“I don’t need you to protect me. I’m a cop, remember?”
Running a hand through his hair, he huffed out his impatience. “I know, but I’m stronger than you.”
“Why? Because you’re theman?”
He snarled again. “Because I’m…” His jaw clenched as he grit his teeth. “Because I care, okay?”
Narrowing my gaze, I watched his face before rolling my eyes and saying, “Fine.” I was too full of energy to argue with him. I wanted to be at Urban already and find out what secrets this club held.
Finally, a clue.
I guess Cade was my good luck charm.
The music assaulted my eardrums the second the door was opened, and Cade stayed so close behind me I could feel the brush of his jacket against my back. His fingers remainedsplayed protectively on my waist, and I smiled at the sensation. I hadn’t been romantically involved with such a protective man before, tending to avoid them because I didn’t want to deal with the excess testosterone. But there was something soothing about Cade’s presence. Beyond his physical stature, which was impressive in itself, he simply radiated a quiet power, and the crowd parted as we made our way through to the bar.
Cade waved two fingers at the bartender, who approached and leaned forward to hear us over the music. “We need to see the boss.”
“I’m the manager here,” she answered, tucking her curls behind an ear and frowning.
Cade leaned forward to meet her halfway across the bar, and her instinct to move away from him made me smirk. “Theboss.You knowexactlywho I mean.”
Her eyes widened, and her gaze darted back and forth between Cade’s pupils before she scurried off.
“Now we wait,” I said.
Cade nodded, leaning against the bar. But for once, his stance was anything but relaxed, his back and shoulders tense. He moved to pull me against him, and when I resisted, he growled, grabbing my waist and yanking me back until my ass nestled against his crotch. Normally, I’d take advantage of the position, but Cade being on such high alert was sending my senses into overdrive. Did he know something about this place I didn’t? I kept my gaze moving, never settling on one person or spot for too long, taking a mental inventory of the occupants.
Wait.
When I tensed, Cade followed my gaze, and seeing nothing in particular, he stared at me. “What is it?”
I frowned. I could have sworn I saw my brother, but what would he be doing here? This didn’t seem like his scene. When I hadn’t seen him in so long, I’d assumed he’d left the city. Isearched again for him but saw no one I recognized. Cade asked me again what I was looking at.
“Nothing,” I lied.
An attractive woman with black hair approached us, and another growl rumbled through Cade’s chest as he pulled me closer to him. “You!” Cade snarled.
She cocked a perfectly plucked eyebrow at him, her eyes appearing cat-like with the eyeliner around them. “I don’t think we’ve met.” She let her gaze slide to me, her lip lifting into a smirk as she took in my hair—I wasn’t in the mood to be calledinnocentor some shit, not tonight—before she returned her eyes to Cade. “Follow me.”
Once again, I was yanked backward as I moved to follow. Cade kept me behind him as we weaved our way through the crowd. Okay, the overprotectiveness was starting to get on my nerves now, and Cade cried out as I twisted his arm behind his back before ducking under his elbow, being the first to follow the woman with black hair up a narrow staircase. She turned at the sound and smirked at the rage on Cade’s face and my impassive expression before continuing up the winding staircase.
At the top, she tapped on the door a few times, the music was muted slightly, and the purple lighting cast eerie shadows around the stairs. When the door swung open, the staircase was flooded with both light and sound as we stepped out onto a balcony overlooking the club.
“Visitors for you, Emrick, sir,” she said.
The décor screamed of someone who had money and wanted everyone to know it, and sitting upon the velvety chair opposite us, a man with sunglasses and a hoodie pulled over his head had his fingers together in a pyramid, resting his chin on his fingertips.
Wishing I could see his eyes beyond the dark sunglasses, I simply stared at him. Up until this moment, adrenaline hadsurged me forward, but once that door to the staircase behind us was closed with a definitive click, my skin started to crawl. It was him, the man in the chair, he radiated darkness and danger, and I rolled my shoulders, trying to rid myself of the feeling which settled over us.
The dark-haired woman had disappeared back down the stairs, and we were left with the man in the chair, who I assumed to be the boss, and a handful of his bodyguards who stood at strategic spots around the balcony, no corner left unprotected.
“Who are you?” he barked. He didn’t need much volume to his voice, and I got the sense he could silence a room with a wave of his hand. Nerves overtook me, and I dug my nails into my palms to stop myself from trembling. Casting a quick glance at Cade, I did a double-take when I saw his expression.
Fear.
Cade’s jaw was tensing and twitching, a nervous tick I hadn’t seen from him before. I wasn’t the only one making fists at my sides, but Cade’s muscles also flexed on his neck. He was preparing for a fight.
Did he know this Emrick?
