Chapter 9
Theo
Iwas probably going to have to kill one of my friends.
They wouldn’t stop looking at Quinn since she got here and that was pissing me right off. I had to take a call which was why I wasn’t there when she showed up. Then the asshole had his arm around her when I walked over. I knew Noah was trying to rattle me on purpose and fuck if it wasn’t working.
“So, how did you open such a popular night club in less than a month?” she asked looking around. Her lips were pink and tempting, her hair covering her shoulders. All I wanted to do was run my hands through it, it was distracting.
I didn’t do distracted.
“It will be busier in a few hours. And it’s actually been open for four months,” I said, looking around the VIP space.
Sometimes we opened it up, people could rent it for parties or events, but Friday nights we kept it for us. Sometimes the guys, especially Noah, invited people up. I had requested that we not do that tonight, it had been a long ass week. Plus, I didn’t want to scare Quinn away.
Why? I had no fucking clue. This woman was under my skin. Once I figured out why, I’m sure I could get her out and move on.
“Will and I spent some time going back and forth between here and London getting it set up once Knight decided we would be moving here. We have the same bar back in London,” Noah explained.
“Club,” Jaxson corrected. Asher and I shared a look, they’d been having this disagreement for a while, and no one could get them to stop.
“Bar,” Noah insisted.
“Club,” Jaxson threw back.
“Why don’t we let Quinn here decide?” Noah said as everyone turned to look at her.
I moved my arm to rest on the couch behind her. I didn’t know if she realized it, but she sat back a little, leaning more toward me. I would only have to move my fingers to touch her and it was so tempting, but I had worked hard to get her here. I wasn’t going to ruin it by creeping her out.
“You want me to decide if this is a bar or a club?” Noah and Jaxson both nodded at her seriously. “I saw very little on my escorted walk up here.”
“Go with your gut,” Jaxson encouraged.
“No one gets to be mad at me for whatever I decide. Got it?” She raised her eyebrows at Jaxson first, who nodded.
She looked at Noah who also nodded eagerly, the light in his eyes made me believe he really thought he would win.
He’d been easy to read since we were in high school.
“Noah,” she said with a sweet smile, “this is one hundred percent, without a doubt… a club.”
Jaxson and Will laughed as I shook my head and Noah’s face dropped into a sad frown.
“Can we put this stupid argument to rest for good?” I asked, knowing that Noah wouldn’t ever let this drop.
It was just how he was, something got in his head and it got stuck, so I needed to change the topic if we had any hope of moving on for now.
“I had an interesting chat with Arthur while you were on your way up,” I said loud enough for the others to hear.
Quinn turned her shoulders so she could see me better.
“Oh yeah…” Her face went blank as she blinked innocently up at me.
Even sitting down she was small. Arthur wouldn’t tell me what they talked about on the drive over.
Wouldn’t even take a pay raise for it. I’d offered and he’d just laughed at me.
“He said you tried to pay him.” I saw Asher’s gaze lock on her while Oli frowned.
“Why would you pay Arthur?” Jaxson asked.
“Because he drove me here!” Her neutral face breaking in a frown.
“He’s paid a yearly salary,” Noah replied.
“Well, how was I supposed to know that?”
“He also said he found the cash you left behind.” I raised an eyebrow at her and she winced.
“Damn, I hoped he wouldn’t find it for a while and then not know it was me.” She scrunched up her nose which was fucking adorable.
“You tried to pay him and when he said no you left the money behind anyway?” Asher sat forward to look at Quinn; she looked over at him, holding his gaze.
Which was impressive on its own. Most people flinched quickly when they met his intense, cold stare. We had that in common.
“Yes,” Quinn said evenly, squaring her shoulders.
“Why?” Asher asked while the rest of us watched.
“Because he drove me here and I told Theo that I wasn’t going to let him pay.” I loved how she said my name, everyone else in my life called me Knight, had been since I was a kid. But for some reason I loved hearing my name on her lips.
“He’s on the Knight Enterprises payroll.”
“Ash,” Will said on an exhale at his harsh tone. Will was our peacekeeper most of the time. It’s partly what made him a good lawyer. But turn on one of us and he was a cutthroat bastard with no remorse.
“Like that explains anything.” She started to sound annoyed as she crossed her arms over her chest. I tried really hard not to notice how it showcased her boobs. I cut Noah a glare when I caught him looking too, asshole just winked.
“It explains a lot,” Asher shot back. He wasn’t one to back down.
“Most women throw themselves at us and not just because we look good in a suit. People want our money, so yeah. Knight Enterprises should explain a lot.” I was close to stepping in because when Asher took this tone, it was right before he turned into a real jackass, but Quinn didn’t hesitate.
“Oh please, I don’t give a shit about your money.
And for the record, other than what you all have told me and what I gathered from the expensive suits and watches you wear and the fact that Theo has a personal driver, I have no other information about you.
I didn’t google you but you seem to have enough resources to find out if that’s true if you wanted. ”
“I could easily confirm that,” Jaxson stated as he leaned back.
“What do you mean?” Quinn asked, keeping her glare on Asher.
“I run security for our companies. All the security and bouncers here work for that part of the business. I can find information out about anyone. I could see if you googled us.”
“That’s disturbing but go for it I guess.” Jaxson looked at me after her comment and I shook my head. Anything I found out about her, I wanted it to be because she told me, seemed like the feeling was mutual.
“You don’t care about our money?” Asher ignored Jaxson and Quinn.
“I didn’t grow up with a lot of money. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care about money, but I’ve worked hard to create a comfortable life for myself.
I’m not looking for a quick buck. If I wanted to snag a rich sugar daddy, or something equally as gross to say, I would have done it already.
” They held their staring contest for a few tense beats before Asher sat back, crossed his leg over his knee and shot her a small quirk of his lips.
“Look at you cracking grumpy Asher.” Oli clapped him on the shoulder as all the tension left the rest of the group.
“Wait,” Quinn said looking at Oli, then Asher, and then at me. “He’s the grumpy one? I thought you would have reserved that title.” Humor danced in her eyes as Oli snorted.
“Well, Asher is generally more of an asshole than a grump,” Noah replied.
“Hmm,” Quinn looked between Asher and me, “I can’t see the difference.”
Asher sent me a look as the guys laughed and I knew she’d won him over for now. He wasn’t quick to trust, neither of us were. But she just got his respect which was something that most couldn’t earn from him.
The conversation turned as Jaxson started talking about our favorite London based football team, the Warriors FC, who were currently in the first spot in the premier league.Quinn leaned back into the couch as Will got her drink order and went over to the bar.
He didn’t need to ask the rest of us, we mostly drank the same thing and all knew to speak up if we wanted something different.
“So…” she leaned into me a little and looked up at me, “did I pass the test?” I let out a single gruff chuckle as she smiled softly at me.
Damn, that smile did something to my chest. I almost moved my hand to my heart to try and press out the tension, either that or to check if I was having a medical crisis.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said as she let out some of her musical laughter.
“Sure…” She took her vodka soda from Will and turned to face me a little more. None of the guys seemed to notice since they were engaged in their own conversation, which was fine by me.
“I feel at a bit of a disadvantage,” I said as I turned my shoulders to face her too and took a sip of my whisky.
“Oh yeah, why is that?”
“You know a lot about me now. I know nothing about you.” I swirled the ice in my glass.
“You didn’t have Jaxson do a background check or something?” She tucked one of her legs up on to the couch.
I liked how she was dressed tonight, it was hot and did things for her body, her slight curves on full display. She seemed confident in her own skin which I liked. If you went downstairs it would be full of women wearing much less clothes and not carrying themselves as sure as she did.
Although, with her shoulders bare, I could see the freckles dotting over them like constellations. It was a herculean effort for me not to reach out and trace them. They were fucking distracting.
“I didn’t, so tell me more about yourself.” I shot her a look as she opened her mouth. “And not how old you are or your occupation or where you’ve travelled since I know all those things already.”
She shook her head, but she wasn’t truly annoyed since I saw her fighting off a smile. “I’m not that interesting, I don’t know what you want to know.”
“You didn’t grow up with money?” I honestly didn’t care what she talked about, I just wanted to keep her talking. I was like a man who’d been without water for days and every piece of information quenched my thirst.
“No. My mom was a teacher, third grade, and my dad, well…” She took a long sip of her drink and then cleared her throat. “If you asked him he would say he was an entrepreneur, but really he’s gone from one bad idea to another.