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Bass thumped from the speakers.
Red lights gave the whole place a sexy glow.
Skin. Flesh. Hot bodies ground on poles, the stage floor, each other. Whatever was required to get more bills in their pockets. Or thongs.
Everything was exactly as it was before.
Before Brendan Rhymer got his brains splattered all over this room.
Before Tits had been carved up and murdered in the back alley.
Before Mueller.
Before Bonnie.
It was exactly the same, but to me, it was wrong. All wrong.
The door opened, and Jasper entered first, but I saw a group of men behind him. He stopped abruptly when he saw me and frowned. “What are you doing in here?”
“Observing. Problem?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “This room has been rented,” he said, indicating the clients following behind him.
“It’s in use,” I growled in response.
He rolled his eyes and shook his head, but the fact that he said nothing to me told me he was pissed. Beyond pissed.
“Looks like this room is taken, boys. I guess I’ll have to give you the bigger one so you can see the stage head-on.”
A round of cheering and clapping sounded just outside the door before it closed. I sighed my frustration. Everything was all fucking wrong. The music didn’t feel right, neither did the girls shaking their ass or the men waving dollar bills in front of them. The whole scene felt off, and I had no idea why.
This place needed a change. A cleaner image.
Something.
The door opened again, and Jasper appeared, closing the door behind him with a scowl on his face. “What the fuck is going on with you?”
“I’m here to watch, to observe, just like I told you.”
“Well, I just had to comp those fucking idiots a five-hundred-dollar room because you took the two-fifty room they paid for. Why?”
“Jesus Christ, Jasper. Calm down. It’s not like we’re broke. This place needs a makeover. A complete overhaul.”
“What? This place makes plenty of money, even though that’s not why it exists. It cleans the money, remember?”
“It was my idea. Of course, I remember.”
Titty bars were so nineteen eighties, but the cash nature of the business made it a good way to clean some of our dirty money. “What’s your point?”
“My point is this place is fine. It’s perfect, in fact.”
“Bullshit. Look around, Jasper. This place is crawling with exactly the wrong kind of people. Thugs and gangsters, dealers, pimps, and worse, frat boys.”
He scoffed. “We’re in the goddamn green zone. What do you expect? And those thugs and gangsters are the reason this place operates in the black. Deep in the black, I might remind you.”
I shook my head. “I’m going to make some changes around here. You’re not doing your job.”
He barked out a laugh. “You’re drunk and not making any sense. Go home, Sadie.” With a shake of his head, Jasper left me alone with my thoughts, the last fucking place I wanted to be.
His words pissed me off. No one talked to me that way, no one but him. And now that he knew Colm and I were behind the misery he was forced to endure, I couldn’t blame him. I’d hate me too.
God, I was a weak woman back then.
“Fuck!” I tossed the crystal tumbler across the room, and it shattered against the wall, sending drops of whiskey and shards of glass flying everywhere. “It’s all wrong. All. Fucking. Wrong.”
The door opened again, and I sucked in a breath, ready to lash into Jasper with all the drunken words I could muster, but it wasn’t one of my sons this time. It was another man who had always been my protector and who also offered unwanted, unsolicited advice.
“Come to ruin my fun, Thomas?”
He flashed a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and stepped inside, eyeing the shattered glass wreckage, the drops of liquid still sliding down the wall.
“If this is your idea of fun, then perhaps I am.”
“You love to fuck with my fun,” I told him, feeling petulant and a little drunk.
“I don’t.” His gaze locked on mine, held it so I couldn’t look away no matter how hard I tried. “Oliver is waiting in the limo for us.”
“I’m not ready to leave.”
Thomas sighed and put both hands on his hips, a move that highlighted his lean, rangy frame. “Where is your security detail? With everything going on, you shouldn’t be out on your own.”
“On my own?” I laughed at the ridiculousness of that statement. “I’m never fucking alone, Thomas. Not ever. Evan and Hulu are here.”
“Yeah and they were breaking up a fight between the bikers and the gang bangers when I came in, which means they’re in no position to keep you safe.”
I turned to face Thomas and took a moment to look at him, to drink him in. He was a very handsome man. “And that’s what matters most to you, Thomas, my safety?”
