Chapter Nineteen
Rafe
"I'm still not seeing anything different, Alpha," Colby said with a sigh, pushing away the stack of papers that he had just finished reading through. "What about you?"
I shook my head and rubbed the back of my neck. "Nope. Nothing new here, either."
There was a cough from the hall, followed by a light knock on the open door. Bane was leaning against the frame, a single paper in one hand and a frown creasing his forehead. "I have something new, Boss, and it doesn't look good."
"Shit." I took a deep breath. "Trevor is so sure that this kid is on the level, too." I held my hand out and Bane crossed the room to hand it over. "This is the chat log from thatBeyond the Knotsite? Bane, we already reviewed this."
"Yeah," Bane agreed, "but we've been monitoring it, remember? A new message was added to the thread a few hours ago. It's at the bottom."
Scanning through the entries, I found the last one. It was from Naughty_Boy_O, the user ID that we'd previously identified as Harley.
"Dear Lix.So sorry I missed our date. I was in an accident, but I'm better now. If you're still interested, I'll be at the mixer tomorrow at four – ready, willing, and eager to make it up to you!"
"What the hell?" Colby's eyes flashed. "Not only is he fucking with us, but he's also stringing Scott along, too?"
I raised a brow at my Omega's unusually fervent response and he shrugged.
"Anyway," I said pointedly, "We know when, so that means that we just need to find out the where." I scanned the messages again, keying in on the one that I'd been looking for. "Here it is. The Oh! Club." I frowned, pretty sure I'd heard that name before. "Why does that sound familiar?"
"That's the Alpha's only club that Quinn and Lachlan hooked up at that night," Colby reminded me.
Right. All in all, not a good place for an Omega to wander into unattended.
"Great," I groaned. "I don't suppose we know anyone with a membership?"
"Not that I know of," Bane answered thoughtfully. "But we could pull the membership list to be sure?"
"Won't help," Colby muttered, tapping at the keys of the laptop he was bending over. "The club is closed for a private event tonight." He hesitated and then scowled. "Whaddaya know? It just happens to be the mixer forBeyond the Knot."
"So we either need to find a way to get inside or we need to grab Harley before he gets in," I mused.
"I.." Colby started to speak, but I interrupted him.
"Am not going," I said firmly.
Colby huffed a sigh but nodded. "I was going to say that I wasn't sure how much help I'd be." He tapped a few keys and straightened up in his seat. "You know, Rafe, there isn't any sort of security on this list. I could add a couple of names to the invited guests and they'd never know."
And that was how Zade, Clint, and I ended up strutting into The Oh! Club like we belonged there.
"This is unreal," Clint whistled under his breath as he stared around at the garishly decorated room. "It looks like Donald Trump decorated a discount whore house."
I bit back a chuckle as I took in the red plush carpet, red and gold flocked wallpaper, red leather furniture, and dark wood trim edged with gold leaf. "It is definitely tacky."
"What now?" Zade wanted to know. "I don't see Harley anywhere."
"We're early," I reminded him. "Let's each find a spot to settle in and keep an eye out for our target. You each have your picture?"
They both nodded and I pulled out my copy of the DMV photo of Alexi Gartroli – aka Lix-you-good – and started for the stairs that led to the small balcony that overlooked the entrance to the club with Clint on my flank. Zade turned to take up his position by the door. Then, we sat back and waited.
