“Of course. Why? Am I holding you back from hitting something like that?” She angled her chin to a guy with long hair decked out in biker gear who’d been hovering near their table.
“You suck at trying to nail my type,” Shiori said. Then she laughed. “But I suck worse at nailing my type.” She squeezed Amery’s forearm. “It’s been a very long time since I’ve had a girls’ night out. Thank you.”
“You start in with the ‘I love you, man’ stuff and I’m decking you. Wait. You’re a ninja badass like your brother. You’d whale on my sorry butt.”
“He’d shudder to hear you say that.”
Amery picked up her phone. “How do you say ‘I love you’ in Japanese?”
“Aishiteru wa.” Shiori took a sip of her drink. “One thing to remember. Japanese people don’t feel comfortable verbally expressing their feelings like Americans do. So that’s said only on rare occasions. Telling Ronin you love him in English would probably mean more to him.”
“If it’s rarely said, then they’re definitely words I need to know. So say it one more time. Slowly. Phonetically.”
“Eye-she-teh-rue wah.”
Amery repeated it four times.
“You want another round?” Shiori asked.
The music had dropped a decibel, allowing Amery to call Ronin. “Probably not. But I’d take a Coke straight up.”
A devilish look entered Shiori’s eyes. “Did you say a c**k straight up?”
“No, I did not say I wanted a c**k straight up. You do need to get laid.”
“Amery? What the f**k?”
“Oh, hey, ah . . . hi, baby. I was just . . . you know . . . talking.” She flipped Shiori off. “What’s up? I see you called a few times.”
“A few? Try ten times. And where are you that you can’t answer your f**king phone?”
“A club.”
“What club?”
“Not the kind of club you prefer.”
Shiori choked on her drink.
“Where. Are. You?”
Ooh, that was his not amused tone. “Shi, what’s the name of this place?”
“Shi?” Ronin repeated. “Who are you with?”
“Your sister.”
“Since when are you and Shi drinking buddies?”
“Since today. And we’re not only drinking buddies; we’re club-hopping buddies.”
“Where are you?”
“A strip club,” Shiori shouted into the phone.
“Shi! He’s making that pissed-off sound, so knock it off.”
“Amery. Focus. For the last f**king time. Where. Are. You?”
“We’re at this sixties-themed club. It’s on—”
“I know where it is. I’m on my way. Be ready.”
“For what? Let’s get ready to . . . rumble!” She snickered at her lousy cage announcer impression. “Oh, come on, Ronin, that was a funny MMA joke!”
No response.
She squinted at her screen. He’d hung up.
“So how pissed off is my big brother?”
“Some.” She smirked. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Or submit to,” Shiori said with a grin.
“Shut. Up.”
“You blink at him with those big blue eyes and you get pretty much whatever you want?”
She shook her head. “Sadly, I never learned to use the whole ‘feminine wiles thing.’ What about you?”
“I’d claim to be a rebel, but everyone knows I follow the rules.”
“I hardly think that you being a—”
“Look at you two, hitting all the classy clubs in town. Or is it just the limo that makes you think you’re classy?”
Amery turned toward the voice to see if the woman’s face matched her sneering tone. Yep. The ugly twist to her lips marred the slender Asian woman’s beauty. A niggling warning started at the back of her neck. She scrutinized her. Could this be Naomi?
Nah. What were the odds that out of all the clubs in Denver, they’d end up at the same one? She glanced at Shiori. But her angry eyes confirmed Amery’s suspicions, and her pulse quickened.
“Quite the little adventure you two have had tonight.”
“And how would you know that?” Amery asked. She didn’t try to keep the loathing out of her voice.
“Because I’ve been following your trail of empty lowball glasses since you left Lodo. I’d hoped to have a word with you alone, Amery, but you closed up shop early today. When I saw you and Ronin’s traitor sister partaking of the Denver nightlife, I thought I’d see what you two consider fun.” She waggled her cell phone. “Maybe videotape the shenanigans. Put the clips up on YouTube. The VP of Okada getting her drink on.”
Shiori froze.
Then Naomi focused on Amery. “If I know Ronin—and trust me, I do know the man better than you ever will—he’ll be livid at the footage of you dancing, seeing how you let your male dance partners put their hands all over you.”
Amery laughed. “Your life really must suck big hairy donkey balls if the only way you get your kicks is by spying on other people.”
“Ronin and I never had to go out to have fun,” Naomi cooed.
Don’t fall for her stupid taunts. But that didn’t mean she’d allow herself to be verbally assaulted. “That’s right; you preferred to go to the club on your own without Ronin. How did that work out for you?”
“Fine for several years. How long have you been with him?”
Amery ignored the last comment and focused on the first part. “Fine? Really?” She leaned closer. “Oh, right, then he figured out that you were desperate to be whipped and humiliated before some strange man f**ked you. No wonder Ronin dumped your dumb ass.”
The crack across Amery’s face landed so hard it snapped her head back. Before the shock registered, she saw that hand flying toward her face again.
She reacted instinctively. She grabbed Naomi’s wrist and twisted her arm, standing up to put her body weight into it. Then she kicked the back of Naomi’s knee. As soon as the woman lost her balance, Amery was on her, bringing her to the ground. Keeping Naomi’s arm behind her back, she pushed the side of her face into the ground and stepped on her other hand.
Naomi screamed.
When bar patrons circled them, Shiori warned them off.
“You disgust me, and that was even before I met you in person,” Amery said with pure venom. “Stay the f**k away from Ronin. Go back to whatever hellhole you climbed out of. You’re a f**king idiot for what you did to him, and that eats at you, doesn’t it? Knowing what your big mouth and your greedy pu**y cost you. No one cares about you anymore. Out of sight, out of mind, bitch. And if you ever touch me or what’s mine again?” She leaned down to whisper, “I’m from North Dakota. Which means I know how to use a goddamn gun.” Amery released her, but she backed away slowly, keeping an eye on Naomi in case she tried to attack her.