AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Cut the shit.”
I tether the anger, sliding my hands into my pockets. The knife is there, and at the small of my back is the holster with my gun. Both are at the ready if she decides to make this meeting more difficult than it has to be.
“Tell me about Taney,” I start.
“Taney.” Jade taps her chin with her index finger. “The name isn’t ringing a bell. Is she one of your playthings on the stage?”
It’s all a game, and the block is Jade’s move. Time for me to parry with one of my own.
“It’s adorable that you like to act as though you don’t know who I’m talking about. Considering she’s on your books as an employee.”
I see it. The look on Jade’s face, the kind a person wears when they’re determined not to get caught.
“Is she? We employ a lot of people here and not all of them are noteworthy,” she replies.
Delightful.
“If you aren’t here to play with me then there is nothing for you right now, Gabriel.” She rises to her feet and smooths out the invisible wrinkles of her suit jacket, the glow of the overhead chandelier playing across her bare scalp. “If you change your mind you can find me later.”
Not fucking likely.
She must see as much on my face, more transparent than I wish it to be.
Jade snaps her fingers toward someone in the shadows. “Please escort Mr. Blackwell back out to the street. And pick up a new set of door locks while you’re at it,” she tells him.
Recognition hits me with a punch to the gut when the guy moves into the light, and it takes every bit of presence I possess to keep the surprise from showing. It’s the bald man from Markee.
My stomach roils, I feel hot and pissed off, but I hold my hands out in front of me like a shield against Jade. To let her think she’s gotten the best of me.
“Fine,” I reply smoothly. “I don't want any trouble.”
“Trouble is what you look for. You can’t fool me.”
Her words might be a purr but her tone is cold, harsh.
The drugs are tied to this man. To Jade. And that makesthisclub the connection that didn’t make sense before. Not Whip. We shouldn’t have been calling the victims hookers. They aren’t hookers at all, but Jade’s employees.
Fuck me.
The tip from the bartender, Taney being scared…Jade had been at Whip that night as well. Not to enjoy the show but to poach to make up for her dwindling numbers.
Baldie falls into step behind me and maintains a few paces of distance between us. Dammit. Jade is into something and the pieces are only now starting to tumble together. Layla needs to know.
* * *
I flick on the news when I get home, only to see that I’ve missed the press conference entirely. The news channels are abuzz with the news of the senator's dead son, but no glimpse of Layla outside of a five-second clip where she stares hard-eyed out at the sea of reporters and assures them that the police department is doing their job.
Looking like a dark-eyed goddess straight out of lore.
I grab my cell to send a text to her, when it buzzes with an incoming call.
The boss wants an update.
I click to answer the phone. “I’ve got a lead,” I tell the boss. “The Velvet Underground—”
The boss cuts me off. “I said to make this go away. Didn’t I?”
“Yes, sir.”
