55. Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Five
Wes
The door closed behind Zinn and Lachie. They’d left quickly after Wes, Assa, and Zinn’s conversation.
Assa leaned against the wall. “Well, whatever that was in the kitchen, I don’t think we’re coming back from it.”
“I don’t want to,” Wes said.
“I’ve wondered for a while,” Assa admitted. “It should have been harder letting Zinn into our lives, into Ryde’s life. Calder too.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“No. It never was.”
“Valentin getting over his shit with Lachie probably tipped it for me,” Wes said. “I could have explained it all away before that. Then, the other day, I had a moment with Calder. Tonight, figuring out where I stood with Zinn, that was the last piece for me.”
“I don’t know what to do next.”
Wes hmphed. It was surreal, being fairly certain they all wanted the same thing, but not knowing how to start that conversation. Ever since meeting Valentin at the club, instinct had guided them.
He couldn’t imagine sitting around the dining table and calmly discussing whether they should all start fucking.
And was that what everyone wanted? There were five of them. It was possible they saw things differently.
Wes knew what he wanted. He wanted to explore the heat he’d felt with Zinn in the kitchen earlier. He wanted to find out what lay behind the promise in Calder’s gaze.
“We should talk to Valentin,” Wes said.
“Agreed.” Assa picked up his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m texting to see if Jordie or Ked can come stay with Ryde. We can go to the club and have this conversation now. I don’t think it should wait. Plus, it gives us privacy.”
Decoy sauntered into the room and began meowing for his dinner. Or meowing his annoyance at Valentin’s absence. Or Zinn’s departure.
Stroking the animal between his ears, Assa said, “It’s different for Valentin and Zinn, I think. With their history. I don’t know if what just happened in the kitchen would have happened if Valentin had been home.”
“We need to talk to our alpha.”
Half an hour later, Ryde was asleep and Ked sat in the den watching TV and munching on the monster burrito Assa ordered for him. Wes was glad to see the bruising around his nose had faded.
“We shouldn’t be too long,” Wes said. “Midnight at the latest.”
“Take your time. If I get tired, I’ll just crash out in the guest room. Papa won’t care.”
Wes hummed his assent. The fifteen-year-old was too smart for his own good.
At The Cracked Heart, Assa and Wes ran into Xan and Asher on the main floor.
“Hey!” Asher greeted them. “It’s been a minute. I wasn’t expecting to see you two tonight.”
Over the past year, Asher had not been very inquisitive about their relationship with Valentin, or Calder’s with Zinn.
To his credit, his primary focus had never wavered from mending his relationship with his brother.
And that did not include being opinionated about how the two households interacted.
Asher simply seemed grateful to have a seat at the table whenever he was invited, no matter whose house it was.
“We’re looking for Valentin,” Assa said.
“He’s upstairs,” Xan said. “I can walkie him, or you can just go up.”
“We’ll head up, thanks.”
Valentin was seated at his desk when they knocked. Wes marveled at how soundproof the room became after they shut the door behind themselves. The music downstairs had been deafening, but in Valentin’s office, it was a quiet oasis.
Valentin stood and pulled them into an embrace. “Is everything okay?”
“I texted you,” Assa said.
“You said that you were on your way here because we needed to discuss something serious, but also that nothing was wrong.” Valentin huffed. “Vague much?”
“Sorry,” Wes said. “It wasn’t really a text thing.”
“So what’s going on?”
Instead of answering, Assa walked over to the window and peered down at the dance floor.
“Every time I’m in this office, I think about that night, about what would have happened if you hadn’t sent Xan to deliver your note.”
Valentin wrapped his arms around Assa from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder. “I think the universe would have sent us to each other eventually,” he said, pressing his lips to Assa’s neck. “But I am glad I took a chance that night.”
“Taking a chance is kind of what we wanted to talk to you about,” Wes said.
“I know.”
“You know?”
Valentin chewed his lower lip. “I mean, I think I know what this is about.” He stepped back until the three men faced one another. “We’re all thinking it. I had a conversation with Calder the other day. He was asking about making choices. Being brave…”
Interesting, Wes thought. Calder had been having a lot of talks lately.
Assa interjected when Valentin’s words stopped coming. “You mean admitting that the universe isn’t done with us yet, that there’s still room to—”
A blinding flash of light flooded the office, like a bolt of electricity had touched down in the middle of the room.
Wes threw his arm up over his eyes as the three men fell to the ground.
“Are you okay?” Valentin asked as the light receded. Wes and Assa nodded.
They crawled to the window. The air above the dance floor was thick and smoky. Valentin flipped a nearby switch, and the soundproofing lessened.
Everyone was screaming.
Crashing noises echoed throughout the building as bottles and glassware fell from the shelves, shattering. Clubgoers rushed the exits.
Valentin scrambled to his desk and hit a button on his laptop.
A split screen with four camera feeds came up.
Two of the images were of the outside of the club, revealing men pouring into the street and parking lot.
Thankfully, the security guards prevented them from stomping on each other.
The other two cameras showed the hazy dance floor.
“Valentin! Are you okay?!” Xan’s voice sounded from the walkie-talkie.
Valentin grabbed it. “We’re okay.”
“Stay up there!” Xan ordered. “Lock the door.”
“What the fuck happened?”
“Flashbang. Smoke bomb. Somewhere near the dance floor.”
“Anyone hurt?”
“I’m not sure about cuts or bruises but no one’s down, at least. Ears are definitely ringing.”
Valentin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Bergam?”
“Must be,” Xan coughed. “Dang, that smoke is something. Feels like I’m in a forest fire.”
“Take care.”
“I’m gonna get everyone out and check the perimeter. I’ll walkie you when it’s safe to come down.”
Wes turned the deadbolt on the office door.
The overhead lights came on downstairs, highlighting that most of the patrons had already made their way out of the building. Xan was correct that no one appeared seriously injured, although a few men clutched their ears.
Valentin pushed keys on the laptop, looking at different camera views.
Wes saw Asher and the club’s manager, Sandi, helping the last of the men from the dance floor out a side door.
“What was the point of this?” Assa asked. “Bergam just wanted to fuck with your business?”
“It’s possible,” Valentin said. “I suppose if people think stuff like this might happen, they’ll be too scared to come.”
Wes shrugged. “Maybe not. All the guys here tonight will have a great story for tomorrow’s break room talk.”
“I think Bergam’s getting desperate,” Valentin said quietly. “Even more so than before. Xan heard he doesn’t have many friends left. Fucked up one too many deals or something.”
“It sucks that a clown like him can cause all this shit,” Wes muttered.
“I’m just glad Ang isn’t around to see it.”
The walkie-talkie crackled. “I got all the customers out and sent the bartenders home,” Xan said. “That’ll piss the cops off, but I don’t care. My guys are doing a perimeter sweep now, but it’s probably safe to come down.”
Wes, Assa, and Valentin descended the stairs to find Xan and Asher clearing broken glass off the high tables.
“Why are you still here?” Wes asked Asher.
Asher’s cheeks reddened. “Xan is, um, my ride.”
Wes lifted his forehead but didn’t say anything.
“I wonder how much this is going to cost us,” Valentin lamented. “Even closing two hours early will hurt. The place was packed.”
“Sorry.” Xan frowned.
“Did you catch the guy who set off the flashbang?” Valentin asked.
“Not yet. We can check out the footage later, but the dance floor was crowded. It’ll be hard to figure out who dropped it.”
Valentin nodded.
“I wish Bergam would just make his big move. This death by a thousand paper cuts bullshit is wearing thin,” Xan complained.
“For real. It just keeps adding up—”
“VALENTIN!”
The shout came from a side exit. A broad-chested alpha with long, thinning blond hair strode into the main room, shoving a silver handgun into the side of one of Xan’s men.
Wes knew instantly that the alpha was Bergam.
“Sorry, boss,” the captured guard said to Xan. “He jumped me outside when I was checking the dumpsters.”
Smoke swirled above them. Bergam coughed, then narrowed his eyes.
“I didn’t want an audience,” he hissed at Valentin, his unfocused gaze bouncing around the room. “I was being a nice guy saving the customers from seeing me blow your head off. But I don’t give a shit what your guards think.”
Valentin stepped forward. “Let him go, Bergam.” Assa grabbed at his shirt, but Valentin continued. “It’s me you want. You don’t have problems with anyone else.”
“You’re right,” Bergam said, digging the gun into the guard’s side until he yelped.
“But collateral damage is a thing, right? My father never had vision, but some of his people could see that there was real money to be made here. And not on beer and cover charges. And it was bad when those guys got locked up. My guys. But the true collateral damage wasn’t that they went to prison.
It was that they met you there. And told you about this place.
You’ve been a fucking cockroach invading my house ever since. ”
Valentin inched forward. “C’mon, Bergam. Let him go.”
“Do you even care? About what you took from me?”
Another inch. “I cared about Ang.”
Bergam bared his teeth with an unhinged grin. “But now you care about other things.”
Wes’s blood ran cold when Bergam glanced at Assa.
“Are you fucking threatening my family?” Valentin asked, low and menacing.
Bergam shrugged. “You got between me and my father. Why shouldn’t you get a taste of it?”
With those words, he pushed the security guard away and raised the gun. But not at Assa.
At Wes.
“No!”
Valentin lunged into Bergam as the gun exploded. It happened so fast, but not fast enough. Pain zipped through Wes’s shoulder as the bullet penetrated his flesh.
He fell, clutching his arm.
Valentin had Bergam pinned to the ground, trying to subdue him. But his efforts were weak. The crazed alpha got off two more unfocused shots before Xan clambered over and wrested the gun from his hands.
Pulling zip ties from his back pocket, Xan immobilized Bergam’s wrists behind his back.
Sirens roared outside. It had taken the cops way too long to get there. More of Bergam’s fuckery, Wes assumed.
That was when he noticed Valentin lying on the ground. Blood pooled beneath him, seeping out onto the dance floor.
“Alpha,” Wes croaked. He’d never been more terrified, but his arm hurt too much for him to crawl over there. The guard Bergam had been holding knelt next to Valentin and pressed a bar rag onto his side. Sandi did the same to Wes’s shoulder.
“Hang tight,” Sandi said. “It looks like the bullet went in and out cleanly.” He applied pressure, and Wes almost passed out, but he wouldn’t allow himself to do that until he knew Valentin was okay.
As if reading his mind, the guard helping Valentin looked over. “He’ll be alright. It’s just a flesh wound. Shot grazed him on the rib cage.”
Thank stars! Wes shuddered, realizing how close Bergam had just come to ending Valentin’s life.
Six police officers ran into the room, followed by EMTs.
“Who needs help?” the EMTs demanded.
Wes waited for Sandi to call the medics over to him, but it was Asher’s panicked voice that rang out.
“Right here!” Asher wailed. “I can’t stop the blood! I don’t know if he’s even breathing! Please! Help him!”
Wes forced his head to loll in the other direction.
Assa lay crumpled on the floor ten feet away, eyes closed, skin pale, arms and legs unnervingly still.
Asher squatted next to him, weeping, uselessly pressing a bar rag to the bright red bloom of blood covering his chest.
Wes tried to cry out, but no sound came. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the neon pink glow of the cracked heart sculpture behind the bar.