Chapter 7
Decker
T he club is finally back to something resembling order. The staff handled things like the trained professionals I know they are. A small fire in the VIP area. Could have been a lot worse.
Now, Allister has the four assholes that started the melee trapped in a corner, with three of our hulk bouncers behind him, along with the six male bartenders working tonight.
He’s holding them there while I hit the back door to make sure May is okay. But when I bust out into the back parking lot, my heart sinks.
Empty.
“May!” I yell, but there is nothing. Only parked cars and the sound of diesel engines from the fire trucks at the front of the building.
My head swivels frantically. I can still taste her, still smell her. Above all else, I can still feel her inside of me.
“Fuck. Goddamn it!” I spin, slamming my fists into the door, sending jolts of stabbing pain up my arms to my shoulders.
I shouldn’t have left her out here. My mind is on a rollercoaster, trying to work out where she could have gone. What if she didn’t leave on her own? What if someone…
No. I won’t even entertain that thought.
“Fuck!”
The parking lot is blocked by the fire trucks. So she didn’t go that way.
My mind spins. Where would she go?
Then I remember she said she took the bus.
Seconds later, my feet are pounding the pavement in a gallop. The wind cuts the temperature down until the chill burns my face, but I’m not stopping until I get to the bus stop a few blocks down.
The streets are empty. I turn the corner of the building and increase my strides. I’m halfway down the first block when a glint of pink shimmer catches my eye in the middle of the street.
My lungs are burning as I spring forward, knowing even before I get there what it is.
A half an hour later, I’ve called the number she’d written on the bottom of the Polaroid, but of course it’s a fake.
It’s funny, though. She put down the number of one of those ambulance-chasing attorneys that splash their mug and phone number on the sides of buses.
Allister taps me on the shoulder.
“What?” I bark.
“Hey, cool it, old man. I can’t keep them here all night. You want to take point? Or you want me to deal with it, or call the cops, or what?” He’s right, I need to deal with business right now. This is going to have to wait. With a heavy heart, I put my phone away.
“Let’s go.”
Allister falls in step behind me as I approach the group of over-entitled fucks. Their Armani suits and Gucci shoes make them look real tough.
I step into the VIP space, and I’ve got my boys all behind me, backing me up. I can hear Allister cracking his knuckles, while I observe one of these scumbags watching him with concern. Damn right you should be concerned, motherfucker.
But I don’t care about the concerned ones. They’ll go home and think about what they’ve done.
Scanning across the four douche bags, my eyes hit on one who comes in a few times a week. He’s got that look in his eye like he thinks he’s fucking Teflon covered, like none of his own shit’s ever going to stick to him.
He’s frequented my clubs for years, off and on. I don’t know his name or who he is, but he’s usually got a harem he brings with him. Short skirts and too much makeup, crawling all over his dick. To me, he’s just another regular with too much time and money on his hands.
“I don’t give a shit who you fucks think you are. Or who your families are. Don’t come back here.”
“Oh yeah? You may want to rethink your tone, old man. And call off your dogs. You can’t keep us here…” The one I’m eyeing gives it right back to me, but the way I’m glaring at him makes his words fall flat.
The stink of the melted velvet curtains they’d set on fire still hangs in the air. From what Allister said, one of the waitresses gave them some back talk when they’d ordered her onto her knees.
As she should.
They wanted something we don’t serve here, so she’d told them what they could do with their request. Next thing you know, one of the fucks lit the fabric on fire and told her she’d better watch her mouth or no one would have a job here.
Money can’t buy class.
The group looks toward the fucker I’m staring the balls off of, and it’s clear that he’s some sort of boss with the micro-penis brotherhood.
He smiles at me, and I can see he’d like to take this up a notch, but I’m not throwing the first punch.
No one is worth that. This is just business, and I’m not even all that mad.
I just want them to understand they are never allowed back into any of my clubs.
“You and your little crew here are out. You understand? Permanently…” One of the others is grinning like this is all some big joke, so I stare him down. “You could have killed someone tonight.”
“That’s not anything new for us, gramps,” he says, thinking he’s funny.
There’s no point trying to reason with these motherfuckers. I turn to Allister and nod to my crew behind him. “Get them out. And make sure they’re gone, not just out.”
I’m pissed, but not about this. There are fucks everywhere, and running these clubs, you meet plenty of them.
Like this guy who’s their leader or whatever, I know him.
He’s been a swinging needle dick in my clubs for years.
Since we moved into his neighborhood, suddenly he thinks he’s king shit around here, but I’ve had enough. Of him, and all the others like him.
Allister grabs my arm before I can walk away, lowering his voice. “Tonya needs a word.”
Tonya was their waitress tonight.
“She heard something. You asked for the girls to report anything else they heard, you know, about that other thing.” I try to steady my breath. All I want to do is start scouring the world for May, but I need to handle this shit right now.
“Okay. I’ll find her.”
I’m not four steps away when Tonya comes up from the side.
“I heard more,” she says.
Tonya’s about thirty. She’s been part of my clubs for five years or so now, and I trust her as much as I trust anyone. Former prostitute. Now she’s getting her Master’s in elementary education and still keeping five shifts a week here.
“That one, you know, his name is Victor.” She tips her head as Allister is busy escorting them to the door.
“Him and one of those others… I’ve never seen him before…
they were talking about Victor getting married.
Then they stopped when I put their drinks down.
But I was behind the curtain, and I heard Victor telling him as soon as he gets her knocked up, and she’s had a baby, to ‘take care of it.’ He said to make it look like an accident.
Said to slam her head on the concrete, then throw her into the pool.
She’d get trapped under the pool cover and never be able to get out, and no one would question it.
” She takes a deep breath, and the hair on the back of my neck stands up.
“Thanks.” I’m not sure if I’ll take this to the cops or not. Anything I tell them is just hearsay, so there’s no telling if they’ll do anything about it. And then I’ve played my cards. So maybe I’ll just keep it to myself for now.
“Oh, and one more thing.” Tonya touches my arm to get my attention, then quickly removes it when I dart my eyes to hers.
Anyone who works here knows not to touch me. It’s just a thing with me. I don’t like to be touched. I let Allister touch me occasionally, I’m used to him. But he’s the only one, everyone else knows my quirk. But Tonya’s excited, and I let it go. It’s nothing more than that, not with Tonya.
“Sorry. What else?” I see the last of the group move out the front door with a line of my heavyweights behind them.
“They said her name.” Tonya licks her lips and pulls at her hands. “The girl, or whoever he’s supposed to marry?”
“Yeah?” I’m distracted because I need to figure out how to find May.
“They said her name was Maribelle.”
I just lost my mind.