I turn away from their table, planning to check on Aidan to see if everything in the club is going smoothly, when I come to a halt as I step back onto the dance floor.
A pair of dark eyes is watching me from a booth on the other side of the room.
When Scott told me about Nick Monroe, I googled him to find out what the hell my brother had gotten himself into. Unsurprisingly, there was almost nothing about the man online, just a mugshot. That mugshot is staring right back at me from inside my own damn club.
The fucking nerve of this dipshit when he just beat my brother half to death.
I catch Tyrel’s eye at the entryway, who turns as I approach him and, without a word of explanation, falls into step beside me.
Monroe’s beady eyes are on me all the way across the room. It’s a sleazy look I’ve seen from guys a thousand times, and it makes me want to punch him. If this asshole thinks he’s sitting in my club, while my brother sleeps off the bruises his men gave him, he has another thing coming.
“You must be Jax,” he says as I reach the booth. The cronies on either side of him immediately zero in on me. One of them has a rose tattoo on the side of his neck and a slicked-back hairstyle that emphasizes his receding hairline.
Monroe isn’t drinking, but his men are. I remain very still, watching them, deciding how best to handle this. If I get Tyrel to remove them, it will cause a scene, but I’d like nothing more than to take this guy down a peg or two.
“Nick Monroe, is it?” I ask coldly.
“In the flesh. Lovely to finally meet you. Your brother’s crazy about you.”
His buddies snicker, and I inhale a long breath, tamping down the white-hot rage coursing through me.
“You’re not welcome in this club, Mr. Monroe. I’d like you to leave.”
He nods sagely, as if he were expecting me to say just that.
“Oh, I would, babydoll, but you see, right now, your brother owes me half what this club is worth. With the interest on top, who knows how bad it’ll get if he doesn’t pay me. And I did ask nicely the first time. He brought this on himself.”
Tyrel is quiet beside me. He knows nothing of what happened to Scott, but he saw him when he came through the door tonight, and I can feel the tension rising every second. Tyrel’s loyalty to my brothers and me is absolute, and if I let him have his way, Nick Monroe will be thrown onto the sidewalk in thirty seconds.
I place a hand gently on Tyrel’s wrist as he looms above them, and he takes a tiny step back. I don’t need this to escalate, not with what this man is capable of.
“Until he gets me the money I’m owed,” Monroe continues. “Me and my boys are gonna come here as often as we like. Is that clear? I don’t enjoy being made a fool of, Miss Jenson, I’m sure you can understand. And Iwillget what’s owed to me. One way or the other, if you know what I mean.”
I chew on my tongue. The guys on either side of Nick are leering at me now, and the one at the end of the booth is dangerously close to touching me. If he tries, I’ll break his arm.
“You wouldn’t want Flynn finding out about this, would you, babydoll? That wouldn’t be good for business. So you run along now. And while you’re at it, get some more drinks for my friends. I don’t want one of those bimbos to bring them either. You mix them and carry them over here yourself.”
Tyrel takes a menacing step forward, but Nick doesn’t even bat an eye. His gaze is intense and vicious, the kind of look the men my father hung around with used to have.
This man has done what he did to Scott many times in his life, and worse. There’s cruelty there, and I don’t want to provoke him any more than I have. This fight is for another day.
I smile sweetly. “Bourbons all round?”
They nod. The tattooed one looks disappointed that he isn’t getting the fight he wanted. I step back and move off toward the bar, Tyrel hot on my heels.
“Is that fucker the one who hurt Scott?” he asks.
“Yes. Don’t antagonize him.”
“I won’t. I can see why you need to keep him happy. If he didn’t have his muscle on either side of him, he’d be a lot smaller and a lot meeker, believe me. The smug ones are always the biggest cowards.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it. Thanks for the intimidation tactics. I forget how big you are sometimes.”
Tyrel snorts. “If you think I’m leaving you to deliver those drinks alone, you’re sadly mistaken.”
I smile back at him. “Thanks. Keep an eye on him tonight, tell me if he starts any trouble.”
“With pleasure.”
