Page 87 of Wild Night

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

POSEY

I wishI could have a drink. The stress of this entire ordeal is starting to get to me. Closing my eyes, I place my hand against my forehead before I let out a heavy and long sigh.

“You’re okay,” Dakota states.

Looking across the small round table at her, I arch a brow. “Am I?” I lower my hand before I reach for the bottle of water in front of me. She smiles, rocking Nathan in her arms as she brings her own bottle to her lips and takes a sip.

Dakota shrugs a shoulder then places the bottle back down on the table, her eyes connecting to mine. “You are,” she says before she continues. “You’re safe here with us. Nothing and nobody here is going to hurt you. This is the safest place in the world for you right now.”

I want to believe her. I know I should, because literally nobody is getting in or out without being seen. And if they somehow got through the gates, it wouldn’t be for long. The number of men walking in and out of this building, walkingaround the building, and then back, is astounding. Not a single thing is going to go unnoticed for long here.

“I just have a bad feeling about all of this, about the whole situation.”

She opens her mouth, no doubt to tell me to relax, when I see Piggy walk out of the hallway that Justin disappeared down with Bullet. Piggy’s jaw is set… hard. His eyes are narrowed and focused.

There is a problem.

Dakota notices it, too, probably because I’m staring at Piggy and am unable to do or say anything else. He makes a straight beeline for… one of the clubwhores. I don’t know their names, and I honestly pretend they don’t exist.

“Hazzard,” Dakota whispers, as if she can read my mind.

I don’t respond.

I have nothing else to say. Instead, I watch in silence as he wraps his fingers around the back of her neck and marches her in the same direction he came from, then disappears down the hallway with her.

Shifting my gaze around the room, I realize that the entire place is now silent, minus some music playing in the background. Everyone is staring at that dark hallway where Piggy and this woman just disappeared through, and that’s when it is confirmed for me that this is not normal. Not that I thought it was.

“What does that mean?” I ask, shifting my attention back to Dakota.

She turns her head to look over her shoulder at the damn dark hallway, then turns back around so that her gaze finds mine. “I don’t know,” she whispers. “But nothing good.”

Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I worry it back and forth, my knee shaking from the anxiousness that fills me. Idon’t know what any of this means, but I also know that it’s not good. That sense of safety has completely vanished.

Poof—gone.

“Let’s go get your room here set up. Ivy told us to put everything in his room. It wasn’t messy, but I’m sure you want to wash sheets and stuff.”

It’s a distraction. I know it is, but I accept it happily. Dakota and I walk out of the bar area and head toward the other hallway and then to Justin’s room. It’s not dirty, which doesn’t surprise me because his house is well maintained, so I just assumed he was a clean person, maybe a little particular, but I’d rather that than him being a complete slob… I think.

I’ve lived alone for so long, not counting the moving in with Lucian and then not seeing him for years. Because technically, we lived together, but we didn’t actually share the house for more than a few weeks. There wasn’t time to even learn how each other took their coffees, let alone whether one person was clean and the other was messy.

So I’m sure it will take time to get used to one another when it comes to that kind of stuff. I’m going to neatly put away my things in this room, though. I don’t think Justin would appreciate a mess, and I’m not usually someone who thrives in chaos.

This is a good distraction, including laundry and remaking the bed. I even unpack my toiletries and set them all up in the bathroom. I’m hoping by rearranging everything I can and moseying around the room, I can keep busy until something happens, until there is news.

Unfortunately, nobody comes knocking on the door to inform us of any news. So once I’m finished, Dakota and I drop our shoulders and head back out to the bar, where it seems everyone else is doing pretty much what we are. Pretending tokeep busy while also keeping an ear and eye out on that damn hallway.

“We need food,” Dakota announces. I stare at her for a moment, then blink. “Come on, let’s go make something.”

I want to tell her that I’m not a great cook, but I decide I can play with Nathan if need be. And that’s exactly what I do. Following behind Dakota, I slip Nathan from her arms and set his little diapered booty on the counter as I sink down on the barstool and watch her move.

“You’re not cooking anything, are you?”

I make a face at Nathan, which causes his lips to curve up into a grin before I speak. “I can chop things up, but actual cooking is just not something in my repertoire.”

“Repertoire,” Dakota says with a little giggle. “Okay, Posey.”

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