“They’re gone.”
“Absolutely, sir.” He cleared his throat. He must be nervous. The guy was as stiff as Autumn.
“If my guest gets insulted one more time, it’s your job on the line.” I tipped my head so the other bouncer knew I was talking to him. “And yours.”
He dropped his chin.
“We run a classy nightclub. I don’t care what your boss says; class does not correlate with the amount of skin showing.” Glitter’s manager would clamber over me to get to the board once he heard what I’d done. I didn’t care. I’d be ready. “If someone’s not respectful, they’re gone. Got it?”
Both men nodded.
I half turned to check the message on my phone.
Taya:Ugh. I’m already gone. Catch you in the morning?
Gideon:Sure
Relief that I wouldn’t have to juggle Taya’s questions about why Autumn was a VIP cooled some of the angerfrom the bouncers’ behavior and the crowd. She’d use the employee exit, so I didn’t have to worry about explaining my guest to her.
I couldn’t explain why I was so defensive of the new arrival. Her family’s company, a business she had a part in, was trying to take Percival Farms. But I couldn’t escape the thought that she might be useful. I just needed more time around her to know how.
Autumn was hugging her arms around herself like she was trying to shrink into the wall. The red waterfall of her hair would never allow it. Neither would those curves.
How had she gotten passed over?
I stuck my elbow out again. “Shall we?”
Time to answer the burning question in my mind. Fate had been a snarky bitch to me so far, but perhaps she’d just dropped a present into my lap. I just had to open Autumn up and figure out what her role in saving my land was.
CHAPTER THREE
Autumn
A dizzy sensation swamped me when I took his arm. He was solid and warm when his expression could be carved from marble. I thought he’d be as cool as stone, but the guy was a furnace.
What had he said to those bouncers?
They had looked ready to drop dead when he’d approached. Was Gideon that powerful?
If he wielded so much authority, no wonder he had issues with the land sale. He couldn’t just tell them to stop, and they wouldn’t do it solely because he’d said so.
I swallowed a wave of nausea.
I probably should’ve eaten more, but we’d planned to get appetizers after we danced and drank for a while. As the oldest of the group and the most experienced around alcohol, I should’ve pointed out that food came first.
The music grew louder as we entered. The place wascertainly nicer than any club I’d ever been to, which was very few.
Mirrors and glass on walls and columns reflected soft light. So much black. Any touches of color were a subdued neon along the silver accents. If old money was high-back chairs and floral wallpaper and Victorian-style clutter, then Glitter & Gold was new money. Youthful wealth. It was the bitcoin millionaire who’d remembered his password and pulled all his cash in time. It was the finance bro. It was the “how to become a millionaire before thirty by investing” influencer.
I didn’t spot my friends right away, but part of me didn’t want to look for them. Sure, I’d urged them to go in without me. But I’d stuck around, waiting, hoping they’d realize there was nothing here worth ditching me for.
No such luck.
Gideon didn’t stop to ask about them, and I didn’t stop to ask him about them.
A woman with buzzed sides and longer purple-dyed hair on top stopped by us. She was wearing a stylish tux with a gold vest that hugged her curves as she carried a tray. “Are you going to your usual spot, Mr. James?”
“Yes. Bring us a bottle of Rosé Vintage.” He directed his gaze at me. In the dim club, his eyes were vivid green, like tractor beams I couldn’t escape—if I wanted to. “Do you have any special requests?”
