Chapter 2
TWO
KENNEDY
"I don't think I should let you go in there." Ares eyed the front door to the club.
"We can't talk to her if we don’t," I pointed out.
This part of town would make most people nervous. Not us, though. Around here, people knew who we were. Most of them wouldn't dare to touch us.
Once in a while, someone came along and tried to challenge Mannix's authority, or Reuben Brantley's— Okay, let's be real. Someone was always someone waiting in the wings to take over, but Mannix and the rest of us took good care of the people here. If they were loyal to us, we were loyal to them.
If there was even a whisper of trouble, we'd hear about it.
Right now the worst of it was this Christmas party.
Was it possible we were overthinking this? Maybe Caleb didn't have anything planned. He might just want a night out.
All right. No one in the entire country, maybe even the world, believed that. Caleb Brantley was the very definition of ‘up to something.’ He did nothing without a reason. Ever.
I hoped whatever his reason was this time, it wasn't going to get us killed. Or worse.
"We could ask her to come out and talk to us," Ares said darkly.
"It'll be air-conditioned inside," I pointed out.
It was summer here in Australia. Today was particularly hot. The breeze off the ocean did nothing to cool it down. Was it too late to fly to the Northern Hemisphere for a white Christmas? That would get us out of having to host the party.
On the other hand, that would really piss Reuben off.
A bit of snow wouldn't be worth what he'd do to us if we took off, even for a few days.
He'd softened slightly after the birth of his children, but the change was so slight most people wouldn't notice it.
Mostly, he was the same ruthless man I knew for over five years.
Dangerous and driven. Like all three of my boyfriends.
"If anyone tries to lay a hand on you, they're dead meat,” Ares said, glaring at the door as if he could cut through it by shooting lasers out of his eyes.
"I’m sure no one would dare," I said. "One look at you and they'll run for the hills."
"They fucking better," he replied. He placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me through the doorway and into the club.
The pulse of music was the first thing that hit me, a sensual, persistent throb. Then there was the couple off to the side, stretched out on the couch, her legs wrapped around his hips, his cock thrusting into her pussy.
"Fuck," Ares muttered. “I knew we shouldn't have come here."
I slid my arm around his waist and led him deeper into the club, past a pole where a woman danced, men staring up at her with avid gazes. Watching her as she slowly peeled off her clothes.
"Ice said the office was down the back." I gestured toward an open door.
Ares grunted something before guiding me firmly in that direction, like he couldn't get out of here fast enough.
It wasn't the sex or the nudity. It was the men present, and him not wanting them to look at me the way they were looking at the dancer.
My boyfriends were the dictionary definition of possessive.
They'd literally poke out eyeballs if anyone who shouldn't saw me naked.
Eyeballs if the guy was lucky. They might start with his balls instead.
And if they tried to touch me? Yeah, they'd regret it. Painfully.
Chelsea looked up from where she sat behind her desk as we stepped into the office.
"Kennedy, Ares, it's nice to see you both." She rose to her feet, stepped around her desk, and stretched out her hand.
I took it, but pulled her in for a hug.
"Ice sent that from him and this one is from me." I hugged her again.
She hugged me back warmly. Her caring, former doctor mode was never far from the surface.
At the same time, she had a dangerous streak, like her brother. For years she'd fought to escape the mobster life. Eventually, she accepted it.
Since then, she'd embraced her role as mafia princess with even more enthusiasm than I had.
I had some idea how much money was laundered through this place.
Although, since she was also taking girls off the street, giving them employment and helping them to get their lives together, I wasn't going to judge.
Dusk Bay was, at times, a dangerous place to live. I was behind anything that made it safer for anyone, especially women.
"What brings you both down here?" she asked, giving us both speculative looks. Ares in particular.
It wasn't that they disliked each other so much as he disliked most people.
If he trusted her, he gave no sign. It wasn't personal, it was Ares being Ares.
He hadn't changed since I met him. I doubted he ever would.
Honestly, I didn't want him to. I liked his dark moods.
And the way he always watched me, and the people around us.
He reminded me of a predator, guarding their much-valued prey.
Like a dragon watching over a pile of gold.
In as few words and with as little eye rolling as I could manage, I explained the situation.
"So a few 'presents' might exchange hands at the party," she said slowly.
"We might also have a good time." I shrugged.
Ares snorted.
Chelsea sat on the side of her desk, her long legs crossed, and regarded us both.
"Let me guess, Ares doesn't like the idea. Most of my guys wouldn't like it either. Storm, in particular." She smiled indulgently.
Storm Keller was the fullback for the Smashers. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder, at least as big as the one on Ares’ shoulder. He got his aggression out on the footy field, for the most part. He also did jobs for Reuben here and there.
"I was going to ask you for help, but not if it'll cause problems at home." The last thing I wanted was to create trouble between her and her six boyfriends. That sounded like six headaches to me. Three boyfriends was the perfect number, as far as I was concerned.
I didn't know how she managed six, but she seemed to be having the time of her life. I loved that for her.
"Don't worry about them," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "I'll handle them. I'd love to help you. Whatever's going down, the more people in your corner, the better." She chewed at her lower lip.
"We need to sit down and make a list of what we need. Unless you've started that already?" She cocked her head at me.
"I hadn't even thought about starting," I admitted, grimacing to myself.
"You only heard about it an hour ago," Ares said. "Don't give yourself shit over it." He looked like he didn't know where to glare, so he settled for glaring back out the door, even though there was no one in sight.
"Give yourself a break," Chelsea said gently. "The first thing we need is a guest list. That should be the easy part."
"You think so?" Ares turned back to her.
"Absolutely." She said, unflinching. "The entire Brantley family. And most of the people who work for them. The Smashers. The Demons. Wolf Venom." She thought for a moment. "I think that's everyone."
I rubbed the heel of my hand over my forehead. "That's a lot of people. You think all of them will come?" I asked.
"Most of them," she agreed. “Wolf Venom is touring at the moment. So they probably won't. That makes things easier since most of them don't get along with Reuben anyway. It would be rude not to send them an invitation."
"Wouldn't want to be rude," Ares muttered.
"Of course not." Chelsea smiled. "Not when it comes to people like that. Most of the Smashers will come. The Demons as well. All of them know how to have a good time. All of them know to keep an eye on Caleb."
"Oh," I said. "You're good at this."
It shouldn't surprise me she'd immediately thought of everyone who knew Caleb and what he was like. All of them would be ready for suspicious behaviour from him or anyone else. They were basically wired for it at this point.
She was also right that two teams of professional athletes knew how to have fun. The Dusk Bay Demons were the local ice hockey team. Many were involved in Reuben's business, if not all of them. They'd come to his assistance on more than one occasion.
Rumour had it, they knew how to use those knife shoes they wore on the ice. As knives.
I pulled out my phone and started to make a list of names.
Ares looked over my shoulder and scowled as the list grew longer.
"Do we need that many people?" he asked. "More than ten seems excessive."
"If we only invited ten people, we wouldn't even invite Reuben or Caleb," I said over my shoulder.
“Exactly." Ares seemed to like that idea.
"This will be closer to a hundred," Chelsea said with a laugh.
"I have a migraine that night," Ares grumbled.
I reached back to pat his firm bicep. Was it harder than when I met him? None of the guys had let up on working out in all the years we'd known each other.
'It's only one night. We can get through it. Which reminds me, the next thing on the list should be lots of alcohol.'"
"I don't think Dusk Bay has enough alcohol in it for this party.” Ares sighed out his nose.
"It won't be that bad," Chelsea said. "A few decorations, some Christmas lights, a bit of Christmas music—"
"Fucking Christmas music." Ares sounded more disgusted at that than any other aspect of this entire party up until this point. As if he'd rather be surrounded by a thousand people than listen to “Jingle Bells.”
Okay, cheerful music and his personality weren't a match I'd naturally make, but we could pick something more suitable. Couldn't we? There must be some Christmas songs out there that were a little darker or a little louder.
Honestly, I couldn't picture Reuben singing along to “Away in a Manger” anyway. On the other hand, I’d be sure that was on the playlist, just in case.
"Why don't we put you in charge of the food?" I asked Ares. That would give him something to focus on, rather than being irritated that this was happening in the first place.
"Can I order pizza?" He gave me the side eye, as if daring me to tell him no.
"No," I said regretfully. "We need actual Christmas-y food. Maybe someone to cater the party."
He perked up slightly. So slight I would have missed it if I didn't know him as well as I did.
"All I have to do is hire someone.” He looked like it couldn't possibly be that simple.
Suppressing a wince, I said, "Hire someone and work out a menu with them, yes. They'll have lots of suggestions."
Probably. Wasn't that how it worked?
"Lots of finger food," Chelsea said. "Not actual fingers."
"I heard of someone holding a party like that once," Ares said with a smirk. "They served the fingers of their enemies."
I frowned at him. "That didn't really happen, did it?"
He shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know. It probably did. Are you going to invite your father?"
This time I couldn't suppress the wince. My biological father, Samuel Bell, also didn't get along with Reuben. It'd be more accurate to say they were mortal enemies. Although Reuben's brothers, Hunter and Parker, were in a relationship with one of my sisters, Lila.
Yeah, the situation was complicated.
"Are you thinking of having a sit-down dinner or finger food brought around on trays?" Chelsea asked carefully.
"Definitely not sit-down," I said immediately. "It would take approximately a hundred years to figure out the table plan so no one was sitting next to someone they wanted to poke in the eyeball with a fork."
Literally.
"That would be a good way to get rid of some of them," Ares said.
When we both turned to stare at him, he smiled. "What? You both know it's true. I know: why don't we place Reuben next to Samuel, and give them both a sharp knife each?"
"I don't think that's in the spirit of Christmas," I said.
"It's in the spirit of something." Ares seemed to like the idea the more he thought about it.
"Let's not have bloodshed at Christmas," I said.
Now it was Ares' turn to stare at me. "It wouldn't be Dusk Bay if there wasn't bloodshed."
"That's what worries me.” I sighed.