Chapter Thirty-three
~Katarina~
“Where’d he go?” Jessie happened to say loud enough that Katarina could hear it.
The music was ear-cloggingly loud, to the point she just assumed if Jessie needed them to stop, he’d just tug her.
He’d already spent most of the night directing her around.
Affectionately and playfully, of course, but this was the Jessie Show tonight.
Sera and Ellie were making out somewhere on the edges of the dancefloor and she’d done a few less than professional dances with their plastered pack of pixies.
Katarina clocked the second they arrived at the casino that she was playing the bit of arm candy.
Nik and Rex tagged along but kept their distance the whole night and Jessie was hamming it up.
While he was always delightfully hammy…tonight he was being extra himbo.
She would have asked him at the poker table why he was putting on a show, she didn’t. Not after Pinstripes sat next to them.
If there was ever an award for most obvious super villain, Pinstripes would win.
He was smiley in an awful way. He followed them from poker to dice to slots then to the dance floor.
It hadn’t escaped her notice that he lingered in a booth, not too far from them, and never lost track of the pair.
You gotta be The Executive or one of his goons.
Katarina was hot. Smoking, sexy, sensual, a creature of pure intoxicating desire in her favorite club dress!
Which surprisingly still fit given that I bought this fucker in college and after we got married, Gill stuffed it in the closet.
How Sera found it while she was rifling through the house for my stuff I’ll never know!
But even a succubus in a good dress didn’t warrant that much attention.
Especially given his attention was mostly on Jessie.
He hardly talked to her. Let alone looked her way, his gaze seemed locked in on her dance partner.
And while Jessie was a looker, and Katarina could see why anyone would drop trouser for Jessie…
Pinstripes meant business. Not the kind that Jessie would enjoy. Or Katarina, for that matter.
Which led her to pausing their dance to follow Jessie’s searching gaze across the dance floor.
Pinstripes was gone. So was Nik, which made Katarina’s skin prickle.
She tugged Jessie with her, the pair weaving off the dance floor.
Through warm bodies and the heavy scent of alcohol in the air, they stumbled out into the open air at the barstools. Rex rushed up to them.
“What happened to Nik?” Jessie asked.
“Where’s the creepy Pinstripe Suit guy?” Katarina added as she scanned the room for him.
“I don’t know. Nik was coming back from taking care of Gill and immediately decided to pick a fight with the guy!” Rex called out over the music.
Alarm bells rang in her head as Katarina jerked to stare at the younger Bonesaw brother. “Gill?”
“Yeah, he was downstairs. Don’t know in what state he was in.” Rex glanced at Jessie for guidance. “What’s happening? Nik just took off.”
“Shit.” Jessie stormed past his brother toward the hallway.
Katarina and Rex raced to keep up with him, barely getting in the elevator before it closed behind him.
It took a few minutes to convince her heart to take a break and stop racing.
While she’d had a martini or two, she was not tipsy.
Succubi, when well-fed, weren’t easily intoxicated.
And I’ve been rather well taken care of tonight.
Between Jessie kissing her, encouraging her to feed in hopes it would keep his knot at bay and the overt sexual aura that hung over the dance floor, she should be going into a food coma.
She was pink in the cheeks and fanning her face.
“You, okay?” Rex murmured.
“Yeah, fine,” she managed to speak through a choked throat. She couldn’t stop the rising panic in her veins. Gill’s here? Fuck. Why are you here?
“Rex, take Katarina home.” Jessie’s snapped command, however, had the opposite effect as Rex telling her Gill was here. It was a frosty bucket of ice. It made her teeth ache with how hard they clenched. It cleansed her of the frenzy for long enough for her to get her bearings.
“No, absolutely not.” Katarina twisted to face him in the tiny, but stylish tin can they floated downward in.
“I promised to take care of you. That includes taking care of Gil. Rex, take Katarina back to Ma and Pops—”
“You don’t get to decide how to take care of my ex-husband like that!” She barked.
Jessie’s eyes flashed her a warning as the door to the elevator whooshed open. “If he’s working for The Executive, then he’s likely here to hurt you or worse. I’m not about to let that happen.”
The three of them peeled out of the elevator, but Katarina stopped Jessie before he could charge toward the heavy crowds on the main casino floor. She snatched him by the forearm and jabbed a finger in his face. “I’m not leaving.”
Jessie inhaled sharply through his nose so hard the little black ring he’d put in for style that night flipped up and smacked his nose. After a calming exhale breath, he huffed, “Fine. But if he so much as irks me or lays a finger on you, I’m breaking his spine in two.”
“I can agree to that.” She put up her hands like white flags. “If he wants to play stupid games, let him win stupid prizes. But, don’t decide things for me like that.”
Jessie sighed, corrected his posture, then extended his arm to her. “Sorry, baby girl, you’re right.”
“Thank you” Katarina tossed her hair over her shoulder flirtily before taking his arm. “Now, let’s go see what’s going on then find Nik.”
Jessie tugged her in sharply, forcing her to stumble into his chest. Cupping the back of her head with his other hand, he ripped her into a kiss.
Heavy, a groan of desire rumbling up his chest, she smiled into it as he teased her tongue out to play.
While she felt a little guilty making-out in front of Rex…
she almost forgot about him. That was until he cleared his throat while Jessie’s hand roamed down her backside.
“Uh…guys. The CEO’s goons are coming this way.”
Jessie groaned, pulling away from Katarina’s lips. “It’s The Executive, Rex.”
“That’s not as ominous. I would have called myself the CEO, the crime executive...obviously?”
Katarina twisted from Jessie to stare at Rex, ready to give him so much shit, when she saw who Rex was talking about.
The goons in question did not belong to The Executive.
Her heart sank, stomach rolling up into a tight ball.
“Those guys don’t belong to The Executive,” she sighed, slipping away from Jessie. “They belong to Gill.”
A pack of lawyers, all dressed in two-piece suits and displeased scowls.
Of the five of them stalking up to Katarina, she knew four of their names.
Three of which were at her wedding. Two she knew how they took their coffee as they’d spent long hours at her home or at the office with Gill.
And one was Gill’s best friend. Katarina exhaled heavily as she stepped in front of Jessie and Rex, “What do you want, Jack?”
“Katarina!” Jack beamed, reaching for her like he usually did, going in to kiss her cheeks. Her whippy tail slapped his hands away and she jerked backwards to avoid his skin touching hers. He paused, blinking rapidly in confusion.
“We’re here…to uh…” He trailed off for a moment, clearing his throat and adjusting his tie simultaneously. “Assist our client Mr. Hurley in seeking out damages.”
“Against me?” Katarina blurted out.
“No! No,” Jack laughed waving his hands in front of him to try and defuse the situation brewing before him. “There was an assault, earlier. An un-named man punched Gillian. We’ve advised he go seek medical treatment while we handle things.”
Katarina arched a brow. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”
Gill had his boys on backup in case whatever the fuck he was trying to do here went sideways, I bet. Not that she could prove it.
“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?
” Jack flashed his easy smile. The one he used to schmooze his way into just about everything.
Once upon a time Katarina thought it was charming, or funny.
Not that long ago, she considered Jack a friend.
As she’d known him for years, met him before she even met Gill at the firm…
but it seemed Jack chose Gill in the divorce.
“Can’t say I do. I’ve been having a night out with new coworkers and my boyfriend, as you can see.
” Katarina motioned at Jessie and Rex with a swoop of her hand.
“And, if I were omnipotent enough to know what happened to a man I haven’t spoken to since he was arrested, then I’d be a highly paid oracle by the council… and not an accountant.”
Jack laughed sheepishly, raking his fingers through his slicked back hair.
Much like Gill he was tall and bulky for a human, only with fluffy brown hair that he kept out of his face with gel.
Jack licked his lips nervously, “Listen, Katarina, I’m not saying you had anything to do with it.
But you know who did it, don’t you? I mean… Gill was only here because of you.”
Katarina’s lips curled, causing Jack to pale as she talked. “You admit Gill was here to seek me out, when he’s been clearly informed by the council and by my legal council, I want nothing to do with him? That I’m seeking a restraining order against him?”
Jack’s mouth flapped open and shut in befuddlement. While not completely a lie, I know for a fact Sera mentioned to him while he was behind bars that she was helping me with a restraining order. Jack scrambled for words, stumbling over the syllables. “Yo-your-your legal council?”
“Yeah, my legal council. Sera Whitler, who was with me the entire night, as well as Jessie and Rex here. They can attest to the fact I never saw your client here. And I definitely would never condone anyone assaulting him!” Katarina dropped her hands on her hips, power radiating through her as Jack shrank back.
“Katarina, come on, help me out here,” Jack grinned, but it was more of a wince. “Friend to friend.”
“Friend to friend? Tell me, Jack. Is Gill seeking full custody? As his legal council, you’ll surely know what he’s intending now that he’s out of prison?” Katarina smiled, her customer service voice firmly in place.
“Well, I can’t speak on the topic of conversation between my client and I—” Typical. Katarina was done.
“Have a good night, Jack,” Katarina cut him off with a darkened look. “I hope you find out who assaulted your client. I would suggest you talk to the Enforcers about that, but we both know that the firm likes to keep these kinds of incidents inhouse.”
Katarina brushed past him, head high and swagger in her step.
So, he was here, and likely Nik punched his lights out, then he called in his pack of goons to try and protect himself.
She didn’t have time to deal with his buffoons.
Nik was missing, and The Executive was too, which didn’t bode well.
They needed to figure out what they were intending to do here tonight.
Obviously, the goon squad won’t tell me. Why waste her time with them?
“Katarina, wait.” Jack whirled around, forcing her to stop mid-stride. “Look, we both know Gill’s a bit of a stickler.”
She twisted, inch by inch, slowly with fury etched in every feature. Nose scrunched, upper lip curled, eyes narrowed to slits, she was a cobra inches from striking. Her fangs glinted in the casino lights. “Stickler?”
Is that what he calls putting hands on me because Gill couldn’t take care of me? Is that what he calls mentally manipulating me for years till I was broken? Is that what he calls grinding me down till I was a dull, lump of rock that no longer resembled my once shimmering self? A stickler?
“No body wants this to be messy. And you got a divorce, nice and clean, everything’s cut and dry.
No reason to drag Isabella through this, you know how vulnerable kids are at this age.
” Jack crept forward and Katarina could see her eyes flashing red, reflected in his.
He stopped, standing straight. “What if I talk him into 50/50? Huh? A shared, equitable division of parental rights.”
Katarina wanted to sink her fangs into his neck.
Rip out the tendons and sinew and leave him with nothing but a gaping hole in the neck.
Shared? Equitable? No, Gill didn’t get those things.
He didn’t get to hurt her—destroy her! And eat his fucking cake too.
He didn’t get to hurt Isabella on top of it all.
“Jack,” she ground out the sound of his name through her teeth. “Never speak to me without my legal council present. Ever again. And tell Gill I’ll see him in court. I’m going for full custody, and I won’t leave a single parental right left in his name.”
The pack of lawyers all looked at each other, but when they glanced at Jack, their ring leader straightened up.
Dusting his hands off on his jacket, he walked past her, back out into the belly of the casino.
The others followed quickly after him, leaving without another word.
Sera will forgive me for name dropping. And while she’d definitely have to figure it out later, for the time being, she was at peace.
“Baby girl,” Jessie’s voice was thick in her ear as she finally glanced his way. Jessie planted his hands on his hips, gulping down air greedily. “We got a problem.”
“What?” She twisted into him, panic that she’d ignored signs of stress for him in exchange for getting her witty barbs in. Only to see the problem when she inspected him for injuries. It tented his pants and she could feel the heat radiating off him. “Oh.”
“Private booth. Now.” Jessie jabbed a finger at the elevator. “Rex—”
“I’ll just go hang out by the bar and see if Buttons can tell me where Nik ran off too!
” Rex laughed as he rushed off, hooves clicking rapidly over the tile.
Katarina had a single moment to recognize what was going on till her back was against a wall in the elevator and Jessie was grinding his body up against her.
His lips captured hers swiftly after. The world spun around her as he grabbed as her hips, hoisting her off her heels.
“Was it something I said?” She laughed, breaking the kiss for a moment to gulp down air.
“Baby girl, I’m a simple man. You beat up men, either with a tire iron or with that smart mouth of yours, doesn’t matter. Makes me want to breed the fuck out of you.”
Her giggle was cut short as Jessie kissed her again. Okay, first I’ll take care of that knot—THEN we’ll find Nik and deal with The Executive. We both need to blow off steam anyway.