Chapter 28
Ace
I wasn’t in the most stable frame of mind when I returned to the club house. After Cat had learned I’d forced her change, things hadn’t exactly gone to plan.
While I could understand why she’d been angry with my unilateral decision to force her change, her anger still didn’t sit well with me.
I was not only an alpha, I was the alpha.
I wasn’t used to making decisions by committee.
I understood how completely her life had changed, but I’d foolishly hoped she’d understand why I’d done it, why I had to act as swiftly as I did.
I needed her to understand that my changing her scent had saved her from a lifetime of being chased by unstable alphas like Kane.
Because, as long as Cat remained an unclaimed omega, she’d never be left in peace.
Her scent was too alluring. It was a miracle she’d made it this long without any unwanted attention.
Even though I knew that was the truth, I also knew that, underneath it all, the decision to change Cat had mostly been a selfish one.
I needed her as my mate more than I needed the next breath of air in my lungs.
She was my all. My everything. Without her, I’d live half a life, one plagued by sadness, regret, and bitterness.
Though I’d only known her for mere days, there was no going back to the way things had been before she’d popped into my life.
Even one day apart felt like too big a concession after so recently mating.
My heart throbbed in her absence, along with my greedy dick.
As soon as I got through the front door of the compound, I heard the easily recognizable sound of women bickering.
“You bitch!” Chrissy was yowling at the top of her lungs while standing at the bottom of the stairs. “I’m going to fucking rip out your hair and leave you permanently bald for pulling this shit on me!”
Kendall, the stripper from Kicks who’d shown interest in me when she attended Cat’s first Night Stalkers party, came down the stairs then.
She was wearing a frayed pair of booty shorts, a banana yellow triangle bikini top that barely covered the nipples of her surgically enhanced breasts, and a self-satisfied smirk.
“What’s wrong, Chrissy? I could hear your terrible screeching all the way from Donner’s room,” she spoke, obviously knowing exactly what was wrong with the distraught club girl, despite saying otherwise.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Chrissy’s voice continued to escalate in volume and pitch the more irritated she grew. “You know what’s wrong, you fucking cunt! You got me fired from Kicks!”
What the hell? How did Kendall have the clout to pull that off, I wondered as I moved in closer. “What’s all this about?” I demanded, already pissed off over my fight with Cat.
Chrissy began to openly cry then, which was a rare sight. The women who hung around our club weren’t shrinking violets. Say what you wanted about them, but they were tough as nails. If Chrissy was losing her shit right now, I knew it must be over something important.
Chrissy stabbed a finger in Kendall’s direction. “Her! That hag got me fired from Kicks by stashing drugs in my work locker. Jerry called me into the club this morning. He told me he was wiping me from the weekly rotation and to clean out my belongings from my locker because I wasn’t welcome back.”
Fuck! By the stricken look on Chrissy’s face, and the smug one on Kendall’s, I fully believed the accusation.
It wasn’t like Jerry, the guy who managed the strip joint for the Club, wasn’t aware the girls’ partied it up in their free time.
However, when the dancers were at work, he didn’t play.
Our manager had a clean-club rule stricter than a catholic high school locker room.
While he didn’t drug test the dancers or anything as dumb as that, he had a zero-tolerance policy that stated no drinking and no drugging while on the job, which I respected.
“Do you have anything to say?” I posed, giving Kendall a hard look.
Her sharp gaze traveled up and down my full length before she licked her glossy red lips like the true predator she was. “Yeah, you look good, Ace. How come you don’t ever come see me dance at the club? I’ve got a new routine I just know a guy like you would love.”
Her misdirection wasn’t subtle, nor had she intended it to be. Ignoring her statement altogether, I ground out, “Did you have anything to do with Chrissy getting fired today? Tell me the truth.”
Kendall shook her head and her long dark hair swished artfully back and forth. “Of course not, Prez. I can’t help it if the girl has a drug problem. She should really get a handle on that before it makes her look even older than she already is.”
Chrissy rushed the stairs then, but I caught her midflight on the first step.
Hauling her backward, I shook the enraged girl to get her attention.
“I’ll talk to Jerry, Chrissy. You’ll have your job back tonight.
You have my word on that,” I promised, and the fragile woman crumbled in my arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Thank you, Ace. Thank you. I need that job. I need it,” she wailed, as she gratefully hugged me.
I understood. Girls like Chrissy might appear carefree and like they just float by in life on their looks, but I knew differently.
I knew how her parents had thrown her out when she was fourteen.
How she lived on the streets until she was of legal age to start stripping because it allowed her to put a roof over her head and food in her belly.
That it seemed like ten steps up from selling her ass to crooked Johns for quick cash because as a dancer at a strict club, she had control, and the final say about how she earned her money.
Kicks might just be a titty bar to some, but to girls like Chrissy, it was a safe haven where management paid them on time, kept them out of harm’s way, and the wolves at bay.
To a street kid that had never had stability before, that was incredibly important.
I wasn’t about to let Kendall swoop in and take what little the girl had away from her just because she was a spiteful bitch.
“Why don’t you go home and get ready for your night shift, Chrissy. I’ll call Jerry and straighten this all out,” I repeated to soothe her tears.
The thankful woman kissed me on the cheek before she headed out the front door. Before she left, she gave Kendall a death stare. The ballsy bitch gave her a condescending wave good-bye right back.
“You shouldn’t coddle her like that,” Kendall lectured when Chrissy was gone, her arrogant features pinched now that I’d spoiled her fun. “That cokehead needs to learn a lesson about who, and what, she messes with.”
“Cokehead?” I repeated, cocking my brow. “Funny, for someone who had nothing to do with what happened to Chrissy, you sure know a lot about it.”
The corner of Kendall’s mouth tipped up then, revealing her ugly intent. “It’s just a good guess. She looks the type.”
We stared at one another for a few long seconds before Donner came down the hallway and spotted the dancer hovering midway down the staircase.
“What’s going on here?” He asked, clearly starting to get possessive over the pretty brunette.
I hadn’t even known the two were banging. Last I saw, she’d treated him like something unpleasant stuck on her stiletto. But I’d been a bit distracted lately, so it was possible they were spending more time together than I realized.
Turning my attention to my brother, I said, “Just a misunderstanding between the girls, is all. I took care of it.”
Not looking sold on my clipped explanation, Donner panned over to Kendall. When she didn’t refute my statement, he barked, “Get back to my room. I wasn’t done with you, yet. I want you to practice that new routine of yours on me one more time before you head off to work.”
I didn’t miss the way my brother palmed his crotch and adjusted the hard-on he was sporting in his jeans.
Tossing her shiny hair over her shoulders, Kendall turned and slowly marched up the stairs, an intentional jiggle in her ass as she ascended.
When she was gone, my brother grinned. “She’s a total cunt, but she’s a grade-A fuck who can deep throat like she has a disarticulated jaw.”
I gave Donner a cold smile. If he wanted to let that piranha suck his dick, that was his business. I had bigger fish to fry.
Blitz and Gunner strolled into the clubhouse then. Picking up on the tension, their conversation came to an abrupt halt as they tried to discern where it was coming from.
Turning around, I chucked my chin in their direction. When I looked back at the stairwell, Donner was already gone. Fucking perfect. Now there was that unholy union to worry about.
“That seemed friendly,” Gunner jested with a gruff chuckle. “You two ladies not seeing eye-to-eye on something today?”
“Something like that,” I tiredly returned.
My phone rang then, and I quickly dragged it out of my pocket when I thought it might be Cat telling me she’d had enough “alone time” and wanted me to come get her.
No such luck. It was Ringo. What the fuck did he want?
“Hello?” I answered tersely, not in the mood for any more drama. The club girls had already tipped me over the edge where that was concerned.
“Ace,” the boy nervously began. I could practically smell his fear from over the phone. “We have a problem.”
My nostrils flared and my stomach clenched. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure,” Ringo replied, clearly trying to puzzle the whole thing out, even as he was explaining it to me in real time. “Cat’s gone.”
I growled into the receiver, rage drowning out the connection momentarily. “What the fuck did you just say? Where is she?”
“I don’t know, Prez. She told me she needed me to fix a clogged drain in the bathroom. When I came out to tell her I’d unclogged it, she was gone. Her car is missing from its regular parking spot as well,” he added after some hesitation.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I concentrated on my breathing before I ordered, “Stay at her apartment. If she comes back, call me,” then I hung up.
Both Gunner and Blitz had heard the entire conversation. With exceptional hearing, they didn’t need it to be on speaker phone to listen to both parties in a quiet room.
“Where do you think she went?” Blitz cautiously asked, his eyes telegraphing he was every bit as concerned as I was.
“I don’t know,” I confessed, feeling helpless for the first time in my life. “She said she just needed some time to think and decompress. She probably just went for a drive.”
Dialing her number, it went straight to voicemail and my anger resurrected in my chest. “Fucking hell! She’s turned off her phone.”
First, she’d blocked my number. Now, she’d turned off her phone. I was going to spank her ass raw the moment I located her foolish hide!
“Her scent changed after you mated, so she’s safe,” Blitz reminded me, trying to calm things down before I raged out of control.
“Cat must just be going for a drive, like you said. She’ll be back once she gets her head on straight.
She’s your mate, Ace. Even though she’s newly turned, the pull is too strong to ignore that fact.
Being a ware is a hard reality for anyone to accept, Brother.
Most people wouldn’t have taken it half as well as she did. ”
He was right. But still, my instincts were screaming, telling me that there was more to this than met the eye. I wouldn’t be able to rest until I knew where Cat was and what she was up to.
“I hope you’re right, Blitz,” I replied, my lips compressed into a thin line. “Because if Kane is involved in this somehow, the alternative is so much worse.”