Nothing was wrong.
In fact, everything about this felt very right.
“This wascustom made!” Maslow swung his arm toward the wreckage Oz stood amidst. “Do you have any idea how much that bed cost me? Imported! Reinforced! Now it’s kindling!”
He wheezed through the end of it, chest heaving, sweat beading along his brow. “I’m taking this out of your pay. Deductions for all of you! Off your tips, off your base, off whatever filthy cash you were hoping to keep this week!”
“You can take it outta my ass,” Colt sniped from the doorway, fanning himself with his hat. “Pretty sure it’s got more cushion than that mattress ever did.”
Maslow whirled, his cheeks coloring with something darker than rage. “I just might, you horse-humping halfwit.”
Callum snorted and covered it with a cough. Colt grinned.
The wraith surveyed the damage once more, then flapped his arms dramatically. “This is a damn nightclub, not a rodeo! You wanna blow off steam? Go do it in the alley like normal degenerates!”
“You d-don’t let us g-g-go outside,” Callum reminded him.
Darby gave his hair a flip. “And you don’t pay us either, so you might want to rethink the threat of deductions.”
Maslow rounded on him with a snarl. “Listen here, you sissy bitch, if I wanted comeback, I’d take it outta your mouth.”
Darby’s tail snapped through the air, swift and sharp as a cracking whip, but before he could counter, Maslow spotted me.
The wraith’s eyes narrowed, and his lip curled like he’d caught the scent of something foul. “Well, look who came crawling back.”
I didn’t say anything. Couldn’t. I was frozen in place and choked with giddy relief. The room behind him was wrecked.Upholstery shredded, lights flickering and glinting off the trail of glass and splinters that led directlyto Oz, who remained in place beside Elliot like he wasn’t sure if he should run or bow.
Maslow stepped toward me and extended a single plump finger. “This isyourfault.”
I blinked. “Mine?”
The wraith’s eyes blazed, and his mouth twisted into a snarl. “Yes, yours.You poisoned this place the second you slithered through the door. Turned my staff against me. You ruined a good thing.”
He started toward me, but Darby was faster.
“No,” he said, hands planted on his hips. “This wasn’t Cherry’s fault. Or his idea. It was mine.”
Maslow’s head whipped toward him. “Yours?”
“And mine,” Elliot chimed in, slapping the leather tip of the crop against his open palm.
Oz nodded beside him, broad shoulders straightening by the moment. “Mine too.”
The twins beamed in tandem.
“It was m-my idea,” Callum stammered.
“Yeah, his.” Colt’s emphatic nod toward his brother earned a reproachful snap from Callum’s tail.
Colt snickered and rubbed the spot with mock offense while Callum rolled his eyes.
“The vote was unanimous,” Elliot confirmed.
That settled it.
Maslow sputtered, his outrage mounting with every word. “Youvoted? This isn’t some kind of democracy!”
“No,” Darby repeated. “It’s a nightclub. Not a whorehouse. Not a porn studio. Which means you don’t needthis.” He nodded toward the room and the wreckage of whatever sordid fantasy Maslow had planned, then he straightened his shoulders and added, “The boys and I havea few ideas for the space, though. Quality of life improvements. When you’re ready to listen.”
