Page 98 of Her Ruin

Hayley glanced at Rye, and I turned to him. “More secrets,brother?”

Rye waved his hand. “Tell him.”

I turned back to Hayley. “Speak.”

Hayley stood with her hands on her hips. “He’s in debt,” she said easily. “Over a hundred Gs, I think.” She sniffed. “Sounds like he’s been at the day games in Splay.”

Splay was a strip club in Chicago. It was never closed. The day games were big money, and only the very confident card players or the very desperate idiot played their hand there.

I turned to look at Rye, wondering how long he had known. I turned back to Hayley. “If your first response is not to tell me without seeking permission fromanyone, you’re no use to me.” I pushed myself away from the bar. “Get your shit and get out.”

Rye didn’t move, and he didn’t speak up for her. In her defense, she swore once, then grabbed her purse and phone, and stomped out from behind the bar. Jayden went upstairs with her, and when he came back down, he had another server with him.

“Zayn,” a man said, and I turned to one of my customers. “If you could?” He gestured between himself and the guy beside him.

“Always,” I said, moving past my best friend and locking eyes with him. “You have a lot to tell me. When we close, I want the unedited version.”

“Always,” he mimicked me, and I almost punched the fucker again for his insolence.

The deal was simple. When I saw they were ready to agree on terms, I moved to the following table, leaving Rye to record the one I’d just witnessed.

The remaining few hours of the night were slow, but the club upstairs was still thriving. We’d opened our booths to Angelo’s boss last weekend, and already, our fifteen percent was handsome. Knowing what was happening in booth one this evening, I could only imagine Isla’s horror as she witnessed it all.

I checked my phone once, and when I looked up after seeing no messages from Isla, I met a sympathetic look from my friend. Yeah, he was a dick, but his intention had been good. His method had sucked. It had been too soon. I knew Isla wasn’t ready. She hadn’t even told Julian.

With the speed she ran from here, I doubted she would be back. She hadn’t been ready, and maybe Rye was right to push now because it wasn’t crazy to think I was so close to being too ready.

The clubs closed, and the cleanup crew was already descending on both floors. They all signed an NDA, and we ran background checks on them all. I didn’t believe in waiting until the morning. My clubs had too much in them that needed to be wiped as soon as we closed.

As Rye and I passed the VIP booths, I heard Rye snort. “We may need to pay them more for booth one,” he said with a laugh. “That shit was nasty.”

“The shit you showed to Isla?”

“I didn’t know it was a full-blown orgy.”

We entered my office. “Yeah, you did.” My voice was soft.

“Okay, I did,” he conceded. “But I thought they builtupto that, not straight to it, know what I mean?”

We settled into our seats and watched the cleanup crew. “Speak.”

Rye blew out a breath. “From what I can gather, he’s in deep.” He sniffed. “Cards. Huge debts. I don’t think he’ll be able to cover his losses.”

I nodded as I opened the laptop and pulled up tonight’s earnings. “Who to? Just Splay’s?”

Rye looked around, a trait he had when he knew something he knew I wouldnotlike.

“Rye.”

“Delaney.”

I looked up and met his gaze. “How long have you known?”

Rye scratched his jaw, a nervous tic of his when he knew I was about to lose my shit. “Two weeks.”

I locked the laptop, closing the lid slowly. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Rye had a very bad habit of becoming nonchalant when he was cornered in a situation where he knew he had fucked up. “He’s twenty-seven years old.” He shrugged. “He’s old enough to handle his own problems.”

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