“YO,CHAN— I mean,Lisa. What’s up, girl? All good?” I shouted into my phone.
The club was raging. People were lined up around the corner from the Wave, and inside, it wasn’t much better. We’d brought in a headliner for the weekend—a girl from the LA club who went by Aspen. The gorgeous leggy blonde with curves for days and unreal tits had been blowing it out of the water in the City of Angels.
Apparently, word had traveled, and we had a fucking line a mile long.
“Hey, Mike. I can barely hear you, but everything’s all good with the house and stuff. I thought you’d want to know the Middle Eastern guys are back, and this time they brought the sheik or whatever the hell he is with them,” Lisa yelled into the phone.
NWA blasted from the speaker in the background, but all I could hear wasthey brought the sheik with them. My feet ate up the floor, carrying me toward my office. I threw two fingers up in the air like an airline attendant, pointing toward my private door, and Carson gave me a nod. As luck would have it, he was still in town, considering Lila hand-delivered Aspen to Florida.
“You’re not going back there, are you?” I yelled into my phone, making my stance known.
Finally, I was in my office, the music only a faint rumble in the background. Leaning against the steel door, I squeezed my eyes tight.
“No. Bruno’s barely been sending me anywhere. He’s squeezing me out after the last episode. But Magnolia texted she was going back. She wanted me to know where she was in case anything happened.”
“Shit!” I kicked my high-top behind me into the door.
The door opened slightly and Carson yelled, “It’s just me.”
I moved out of the way, allowing him to enter. I could only imagine what I looked like—wide-eyed and frantic, pacing and swearing and kicking. I was a world away from the prep-school-educated son of a Vegas mogul that I was a few years ago.
“Give me Magnolia’s number. I’m calling her.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Lisa whispered.
“Darling, you know I don’t give a shit. Give me her digits so I can have my guy talk to her and get a feel for what’s going on, babe.” Changing tack, I said, “You wanna find Lynx, right? This is our only shot.”
“Okay.” She disconnected the call and then texted me the contact information.
After I hung up, there was another swift knock at the door. Carson opened it to find Sampson standing outside, a furious look on his face.
“I want in, Mike. She was my friend—not just your girl—and I’m getting in on this,” he said, pushing his way inside the door. “I was your first hire down here, if you haven’t forgotten, and I’ve been in on this since day one.”
I nodded and told Carson to fill him in while I texted Magnolia. She was en route to the hotel, one other girl in tow, but the Middle-Easterners wanted one or two more. I was reading aloud as the information was texted in, and then I stopped because Sampson was whispering something in Carson’s ear.
“What?” I turned on my heel.
Carson spoke first. “You’re not gonna like it, but Sampson has a damn good idea. And I think it may be our only shot.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door, one eyebrow raised, clearly broadcasting that even if I wanted to change his mind, I wouldn’t.
Fuck. I was truly fucked.
And that was what I thought before those two idiots shared their plan with me.
