“What do the humans say?” Kane mused, reveling over his sudden reversal of fortune, “Until death do us part, Cat. Until death do us part.”
CHAPTER 28
Ace
I wasn’t in the most stable frame of mind when I returned to the club house. After Cat had learned I’d forced her change, things hadn’t exactly gone to plan.
While I could understand why she’d been angry with my unilateral decision to force her change, her anger still didn’t sit well with me. I was not only an alpha, I wasthealpha. I wasn’t used to making decisions by committee. I understood how completely her life had changed, but I’d foolishly hoped she’d understand why I’d done it, why I had to act as swiftly as I did. I needed her to understand that my changing her scent had saved her from a lifetime of being chased by unstable alphas like Kane. Because, as long as Cat remained an unclaimed omega, she’d never be left in peace. Her scent was too alluring. It was a miracle she’d made it this long without any unwanted attention.
Even though I knew that was the truth, I also knew that, underneath it all, the decision to change Cat had mostly been a selfish one. I needed her as my mate more than I needed thenext breath of air in my lungs. She was my all. My everything. Without her, I’d live half a life, one plagued by sadness, regret, and bitterness. Though I’d only known her for mere days, there was no going back to the way things had been before she’d popped into my life. Even one day apart felt like too big a concession after so recently mating. My heart throbbed in her absence, along with my greedy dick.
As soon as I got through the front door of the compound, I heard the easily recognizable sound of women bickering.
“You bitch!” Chrissy was yowling at the top of her lungs while standing at the bottom of the stairs. “I’m going to fucking rip out your hair and leave you permanently bald for pulling this shit on me!”
Kendall, the stripper from Kicks who’d shown interest in me when she attended Cat’s first Night Stalkers party, came down the stairs then. She was wearing a frayed pair of booty shorts, a banana yellow triangle bikini top that barely covered the nipples of her surgically enhanced breasts, and a self-satisfied smirk.
“What’s wrong, Chrissy? I could hear your terrible screeching all the way from Donner’s room,” she spoke, obviously knowing exactly what was wrong with the distraught club girl, despite saying otherwise.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Chrissy’s voice continued to escalate in volume and pitch the more irritated she grew. “You know what’s wrong, you fucking cunt! You got me fired from Kicks!”
What the hell? How did Kendall have the clout to pull that off, I wondered as I moved in closer. “What’s all this about?” I demanded, already pissed off over my fight with Cat.
Chrissy began to openly cry then, which was a rare sight. The women who hung around our club weren’t shrinking violets. Say what you wanted about them, but they were tough as nails. If Chrissy was losing her shit right now, I knew it must be over something important.
Chrissy stabbed a finger in Kendall’s direction. “Her! That hag got me fired from Kicks by stashing drugs in my work locker. Jerry called me into the club this morning. He told me he was wiping me from the weekly rotation and to clean out my belongings from my locker because I wasn’t welcome back.”
Fuck! By the stricken look on Chrissy’s face, and the smug one on Kendall’s, I fully believed the accusation. It wasn’t like Jerry, the guy who managed the strip joint for the Club, wasn’t aware the girls’ partied it up in their free time. However, when the dancers were at work, he didn’t play. Our manager had a clean-club rule stricter than a catholic high school locker room. While he didn’t drug test the dancers or anything as dumb as that, he had a zero-tolerance policy that stated no drinking and no drugging while on the job, which I respected.
“Do you have anything to say?” I posed, giving Kendall a hard look.
Her sharp gaze traveled up and down my full length before she licked her glossy red lips like the true predator she was. “Yeah, you look good, Ace. How come you don’t ever come see me dance at the club? I’ve got a new routine I just know a guy like you would love.”
Her misdirection wasn’t subtle, nor had she intended it to be. Ignoring her statement altogether, I ground out, “Did you have anything to do with Chrissy getting fired today? Tell me the truth.”
Kendall shook her head and her long dark hair swished artfully back and forth. “Of course not, Prez. I can’t help it if the girl has a drug problem. She should really get a handle on that before it makes her look even older than she already is.”
Chrissy rushed the stairs then, but I caught her midflight on the first step. Hauling her backward, I shook the enraged girl to get her attention. “I’ll talk to Jerry, Chrissy. You’ll have your job back tonight. You have my word on that,” I promised, and the fragile woman crumbled in my arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Thank you, Ace. Thank you. I need that job. I need it,” she wailed, as she gratefully hugged me.
I understood. Girls like Chrissy might appear carefree and like they just float by in life on their looks, but I knew differently. I knew how her parents had thrown her out when she was fourteen. How she lived on the streets until she was of legal age to start stripping because it allowed her to put a roof over her head and food in her belly. That it seemed like ten steps up from selling her ass to crooked Johns for quick cash because as a dancer at a strict club, she had control, and the final say about how she earned her money.
Kicks might just be a titty bar to some, but to girls like Chrissy, it was a safe haven where management paid them on time, kept them out of harm’s way, and the wolves at bay. To a street kid that had never had stability before, that was incredibly important. I wasn’t about to let Kendall swoop in and take what little the girl had away from her just because she was a spiteful bitch.
“Why don’t you go home and get ready for your night shift, Chrissy. I’ll call Jerry and straighten this all out,” I repeated to soothe her tears.
The thankful woman kissed me on the cheek before she headed out the front door. Before she left, she gave Kendall a death stare. The ballsy bitch gave her a condescending wave good-bye right back.
“You shouldn’t coddle her like that,” Kendall lectured when Chrissy was gone, her arrogant features pinched now that I’d spoiled her fun. “That cokehead needs to learn a lesson about who, and what, she messes with.”
“Cokehead?” I repeated, cocking my brow. “Funny, for someone who had nothing to do with what happened to Chrissy, you sure know a lot about it.”
The corner of Kendall’s mouth tipped up then, revealing her ugly intent. “It’s just a good guess. She looks the type.”
We stared at one another for a few long seconds before Donner came down the hallway and spotted the dancer hovering midway down the staircase.
“What’s going on here?” He asked, clearly starting to get possessive over the pretty brunette.
