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Men taking something from a woman they don’t want to give is something we don’t tolerate, and is a sure way to end up on our bad side. And you don’t want to end up there. Bad shit happens.
Katie continues, “The three remaining girls are coming in later today. Kurt’s going to sit in on the interviews since neither of you can make it.”
I nod. Kurt is our head bouncer and takes his job of protecting the girls very seriously. At seven feet and built like a bull, he could crush someone’s skull without breaking a sweat. Silas and I trust him implicitly.
Katie walks up to Silas and curls her fingers into his shirt, pulling his tall frame down until his lips seal over hers. “If either of you need anything, I’ll be downstairs,” she says demurely, smoothing out the wrinkles in his dress shirt. “See you later, Hunter.”
I tip my chin at her as she passes by me.
Turning my head, I see Silas watching Katie leave the room, lust still lingering. Once she’s gone, his gaze moves to me. “You’ve got shit timing,” he says, turning and walking around his desk to take a seat. “I wasn’t nearly done with her.”
I drop down in the seat in front of the desk, propping an ankle over the opposite knee and placing my laced hands over my stomach. “I’m sure you’ll survive. Besides, my standing there wouldn’t have stopped you from continuing.”
Grunting, he opens one of the drawers in his desk and grabs something. He glances at the door before tossing a small black box on top.
My brows lift when I reach for it. The ring tucked into the black velvet bed sparkles when the light hits it. I close the box and set it on the desk. Silas grabs it and puts it back in the drawer.
“When do you plan to ask her?” I keep my voice low.
Leaning back in his chair, he steeples his fingers together and places his hands behind his head. “This weekend.”
“Shit, I never thought I’d see the day that Silas Ward would tie himself to one woman.”
“Fuck off,” he mutters. “I still have to convince her to say yes.”
“Is there any doubt she will?” I ask, arching a brow. “The woman’s fucking mad about you.”
Several years ago, we hired Katie as a stripper. The first few months were rocky between her and Silas. After she caught him railing a woman in his office the first time she met him, she immediately disliked him and thought he took advantage of our girls. He made it worse by continuing to fuck the girl while she watched, frozen in the doorway. Her assumption couldn’t have been further from the truth. He may have been a man whore, but he did not touch our girls. The woman in question wasn’t an employee, but a random club guest. It took months before Katie stopped looking at him like he was gum stuck to the bottom of her high-heeled shoes. As far as I know, he’s kept his dick in his pants, except when Katie pulls it out to play with.
“Let’s hope you’re right, because if she says no, I may be charged with kidnapping.”
The thing with Silas is, he’s not joking. If Katie rejects his proposal, he’ll damn sure hold her captive until she relents. Whenever it comes to the blonde bombshell, the man is fucking bonkers.
“Have you heard any word from Marcus?” I ask.
“Fuck no,” he growls, his chair creaking as he abruptly sits forward. “Last I heard he was tracking Timothy in West Virginia.”
Timothy used to be a member of Slate. He cornered Katie in the alley out back and attempted to rape her.
My teeth gnash together and the muscles in my jaw tense, tired of fucking waiting for the bastard to be brought in. As it is, the fucker has already continued to breathe past his expiration point. The longer that man lives, the harsher his death will be.
As much as I’d like to take a few licks, he’s Silas’s to do with as he likes. However, I’ll be there to enjoy the show.
Since Katie was the one Timothy injured, she was given first dibs, but she refused, leaving the deed to Silas. While Katie has the stomach for it, she knows Timothy will suffer more under Silas’s hand.
I head to my office, two doors down, and take a seat behind my desk. The doors of Slate were opened by Silas and me fourteen years ago, and since then, it has thrived. It’s an exclusive club catering only to the rich and entitled. You have to be a member to walk in the doors, and to get a membership, you must submit to a full background check. Silas and I aren’t dense. We know deals are made and cash is exchanged within these walls, but as long as we don’t hear about it, it’s not our business. If it does become our business, we deal with it appropriately. Or what we consider appropriate. Silas and I have built a reputation in River Heights. Don’t fuck with our shit, and you keep your hands. If you do, you’ll be lucky—depending on your transgression—to walk away with your life.
However, when it comes to harming a woman or a child, all bets are off. Your time is up and the reaper comes out to play.
As I recline back in my office chair, my eyes are drawn to the photo on my desk. Cat’s smiling eyes shine back at me. She knows everything I’ve done and still do, but I keep her away from it. There’s no part of my life she doesn’t know about. Well, except for one. She’s already been touched by the evil the world has to offer and it nearly destroyed us both.
Grief, rage, but mostly guilt tighten my gut when I think about what happened to her. What happened to our family. I usually push those thoughts away, but at times, I let them consume my mind.
I use those moments as self-punishment. They serve as a reminder of my failures. As a result, I use them to feed the rage building inside me to ensure that I never fail her again.
ChapterThree
Hunter
