Chapter 7
Lily
I’ve managed to avoid going into the office for the last couple of days.
There was only so much I could take of Connor’s gloating, and the final straw came when he let slip that he’s playing golf with Walter and a couple of our other executives this weekend.
He’s wasted no time ingratiating his way into the highest levels of the company, and is being rewarded for simply being born with a penis.
I’m never going to be in their little boys’ club. Maybe it’s time I looked for a new job.
As I sit at my desk in the corner of my apartment, I can’t help hoping Connor is as useless with a golf club as he is with his limp dick.
We had sex just the once, and the only good thing about it was that it didn’t last long.
Even his brief attempt at foreplay didn’t get me as wet as I was when a certain stranger pressed against my back.
Why do I have to have the hots for a guy who’s shown no interest in getting my number.
I’m probably just some weird entertainment for him.
I play with the hem of my crumpled t-shirt. Today is a day for slouching, but I’ll be making up for it tomorrow. I’m a serial late-night internet shopper, and I have a new dress that I’m dying to show off. If only I had someone to show it off to.
I reach for my cell. “We need to get back in that club,” I say as soon as Kaitlyn picks up.
Kaitlyn chuckles. “Missing your stalker?”
“He’s not a…” I pause, playing with a loose strand of hair that’s fallen out of my top knot.
Shade probably has better things to do than spy on me, but it was odd that we should bump into each other again.
And I still don’t have a satisfactory answer for how Simon knew my name, or the limo driver took me home without an address.
“Look, I just want to give fate a helping hand, and see if I can meet him again.”
“I would love to make that happen, honey, but we don’t have an invitation for this weekend.”
“What about the guys you met? Could they get us in?”
“I’m going to need time to recover from those two,” Kaitlyn says with a note of pride. “And besides, their invites were a one-time deal too. There are plenty of other clubs to choose from.”
“Not ones like Heatrush,” I complain.
“You’re only saying that because of you-know-who. Or in your case, you-don’t-know-who.”
I move my finger over the touch pad of my laptop so it doesn’t go into sleep mode while I’m supposed to be working. “Ha. Ha,” I say morosely. But she has a point.
“Listen, honey. If your man wants you, let him come find you. And besides, Heatrush might be exclusive, but it’s already had its fair share of trouble.”
“What trouble?” I ask as I recall the lecture Shade gave me about watching my drinks. The creep who’d tried to pick me up had been high on something, but I’d noticed how the barman was watching us. I felt safer than I do in most places.
“What about the men who were beaten up?” she asks.
“Who was beaten up? Was it staff?” I ask, immediately wondering if the skirmish involved the doormen. I hope Simon wasn’t hurt. He seemed like a nice person once you looked beyond the surly facade.
“Sorry, I forgot you’d left before it happened, and no, it wasn’t staff. Just two random guys getting their arms broken. I heard they touched someone’s woman.” She sighs. “I wish someone would be that protective of me.”
“They had their arms broken?” I repeat as my stomach flips.
“Their attacker walked away without a scratch apparently. Not that anyone admitted seeing him,” Kaitlyn says.
“He must have been one of those people that you make a point of not seeing, if you know what I mean. The Moncriefs might be upstanding citizens, but I bet they know plenty of dubious characters.”
I rest my elbows on my tiny home desk so I can drop my head into my hands.
Hadn’t Shade made a joke about breaking the arms of anyone who touched me?
It was a joke, right? He can’t be responsible for the attacks.
I’m not his woman. He might have said he should make me his, but then he’d left.
What happened to those guys was just a coincidence.
“I need to go back there,” I mutter. Maybe Shade will spot me in the queue again and use his connections to get me inside. And even if he doesn’t, Simon would surely remember me. I straighten up in my chair. “I might have a plan. Are you in?”
Kaitlyn’s laugh bounces down the line. “I’ll always be your wingman, Lily.”
The little black dress I treated myself to is a halter neck, and my shoulders are exposed to the cold as we exit the cab. Kaitlyn came over to my apartment first and we’d shared a bottle of wine before leaving a little later than we’d intended. I’d needed the extra fortification.
What if Simon isn’t on duty? Or he is, but he doesn’t let us in? What if we get inside and Shade isn’t there tonight? What if he is there, and he doesn’t come and find me because he’s too busy with someone else?
“Hurry up!” Kaitlyn says, dragging me to the front of the queue.
“And I’m warning you now, if we’re forced to join the line, then I don’t care how hot your man is, unless he has a friend who can thaw me out, we’re going somewhere else.
” She gives me a sly look over her shoulder. “Or we could share.”
“Keep your hands off!” I say with a laugh as if there’s any chance I can claim Shade as my own.
Kaitlyn shrugs. “No worries. It’s not like I’d want to rely on your taste in men given your last–”
“Don’t you dare mention Connor’s name!” I warn.
We stop in front of a red rope being guarded by two men I don’t recognize. I can almost sense my friend preparing to pull us away.
I smile sweetly at the first doorman. “Hey, there. Is Simon around?”
He looks me up and down. “Who’s asking?”
“Lily Kendrick. He’ll want to know I’m here,” I say with unwarranted confidence.
The doorman turns away and speaks quietly into his earpiece. The howling wind makes it impossible to hear what he’s saying, and I have to hope he’s talking to Simon. When he’s finished, he ignores me completely and checks the IDs of the couple waiting at the front of the queue.
“I’ll just wait here then, shall I?” I say, my words dripping with sarcasm.
I shift from foot to foot, hoping my feet don’t turn blue in my strappy sandals. It’s not the look I was going for. Kaitlyn nudges me as a dark figure fills the doorway. I don’t remember Simon being so damn big, or quite so intimidating. He doesn’t seem too pleased to see me.
Unhooking the rope, Simon allows us to step over the threshold, but stops us from going any further. “Your names aren’t on the list.”
“I know,” I say with an expectant look that I hope conveys my plea to let us in anyway.
Despite having a day to prepare my case, my argument is weak. How can I convince Simon that I’m a favored guest of someone who may or may not know the Moncriefs, when I don’t even know Shade’s name?
“Why are you here, Miss Kendrick?”
He’s not making it easy for me. Then I remember the bag I’ve been clutching.
“I brought you something,” I say, pulling out a pair of rechargeable hand-warmers.
“I just thought with it being so cold, you might need these. I got the triple XL for those big paws of yours. Here, you just press this button.”
As I switch on one of the hand-warmers to demonstrate, I swear I can see the corner of Simon’s mouth twitching. “Thank you,” he says, wrapping a fist around the warmers that had seemed much bigger in my hands.
There’s a long pause.
“Please, let us stay,” Kaitlyn says at last. “It’s freezing out there.”
“I have some hand-warmers you could use,” Simon suggests. He looks back to me. “If you’re not on the list, I can’t let you through. No exceptions.”
“But you know who I am.”
“And do you know who my boss is?”
“A friend of a friend of mine?” I try. “Could you not ask someone?”
When Simon releases a sigh, I intensify my look of desperation.
“Let me make a call.”
Rather than using the intercom in his earpiece, Simon takes out his cell phone. The only words I pick up are when Simon describes me as the girl in the gold dress. My mind whirs. Is he talking to Shade? Surely his boss wouldn’t know who I was from that description.
The call ends quickly, and when Simon turns and offers us a shrug, I steel myself for disappointment. To be refused entry would be bad enough, but if my psycho has rejected me, I might just cry.
Simon rolls his eyes when he sees me tearing up. “You’re in,” he says.
Kaitlyn launches herself at Simon and gives him a kiss on his lower jaw, which is as far up as her lips will reach. “You’re my fucking hero,” she squeals.
I’m a little more reserved. “Thank you, Simon.”
He holds out an arm to stop me from following Kaitlyn. “Just be careful who you talk to in there. We don’t want any more trouble.”
It takes only a fraction of a second to make sense of what he means. My suspicions were right. The two men who pounced on me last week are now walking around with their arms in casts. Someone took exception to them touching me.
“Did he tell you that?” I ask, biting my lip.
“That comes from Calder Moncrief,” Simon says. “You don’t need anyone buying you drinks, they’re on the house. He also says he doesn’t want to bar you, but he will if you leave with someone you shouldn’t.”
I glance at Kaitlyn, who’s been waiting for me. Her expression is a picture, but I expect mine is too. The owner of Heatrush has just told me that I can’t pick up a guy tonight, unless it’s someone he approves of. “Is he here?” I ask Simon.
“No.”
My heart sinks. If my possessive and overprotective psycho isn’t here, I’m not sure I want to go in after all. “Is he going to be?”
Simon gives me another shrug. “That, I can’t say.”
Before I can debate whether or not to risk waiting for someone who may not even show up, Simon steps away and Kaitlyn pulls me into the club.