Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
ATLAS
The club is busy tonight. For a business owner that's a good thing. Business means profit. But the whole point of this club is so that the dancers here can feel safe while they work.
Yes, we’re a strip club, but my biggest thing is respect. If you don’t treat my staff with the respect they deserve, you will be asked to leave.
If you don’t listen, then I’ll be forced to do something a little more permanent.
I don’t play when it comes to the people who work for me. I’ve seen enough corruption and cruelty in my life, I won’t allow it in my place of work.
This club is a safe place for all. The respect goes both ways. I don’t allow my staff to be rude or disrespectful unless it’s warranted.
Good vibes, great company and a fun time is what I thrive for.
So nights like tonight, when the place is packed, I try to be on guard more than normal. My eyes can’t be everywhere at all times and when there's so much going on, I fear I might miss something.
Add in the fact that Briar is here, my attention is already piqued. I can’t help it. I’m obsessed with that woman, a healthy amount. I don’t go stalking the girl or anything.
It’s more like she’s all I seem to be able to think about.
She’s been coming into The Rusty Pipe for a few years now and ever since I’ve met her, I’ve had this pull towards her.
My attraction to her was immediate, that's a given. The girl is stunning. But it didn’t take long for me to fall for her personality too.
While it took awhile for her to open up about anything personal, I knew from the first moment I met her that she’s had a hard life. Then once I found out who she was and where she lived, I realized just how fucked up it was.
She is one of the six founders of Widows Peak, a neighboring town tucked into the mountains. If you didn’t already know about its existence, it’s easily missed with one way in and one way out.
Knowing how strong of a woman she is, her morals and respect, I knew right away I wanted her in my life.
She’s the perfect omega for me. The one I’d dream of having. I want to be with her, to spoil her, to treat her like a queen.
And I know she likes me too. I can not only see it whenever she comes into the club and we have our conversations, but I can smell it too.
While I might not be able to smell her scent, I can smell when she’s aroused. Not to stroke my own ego, but it’s pretty much every time she’s around me.
I’ve spent way too many nights with my hand wrapped around my cock, wishing it was Briar I was sinking into.
There’s a reason why I can’t smell her. She wears scent blockers for her own protection.
She’s never given me all the details but there’s a few times she’s come here, gotten drunk and felt safe enough to open up.
All I know is that someone in her past hurt her. I wanted to press, to ask more, to find out who this person was and fucking kill them.
But I didn’t have the right to pry. It was none of my business, even if I wish it was.
She’s not ready for what I want to give her, and I respect that.
I’m holding out hope that she will want something some day.
I’ll wait. All good things are worth waiting for.
Plus, it’s not like I’m itching to date.
I have a busy life, I don’t have time to get to know someone from scratch.
Online dating isn’t my thing, and the only people who come into my club are either the people who work for me, and I’d never cross that line with an employee.
And the people who pay to watch the dancers do their job.
I might be into men as well as women, but that doesn’t mean I want to date a customer. Both are too messy to even touch.
None of that matters anyway, because the only person I hold any interest in is Briar.
Seeing her tonight was the highlight of my crappy day. Everything that could go wrong has. Our fridge broke, so we can’t serve any food. Meaning we have to limit the amount of drinks we can serve because all we can offer people is crackers and bread.
Something people have been complaining about most of the night.
Then if that wasn’t bad enough, a pipe in the staff bathroom burst.
I was ready to close down the place for the night and just go home. But Friday is one of our best nights, and I know these girls need the money.
I did a few patch jobs to fix what I could, and called someone to come fix everything tomorrow.
Seeing Briar helped me relax just the smallest bit.
“So, when are you going to make that omega yours?” Colton, one of our part time bartenders asks.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He lets out an amused snort. “You’re not fooling anyone. You’re so far gone for that woman it’s kind of pathetic.”
“Fuck off,” I chuckle shoving at his shoulder.
He’s not wrong. I am so far gone for this omega. Have been for a while.
“Where is she anyways?” Colton asks.
“She said she was going to the bathroom,” I answer, then frown. She’s been gone for a while now.
“Maybe she dined and dashed. Or should I say drink and ducked? Maybe crawled out the bathroom window.”
“Why would she need to do that? She’s not on a date. If she wanted to go, she could walk out the front door. No one would stop her. As for her paying, I won’t let her. She drinks for free. Always. Remember that.”
“Good to know. I wouldn’t want to charge her and have you bite my head off for it,” he winks.
Colton is a good guy but a big flirt. He has dark hair and bright green eyes.
But he’s an alpha. Not that I wouldn’t be attracted to an alpha, but alphas tend to be more independent, like me.
I’m someone who wants to spoil and care for someone and he wouldn’t like that.
Not that I think of him as anything but my friend.
Still, I think if I gave him the chance to fuck me, he’d take it but I’m not interested.
“But you’re right. She’s been gone for a bit.” The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as worry flickers in.
I’m about to go check on Briar, when Candy, one of our dancers comes rushing to the bar.
“Atlas.” She sounds out of breath, her eyes wide with panic.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, instantly on guard and in protective mode.
“It’s Lacy.” Her lower lip quivers. “She’s in the staff room. She came in crying, freaking out. It took us a while to get her to calm down enough to tell us what was wrong. Atlas, a customer attacked her. He tried to force himself on her, but she managed to get away.”
Red fury starts to cloud my voice. “Where.” The word comes out deep without wavering.
“She was in the back having a smoke break.”
“Is she okay?” I ask, needing to know that first.
She nods her head. “She’s shaken up, has some marks around her neck but he didn’t get further than that. She kneed him in the balls. He went down and she took off.”
Nodding, I make my way around the bar. “Stay inside with Lacy.” I turn to Colton. “Get Buster, Niko and Luke to be on guard,” I tell him, mentioning our bouncers.
“Got it boss,” he nods. “Where are you going?”
“I got this handled.”
With one thought in mind, I head to my office to grab my axe before taking off out the back door.
I don’t know if the fucker would still be here, or if he took off, but I plan on checking for myself. He couldn’t have gotten too far.
When I get outside, the sound of a woman's voice has me picking up my pace. Did he try to attack someone else?
But when I round the corner, the sight before me has me halting.
“You think you can go around forcing yourself onto people?” None other than Briar kneels on the ground, her hand around the man’s shirt. He looks out of it, but he lets out a slurred, “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it. How many people did you do this to before? How many people did you force yourself onto? Not take no for an answer? Sorry doesn’t make the fact that you were about to force yourself on my friend go away.”
She lets him go, making his head fall back to the ground. He groans in pain.
Me, I’m too stunned to move, too shocked to say anything. I just watch in awed curiosity.
“You know, I’m not even a little bit sorry for what I’m about to do. I’m going to enjoy every second of this,” she laughs, and it sounds a little crazy.
What is she about to do? And why does that laugh kind of make my dick twitch?
My brows jump when I see her open the man’s pants and pull them down. Then she takes a knife from her pocket, and—Oh god, is she about to—Yup, she’s cutting the man’s dick off.
The man screams but it’s quickly muffed as Briar shoves the mangled piece of flesh into his mouth.
“Shhhh,” she coos. “It’s not anything you don’t deserve.”
She holds the guy’s mouth closed, forcing him to gag, trying to cough.
I just blink, and blink, and blink, trying to process what the hell is happening.
“That’s it. Stop struggling. Just go. Trust me, it’s best for the world if you’re no longer a part of it.”
She’s killing this man. He’s bleeding out, right here, in this alley.
And the only things I’m feeling are relief, because here I was worried about telling Briar about my second job as… well… a serial killer I guess you could call it?
It’s mostly just taking out the trash I find in surrounding towns, and any that enter my club.
And arousal, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so damn sexy as watching the girl I’m obsessed with, covered in blood as she takes the life of this waste-of-space man.
I want to wonder if this is her first time killing someone, but with the way she’s been so calm about it, I’m going to go with no.
“Impressive, but he’s bleeding out quite a bit. Might be hard to clean up.” My voice comes out as a deep rasp, and it’s hard to hide the arousal thick in my tone.
Briar’s head pops up, her panicked eyes shooting my way.
“Atlas,” she says quickly. “It’s not what it looks like.”
I can’t help the chuckle that slips free. I raise a brow, crossing my arms over my chest, axe still in hand. “Really? Looks like you just cut his dick off and made him choke to death on it.”
Briar looks down at the man, who is no longer breathing, and grimaces. “In my defense, he did deserve it.”
“I agree,” I nod.
She narrows her eyes. “You do?”