What the fuck is going on here?
Nox tapped a phone—though not the cell he’d used at the clubhouse—against the desk as he tilted his head. “Is there anyone who does know?”
Carl shook his head. “If he gets in contact, I’ll let him know you were here.” He stood and gestured to the door. “In the meantime, I hope you’ll stick around for a drink or a little fun. We’ve made some big improvements to the club.”
Something about the way he spoke put me on edge. Like I’d turn in the dark, and he’d be there with a bloody knife and a maniacal smile.
Since we couldn’t exactly force the creepy fucker to talk, we left—without the drink or the fun.
“That was a waste of time,” I said when we reached our cars.
“Wait for it,” Nox said, crossing his arms as he looked toward the street. I was about to ask if he’d left a bomb that would be exploding or some other crazy shit when he smiled. “Knew it.”
Carl crossed the street, and rather than the knife I’d pictured, it was a phone in his hand.
The one that Nox had been tapping on the desk.
“A leave behind?” Jury muttered.
“Good for extending hookups and clandestine meetings,” Nox shot back.
“I’m assuming this is recording,” Carl said with a shake of the cell.
“Aye. But you looked like you had more to say, so it was mostly a reason to get you out here and away from any cameras or wires that’re keeping your mouth shut.”
“I don’t have any answers for you.”
“But there’s still something.”
Looking around, Carl stepped closer. Not to get in Nox’s face, but to quickly say what he needed to say. “Nash is gone. Some of his crew stayed loyal and left, too, but most fell in line with the new leadership.”
“Which is?”
“No clue. Everything is passed down the line, and none of us at the bottom know who or what’s at the top.” He scanned around again. “I was using when I started working here, but I got clean right around the time Nash disappeared. His second, Lance, put me in charge of running the club before he was suddenly in thewind, too. Someone is making orders and upgrades and changes, but I don’t know who.”
“Dancers are still high as kites,” Beck tossed in.
“Higher. That’s stayed the same.” Another paranoid glance over his shoulder before he lowered his voice. “Something is off. Orders are placed that’re never delivered. Girls are disappearing. I’ve got a girlfriend, a kid on the way, and a lengthy record. This job is my best chance at providing for them, and I try to keep the girls safe. Nash was garbage, but whoever is in charge now is worse. And you’re not the only people stopping by with questions, trying to solve that mystery.” He tossed the phone to Nox. “I’ve gotta go.”
He rushed back across the street.
Leaving us with more questions than answers.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
MIND, BODY, AND SOUL
LUNA
“Are you sure you don’twant to join?”
Rhys looked up from where he was working on his laptop at the other side of his couch. “I’m good.”
“I’ll go easy on you,” I tried.
“Don’t think that’ll help.”
I set my game controller onto the coffee table and stood before moving to Rhys. I didn’t have to wait. He tossed his laptop aside—though that carelessness might’ve been more about his frustration with the schedules he was working on—and tugged me to straddle him. He lifted his ass from the cushion and shifted to slouch down so he could rest his head against the back of the couch.
