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“Shit. Sorry, I didn’t tell you.”
“Tell me what, Cara? What happened?”
I held a finger up to her when a customer cleared her throat impatiently. I served her drink before returning to Maddie and assisted with wiping down the bar. Waiting for a lull after a particularly bass-heavy section of music, I said, “He cornered me in the kitchen when I was cleaning, then again when I was alone here at the bar, then he wanted to…chat.”
“What happened torun?”
“I dunno, Maddie, I just… froze.”
And I was distracted by how good he smelled and how amazing his body is.
“All three times, Cara?” She was barely keeping her voice steady.
“Is there something I should know about you two?” I asked.
Maddie looked incredulous, her cheeks reddening as though I had slapped her. I almost smiled at her reaction but was hesitant to prod her further. She looked on the verge of shouting at me in front of everyone, scolding me for being so stupid and careless as to get close to him. Biting my lip, I reminded myself Maddie had worked here longer than I had, and she had no doubt seen a lot of things in that time. She was only trying to protect me. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time she had—she and her parents took me in even though they could barely feed Maddie when I had nowhere else to go. I should cut her some slack.
When I went through a self-destructive phase, she was always trying to bring me back, although I could tell her patience was wearing thin by the end. When I came to her from The Palace and asked if she could get me a job, she looked both relieved and worried at the same time—I suppose aware of this place’s dangers but also the job’s monetary benefits.
Although part of me was hesitant to let myself get as close to her as we were when we were kids because, after everything, I got this job specifically to get enough money to leave this city. While that would mean leaving Maddie behind, there was nothing else for me here but bad memories.
“He’s dangerous!” Maddie hissed at me. “He deserves to die!”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”
“Don’tapologizeto me, just stay away from him. I’m only here for the money, and I know are you too, but that man deserves nothing,nothingbut death for all the things he’s done. And that’s only what weknowabout, Cara. Don’t you see?”
“This city is full of messed-up people, Maddie.”
“I know that, but he’s the worst of the worst. People thought it was bad when Mr. Murphy was in charge, but Emrick took him down withease.”
“What did he do?”
“Mr. Murphy lost two fingers, an ear, and his family was threatened. I don’t think there’s any doubt Emrick would have followed through with his threats. Then…” Maddie looked around, “… after Mr. Murphy signed everything over, he—”
“Do you wanna get back to work, girls?” Phillip, the bar manager, snapped at us.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, pressing my lips together as I glanced at Maddie and left to serve the floor with an uneasy feeling in my stomach. What was it about Emrick that had gotten under my skin? Pure animal magnetism, I suspected. His body wasincredible,and that was only the brief snippets I had seen. I knew that type of physicality should scare me more than most because of my past, but somewhere along the line, things had gotten so twisted in my head, the power now turned me on instead of repulsed me. But why it was overriding the logical side of my brain that knew this was a bad idea was beyond me. Maybe I should just sleep with him and get it out of my system.
But then the reminder would spring up in my mind of all those others who had walked in these footsteps and not come back after their night with him.
What did he do?
Maybe they simply couldn’t handle him.
“Thank you,” I said, throwing a customer a simpering smile as he slipped a hundred-dollar note onto the tray as a tip. Pretty average for the club, and really the only reason I was still here. My hands were full, and I couldn’t secure the note, but the man smirked as he picked it up again and tucked it into my cleavage. I muttered another thank you, trying to keep the scathing in my voice to a minimum as he brushed his fingers along the top of my breasts completely unnecessarily.
It was times like this I wished the bouncer from The Palace was here. Carl wouldn’t tolerate that shit.
When I turned, he slapped my ass, and I jumped at the unexpected contact, dropping the tray of glasses to the floor. The sound of the metal tray and the shattering glass garnered the attention of what felt like half the damn club.
“Damn,” I mumbled as I dropped to my knees and started picking up pieces of glass and dropping them onto the tray.
“Let me help.” The man took my hand as he kneeled beside me.
“Don’t touch me,” I snapped, angry and humiliated at the attention this was amassing and the nerve of him to touch me in the first place. This never happened at The Palace, and I hated that a place where I was required to get naked to make money was safer than being here serving drinks.
“Bitch, I’m just trying to help.”
