Jax
“Okay, so, a new location, retraining all current security staff, and additional bodies for one of the club’s biggest events of the year. No problem at all, Sloan. Let me just get on that right—”
“Okay!” Sloan said with an exasperated laugh as she led me through the mostly empty club. “How much time do you need?”
They were preparing to open, and since there were no patrons, I could walk around without a mask.
You would think a place like this would lose its charm before the sun fully set, but if anything, it made me appreciate it more.
They had fully gutted the inside of a large mansion-like house and decked it out in luxurious materials like marble and silk.
And the photography that hung all over the walls was just the perfect hint of sinful.
I always had a soft spot for this place. A place where queer people could just be. Where I didn’t have to be shy about my desires.
I decided to stop by the club at Sloan’s request after I was done installing Liz’s equipment. Apparently, Club Pétale was opening yet another location, though this one, according to Sloan, was a little bit different from their usual.
Smaller, quainter, and located right in the heart of the city.
I knew they had money, but to operate places like these and hire people like me and other staff, not to mention the dirty money and payoffs I knew were floating around here… It just seemed like so much.
But somehow they made it work. And I was a big part of that.
The security my company provided was one of the reasons I and many others felt safe here.
Sloan looked at me, still waiting for an answer. We both knew it wasn't about if I could do it, but when. I had an extremely trustworthy and well-trained staff. And that didn't just fall out of thin air. It took time.
Time to train.
Time to move around.
And I needed to make sure all my clients were taken care of. They trusted me with their safety, and I owed it to them to make it work.
“I can have everything done before the opening in three months. But if Ax wants it faster than that, I won't be able to do it. You're not my only clients, you know?”
“But we are your most profitable,” she replied as she nudged me.
“Rushed work equals rushed service, and I’m not willing to compromise on quality.”
She pushed her dyed silver hair out of her face, the smile never dropping.
“Just take from other clients! I’m sure some contracts are coming to an end.”
I gave her a look.
“Okay, okay,” she said, raising her hands. “Speaking of clients, how did it go with Liz? She sounded a bit upset.”
I shifted on my feet, not sure about how much I wanted to tell Sloan. Liz’s trust at this point was my main concern. And if she heard that I'd been blabbering to Sloan, she wouldn’t like it. No matter how close we all were.
“Nothing that I can't help with. Though she did find out about my relationship with Claire and was rightfully upset about it.”
Sloan’s eyebrow piercing glittered as she raised her brow.
“Found out? Meaning you didn't tell her?”
A shameful heat spread through my body.
“I was going to, but Claire decided to have lunch with her mom at her office, and… Well, she got to her first.”
“Damn… I gather she didn’t take it well?”
“That’s an understatement.”
“What are you going to do?”
I shrugged.
“My job, for starters.” I couldn’t help the smirk that spread across my face. Though it quickly dropped when I remembered just how against us she was. “But… I put myself out there. Let’s just hope at some point she will change her mind.”
Sloan clapped me on the back.
“Looks like you have some groveling to do, but knowing her, I'm sure she would really enjoy—”
My phone started vibrating in my pocket. An overwhelming feeling of unease rushed through me as soon as I felt the vibration, so I took it out, and looking at the caller ID only confirmed my suspicions. It was the security team assigned to Liz.
“Speak.”
“There was an incident at the gallery. Someone broke the window, and we had to close the event early. Ms. Thorne said she would head home, but one of my guys is following her and says that she's going in the opposite direction.”
I could hear a rushing sound in the background, like he was in the car driving.
My heart dropped into my stomach. My gut was telling me there was only one person who would do this. After all, how many enemies could one curator have? It had to be that douchebag but…
Wait.
She wouldn’t… would she?
“Send two more guys after her. I'm pretty sure I know where she's going. I'll meet them there.”
I hung up to see that Sloan was already giving me a pitying look. She waved her phone in the air, showing me a text from Lillian.
She knew my job was not the easiest. I had run away from many of our meetings in a rush to get to a client or attend to some urgent matters.
But this one felt different.
I won’t let her get hurt before she can even give us a chance.
“Duty calls. We can discuss more later, especially given that Lil was there and you have some answering to do about putting my girl in danger. But for now I’ll let you do what you need to do. Go.”
I jogged to the door, opening it, but froze as soon as I saw Sloan's bike, parked out front.
“Hey, can I borrow that?” I asked, looking back at her.
Sloan let out a chuckle, reached into her pocket, and threw me her key.
“Bring her back without a scratch. Both of them.”
I gave her a two-finger salute.
“You got it. Thanks.”
I turned around and got on the bike, taking the helmet she’d left on it and putting it on. Seconds later, I was speeding away from the club’s driveway and toward Liz.
By the time I got to my destination, the sky was dark.
She wasn’t here yet. Luckily for me, Sloan’s bike was way faster than Liz’s car.
I pulled into the quiet neighborhood slowly, looking for the exact house I knew she'd go to. It was a nice place. The type of neighborhood parents would move their kids to in order to live a simple life and go to a good school.
Something I thought someone like me would never have. After bouncing from foster home to foster home until I finally found a place where I belonged, I’d seen just how little grown-ups thought of me. Especially when I wasn’t “theirs.”
Some of the rich kids were teased, although very lightly, about how much their parents poured into their education. They pretended to act embarrassed, but I was always there, on the sidelines, wishing I had parents who would do the same.
They didn’t know how good they had it.
I shook my head.
I had no time to relive my traumatic childhood.
My eyes scanned the area, and I saw Liz pulling up in her obviously electric car.
I could see her inside the vehicle, getting ready to step out and likely storm the house. She looked fine—thankfully. Though I didn’t have time to rejoice. She was already on the move.
I parked right beside her just as she was getting out of the car, so I was able to block her.
She looked at me with a shocked expression. Her red hair was slightly messy, likely from the gallery incident. Her clothes were intact, but I knew she had to be a bit cold out here at this time of night.
“Who are you—”
“Get back in the car, Liz.”
Recognition flashed across her face, and her mouth turned into a straight line.
“Don't get involved in this.”
She tried to push me away, but I used my strength to keep the door open and lean in closer. I had yet to take the helmet off, but I pulled up my visor.
“Liz, I'm telling you that if you walk in there, I can't guarantee your safety. I need you to get back in your car and go back to your apartment.”
“You don't get to order me—”
“Actually, as the person in charge of your security, I do get to order you around if it's in your best interest. And this is in your best interest, so please—”
“You’re fucking fired then.”
I almost laughed at that. “Yeah, that’s not how this works.”
“What happened to my good girl back in the club? Don't you want to make Mommy happy?”
Fuck.
Her words threatened to pull me to my knees right then and there. Heat ran through me. I had to force myself to take a deep breath before I lost myself in her.
“That was back in the club. This is real life. Now get in your fucking car, Liz. I'm not letting you through.”
“I don’t want to let him do this to me. He can’t,” she growled. “It’s not… It’s not fair.”
My heart twisted for her. She had looked so strong pulling up here. So ready to burn down the world. But in that moment, when her voice cracked, I saw a glimpse of the Liz she was hiding underneath.
“He won’t forever,” I said in a low voice. “But you don’t have to do this at your own expense. Trust me, Liz. Let me protect you.”
Her brown eyes searched mine, and when she didn’t find what she was looking for, her face became pinched.
“Fine,” she whispered, defeated.
Liz got back in the car, looking at me once through the glass, and I nodded. With a shake of her head, she drove away.
Only when I watched her turn into another street was I able to breathe.
“So you must be the one fucking my wife.”
I turned around to see Liz’s ex standing there, and I was glad I hadn’t removed my helmet.
I hadn’t even heard him come up, and that was a problem. I’d been too focused on her.
From the corner of my eye, I saw my team was already getting out of the car they had parked across the street.
The man looked at me with a smile, as if he were the one in charge. His blond hair was greasy, and he looked like he hadn’t shaved in days. His clothes looked rumpled and unwashed.
How much time did Liz spend taking care of this man-child?
“I have to admit I'm surprised that she even showed up here. Even more surprised that you were here with her.”
I held up my hand as my team members moved to close it on us. Their eyes were trained on the man, ready to lunge forward and take him down at a moment’s notice.
“Oh, look at you. You got your little helpers.”
I could smell booze on him, even through the helmet. Disgusting.
I’d never met Claire's father, but after reading his file, I felt like I knew him inside and out. I knew what his type was, and seeing how both Claire and Liz were affected by him allowed me to fill in the blanks.
I was already angry at the whole situation, and him just standing there made the fire in my veins burn hotter. My body was shaking with the effort it took not to attack him.
I dismounted the bike and walked toward him, intent not to engage, but then he decided to open his big fucking mouth.
“I hope she treats you better than me. At least when I fucked her, she was like a dead fucking fish. God, that pussy was always so fucking dry—”
That was fucking enough. I got in his face and grabbed his shirt, picking the motherfucker up. It was only a few inches off the ground, but it was enough to show him that I was, in fact, stronger than him.
And taller.
“Being such a poor lay that you can't even get a girl wet is nothing to brag about. Word of advice? Leave her the fuck alone.”
He struggled against my hold.
“You think a restraining order is going to stop me? The police don't give a shit—”
“If you threaten her or even get close to her one more time, you’re going to wish the police gave a shit because there will be no one to help you.”
I pushed him away and took great satisfaction in the way he tripped over his own two feet and fell to the ground right on his ass.
With that, I motioned for my team to leave and made quick work of getting on my bike and heading toward Liz's apartment to make sure she got there unharmed.
This was going to be a lot more work than I expected.
And I needed to be sure she was safe.
A calm settled over me as I spotted her car ahead. I tried to stay a bit behind so she wouldn’t notice I was there, but if I was being honest, maybe I wanted her to see.
I watched as she parked outside on the street—something I was not that keen on given that the area was semi-dangerous—before pulling into a spot and turning off the bike to watch her walk into the building.
I already knew which apartment she lived in. The window was four floors up and facing west. I kept my eyes locked on it with my heart hammering in my chest. After what just happened, not being able to see her, even if only for a moment, had me anxious about what could happen.
After a few minutes, the lights were still off.
Should I go in there?
My impulsiveness was at an all-time high, telling me to swing my leg over the bike and just go, but as I was about to march in there, the lights turned on.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Good. One less thing I need to worry about tonight.
I pulled out my phone and texted her security detail, ordering them to stay put just in case her ex decided to grow some balls tonight. Or in the worst-case scenario that Liz had seen me and would wait until I left to sneak back out and do something risky.
I lingered for another five minutes, watching as lights switched on and off, so I knew that whatever she was doing, she was at least in there and getting settled.
But I couldn’t see Liz.
With a heavy heart and a shocking realization of what Liz and Claire had gone through over the last twenty-something years, I left to return Sloan’s bike.
By the time I got to the club, the night was in full swing, and I did not want to deal with people. So I left her bike there and hid the key under a spare rock by the stairs, making sure to send her a text about it before I left.
I got behind the wheel of my car, but found myself not driving home. Instead, I drove back to Liz’s. By the time I got to her apartment, I could see my men there and nodded at them as I parked.
Her lights are out. At least if she’s asleep, I won’t have to worry about her for the rest of the night.
But I had a feeling that what had happened tonight was just the start of my worries.
My hands tightened on the steering wheel as I looked over the blackened window.
Having an ex like him was troublesome, but instead of pushing me away, it made me want Liz even more. It made me want to show her how someone who really cared about her would treat her and all the things she’d missed out on by being with an asshole like him.
So, in the darkness of the night, I allowed myself to linger outside her apartment, dreaming about everything I would do to make it up to her.