Chapter 13
Aiden
“Dagger wants to talk. He’s out front.” Archer pops his head into my office at Lavish just after nine thirty. I run a hand through my hair, looking up from my computer and pulling off my glasses. I think for a moment.
“I don’t wanna fucking deal with him right now,” I say honestly, leaning back in my chair to light a smoke.
Archer saunters in, closes the door, and takes a seat across from me. He carries his whiskey and sets a fresh one down for me. His hair is graying now. He’s definitely looking older these days.
“After your little show last night with the new girl, I don’t blame you.” He chuckles.
I grit my teeth. “Her name is Mia.”
“Aye, Brenin, didn’t mean to hit a nerve,” Archer observes.
“You didn’t,” I correct simply. “She has a name, so we use it.”
He nods again.
“And it’s not her that I’m thinking about. I’m thinking about the fact that I have to let Dagger know his shipment of guns is gonna be a few days late and about fifty short.”
“Fuck, they’ve been waiting for those Berettas.” Archer thinks for a moment, leaning back in his chair.
“You reach out to the K-6’s?”
I nod. “They’re dry, and so is every other outlet we could take advantage of.”
Archer’s mouth forms into a frown. “This is why Raef is pushing the mob. You know that…”
I grit my molars. I do know that, but it’s never gonna fucking happen. I say nothing in return.
Archer stands, knowing I’m done talking about that avenue. “Well, Dagger’s all yours. He’s had a few too many and probably something stronger.”
“Yeah, I bet.” Fucking guy snorts coke for breakfast and knocks back oxy as his nightcap. He’s a disgrace to his club, not unlike the way Marco was for ours.
“They’re keeping Mia busy as fuck,” Archer adds.
That gets my attention.
“I thought she was working VIP?”
He shrugs as he grips my doorframe. “Guess she’s working both. It’s busy as shit out there tonight.”
“Fuck. Hold up,” I tell him, shutting down my computer.
I’ve been purposely avoiding the security feeds, working in my office by myself, trying to figure out how the fuck I’m gonna make up this shipment shortage, and knowing Mia is out there is a distraction of the worst kind.
I lean forward and take the final drag of my smoke before butting it out and downing my much-needed shot of whiskey before I head out my office door.
Archer stays on my heels as we make our way onto the club floor. The place is at capacity, so I can’t give Roz too much shit about not keeping Mia in the VIP rooms.
The last thing I fucking need is Dagger setting his sights on Mia, but it seems I’m too late, because when I spot her, she’s already standing at his table, delivering a round of shots and smiling cautiously at him and his men. He puts a wad of money on her tray after she sets the shots down.
I do a quick scan of her, noting every detail, almost in the same manner I’d scan a target in my SEAL days.
Only this target damn near takes me out at my fucking knees, because she’s wearing the red dress I handpicked for her yesterday.
It looks even better than I thought it would.
It clings to her body, cinching in at her waist then pouring down over that fucking ass.
The suggestive slit up her left thigh is open enough to be considered scandalous, even for here.
The only place it sits slightly more loosely is between her breasts, caving in just a bit at her cleavage, giving the illusion that I could walk up and just pull it down with one finger and her tits would spill over into my palms. Or onto my face.
Either one is exactly where I fucking want them right now.
The back of the dress is strappy and open, leaving nothing to the imagination.
Her soft, platinum waves are pulled back into a high ponytail, the tip gently brushing her upper back as she walks around, and she isn’t wearing a stitch of makeup, unlike the other girls who wear a lot.
I wonder why, and even that pisses me off.
She’s a heady combination of lust and innocence, and the mixture of the two has my cock starting to swell.
I already know she chose to wear that dress just to fuck with me, and that makes me like it even more.
Dagger sits at his table, totally smitten. He’s grinning up at her, his eyes repeatedly drifting down to those tits, and I can’t get there fast enough.
“Okay, boys, you be good now,” she purrs at them.
Where the fuck did that sweet, smoky voice come from?
I register that she’s only ever been pissed off when she’s spoken to me, so maybe that’s why I’ve never heard that voice.
My fists flex as I come to terms with the fact that bodies are gonna fuckin’ drop because of this woman.
I’m about to ride straight into a fucking head-on collision, yet I have no choice but to lay heavy on the throttle.
* * *
“Christ, Foxx, I can’t have this kind of delay again.
I have people to fucking answer to.” Dagger pounds his fist on the table.
I follow his eyes as he speaks. The more he drinks, the more often they trail to the crowd, searching.
I’ve been sitting with this fucking pissant for over an hour just to keep an eye on him every time Mia comes back with another round, and after some idle chitchat and him asking his men to leave us alone, I filled him in on the shipment being low.
“The border is tighter, the ports are tighter, everything is more fucking difficult,” I offer him. It’s the truth, and I can’t help that the ATF is practically living along the shorelines like maggots on a rotting corpse.
“I have a crew that would bring them in through Biloxi.” He leans back in his chair. His gray beard is even lighter under the neon, and his skin seems more weathered. He’s in his mid-fifties, but like most pieces of shit, he prefers his women young.
I shake my head and sip my whiskey, knowing he’s suggesting we use the mob. He’s in bed deep with them. “Absolutely fucking not. This is nothin’ but a storm. We have to ride it out.” I eye him up for a beat.
“I know you aren’t pushing out all that fent you’re bringing in. Slide some of that shit to your people in Philly to replace it, and I’ll cover half personally for the misstep,” I suggest. It isn’t fucking rocket science, but this guy isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
Dagger shrugs. He hasn’t stopped looking around since Mia left the table. I know she’s currently handling the VIP rooms, and the crowd in there won’t mistreat her. They’re a bunch of marketing execs walking on the wild side.
The longer she stays away, the better. There are men who are a little unhinged and crave a bit of violence like I do.
There are men who fuck up and end up going to jail for taking shit too far, like carving someone up and keeping the pieces as souvenirs.
And then there’s Dagger Rodham. He gets off on human suffering, and it doesn’t help that he’s on enough drugs to take down a bull most of the time.
I have no idea how he functions, let alone operates a bike or his club.
He’s always high, and he’s been known to stay in Crank Creek, a trailer park full of meth heads out on Highway 12, sometimes for days at a time.
Dagger is one of the reasons I have a no-touching rule in my club.
And he wouldn’t dare disobey it, because the one time he tried to, I spared his hand, but I sure as fuck didn’t hesitate to take a finger.
The one he slid under my dancer’s skirt.
And I promised him, if he ever did it again, I’d take both his fucking hands and keep them on my desk as trophies.
“You want me to call Roz over to bring you another?” I ask, flicking my silver lighter as I watch his beady eyes scan the room again for Mia, wishing he’d fucking leave.
“Nah… I’m waiting on that tight new little birdie to show her pretty ass again.” Another flex of my fists is the only thing holding me back from breaking his face.
“Ahhh, there she is. Fucking hell, just the way she smells gets me hard.”
I fight the urge to gut him from cock to chin as Mia approaches.
“You boys sure are thirsty tonight.” Mia’s sultry tone as she squeezes in beside me will do nothing but fuel Dagger’s appetite. Fuck, she does smell good.
I brace my hand firmly against her soft warm thigh when her hip brushes my shoulder. She jolts against my palm as she sets down another whiskey for Dagger.
“It’s like you know me already,” Dagger says, leaning into her, setting a twenty on her tray. He’s running a tab, so the twenty is all for Mia.
She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes, and a slight tremor runs through her.
I grip her thigh tighter, trying to determine whether it’s from my touch or because of the piece of shit leering at her.
Her eyes meet mine in defiance, and I decide that tremor was all for me.
Interesting. I’d rather have her glaring at me than be fresh meat for the sick fuck on the other side of the table.
I let go of her leg and pull my phone out to text Roz.
“Make sure you’re taking your break as scheduled, darlin’,” I tell Mia sharply while I type out my message. When I tuck my phone back into my cut, she turns and looks down at me, a wicked grin on her face.
“I just took my break, boss.” Her tone is sugary sweet. “All rested up.” She’s the picture of formality and grace, but I want to break someone’s fucking bones as she looks back to Dagger and his crew.
“Gotta keep my energy up in order to keep these boys’ thirst quenched.” She toys with them, offering a wink and popping her hip as she readies to leave, but one of the tall-boy cans on her tray topples to the floor.
“Oops,” she giggles, but it’s fake as fuck as she bends over to pick it up. The whole fucking table gets a perfect view of her heart-shaped ass in that dress, and my blood boils. I bend down to swipe the can off the floor and put it in her hand.
“Stand. The. Fuck. Up.” My voice is loud enough for only her to hear me. Her eyes lock with mine. She does what I order but slowly, so their view lasts longer. When I sit up and flick my eyes to Dagger, he’s eating it all right up.
“So clumsy,” she offers to the table, and they chuckle in agreement. She turns without dropping anything this time.
“Is there anything else I can get you, sir?”
“No,” I grit out, setting my jaw. She’s not doing anything the other girls wouldn’t do, but I don’t like it one bit. She doesn’t need to tease or flirt with these motherfuckers.
Dagger lifts his hand, like he’s itching to touch her, and his fingers twitch as he retracts them, laughing at the way she brushes me off. She’s taunting him. Fucking little br—
“They need you in VIP, honey.” Roz taps Mia on the shoulder.
“Stacey will take care of you guys for the rest of the night.” She glances around the table then down at me with a knowing look, repeating the words I just gave her verbatim.
“They’re getting kind of rowdy back there. They need a full-time server.”
I offer Mia a sinister grin and raise my glass to her as Roz pats me on the shoulder and follows Mia away from the table. Mia scoffs at me as she turns.
That’s right, Rhiannon, I’m the fucking boss.
I sip my whiskey, satisfied with knowing that she won’t return to this section until Dagger is gone, as per my orders.
“Now, where were we… How to keep the boys up north happy,” I say to Dagger, still basking in Mia’s scowl as I remind myself to give Roz a raise.