My eyes snapped away. This place had to go. I wasn’t a good man, I’d never been a good man, but even a man like me had some morals. Children and unwilling women were people I would always protect.
This place would be closed by the end of the week, even if I had to torch the place myself.
The seat I sat on was some cheap wipe-down faux leather that creaked when I moved and smelled strongly of vomit and things I didn’t even want to think about.
“Get you a drink, darling?” A hand, with long, bony fingers and too-long sparkly nails, came down on my shoulder. I stared down at it for a second before shaking my head. “I’m waiting for someone.”
Actually, I was waiting for several somebodies. All of them were on my payroll, but none of them were exactly trusted. They were bottom feeders, but they might have some information for me.
The hand on my shoulder tightened, and a woman in a skin-tight silver dress that matched her nails slid in front of me. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw me. I didn’t know whether that was because she recognized me or if she just wasn’t used to men like me being in here.
“Then how about,” bending over, she displayed her large and clearly fake tits for me, “a dance.” The hand on my shoulder slipped down my chest, and I had to catch it before it got too low.
Even if I hadn’t had the most beautiful woman in the world waiting in my bed for me, I wouldn’t be interested in her brand of sex. Just the feel of her hand through my clothes made me feel dirty.
I would definitely need to shower before I got into bed with Sophia.
“I’m waiting for someone,” I said again and pushed her wayward, roaming hand away. She didn’t flinch. “I heard, but I could help youpass the time.” Again, she touched me. Only this time, she slid onto my lap. Her legs were crossed over mine.
“I wouldn’t even charge you.” She nibbled at my ear.
I was all for powerful women, but this wasn’t that. This was desperation. “Actually, I’ll take that drink instead. Scotch, no ice. Best one you have. Be a good girl and go and get it.”
She scurried off, and I fell back to looking around. But not at the scantily dressed women on the pole or gyrating on customers’ laps. There was one face in particular that I was looking for. I found him on my second sweep, just as he stepped down into this dungeon.
Lifting his hand, he waved and wandered over, grabbing a dancer by the ass on his way over. The men who followed him were even worse.
They were playing at being what I had been born being: dangerous.
“Gio.” Scraping a chair to my table, he fell into it. “I have to admit I didn’t expect your call. What brings you to my little slice of heaven?”
He motioned around like this place was everything a man could want, and I had to hide my revulsion. “I heard you might have some information for me.”
“Possibly.” He shrugged, grabbing at a passing dancer he dragged onto his lap and locked there. “Some of my boys work with your woman’s brother. That’s who you want to know about, isn’t it?”
Mutely, I nodded. Quickly, I took stock of the men who had joined us, wondering which of them was double-crossing Gio. Not that I really cared, but Gio really did need to get a handle on his people.
“She’s a fine piece of ass.” One of them chuckled, a spotty kid with a pockmarked face. “I remember when she was younger.” He whistled through crooked teeth, and I realized he wasn’t a young man at all. He was older than me, but with what seemed like the maturity level of a kindergarten student.
“We used to bust a nut over the surveillance videos of her. All that pretty skin and innocent…”
At my side, my hands clenched into fists. I didn’t even try to hideit. His bleary eyes darted to them and then up to my face. His smile slipped just an inch.
Throwing back his head, he laughed. “Ah, come on, man. Don’t say you acted any different. It was like a badly kept secret that you two were fooling around together before she got sent away.” More laughter. “You got to sample the goods. We only got to watch and imagine what her pussy felt like.”
I moved fast. Leaning across the space that separated us, I fisted his filthy shirt in my hand and tightened it around his throat. “Don’t fucking talk about her like, I paused, “wait, what do you mean it was a badly kept secret?” I hissed. “People knew we were seeing each other?”
“Everyone suspected,” someone else said. “It was the hot topic, especially after her engagement was announced. We all wondered how you would deal with that, and you didn’t disappoint, did you? I think Gio thought it was the end of you and her, but…”
I fell back into my chair, pinching the skin between my eyebrows. “Gio knew?”
“Shit, man.” The man whom I had just attacked sat back, rubbing his throat. “That was really uncalled for. I was just giving you the information you asked for.”
I stared at him coldly. “You haven’t given me any information.”
“You didn’t know? Of course he fucking knew.” The atmosphere changed. It became colder. More dangerous. Not for me. For them, because I was seconds away from hurting someone.
“And then you, or whoever was responsible,” he rolled his eyes, “killed their parents, and she was sent to some aunt in some town in Britain or somewhere.”
