“Where is it from?”
“A legit place. I’m not doing anything illegal.”
“I fucking hate this,” Scott says as he leans back in his chair. I flinch, holding back the lecture I want to give him so badly.
Scott is a wonderful brother. Loyal, generous, and kind, but he has a weakness that none of the family recognized until it was too late. He kept his addiction secret for years, and I naively assumed he was past it. Now, I don’t know what to believe, or whether I can ever trust him again.
After Nick Monroe is dealt with, things are going to change around here.
“I need to get back to work. Stay here and don’t move around too much,” I say.
Scott nods, his eyes already closing.
Going to the chair at the side of the room, I snag a blanket I’ve used a few times when I’ve pulled an all-nighter at the club and lay it over him. He squeezes my hand, a tear falling down his cheek as I put a stool under his feet to prop them up.
“I’m sorry I’m such a fuck up,” he says despairingly.
“You’re not a fuck up. We’ll manage this the same way we manage everything else, and then you’re back to the GA meetings. No arguments. You need help.”
He nods, but we both know there is a long road ahead to his recovery.
“I never want to see another card table again,” he says bitterly. “I swear to god.”
“Well, that’s a good start,” I say, giving him a sympathetic smile and leaving him to sleep it off as I go into the club.
I consider putting a discreet message out to the team to see if there’s a doctor in the crowd tonight, but I decide against it. Not only would it make the entire staff aware of Scott’s situation, but the resulting doctor would likely be drunk. I decide it’s best to leave him to heal in his own time.
Still, I ask Alex and one of the other staff to keep an eye on him and bring him some bar snacks later in the evening as I head down to the main floor.
The design of the atrium always takes my breath away when I walk onto the main dancefloor, no matter how many times I’ve done it.
There aren’t many venues that look like this, with the lights from the DJ booth ricocheting madly across the ceiling, reflecting off the mirrors on the upper floors, spreading it around like a huge kaleidoscope.
The club is busy but not quite as packed as it has been. The VIP booths are full, though, and there are several parties going on, the staff running around like a hive of bees, flitting between the tables.
The booths are stacked above the main dance floor, all of them with plush velvet seating, which Flynn thought was a good idea at the time but has since been destroyed by alcohol stains. I’m glad it’s dark so the guests can’t see them, but every time I’m here before the house lights turn off, I grimace at the state of them.
My assistant manager, Aidan, is in the Blue Room tonight, and I envy him being somewhere a little quieter, but my mood lifts as I notice a familiar face ahead of me.
Moving through the grinding bodies around the edge of the floor and high-fiving one of the DJs waiting in line for his set, I make my way to one of our biggest booths on the right-hand side.
Pippa and eight other women are seated inside, with several bottles of alcohol already in the center of the table.
Pippa sees me as I step up to the booth, and she raises her glass.
“Ladies, this is the manager, she gave us the gold card that bought all of this,” she says, grinning a little drunkenly at me.They’re really taking advantage of the free drinks, but I don’t care, as long as she’s happy.
“Anything else you need?” I ask.
“More champagne!” Pippa screams over the music, and I can’t help but laugh at her as she almost falls out of the booth. I beckon over one of the staff, who throws me a thumbs up as he takes another table’s order.
“Thanks for this,” Pippa shouts. “We all needed this, and it’s great that it’s free.”
“My pleasure.”
“You’re not as much of a bitch as I thought you were,” she slurs.
“Likewise,” I shout back, and the rest of the table explodes into hysterics. They seem like a nice bunch, a lot of them quite a bit older than me, and Pippa is in her element as the hostess. That’s all I wanted from my offer. I need to keep her happy in case Mr. Asshole chucks me out once he’s done with me.
