The guy wearing a hat looked up.
“What’s up, man?” I said, giving him a gesture with my chin.
“Chillin’,” he said, laying down his phone. Face down.
“Time to go,” I told him.
“You can’t kick me outta here,” he said, picking up his beer like he was just getting comfortable.
I plucked the brew right out of his hand. “I just did,” I growled.
A muscle in his jaw ticked. I stared him down calmly.
“On what grounds?” he said, sitting up.
“On the grounds that I don’t like you.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stepped back for him to leave.
“This is bullshit.” He picked up his phone and stood, knocking the chair over in the process.
“There’s plenty of other clubs,” I said.
“Yeah, well, maybe I like the view in this one.” His eyes flicked across the room. I followed his gaze to Roxie, who was standing at the bar, loading drinks onto a tray for Harlow.
The urge to knock out all of his teeth was so strong I actually flinched. Ty laid a hand on my shoulder. “I got this, boss,” he said and grabbed the asshole by the arm. “Let’s go.”
Ty led him to the door, and he strolled like he was at the fucking park.
When Ty shoved him out, the guy turned and looked at Roxie one last time.
He winked as the door swung closed.
I gave Ty the signal he wasn’t allowed back in this place. It didn’t make me feel any better, and I considered rushing out in the parking lot and kicking his ass.
I glanced at Roxie. She’d gone pale.
All the piss and vinegar I felt drained away.
I stalked over and waited until she finished what she was doing. Then I took her hand and led her into the office and shut the door.
“I wanna show you something,” I said.
“Okay.” She followed me farther into the room.
I led her behind the desk and pulled open the bottom drawer on the left. I lifted up a pile of folders and revealed a black pistol. “I always keep this in here. It’s loaded. The safety is off. And yeah, I have a permit.”
I glanced up at her. She was staring at the gun with wide eyes.
Fuck. Maybe putting a woman in charge of this kind of place was a shitty idea. I’d rather have some pig running the place than worrying about her every night here alone.
But she wouldn’t be alone. There was an entire staff of bouncers, and now she knew where the gun was.
“Rox,” I said, making sure she was listening.
“Hmm?” she said, still staring at the gun.
“All you gotta do is point and pull the trigger.”
“Okay.”
“Have you ever shot a gun before, sweetheart?”
Her eyes pulled away from the weapon to me. “No.”
I was booking us time at the range ASAP. She needed to learn. I couldn’t always be with her and at least this way I knew she had some protection.
“Just point and shoot,” I repeated.
“I think I can handle that,” she said, giving me a smile.
I found myself praying I hoped we never had to find out.
29
Roxie
Time at the club passed slowly. It seemed like the night dragged on forever. It didn’t help that I analyzed every new and unfamiliar face I saw. I’d become so suspicious of everyone.
The more I thought about it, the more I knew Craig was the one who sent someone after Adam. It was sheer luck that I was in that car instead. Craig didn’t respect me, he didn’t value me, but I knew he wouldn’t kill me.
At least not until I did the stupid porn and made him the money he wanted.
But since it wasn’t Craig in that car with the gun, that meant I didn’t know who it had been. Craig knew a lot of people, and he only brought a handful of them around. The rest of the people he saw when he was out, which was practically all the time.
So every person in this place was a potential harbinger of doom.
Harbinger of doom = someone who wanted to hurt Adam (or worse).
And yeah, the man I’d been seeing in here every so often, he wasn’t exactly an unfamiliar face, but he truly creeped me out. I just couldn’t take it tonight. I was relieved when Adam threw him out, but the way he looked at me as the door was swinging closed…
I shuddered.
“Hey,” Adam said, coming up behind me. “You cold?”
“Uh, yeah.” I lied. I wasn’t cold; I was scared.
He chuckled, the warm, rich sound sliding over me like silk. “There you go claiming more of my clothes.” Adam slipped a jacket over my shoulders, a navy blue one. I pulled it around me and inhaled his scent.
“Let me just lock up the back and then we can go,” he said, jingling a set of keys in his palm.
“Shouldn’t I do that?” I asked. “Technically, it’s my job.”
“Don’t tell the boss what a slacker you are.” He winked and went to lock up.
I smiled, but it soon faded. What if something happened to him?
I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I wouldn’t be able to live without him.
Okay. Yes. I could technically live without him, but my life sure as hell wouldn’t be any good. My stomach tightened and I felt a tingling sensation in the back of my throat, like I was going to vomit. I went around the bar and grabbed a bottled water out of the cooler.
The wet, textured hard plastic top did not want to unseal. I tried and then tried again. My palm and fingers turned red from the cap digging into my skin, yet the water was still unopened.
I set it down on the bar top with a thud and dropped my head in my hand.
Adam showed me his gun earlier. How the hell was I supposed to use a gun when I couldn’t even open a water?
A laugh bubbled out of me, but it sounded more like a sob.
I heard the crack of the seal on the water and looked up. Adam set the bottle in front of me with no cap. I didn’t say anything as I picked up the drink and let the cool water flow down my throat. It felt good going down, almost like it froze some of the emotion going haywire inside of me.
“C’mon, let’s go.” Adam waited until I came around and he took my hand. On the way out, he set the alarm code and locked the door behind us.
We walked silently across the parking lot toward the BMW. My footsteps stalled. “Where’s my car?” I asked, searching everywhere for it.
“I dropped it off to get fixed.”
I swung around with wide eyes. “You did?”
“Of course.” He said it like it was a given.