CHAPTER EIGHT
Jess
A couple of weeks had passed, and I was starting to get settled in. It was strange living in my sister’s mansion with her husband, the mayor. But life is crazy like that. I lived in a rundown motorcycle club for five years, got rescued, and now in the mayor’s mansion in West Bay.
Byron accompanies me everywhere. Nadine and Reynolds both believe that I’m in more potential danger than Reynolds is right now.
The fact that Skeeter is more than likely actively searching for me scares me to death.
I still have nightmares about him every night.
I don’t even want to think about what he’ll do to me if he finds me.
As for having Byron as my constant companion?
I’m not complaining one bit. The man is fire level hot, and I can’t quit thinking about our night together when he rescued me.
My God. I hadn’t known sex could be like that.
I find myself staring at him and thinking about him touching me again.
I get all hot and bothered, and then I realize those light brown eyes of his are watching me with an intensity that makes me wet and needy.
He knew exactly what I was thinking at all times, I swear.
The chemistry between us was palpable, and it was difficult to share space with him without touching him. But I sucked in a breath and did my best to quit thinking about ripping his clothes off and attacking him.
He cleared his throat, and my eyes shot to his in the rearview mirror. I hated that he made me sit in the back. I wanted to sit beside him, but he said it was much safer this way.
“Are you feeling up to this?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve barely gotten used to all the new people Nadine and Reynolds have introduced me to over the past couple of weeks. It feels like a lot to add even more people today.”
He smiled. “It is a lot. But it’s time you met the Salazars. If you’re going to stay in West Bay, a relationship with them means a lot.”
I swallowed hard. I was a little afraid of meeting the Salazars.
Okay—I was terrified. I knew who they were.
Everyone did. For years they had been presented as borderline legitimate, just slightly shady.
But over the past decade they’d become more and more powerful and seemed to be leaning heavily into a mafia-style governance of West Bay.
I hoped I was wrong. I wasn’t up to hanging out with the mafia today.
Or any day.
God. What if I’d been rescued from a motorcycle club only to end up tied to the mafia? I was starting to think I had really bad luck.
Then my eyes met Byron’s again, and the warmth and kindness I saw there made me re-think that. I was pretty lucky to have someone like him in my life.
“I’ll try to act normal around them, but it’s more than a little intimidating.”
He chuckled. “I understand. I swear, if I hadn’t grown up around them, I’d feel the same way.
They feel like family to me.” He shrugged.
“It’s hard for me to see them like everyone else does.
They’re just… normal. Except for Enzo. I like him, but he’s a little harder to feel comfortable around.
He always has been. People often think Nico is the scary one because he has tattoos and rarely smiles. But Enzo? He’s… different. Cold.”
He must’ve realized he was scaring me, because he shifted his tone. “But he won’t be cold with you. You’re beautiful, so he’ll be on his best behavior.” He grinned, and I caught a flash of his dimple.
“You think I’m beautiful?” People had said that to me my entire life. But hearing it come from his mouth? It meant so much more.
“Oh, baby. I don’t think you are. I know you are. It’s just a fact. You are objectively gorgeous. And subjectively the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.”
I flushed bright pink. I felt it happen, and I couldn’t hide my smile. “Thank you.”
We parked in what Byron said was a new parking deck. It was across the road from all the clubs, restaurants, and shopping in the swanky area. I felt underdressed.
“The Salazars own a lot of clubs. We’re going to Sugar to meet everyone. Sugar is the, um, strip club.” He glanced nervously at me. “But it’s nothing like what you worked in at the MC compound. I think you’ll be amazed.”
“Will I see the other clubs?” I asked, not understanding why his ears got a reddish cast to them.
“At some point you’ll probably see them all. But I doubt you will today.”
He grabbed my hand and we walked across the cobblestone street together. All the building were brick with black shutters and doors. There were wrought iron accents, and I loved the replica gas lamp streetlights that lined the walkway. I bet it was a beautiful place to visit at night.
It was even in the daytime. The sound of a motorcycle had me jumping out of my skin. Byron squeezed my hand. “It’s not him. Don’t worry.”
I was worried. No matter what anyone said. I knew Skeeter. They didn’t.
Byron knocked on the door, and a gorgeous girl with luscious long dark brown hair and big blue eyes opened the door.
“Hey, Byron,” she smiled, and I was a little jealous.
I was being ridiculous. I had no real claim to him.
She turned to me. “I’m Nora. I’m the head bartender here at Sugar. Sometimes I work over in Cayenne, too.”
“Cayenne?” I asked.
Byron wouldn’t meet my eyes.
Nora grinned. “It’s the sex club.”
My mouth dropped open. “Sex club?”
She nodded. “It’s very popular. But don’t worry, they won’t ask you to dance down there, I’m sure.”
Byron glanced at me sharply. “You’re not dancing here, either.” He saw the look on my face and frowned. “Are you?”
I bit my lip and nodded. “I was going to ask about it. I’m good at dancing. I want to make my own money. And everyone agrees I’ll be safer here at night than just sitting around somewhere.”
Byron did not look happy at the thought of me dancing. And it made me a little giddy that he cared.
“Anyway, come on in. They’re waiting for y’all at the premier table.”
We walked in, and I gasped. Looking around me, I couldn’t believe that this was actually a strip club. Yes, there were stages, but everything was so beautiful, so refined. It was clean and airy inside. I wondered if the women who worked here understood how good they had it.
We walked over to the premier table even though I was still trying to stand there and gawk at everything. This didn’t even belong on the same planet with the club I’d had to dance in on the MC compound.
I was so distracted by the luxurious accoutrements, the shiny, clean stages, and the heavy wooden tables and chairs that looked like antiques, I barely noticed the people sitting around the largest of those tables.
I could see why Nora had called it the premier table.
Not only was it the largest, but it had the best views in the huge room.
It could see the stages easily, as well as all the other tables and the bar area.
I’m sure that wasn’t by chance. Everything in this club looked as if people had thought of every single detail before they’d opened for business.
And I was about to meet those people.
I looked up, glad to still be holding Byron’s hand, and noticed he was frowning. “What’s wrong?” I whispered.
“Nothing, really. I just don’t recognize one of the men at the table.”
I glanced over and noticed one woman sitting at the table with the men.
She was… stunning. And her pretty brown eyes were locked on Byron’s hand wrapped around mine.
I almost wanted to let go of his hand. She didn’t look exactly angry about it, but she didn’t look happy, either. Byron didn’t seem to notice.
But I couldn’t stop noticing. The woman stood up and walked over to us.
She had on a red dress I was sure had a famous designer’s name on the label, and a pair of gorgeous, red-bottomed shoes.
Her long, black hair was silky and fell halfway down her back.
Her smile looked genuine when it landed on Byron but grew a bit stilted when she looked at me.
“You must be Nadine’s sister. I’m Carmen.
I own these clubs along with my brother Nico.
” She gestured towards a table full of men, but Byron had already described Nico.
I knew the tall, tattooed man was her brother.
His tattoos made me shudder, though. After five years of staring at Skeeter’s, I would be fine without every seeing a tattoo again. “Come on over and meet everyone.”
I noticed that she indicated for Byron to sit next to her while I was put in a chair in between two other men.
Byron didn’t seem upset by it, though. In fact, he gave Carmen a hug and whispered something in her ear. They looked very comfortable together.
It occurred to me that I had no idea if Byron had a girlfriend. God. What if I’d had sex with him at the club while he had a girlfriend the whole time? And what if it was freaking Carmen Salazar?
The Salazar family would probably have me killed.
“There’s a long history between those two,” one of the men next to me said. He was gorgeous; they all were. I didn’t know so many good-looking people could exist in the same town. In shitty Wilkins there’d only been a handful of people with decent looks and a few standouts of actual beauty.