CHAPTER THIRTY JESS #2
Kelly must not have gotten to him yet, which wasn’t surprising. I’d yet to see her for the first hour, which meant she was swallowed up by the crowd, working.
“It’s nothing. Work thing.”
“Here work thing?”
“PO work thing.”
Understanding dawned, and he nodded. “Gotcha. Yeah. I’ll keep an eye on your section. Where are you going?”
“A word with Anthony. This place is violating too many fire codes for me to ignore it.”
“Good luck.”
Yeah, yeah. I was noting his sarcasm, but this place was just asking for a fire marshal visit. I pushed through the crowd, seeing two of the bouncers outside of Anthony’s office. “He in?”
They exchanged a look before one shifted forward, but he didn’t seem too sure he wanted to do that. “Uh, boss is with the boss. He doesn’t want to be interrupted.”
Lovely . I was being sarcastic. “How long have they been in there?”
The two shared another look.
I didn’t wait for them to figure out which would respond to me. I jerked a thumb behind me. “I don’t have time for this. You see what’s happening out there? Let me in there to talk to Anthony, or this place is going to get an official visit. It’s out of control out there.”
They did another look thing, and I was out of patience.
I shoved between them, opened the door, and pushed inside.
I didn’t give a look at who else was in the office before twisting and locking it. Not that the two guys were going to try and fight me. They knew me. The charade was more for them so Anthony wouldn’t be too pissed at how easy they let me in.
I looked around, and Anthony had an eyebrow raised; he was sitting behind his desk. “Really? I bet they just let you walk right past them.”
Okay. So the show had been for nothing. I shrugged. “I have that kind of demeanor.” I’d been preparing myself to see Trace in Anthony’s office and was trying to avoid the pull to look at him, but it wasn’t Trace. It was the other one, Ashton Walden, and he was eerily studying me.
I frowned. “What?”
Ashton’s eyes narrowed. He pointed at me. “You got something on your face.”
I started to reach up, thinking it was a bug or glitter, but realized he was referring to my bruise. “It’s nothing.”
His eyes cooled. “Right.”
His head swung toward Anthony, who was watching our exchange with both of his eyebrows raised, and he was leaning as far back in his seat as he could get.
Ashton said, “You do what you feel is fit.”
Then he started past me for the door.
I shifted aside, but when Ashton didn’t open the door, I looked back at him.
He was staring smack at me, his eyes flat, his mouth in a line. “He’s going to want to see that for himself.”
The door opened, and he was gone after that.
I closed my eyes, just a second, and let the curse word slip in my mind. Shit.
“Okay.” Anthony’s chair squeaked as he stood up, and he held his hands in front of him in surrender.
“I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know about whatever the fuck that was between you two, or why you obviously have a black eye.
You’re tough and threatening, and it’s not my job to worry about you, so all that said, what are you doing in here? ”
“To threaten you.” I pointed outside. “You know how full it is out there? Your guys at the door aren’t sticking with the capacity limit.”
“We got a temporary permit for tonight. The DJ’s a celebrity.”
“Your temporary permit is bullshit. Scale the people back, or you don’t want to know the consequences.” I began reaching for the door.
“Or what? You’re going to call us in?”
I stopped, my arms folding over my chest. I gave him a cool look.
“You kidding me? I’d be shocked if there haven’t already been one or two people who’ve already been trampled or near trampled.
I’ve had to pull girls over the bar. It’s too crowded out there.
If the fire guys come here and see that I wasn’t the one who called them, you bet your ass this will affect my other job.
Get your shit together. I’m not playing. ”
I yanked open the door.
The two bouncers scattered, and I marched right back. No one got in my way, so I was guessing my irritation was clearing the way.
There was no change in the next fifteen minutes, but the fifteen after that, the bouncers were wading through the crowd and pulling people out. It was thinning, enough where I didn’t need to be tense about seeing some of the fire guys I knew.
I went back to work, even spotting Kelly a few times.
Justin came over at one point. “I have no idea what you did, but I noted the timing. Thank you.”
I grunted, jerking my chin up.
He flashed me a smile, with two thumbs up in a cheesy grin.
I almost missed our manly normal greeting, but it was easier to work now, so I was relaxed enough to give him a half grin back.
Anthony showed up not long after that, one of his eyebrows still raised. “Happy?”
I lost my half grin. “Yes.”
He rolled his eyes but kept moving through the club.
I watched him go. He was checking everything over, and Justin shared a look with me after he moved past his section too. I was thinking it was the first time he’d seen Anthony actually walk through the club. My threat of people trampled must’ve rattled him.
Either way, the DJ was good, and the people weren’t going to get crushed.
I was content for the rest of the night.
It was an hour later when I was getting low on vodka.
The people who were supposed to help us keep stocked up must’ve fallen behind.
I grabbed one of the bottles and raised it in the air to get Justin’s attention.
He looked and I shook it, showing that it was empty.
He gave me a nod, raising one thumb up this time.
I slipped out and headed for the back where we kept the extra stock. It was a bit of weaving through a hallway because I rarely came back here. The sounds of the club faded, and I came to the room and went inside.
It was dark.
Finding the light, I switched it on, and at that time, the door opened.
Trace shoved in.
“Wha—”
His hands were on me, and he snapped out, “Yes.” He locked the door and barricaded it, but when I braced myself, thinking he was going to kiss me, his hands turned gentle, touching my face.
He leaned over me, moving me more under the light so he could see me better.
He went eerily still, his touch so soft that it was soothing, and he traced the edge of the bruise, before moving my head gently from side to side.
He was looking for more bruises, and he wasn’t content with just my face. He moved me around, his touch still so gentle as he had me turn around in front of him, lifting my hair so he could inspect my neck. “I’m fine.”
He stopped me in front of him when he was done, but he was focused back on the bruise. “Who?”
I flushed, starting to shake my head. I began to step back, but he stopped me, taking my hips and moving me closer to him. He leaned fully back against the door, opening his legs, and he fit me in between them.
I should leave the room or at least step back.
But dammit. My body was heating, and the swirls were grazing my insides. Those were his swirls, making me go crazy.
“Who touched you?”
I let out an irritated sound. “It was the sister of one of my guys. What are you going to do? Threaten her?”
“Who?” His eyes flashed, and his fingers held firmer to my hips, but his thumbs began rubbing back and forth, tunneling under my shirt. “I can find out.”
I stilled.
Jesus. I knew they had people on their payroll. Knew from the trip up north, but hearing it said in front of me so easily sent chills down my spine.
“Are you protecting my brother?”
He stilled, even more than he had been.
My head reared back, just an inch, and I took him in. His face was guarded but not surprised. That was all I needed to know.
“Why are you protecting my brother?”
He let out a soft sigh, almost so soft that I didn’t hear it. “He’s someone you love. Can’t we leave it at that?”
My heart flipped over, but damn. Damn! Seriously? He said that?
I was mad at him, but I was starting to forget why I was mad at him, and then I remembered—he made me a criminal.
I moved back, firmly.
When he tried holding me in place, I shoved back even more assertively. “Thank you.”
I spotted the vodka I needed.
“For what?”
I grabbed two bottles and moved around him. “For reminding me why you can’t touch me.”
As I reached for the door, he stepped aside. “Jess.”
I opened the door but gave him a searing look, or I hoped because my insides were a jumbled mess. He did that to me. Every time. Right and wrong, good and bad, he was fucking me up.
“You were hurt.”
“I’ve been hurt before.”
His eyebrows dipped low. “What does that mean?”
“Just ...” I held a hand up and cursed when I heard my voice break. I couldn’t finish what I needed to say.
My heart wasn’t in it because he was here, and he was worried, and ...
I left, feeling my heart breaking in a way that I never knew it could.
There were people in the hallway. I ignored them, not looking, and went right back to my section, and for the first real time, I started to consider if this was going to be my last night here.
Justin came over twenty minutes later, during a brief break. “You okay? You look stressed.”
“Yeah.” I’d been on autopilot since seeing Trace, and I even tried to give him a smile. I was faking. I knew it wouldn’t match my eyes, and Justin saw through it, giving my shoulder a soft squeeze before going back to his section. “Hang in there, okay?”
I had no other option, but Anthony made a point of coming to tell me before closing that he wasn’t here anymore, and it was then that I realized how I’d been half holding my breath all night long.
And I realized that I was disappointed.