Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHARLIE
The biting cold seared my cheeks. I pulled my coat together and walked down Pittsburgh’s icy sidewalks toward Radiant, seething.
I had been looking all around the city this afternoon and evening for that stupid fucker, called his phone countless times, and even asked the few friends that I knew he had in the city just to find him.
After tugging open the door and walking past security, I shook off the snow from my coat and slipped out of it, and then I handed it to the attendant. She gave a small smile with a curt nod, depositing the coat in the back room.
I scanned the lobby for Derek because he had to be here somewhere.
Where the fuck else would he be? I had made sure to keep a better watch on the security cameras at my place, in case he decided to pay me—or Athena—another visit tonight while I was out looking for his ass.
When there was no sign of him, I walked down the hallway and toward the main bar area.
Maya and Russ—Sun’s … friends—were together at a table in the back of the bar.
Michelle was sitting on a table with a submissive, trying to butter her up.
Steven and Hector stood near the bar with Abdul, talking quietly and chuckling with each other.
Abdul nodded to me. “Your usual?”
“No, thanks,” I said, grinding my teeth. “I’m not drinking tonight.”
“Someone looks pissed,” Steven noted, sipping his drink.
I balled my fists and scanned this room for that asshole. “Have you seen my brother?”
“Brother?” Steven asked, looking at Hector.
“That asshole kid from yesterday,” Hector said.
Steven let out a long whistle. “He’s your brother?”
“Yes,” I said through my teeth. “Have you seen him?”
“He was here last night,” he said. “Got a little too drunk and handsy. Arrogant bastard.”
“Ooh,” Michelle hummed, squeezing herself between her adopted brothers to see me. “Are we talking about Charlie’s cute little crush that he has?” She clapped her hands together, giving us a huge grin. “I wanna meet her!”
“No, we’re not talking about my crush,” I said through gritted teeth.
“So, she is your crush!”
I peeled my gaze away from Michelle and peered at Hector, who glared at her, and Steven, who gave a little chuckle.
“Don’t you have a business to run?” Hector asked. “An event tonight?”
After whipping out a dildo from behind her back—don’t ask me where she got it—she grinned widely at him and shoved it into his chest. “The event was a success, and we had some extra dildos left over if you ever want to”—she wiggled her brows—“you know, use it on yourself.”
Flaring his nostrils, Hector grabbed the dildo between two fingers, walked over to the trash, and dumped it right into it without an apology.
Michelle melted to her knees. “My precious merchandise!”
“If you didn’t want it to go in the trash, you shouldn’t have given it to me.”
“You could’ve used it with Heather, not thrown it away!”
“I have enough toys for Heather.”
Michelle stood and smirked. “You can never have too many toys. Right, Steven?”
“Have you seen Derek?” I asked, butting into their conversation.
If I didn’t get Michelle to stop talking soon, I would be stuck there forever while she talked all about sex, sex toys, and why we all needed them to keep things spicy in the bedroom. As if Steven, Hector, and I didn’t already use them.
Mid-sentence, Michelle paused and looked over at me. “Your brother?”
“Yes.”
“He was here last night,” Michelle said, looking at the brothers. “You didn’t tell him?” When the others didn’t say anything, Michelle threw her arm around my shoulders and pulled me in close. “Didn’t know sadism ran in your family.”
“Sadism?” I repeated through gritted teeth. “What’d he do?”
“Had some girl crying so loudly that we had to go check on them.”
My heart raced, and I balled my hands into fists. “It wasn’t Athena, was it?”
Was that why she had started crying after sex earlier? No, it couldn’t be. I would’ve noticed marks all over her body. But still … if he had been here with someone last night and I smelled his scent all over her …
With every second that passed, I became more and more enraged that Derek would say something to Athena about me or about her, making her insecure in her own body, trying to put a wedge between us. Or worse … actually hurt her.
“No, it wasn’t Athena,” Hector said. “Some woman with pink hair.”
“But it was red by the time they left,” Steven hummed.
“Not judging them,” Michelle chimed in. “But we all thought something was wrong.”
I ran my hand over my face and blew out a breath, calming down—only slightly—now that I knew it wasn’t Athena. Derek hadn’t hurt her yet, but if he had been practicing at Radiant … I feared that, one day, he might try to convince her to do something that she didn’t want to do.
Coerce her by using her insecurities against her.
“If you see him or Athena, please text me.”
Michelle smiled and pinched my cheek. “Look at you, little lovebird.”
After shoving her hand away, I pursed my lips. “I’m not in love with her.”
Lie.
Steven and Hector shared another chuckle, as if they didn’t believe a word I’d said while Michelle rocked back on her heels and scrunched up her nose and eyes.
“You remind me of Steven when he met Sierra for the first time. Lying to yourself.”
Hector sipped on his drink. “He’s not lying to himself. He’s lying to you. Big difference.”
“Damn, what is it? Bully Charlie Day?” I asked.
Michelle giggled. “Yes.”
When my phone buzzed in my pocket, I whipped it out in case it was Athie.
Nadia: Who was that girl in your stream earlier???
Nadia: And why have you been ignoring my messages?
After staring at the texts for only a moment—because I couldn’t handle any shit with her right now—I turned off the screen and slipped the phone into my pocket. Nadia could wait until I found Derek and kicked the shit out of him.
“I think I’m going to—” I started.
“So, you’re just going to ignore my texts?!” someone exclaimed from behind me.
I turned my head to see a woman dressed in a slutty pink dress, storming toward us.
Nadia.