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“Yes.”
In the back of my mind, an outline for a new plan formed.
Martin liked the way I managed the bar. With no debt, I could renegotiate the terms of my salary, maybe get Rachel on the calendar as a solo act, just until things got ironed out with ABCR. Surely, things would get ironed out.
My thoughts whirling, I was distracted. Martin tugged on my hand, and I ended up with my front plastered to his. His arms wrapped around me like steel bands, but there was nothing comforting about his embrace. My heart raced as he stared down at me, his gaze possessive.
“Finally, I have you where you belong.”
A shiver rolled through me. Tonight was supposed to be about securing my freedom, but instead, I felt even more trapped.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked as he led me through the VIP area.
“My apartment, of course,” he said.
I gulped in air to fuel my rapid heart rate as he guided me down the steps and through the club. At the mouth of the hall, I tried to convince myself that my excitement was only nerves, and that I didn’t like how Martin’s palm felt pressed low and warm on my lower back.
Dimitri appeared, and Martin stopped us.
“Hold here a moment.” Martin swept his knuckles gently over my cheek and left me, speaking low and out of my earshot with Arturo’s cousin.
I couldn’t make out everything they said, but I heard the name Barry and noted Dimitri had an angry glint in his eyes, a cut on his lower lip, and a rapidly swelling bruise beneath one eye. He’d obviously been in a fight, and it appeared my best friend had gotten in a number of punches.
When we reached the downstairs level, I cast my gaze around, looking for my sister. Maybe she knew what had happened to Dimitri.
Martin turned to me and studied my face. “Who are you looking for?”
“My sister.”
“She is filling out paperwork.”
“What kind of paperwork?”
“A simple nondisclosure form. There was a little unpleasantness removing her bandmates from the property.”
“Barry too?”
Martin nodded.
“Is he okay?” I blurted the question, my concern obvious, and Martin’s eyes narrowed.Shit. “He’s my friend.”
“So you say.” Martin’s tone and his expression said he didn’t believe me. “No one is permanently harmed, but friends or not, all the members of ABCR minus your sister are banned from my property from now on.”
Martin and I left Winston’s in a town car driven by Arturo.
The club and familiarity were soon behind us. In the backseat, I sat beside a man more powerful than anyone I knew, and hoped he’d told me the truth about no one being permanently harmed.
Avoiding eye contact with Martin, I stared out the window but didn’t see anything through the tinted glass except darkness and brief flashes of light.
“My darling.” Martin put his hand on my thigh, startling me from my thoughts about how the view out the window paralleled my life. “You’ve been very quiet since we left the club. What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
I shifted to look at him. “Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters.” He studied me, and I studied him. That part of our game was familiar. In the muted glow of the interior lights, his features were shadowed and seemed more sinister than handsome. “If it didn’t matter, I wouldn’t have asked.”
“You have me for the night.”
I liked his answer, but I focused on the short-term nature of his ownership and the long term of what I hoped to gain. That was why I didn’t remove his hand from my thigh. Mostly. There was that sparking undercurrent between us that at times drew me like a magnet.
