Page 58 of Gather the Storm

“Stay close to me,” Wolf said, taking a step toward me.

He didn’t have to tell me twice, both because the crowd definitely looked a little rowdy and because, well, he was hot as fuck in black jeans, a sleeveless blue T-shirt that matched his eyes, and black boots.

We made our way through the lobby, the Beasts nodding at people here and there, glaring daggers at the ones who dared to stare and whisper.

I almost felt bad for them. This was probably their first time out since they’d been released from prison and it was obvious their reputation was less than stellar. Then I looked up and saw the way they swaggered into the place, like they owned it, and my sympathy disappeared.

The Beasts didn’t need my sympathy, and if they’d killed Blake, they didn’t deserve it.

We passed the concession stand and started for the long hall leading to the defunct theaters. A giant of a man with a weather-creased face and a dark beard was frisking people as they entered the hall, but the Beasts just kept going, moving past the guy like he wasn’t even there.

He snaked out a hand to grab me as we passed and I was shocked to feel Jace pull me against his side.

“I wouldn’t,” he told the bouncer, his voice low and threatening.

I was propelled along by Jace’s pace, his body big and solid against mine as we continued down the hall.

“Fucking asshole,” the bouncer called after us.

I caught a hint of glee in Jace’s laughter. He was a chaos maker, someone who thrived on pushing the limits — his and everyone else’s — and I suddenly wondered what it would be like to have him inside me.

To be invaded by all that chaos.

Fuck me. It was either hot at the Orpheum or my lust was in overdrive.

We kept going, passing several quiet theaters and heading for the one at the end of the hall. Multicolored lights shone inside, music thumping loud and rhythmically.

Jace shoved me at Wolf. “Keep an eye on her.”

I stumbled a little, then glared at him.

The bouncer was right: Jace Kane was a fucking asshole.

I cursed the fact that I wanted him.

The theater had been emptied of seats, but the screen still worked, a movie playing on its surface. I didn’t recognize it, but it looked old, gangs of young people fighting in what looked like an old warehouse and clothes from the 1950s.

Without the seats, the space was cavernous, the ceiling soaring dark above us, almost making it seem like we were outside under a starry night. To one side of the room, a couple of guys were fighting, a group of onlookers cheering them on while others danced just a few feet away like the two guys weren’t beating each other bloody right under their noses.

It was another world, a world of swinging lights and loud music and sweaty bodies. A gritty nightclub on steroids.

Jace disappeared into the crowd and Wolf leaned down to murmur in my ear. “Want a drink?”

“Sure,” I said.

He took my hand and led me with Otis through the mass of people to a makeshift bar set up at one end of the theater. I felt the contact of his skin like a brand, the heat from our joined palms traveling all the way up my arm and through the rest of my body.

And I do mean my whole body, if you catch my drift.

Ugh.

Wolf ordered for me without asking what I wanted (was it weird that I found it sexy?) and waited while the bartender — a tatted and pierced guy I didn’t recognize — made our drinks.

It was too loud to hear what Wolf and Otis ordered — for me or for themselves — so I just kind of sank into the noise and generalized chaos of the place. The fight at the other side of the theater had ended, the group dispersing like nothing had happened, but another one had broken out near the front, down by the screen.

I wondered if it was one of the scheduled fights — I had no idea how fight night worked — then decided it probably wasn’t since everyone else was still dancing and partying instead of watching.

Between the Blades and the Barbarians, rival MCs, and the Phantoms and Hellhounds, competing street gangs, Blackwell Falls was a hotbed of testosterone and conflict — and that wasn’t including the everyday townies looking for a fight just to keep things interesting.

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