She purses her lips. “I wouldn’t lie to you. This whole thing is beyond anything I thought Zeus might do. I never thought he’d force it, or that he’d take her like he did, but her fucking mother-”
“What about her mother?”
“She’s the reason for some of this. Not all of it. You have a bigger part to play in it than you realize.”
I scoff. “I’m well aware that I brought this shit down on us. Don’t worry.” I wave over the bartender.
Connie shakes her head. “No, it’s not just you, it’s that-” She is cut off when the woman I’d seen enter the club earlier pushes her way past and pointes excitedly.
“There he is! Look!” She drags her date forward to get a better look and I follow her finger to see she is pointing right at the stairs. They aren’t empty now. Zeus is there. I lean back against the bar behind me, an elbow resting on the surface and look at the man I want to beat bloody. He walks in like he is a king, his head held high and a small group of followers behind him.
Even if the woman hadn’t pointed him out, I would have spotted him. I would have to be blind not to, with the way everyone on the dance floor reacts. Before his appearance, it had been a mass of frenetic movement, but all of that stops almost instantly. Limbs freeze and bodies nearly crash into one another as they fight to get out of his way as quickly as possible. Then there is the way his staff fall in line beside him like a small army ready to serve. It really does complete the picture of a king returning home.
“I see your boss has arrived,” I say and turn to the bartender. “Bottle of water.”
Connie raises an eyebrow at me. “Don’t tell me you’re dry now.”
“Something tells me tonight isn’t about pleasure.”
“I’d say tonight is for a great many things.”
I take the bottle the bartender hands to me and nod at them. “And what would that be?” I ask, uncapping the bottle but not taking a sip.
Connie’s eyes fall to the bottle I hold. “Bottled, too? You don’t trust us, Law?”
I set the bottle down. I don’t want the damn thing. It’d just been to buy time. “The last time I was here I was framed for a job I never took and lost my woman to that fuck you call a boss, so no. I don’t trust you or anything in this club, Connie.”
“Smart man,” she sighs and leans against the bar. “I’ll take a double shot of vodka since my friend isn’t drinking. Give me the worst we have, I deserve it.”
The bartender nods and a second later she has her double. She twirls the frosted glass in her hand and then glances at me. “I’m sorry for what happened. You have to know that. I had no idea.”
I am silent for a second. Zeus is settling himself into his throne and his entourage has dispersed. If I approach him now I’ll have a clean shot. I don’t move though, don’t try and make my move, because it’s her.
Honey.
Descending the stairs on the opposite side of the room. On the stairs I’d taken, is my beautiful girl. She is dressed in a dark dress. It hugs her curves and when I look at Zeus I see he is watching her just like me.
If he’s picked that dress out for her…if he knows what she looks like with it off, I am going to rip his head clean off his shoulders. There is a flash of red and movement beside him. Rosario. She is at his side, leaning down and speaking quickly into his ear. Where she’d come from I don’t know, but it is because I’ve been watching Honey. Good lesson to learn.
If I want to come out of this in one piece I can’t be distracted by my girl. I am going to have to let go of the man she’s made me into and turn into the monster I’d been. I’ve done it before for her. At the theater when that fucker had tried to take her from me.
She’d been scared of me at first, but she’d understood. Honey had known why I’d nearly gutted him like a fish. It’d been for her. To keep her safe. I thought she wouldn’t let me touch her. That she’d be scared of me, but she hadn’t. She’d come to me with open arms.
“I love you.”
It had been the first night she’d told me those three words. If she understood then, she’ll understand now.
“Law?” Connie puts a hand on my arm and I look away from Honey. Connie’s glass is empty and her cheeks are pink. No doubt flushed from the vodka.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
She clears her throat and comes closer to me. “What are you going to do?”
“What I have to,” I say and jerk my chin at the dais with Zeus and Honey’s mother. “What the fuck is she doing here?”
