I scanned the lobby for Derek because he had to be here somewhere.
Where the fuck else would he be? I had made sure to keep a better watch on the security cameras at my place, in case he decided to pay me—or Athena—another visit tonight while I was out looking for his ass.
When there was no sign of him, I walked down the hallway and toward the main bar area. Maya and Russ—Sun’s … friends—were together at a table in the back of the bar. Michelle was sitting on a table with a submissive, trying to butter her up. Steven and Hector stood near the bar with Abdul, talking quietly and chuckling with each other.
Abdul nodded to me. “Your usual?”
“No, thanks,” I said, grinding my teeth. “I’m not drinking tonight.”
“Someone looks pissed,” Steven noted, sipping his drink.
I balled my fists and scanned this room for that asshole. “Have you seen my brother?”
“Brother?” Steven asked, looking at Hector.
“That asshole kid from yesterday,” Hector said.
Steven let out a long whistle. “He’s your brother?”
“Yes,” I said through my teeth. “Have you seen him?”
“He was here last night,” he said. “Got a little too drunk and handsy. Arrogant bastard.”
“Ooh,” Michelle hummed, squeezing herself between her adopted brothers to see me. “Are we talking about Charlie’s cute little crush that he has?” She clapped her hands together, giving us a huge grin. “I wanna meet her!”
“No, we’re not talking about my crush,” I said through gritted teeth.
“So, she is your crush!”
I peeled my gaze away from Michelle and peered at Hector, who glared at her, and Steven, who gave a little chuckle.
“Don’t you have a business to run?” Hector asked. “An event tonight?”
After whipping out a dildo from behind her back—don’t ask me where she got it—she grinned widely at him and shoved it into his chest. “The event was a success, and we had some extra dildos left over if you ever want to”—she wiggled her brows—“you know, use it on yourself.”
Flaring his nostrils, Hector grabbed the dildo between two fingers, walked over to the trash, and dumped it right into it without an apology.
Michelle melted to her knees. “My precious merchandise!”
“If you didn’t want it to go in the trash, you shouldn’t have given it to me.”
“You could’ve used it with Heather, not thrown it away!”
“I have enough toys for Heather.”
Michelle stood and smirked. “You can never have too many toys. Right, Steven?”
“Have you seen Derek?” I asked, butting into their conversation.
If I didn’t get Michelle to stop talking soon, I would be stuck there forever while she talked all about sex, sex toys, and why we all needed them to keep things spicy in the bedroom. As if Steven, Hector, and I didn’t already use them.
Mid-sentence, Michelle paused and looked over at me. “Your brother?”
“Yes.”
“He was here last night,” Michelle said, looking at the brothers. “You didn’t tell him?” When the others didn’t say anything, Michelle threw her arm around my shoulders and pulled me in close. “Didn’t know sadism ran in your family.”
“Sadism?” I repeated through gritted teeth. “What’d he do?”
