Chapter Six Quinn
A s I swept through the employee entrance of Alainn , a wave of emotions hit me. The last time I’d come through the doors I’d been racing out to rescue Caterina. When Kellan had burst into the room and interrupted Isla’s and my post orgasm haze, I would’ve never imagined it would be because Caterina had been kidnapped by her father and former fiancé.
Five days had passed since then. But in some ways, it felt like an eternity.
It was the first time I’d ever entered as the majority owner of the club. After Caterina’s reaction to Callum owning a stake in a gentlemen’s club, he had promised her to give it up. Instead of dividing it between Dare, Kellan, and me, he’d given his entire stake to me. When I’d questioned why, he’d replied, “You earned it for all the auditions.”
My first order of business was to head to the bar. If I was even going to get through tonight, I was going to need a strong whiskey. I waved over Conleth, the bartender.
At the sight of me, a broad smile stretched across his face. “Good to have you back, boss.”
“Thanks. Give me my usual.”
With a nod, he grabbed the whiskey. As he poured the tumbler he asked, “How’s Mrs. Kavanaugh?”
I smiled at the reference to her. Besides my mother and my sister, there wasn’t another woman I cared about as much as I did Caterina. She was more than just my sister-in-law–she had become my sister.
“Like a complete and total badass, she’s making a full recovery.” That’s all I could think of to describe how physically and emotionally strong Caterina was. After surviving a kidnapping by her bastard father and psycho ex-fiance, she had endured a traumatic beating that thankfully didn’t result in the loss of her early pregnancy.
Thanks to help from her brothers we had located her quickly and stormed in to rescue her. When Callum found her unconscious, he had scooped her up and rushed her to a waiting ambulance. The rest of us were left to take care of Caterina’s father’s men.
Once that threat had been neutralized, the only two men left standing were Alessio, Caterina’s father, and Carmine Lucero–the man she had once been promised to in an arranged marriage.
Callum had given us strict instructions that Alessio would be dealt with by Caterina’s brothers. Besides kidnapping their sister and allowing a man to beat her to try to force a miscarriage, Raphael, Leandro, and Gianni Neretti had a lifetime of trauma related to their father much like my brothers and I did.
Instead, we’d turned our attention to Carmine. All the worry and fear for Caterina bled out through our fists. At that time, we didn’t know if she and the baby would live. So, we had inflicted as much pain and suffering as we could.
It had been quite cathartic.
Of course, we refrained from finishing him off. That honor belonged to Callum. As for Alessio, we had tied him up and forced him to watch Carmine’s beating. Just as we were finishing up with Carmine, Caterina’s brothers arrived from New York.
Two years ago, I stood to the side as I watched Callum raise a gun to the head of our father. Because of the unexpected coup that had unfolded between us and our father, we didn’t have the time to inflict the torture he deserved.
Instead, it had fallen to Callum as the first son and future leader to pull the trigger.
For the Neretti brothers, they didn’t have a time limit, so they were able to pay back the sins of the father before they snuffed out his life. Dare, Kellan, and I were gone by then. Although we’d gotten word that Caterina would recover and that their daughter was as strong as her mother, we still wanted to go to the hospital to be there for Callum.
“Is she still in the hospital?”
With a shake of my head, I replied, “As soon as she woke up, Callum insisted on bringing her home. He has round-the-clock nurses taking care of her, which is completely pissing Caterina off.”
Conleth laughed. “I’d say the ol’ boyo has met his match.”
“Aye. He has and then some,” I mused before throwing back my whiskey.
As Conleth reached to refill my glass, I asked, “How have things been around here?”
“The new dancer is making quite a name for herself.”
At the mention of Isla, my cock twitched in my pants. In the past five days, each and every moment I wasn’t focused on eradicating the impending Bratva threat, my mind had been on the petite blonde.
The taste of her eager mouth.
The smell of her arousal in my nose.
The feel of her breasts in my hands.
The wild abandon on her face when she came.
Despite all the sexual reminders, there were also the ones of her kindness. Her acceptance of my scars. Her nervous rambling coupled with the conviction of her character.
I couldn’t remember any woman having as much affect on me. In the short amount of time we were together, Isla made me desire something I hadn’t in years.
A relationship.
But I’m sure I’d managed to fuck that up considering the way I’d left things between us. I’d acted like an utter and complete bastard to her. There had been so many things I wanted to say to her at that moment, but instead, I’d only shut down.
It was like my mind had short-circuited the moment Kellan appeared to demand I come with him. I couldn’t process anything in that moment except the fear of whatever had led Callum to seek our help. I went straight into enforcer mode, and there was no place for any feelings for Isla.
As Conleth refilled my whiskey, he brought me out of my thoughts. Trying not to sound like Isla was anything more than a dancer, I replied, “She’s a new piece of ass. Of course, she’s popular,” I said.
“I’d wager she stays popular for quite awhile.”
The whiskey burned harsher down my throat. “What makes you say that?”
When a lascivious grin stretched across his face, I fought the urge to knock it off his face. “With her innocence coupled with those tits and that ass, she’s going to be raking in the dough for the club.”
“Good for us,” I muttered around the mouth of my glass.
“Speak of the devil,” Conleth mused. When he jerked his chin at the stage, I swiveled on the stool to focus on the stage.
With a techno version of Material Girl playing, Isla swayed her hips on the stage. Her pink corset and thong were encrusted with diamonds. Pink elbow length gloves covered her arms while a long pink wig flowed down to her ass. Although it looked good on her, I missed her blonde waves.
“She’s pretty in pink, eh?” Conleth chuckled.
“She sure is fuck is,” I replied before I could think better of it.
Answering Isla’s siren song, I grabbed my glass of whiskey and rose off the stool to get closer to the stage. Once I found an empty table, I eased down into a chair.
As if she felt my eyes on her, Isla met my gaze as she spun upside down. A smile flickered on her lips before she turned her focus back on her dance. She made the intense aerobatics look effortless.
While her legs kept her balance, her torso came free from the pole. Bringing her arms around her back, she undid her top. At the sight of her bare breasts, my cock slammed against my zipper, causing me to shift in my seat.
Jesus, what was happening to me? In the two years we’d owned Alainn , I’d never gotten hard from simply seeing a dancer’s breasts. If anything, I’d gotten desensitized to them.
At the sound of someone beside me, I pulled the table closer, trying to hide my erection. “What the hell are you doing out in the crowd?” Dare asked as he plopped down beside me.
Reluctantly, I tore my eyes off of Isla. “Just having a drink.”
He frowned. “You never have a drink out here.”
With a shrug, I replied, “You know, I’m not such an OCD hardass that I don’t mix things up sometimes.”
Dare snorted. “Whatever.”
As Isla slunk down the stage towards us, Dare’s disinterested stare focused on Isla. He did a double take before shaking his head. “Feck me, she’s a bleedin’ vision,” he murmured.
I shifted in my chair. This time it wasn’t my cock making me uncomfortable but instead it was Dare’s hungry appraisal of Isla. While many of the other men wore the same expression, it didn’t get to me as much as it did with Dare.
“She’s the new dancer you auditioned the day Caterina was kidnapped?”
“Aye.”
Dare ran his tongue over his lips. “She’s seriously exquisite.”
Although I gritted my teeth at his remark, I replied, “She’s very talented.”
Tearing his gaze from the stage, Dare wagged his brows at me. “Is she now? I guess that means her audition went very well.”
“You know if it hadn’t, she wouldn’t be up there.” As I watched Isla effortlessly spin, I said, “She came in here working the pole better than most of the girls who have been here for years.”
“Fuck that. I want to know about her working your pole during the audition.”
I snorted. “You’re a sick shite, you know that?”
He grinned. “Come on, man. Anyone with a half working cock would be creaming their pants to have her grinding on them.”
My mind rocketed back to that day. How I’d come so fucking hard in my pants for Isla. I couldn’t imagine how intense it would’ve been to actually be inside her.
Dare’s eyes bulged. “I knew it!”
“What?”
“She made you come. That’s never fucking happened before, has it?” When I didn’t reply, he grinned at me. “I can’t blame you, mate. Mm, as soon as she comes off that stage, I’m taking her for a private dance.”
“Not bloody likely,” I snapped.
“Excuse me?”
I cut my eyes over to Dare’s incredulous face. “I said it’s not happening.”
“Why the fuck not?” Dare demanded.
There wasn’t any reason I could give him that didn’t involve me outing my feelings for Isla. Once I did that, I knew he and Callum would ride my ass constantly about it. Whatever there was between us, it was too precious to have it tainted by my brothers.
“Because you and I both know you don’t shit where you eat.”
“It’s never stopped us before.”
Dammit. He had me there. In the past, we’d all sampled from the feast of women the club provided.
“Well, it’s going to stop with Isla. She’s getting along well with the other girls. If one of the owners seeks her out, it’ll cause contention with the others.”
Dare busted out laughing. “Seriously, Mate? That’s the best excuse you could come up with?”
With a shrug, I replied, “I’m just stating facts. You know how the girls can be. Isla’s already the most sought after girl, which is only going to spark jealousy.”
“Cut the bullshit.”
“I’m not.”
Clapping me on the back, Dare shot me a serious look. “Quinn, you know it’s more than okay for you to use her whenever your dick gets hard.”
With a growl, I shoved him, causing his eyes to pop wide. “Don’t talk about her like that. Isla is so much more than a wet hole for my cock.”
A smirk curved on his lips. “Just as I thought. You want more than to fuck her.”
“I do not.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Feck off.”
“With all seriousness brother, there’s nothing wrong with you dating her.”
I grunted. “I’m the last thing that wee lass needs.”
Dare playfully rolled his eyes. “Yeah, just what every girl hates: a rich, handsome man who is obsessed with her,” he teased
“You and I both know that I come with seen and unseen baggage that negates all that.”
While I expected sympathy, if not pity, to reflect in Dare’s eyes, I wasn’t prepared for the growl of frustration. “Don’t fucking run yourself down in my presence, boyo.”
With a mirthless laugh, I replied, “It’s my physical and emotional trauma, and I’ll deal with it how I please.”
Dare shook his head. “Not if it means refusing to see things for what they are.”
“And what is that exactly?”
“That despite what you went through in the bombing you are still a very eligible bachelor who that lass would be very lucky to land.”
As I stared into his intense blue eyes, I appreciated his comment more than he could ever imagine. Unable to express that in words, I merely nodded at him. “While all that might be true, let’s not forget for one minute that you and I both have our cocks on the block for arranged marriages. Last time I checked, Isla’s family isn’t someone we need an alliance with.”
Dare’s lip curled in disgust. “Neither of us has to take part in that bullshit.”
“Protecting the family through strong alliances isn’t bullshit,” I growled.
“There are other ways to do it that don’t involve a marriage.”
“You sure didn’t voice that when it was Callum’s cock for the taking.”
“Our position was completely different then, not to mention Callum is the oldest.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “With Bratva breathing down our necks, we need to align ourselves now more than ever.”
When we’d murdered Catererina’s ex fiance, Carmine, it had kicked open a hornet’s nest with Bratva. Carmine had just married his seventeen-year-old daughter off to the son of the Pahkan in Jersey. When Mikita Komarov realized he’d given his first born son to a fucked alliance, he had taken his anger out of us as well as Caterina’s brothers.
“Then let Callum put Kellan and Eamon on the market in our place. Hell, Seamus is only forty-six. He’d make a good alliance when it’s all said and done, not to mention it would do him good to have a wife and family after Elena and Rian’s deaths.”
“They’re fourth and fifth sons. They aren’t as attractive a match as we are as the second and third sons. As for Seamus, you know he’s voiced wanting to find a widow to take care of him.”
Dare sighed. “Don’t you think you’re getting your knickers in a twist for no reason? I mean, has Callum or Seamus even broached the subject of a marriage for you?”
“No.” At Dare’s knowing look, I argued, “But they’ve been busy.”
“Regardless of whether you’re about to be married off, you can still have a little fun with her.”
I shook my head. “Isla isn’t the type just to fuck around with. She’s the kind of girl you settle down with.”
“Is she now?” Dare mused.
“Aye. Because of that, I’m prepared to make it known that she doesn’t ride anybody in the clan’s dick.” I gave him a knowing look. “My brothers included.”
He had the audacity to wink at me. “Like I would ever make a play for her knowing how you feel.”
“I appreciate that.”
A wicked gleam burned in his eyes. “That’s not to say I won’t be thinking of her the next time I wank off.”
I shoved him so hard he fell out of his chair. “Bastard,” I muttered under my breath as he chuckled on the floor.
Once Isla’s dance was over and I’d left Dare laughing at my expense, I made my way back to my office. As I walked over to my desk, my thoughts weren’t about the growing Bratva threat or making my way through the mountain of business receipts.
Tonight I had a singular focus.
And it was all on Isla.
Watching her work the pole had worked me up. The image of her swaying hips, bouncing tits, and jiggling ass made my cock rock hard. Because I’d had a wee taste, she was beyond just a fantasy now.
She was an all-out obsession.
But one I couldn’t act on.
After flopping down into my chair, I opened my laptop. Once I entered the security program, I eyed the many screens before me. Each gave a birds eye view in each of the private rooms.
I slid my finger across the tracking pad to the room where a pink wig stood out among all the others. When her voluptuous body came into focus, my erection clawed to be free. But I ignored it for a moment.
Instead, I remained captivated by the woman in front of me. Through the speakers came a sultry R&B beat. I couldn’t help being surprised it wasn’t another Taylor Swift song.
She motioned for a middle-aged man in a business suit to have a seat on the couch. After shedding his jacket, he obliged. Once he got comfortable, Isla went into her dance. She’d been right about being a fast learner. She integrated all the moves I’d shown her.
As I watched her hips sway in front of her client, I made quick work of undoing my belt and unbuttoning my pants. Lifting my hips, I pushed my slacks and underwear down over my thighs.
With precum leaking from the tip of my cock, it bucked against my stomach. After bringing my hand to my mouth, I spit into my palm. As Isla’s top hit the ground, I tugged my fist up my erection, mixing my saliva with the precum. The sensation caused me to hiss.
When Isla straddled the guy, I remembered how her warm thighs had pillowed mine. The way her white-hot core had scorched against my dick through my pants. She rolled her hips just as I’d taught her the other day. From the pleasure etched across the guy’s face and his moans and grunts, he was enjoying her abilities.
At that moment, I couldn’t help being jealous of the bastard. I wanted it to be my cock she was riding. Of course, I had something he didn’t have. I knew what her silky skin felt like under my fingertips. The weight of her luscious tits in my hands. The taste of her tongue and lips.
My hips rose and fell in time with hers as I pumped my hand harder and harder. My fingers were a shitty substitute for Isla’s thong-clad pussy. “Oh fuck!” the guy shouted as his hips surged forward. His fingers gripped the expensive leather as he rode out his orgasm.
As Isla rose from his lap and turned to the camera, I focused on her tits. A cry barked from my lips as I imagined shooting my cum on them, marking her as mine and only mine.
But when I came back to myself, I realized I could never act on my fantasy. She wasn’t mine to take. Nothing good would come to her by getting involved with me.