17
I pulled up out the back of Onyx and checked out my reflection in my car mirror. My makeup had remained as perfect as it had been when I left my apartment, all dark and smokey, while my hair sat pin straight down my back in a glossy red curtain.
I looked good.
A dark shadow fell across my window, and I wound it down and jabbed the arsehole leaning against my car in the rib. He didn’t move.“Hey arsehole, move.” I jabbed him again.He turned and bent down to push his head through my open window. “It’s not a beauty pageant, Mallory, no one gives a shit what you look like.”He sneered, then stepped back, allowing me space to close the window and open the door.“No, Adonis, no one gives a shit what you look like.” I smirked and stepped out of the car, raking my gaze down his entirely black suit before heading to the boot, refusing to admit to myself that he looked good too.“I presume you’re already armed?” I asked as I pulled a large bag from the boot of my car and hunted through the assortment of weapons inside. I’d chosen to wear a low-cut black dress with slits up both legs. Sexy enough to not look out of place, but practical enough to allow for easy access to the knives and gun that I was absentmindedly strapping to my thighs.“Obviously.” He opened his suit jacket to show off a beautiful smith and wesson sitting in a leather holster.“Is that it?” I scoffed.“It’s enough,” he said bluntly.Oh well, his funeral. I knew first-hand how bad nights like tonight could get.We allowed all of the Westeroak criminals to attend our nightclubs, no discrimination here. Our bars we’re off-limits, but the clubs were fine.
Except, on occasion, some of the smaller gangs liked to use this to their advantage and attempt to push their product in the venues.
It was a known rule that Brotherhood members were the only ones permitted to sell in our clubs. Two simple rules. Don’t sell your shit, and don’t bring your fights inside our doors. Essentially, we gave everyone a neutral ground to have a good time, if they could behave. The Wolves had also implemented the same rules in their clubs. We had an even split over the city, Wolves rarely entered our venues and we never bothered with theirs. We were the two most feared organisations in Westeroak, but for the most part, we kept out of each other’s ways. Sure, we were rivals, but our fights were subtle and smart. Most of the time.Word had reached Lorenzo this morning that The Vipers had a couple of new initiates, and their initiation tasks; sell out all of their product in the two biggest clubs in the city. Onyx, our place, and Underworld, the Wolves top venue. The arsehole and I had been tasked with the job of finding the idiots and removing them from Onyx if they broke our rules. Sounded simple enough, but more often than not they wouldn’t go quietly, and if any other members of their gang were around then a fight was bound to break out.
I’d rather be prepared for the worst.I closed my boot and turned to Adonis, finding him staring at me, an irritated look on his face. It made a nice change from the disgusted one he had greeted me with this morning.“Shall we?” I asked as I adjusted the skirt of my dress and stepped closer to him, sliding my phone and keys into the inside pocket of his jacket. He froze and frowned down at me. “I don’t have any pockets.” I offered a simple explanation and shrugged, causing him to grind his teeth and let out a slow, loud breath.“Let’s go,” he snapped, pulling his rage fuelled glare from my face and looking at the club in front of us. He walked a step ahead of me as we made our way around to the front of the neon-lit venue. The fact that he felt that he should be leading that way rubbed me the wrong way. But this was my territory, and I wouldn’t be letting him waltz in like he owned the damn place.“Mal, you look lovely tonight,” Reg said as I pushed past Adonis when we reached the main entrance.“Thank you, Reg. This is Adonis, he’s new. So I guess I’m on babysitting duty.” I rolled my eyes with a charming smile and made my way past the security guard as he held open the door for us.“Hey man, you’re one lucky son of a bitch getting to hang with her tonight. Mal is the best.” He slapped Adonis on the back as he passed. “Have a great night sweetheart,” Reg called after me, and I could almost feel the anger radiating against my back from the arsehole as he silently followed me inside.“Cute,” he said when we reached the bar, and I frowned at him,“What is?” I asked, grabbing a barmaid’s attention, and gesturing to the small, seated area that I intended for us to spend the night in. She nodded and I walked away, picking my usual table, the one that gave me the perfect view of the entire club, toilets, and entrance. Adonis reluctantly followed.“Your little attempt to make me look small. You have no idea what I’m capable of. If anything, I’m the one who is babysitting you, cara.” He sat down next to me on the small sofa. It was unexpected, I had presumed that he would pull over another chair and sit on the opposite side of the table. Being this close to him was irritating and distracting, and he took up far too much room.I shuffled away as far as I could and crossed my legs away from him. “I’ve seen what you’re capable of, and don’t call me cara, whatever the fuck that means. Its Mallory to you. Although, it was quite satisfying when you called me Miss Fields,” I mused with a satisfied grin.“I’ll call you whatever I want, cara.” He smirked and raised his brows at me. He was trying to piss me off, he didn’t like me, but the feeling was mutual though. So I really was not bothered.“Don’t expect me to respond politely if you ever call me that again, Don.”“Don’t call me Don.” His smirk dropped and a deadly expression replaced it. Apparently, I’d touched a nerve. Good.We sat in uncomfortable silence, and both scanned the room. As far as I could see, neither of the two possible guys that we needed to look out for had arrived. Coop had sent over headshots of them, and their distinctive viper face tattoos would be hard to miss.I let myself relax a little, and one of the barmaids came over to place our drinks on the table. I didn’t recognise her, a new girl, but she obviously had been informed of who I was. She placed a tall, cold soda down first—they would all know that we were here on business and that I don’t drink on the job. Next to it she hesitantly placed a pint of beer. I watched Adonis with smug satisfaction, pleased that they didn’t know his drink preference, and more pleased that it was very clearly wrong. His face was twisted as though the idea of taking one tiny sip repulsed him to his very core.“What the fuck is that?” he spat. “Do I look like I drink that piss water?” He turned his aggression towards the barmaid.“Now now, Donny, no one knows who you are, so how would they know what you drink?” I spoke up before he could upset the new girl. “Sorry, I don’t know your name,” I said gently to the barmaid.“Clara,” She offered in a quiet voice, a look of concern etched all over her sweet, fresh face. The poor girl wouldn’t last long here, she seemed far too lovely.“Clara, can you take that back.” I gestured to the pint. “And get Donny here a…” I pondered for a moment. “Whiskey, neat, I’d guess. Probably something top shelf, but simple.” I looked to the arsehole for confirmation and smiled to myself as his jaw tensed and he agreed, placing a very specific order. Also completely forgetting his manners.“Thank you, Clara,” I shouted to the girl as she scurried away, and I turned my gaze back to Adonis. “Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?”“I don’t want to talk about my mother,” he snapped, “and stop calling me Donny, that’s even worse than Don.” He folded his arms over his chest like a moody teenager and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.“Fuck, you’re even easier to wind up than I am.”He didn’t look at me. He kept his gaze low, locked on the floor, his expression struggling to hide an emotion that I didn’t expect to see. Sadness. Realisation hit me. Selene. She would obviously be a sensitive subject. I was such an idiot.
“Shit, Adonis. I’m sorry.” I bit my lip. I might not like the guy, but I wasn’t a monster, grief wasn’t a joke.“Don’t,” he rasped in a voice so quiet that I almost didn’t hear him. But I did, and I understood not to push him.Clara returned with his corrected drink, and he made himself more comfortable. I found it interesting how quickly he managed to get over the thoughts of his mom, and I wondered if he didn’t care as much as I thought, or if he was just too fucking broken.Just like me.“So, cara…”I rolled my eyes, we were apparently both out to push buttons tonight. He turned his body to face me, propping his ankle on his knee. There was not enough space on this small sofa for him to sit like that, and when his leg pressed against mine, the contact sent a jolt through my body that made me want to move away from him instantly. But I wasn’t going to let him see that it bothered me. So I stayed exactly where I was, ignoring the contact.“Do you not think it’s a little bit wrong to be fucking dear old dad?”I cringed at his words. “Why do you have to say it like that, he isn’t your dad, and he’s definitely not mine. But if you must know, no I don’t, not that it’s any of your business. We have very clear boundaries.”“Yeah, sure looked like it this morning.” He snorted, looking completely disgusted again.“Are you jealous Donny?” I pouted. “Is that why you’re being mean to me?” I batted my lashes at him teasingly.“You repulse me, cara,” he said bluntly, his eyes raking slowly down my body, expression blank.“Shame.” I smiled and turned to scan the room once again, but I could feel his gaze burning into the side of my face.Wow, it was fun to annoy him.A few moments later a tall guy in a tight white tank top approached our table, and I felt Adonis’ eyes leave my face.“What?” he snapped at the tall guy, but the guy ignored him.“Hey cutie, wanna dance?” He held his hand out to me and I stared at it in amusement.“No she doesn’t want to fucking dance,” Adonis snarled, rising from the sofa.
I looked up at him in disbelief. Did he not think I could turn down this guy by myself?“I was asking her,” the tall guy said, turning his attention to Adonis and puffing out his chest. Adonis mirrored him and I relaxed back, grabbing my drink, and preparing myself to enjoy a little show.Damn, I wish I had some popcorn.“Leave. Now,” Adonis warned, the muscles in his arms visibly straining under the layers of his suit. If I didn’t want to kill him, I’d probably find him insanely hot. Okay, I totally found him hot. But being aesthetically pleasing wasn’t enough to make him likeable.Just fuckable.
Wait, what?“What ’cha gonna do, arsehole, make me?” the tall guy asked cockily.I could fight my own battles, I’d turned down enough persistent guys over the years, but sitting back and watching someone else start it was kinda fun. Like a live episode of my favourite television show.“That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Adonis said darkly, reaching inside his jacket.Jesus Christ, was he going to shoot the poor prick? Now would have been a good time for me to speak up, I wasn’t willing to let some harmless random guy get seriously injured because he wanted to try his luck with me. Dammit, why couldn’t Don have just punched him like a normal person.“That’s enough, boys.” I looked up at the tall guy. “I’m not interested, you should go,” I said firmly.“Oh come on baby, one dance,” he pushed, and I almost vomited at his use of baby. It took a special kind of guy to pull that shit off, and he was not it.“Seriously, just go. He’s going to shoot you if you don’t,” I sighed.
The tall guy looked shocked. and his eyes flickered between me and Don just as Don moved his gun into the guy’s line of sight.“Screw this, you two are fucking mental,” he muttered, body trembling slightly as he quickly backed away.Adonis sat back down and sipped his drink.“Care to explain what the hell that was all about?” I asked.“I didn’t like the look of him.” He shrugged. “Don’t read into it, that wasn’t some white knight shit. I’m just feeling a little shooty.”“Shooty?” I laughed. “Fucking hell, he was right. You are mental.”“If you really think that, then I’m right in my assessment that you don’t belong in The Brotherhood.”“Your assessment? Who do you think you are?” I choked.“The person you’ll be answering to someday. Or not. I doubt you’ll last much longer.” He smirked; the expression sat on his face so often I wondered if he knew how to smile properly or if this was simply it.“You’re underestimating me, Donny. I don’t know why though, surely, you’re aware of my reputation?” I questioned him.“Sure, I’ve heard. But you’re not really living up to it.”The insult bothered me more than it should have. Of course I hadn’t lived up to it, every time he had seen me close to any action, he had come marching in and made a bloody mess. I was smart and skilled, he was only one of those things, and his lack of the other would one day probably get him killed.“Time to find out if all of those weapons under that dress are just for decoration, cara,” he said as his eyes locked on someone on the other side of the room. “The Viper’s guy is here, and he’s being a very naughty boy.”
Staring at my reflection in the ladies’ room in Onyx I took a couple of slow, steadying breaths. Blood coated my hands, and speckles of it were painting my face and chest. I could already feel bruises forming on my back, but other than that, I was mostly unharmed.What the fuck though.Andrew—The Viper’s initiate—had stupidly argued back when I had dragged him out back and confronted him about his rule-breaking, earning himself a swift punch to the ribs from me, and a bullet in the back of the head from Adonis.
As expected, Andrew hadn’t been alone, and when we emerged from the office, just myself and Adonis, the present Vipers attacked. My status meant shit to them tonight, if anything it was more of a challenge. If one of them took me out, they’d become legends amongst their people. They’d also end up dead very shortly after, but silly boys like The Vipers didn’t think that far ahead.They had descended upon us as a group, keeping a united front, and working as a well-oiled team. Something that myself and Adonis definitely were not.
Or so I thought.
We fell into strange synchronicity with each other, when he used his fists, I used my blades. When I held one of the men immobile, he finished them off. The brief moment where one sneaky little fucker had thrown me onto the floor had ended with Adonis tearing him off of me, snatching up one of my knives from beneath my dress, and slicing straight through the guy’s throat. Blood had sprayed over me, and Adonis hadn’t offered me a hand up after, he just moved on to the next guy. Not that I had expected him to help me, nothing had changed. But holy shit, we were annoyingly good together.
He was brutally chaotic, and I was ruthless and controlled.
I should have hated how he worked—up until this evening, I had. But up close, our differences complimented each other.Dammit.I washed my hands, trying to remove the stain of blood from my fingers before dabbing damp tissue on my face. It was pointless really, I needed to wash properly, but I also needed to take a few moments to myself to calm the adrenaline high I was on, so I continued to ‘clean’ myself up.The bar was almost completely empty when I emerged, except for a couple of higher up members of staff, and a handful of dead bodies. A few Vipers had escaped badly injured when our staff had calmly and quickly removed all bystanders from the club before things got out of hand.
The living Vipers were fucking lucky.
Adonis was leaning against the bar, sipping whiskey with his jacket slung over his shoulder, and the top buttons of his shirt undone to reveal more of the dark ink that covered his skin. He was still covered in blood, apparently not bothered by it at all. I joined him, and he pushed a fresh soda my way. I grabbed for a napkin from a pile near me and wiped off the red smudge that he had left on the glass.“Thanks, you called in yet?” I asked.“Yep, done. Lorenzo want’s us both back at the house as soon as possible.” He drained his glass and headed behind the bar to retrieve a half-empty whiskey bottle. “If you’re going to be fucking the boss all night, I’ll need something to knock myself out.” He gave me the disgusted look again and I rolled my eyes.“Really, Don, do you have to keep bringing it up?”“Yep. Just because you’ve proved that you’re not completely useless doesn’t mean that I think you’re anything more than what I know you to be. You’re still a piccola puttana. And don’t call me Don.” He walked to the door. “I’ll be in the car when you’re done here.” I gave him a quizzical look. “I’m in no state to ride the Ducatti home.” He answered my silent question and took a long swig from the bottle before leaving the club.I sipped my drink slowly as I waited for the clean-up team to arrive. I chatted with Reg, who had come in when everything had kicked off. I thanked him for helping to clear the patrons, and then promised the staff cash bonuses for putting up with tonight”s shit. Lorenzo would handle it formally. All of the staff seemed to appreciate the gesture, and the ones still here were luckily unphased by the bloodshed, all except for Clara, who was sitting wide-eyed in a corner, nursing a glass that looked like it was full of a neat white spirit.Adonis calling me a whore in his native tongue had left an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wondered if that was what other people would think of me if they found out about my situation with our boss. I knew it wasn’t true, I wasn’t sleeping with Lorenzo to gain anything, except a hell of a lot of pleasure, but did it really look that way? I wasn’t getting special treatment. I might have been getting braver with the way I spoke to him, and I pushed him a little further than before, but I didn’t get away with shit. He just had different ways of punishing me. I wasn’t getting anything out of it that any of the other brothers wanted. But maybe stepping away from Lorenzo’s bed would be a safer option for now. Things were getting confusing anyway. Sometimes it was better to quit while you were ahead.Adonis was sitting in the passenger seat of my car when I finally made it down to the car half an hour later. He was walking his fingers along the dark tinted window, trailing blood along the glass. I ignored him and grabbed my keys and phone from where he had tossed them into a cupholder, and quickly scanned my messages.“Are you fucking Cooper too?” he asked coldly.“What? No,” I replied quickly, taken aback by the thought.Fuck no.“Then why is he texting you asking what time you’re free for lunch tomorrow?” He narrowed his eyes at me.“You looked at my messages? What the fuck. Do you not understand the concept of privacy?”“You gave me your phone. And I’m a curious by nature.” He shrugged.“I’ll bring a bag next time.” I put my key in the ignition and pulled out of the back road. “And normal people go out for lunch with their friends.” I glared across at him. “But I don’t suppose you have any of those.”He growled low in his throat, but he didn’t speak. A tiny, almost non-existent part of me felt sorry for him, living such a lonely life, but with the way he treated people, it wasn’t surprising. I might be a dark, screwed-up person, mixed up in some unthinkable things, but at least I was nice—to people who deserved it.We arrived at Lorenzo’s mansion in no time. Partially because the roads were so empty, what with it being almost two a.m. Partly because I was speeding the entire way to avoid being stuck in a confined space with the arsehole for too much longer.Adonis climbed out of my car and slammed the door with unnecessary force. I was too tired of his attitude to react though. I just wanted to run down the night and go the fuck to sleep and stop overthinking. He pushed through the front door, and I followed in behind him, noticing a startled Clive standing at the bottom of the stairs, pointing towards the boss’s office.“Thank you, Clive. Sorry about him.” I offered him a small smile and he nodded.“He’s going to take some getting used to,” he muttered as he disappeared down a hallway.Lorenzo was sitting in his usual chair behind his desk and was smiling like a madman.“Beautiful work tonight you two, my little dream team, best friends in the making.”We looked at each other, our faces mirroring each other with pure hatred.“You’re kidding right?”