Havoc crosses his arms and stares deadass at me. “So, if sex is happening, you’d look away?”
I can’t stop the devious grin that tugs at my lips. “Hell no. I’ll rubberneck like a motherfucker.”
“You really are an asshole, Jester,” Roger grumbles, which, again, I allow because it’s him, and I truly like the guy.
He’s also not wrong.
“Is this some amazing epiphany you’re having, Roger, or did you and I just meet?” I spin around to face the bar. “Nadia, you gorgeous minx, can you please set us up with a round of shots?”
If the stage is Ava’s kingdom, the bar is Nadia’s domain. The statuesque blonde sashays her sexy ass over to us and sets up five shot glasses. “For you, Jester, anything.” She fills them with Belvedere Vodka because she’s more than a pretty face and an athletic physique. The woman is smart as hell, and she knows her liquor. She saves the cheap shit for tourists. We get top shelf.
Nadia lifts her glass. “Nostrovia.”
“Nostrovia,” I return before swallowing my shot.
More alcohol follows, and it doesn’t take long for Ava to join us. The little hurricane comes running over—in the highest Lucite heels I’ve ever seen—and launches herself at Roger. He catches her and wraps his arms around her in a bear hug. His face gets lost in her riot of curls when he plants a kiss on the top of her head.
After he sets her on her feet, she rights her neon-pink mini dress around her killer body. “Hello, boys.”
“Hello, gremlin,” Discord practically growls at her.
Her scowl is comical, because seriously, it’s like riling up a friggin’ Care Bear. “I warned you not to call me that. Now you owe me a drink.”
“Nadia,” Discord practically purrs. “A shot of Patrón for my gremlin. Actually, make it a double, please.” Then to Ava, “Oops, my bad.”
With a smirk, she flips him off. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, troll.”
Roger still hasn’t won over Discord’s trust, and I doubt he ever will. Discord may not be as crotchety as Havoc, but he’s way more fucked in the head than his older brother. What these two survived is between them, and I doubt any of us will ever know the extent of what they suffered. Ava helped Discord through some of it, same as Faith was there for Havoc. For that alone, Discord is extremely protective over Ava, and no one will live up to his standards for her—least of all someone he considers an outsider.
Even someone who put his life on the line to save one of our own.
Roger keeps a protective arm around Ava. “Can you two not get each other blackout drunk tonight? Last time I woke up to Discord trying to set me on fire.”
Discord’s smile is diabolical. “Who said I was drunk?”
Ava untangles herself from Roger and slaps Discord on the arm. “I still haven’t forgiven you.” She returns to Roger and gives him a peck on the cheek. “He promised he wouldn’t play with fire around you again, and Discord always keeps his promises. Don’t you, Discord?”
“Always,” he confirms, shouting over Disturbed’s “Stupify.” “And if I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t see me coming.”
That’s a cold fact right there.
Enforcers are hammers. We get paid a shitload of money to protect Mayhem. Our job is to beat the ever-loving snot out of people. And sometimes, the situation calls for us to do extra damage. Make a bigger mess. Do some murder. But Discord? He’s silent and unseen death.
And he’s excellent at his job.
The little hairs on the back of my neck lift. I slap them down and glance to my right. Sure as shit, my instincts are always on and rarely wrong. I feel her eyes, her presence, even from a distance.Fuck. All it takes is one shared lock of the eyes and the dancer slides away from the customer she’s currently schmoozing. She saunters on over to me, and now here’s my dilemma. Daisy is fine as hell with legs for days. Normally, I’d already be thinking about having those black leather boots wrapped around my waist. But this hasn’t been a typical week, and I’m not my ordinary self. In fact, when she sidles up beside me and tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder, my first instinct is to move away from her. Put space between us. Because seriously, I can’t breathe with her heavy perfume stinking up the air.
“How you doing, Jester?” Her purr annoys me as she traces a long red nail down my arm.
I shiver for the wrong reasons. “Good, Daisy. I’m good.”
But I’m not good. For the first time in my life, I have no fucking idea who the hell I am.
“Why don’t you buy me a drink and we’ll go to the VIP lounge for a dance?”
I would rather swallow drain cleaner and rub my dick against concrete.
“Not now, sweetheart, sorry.” I put her at arm’s distance. “Maybe later.”
