn’t taken it over like most women would—tossing clothes everywhere and covering every flat surface with something girly. She’d kept her suitcase neatly packed, and the only thing disturbed was the bed. The sheets were tangled and a tablet sat on the nightstand.

I lowered her to the bed and she flopped backward on it.

Rage heated within me again at the kid who’d dosed her drink. I wanted to go back and beat the fuck out of him. But if I knew bouncers in NOLA, the kid wasn’t getting off unscathed. We didn’t take kindly to that shit here.