Page 82 of Laila Manning
“Where?” I snapped.
“Lux.” She replied. “Theo called me.”
“Lux?” I bellowed, even as I whipped a U-turn in the middle of the crowded street, heading toward Ryker’s strip club. “Why would she be there?”
My imagination was running rampant as I flew through the city. Why would my broken little Dove go to a place where women were objectified?
“If I had to guess, because it’s the last place you’d expect her to be.” She sighed, “Maybe you should let me come get her. I don’t think she exactly wants to see you right now.”
“No.”
“Zeke.” She huffed, “Think about it. She’s running away. What happens if she sees you and bolts further?”
“I can’t.” I shook my head, tightening my hand on the steering wheel as my chest constricted. “I can’t breathe without her, Carly.” I admitted, hating how fucking weak I felt with the rift between Laila and myself.
“God, Zeke.” Carly sighed, and I envisioned her rubbing her forehead at my plight. “Be gentle with her. I don’t care if you have to get on your knees in the middle of the damn club, but be gentle with her.”
“I know.” One of the bouncers ran around the line toward me as I pulled my car in front of the door. “I’ll let you know when she’s safe.”
“Good.” Carly said and then hung up as I got out.
“Park it, or keep it here, boss?” Teenie, the obnoxiously big bouncer, asked as I shut the door behind me.
“Keep it here.” I rounded the front of the hood, “I’m not staying.”
“Got it.” He nodded, moving back to the line as another bouncer opened the front door for me.
I used to love coming to this club. The loud music and dark mystique behind the events happening just on the other side of the velvet curtains or in the VIP rooms upstairs used to entertain me. But now, walking through as I searched formygirl, in a room full of other willing women, I was dangerously close to losing it all.
“Boss.” Theo met me right inside the front lobby, and I could tell by the edge of his gaze, he knew why I was here.
“Where is she?”
“In your office.” He fixated on one of his cufflinks as he explained. “Willow recognized her.” Willow had been trafficked at the same time Carly had been and ended up in the brothel that held Laila captive for years. “As soon as I talked to Carly, I approached her, and before I could even say anything, she asked to go to your office.” He shrugged almost sadly, “Like she knew you would be coming for her.”
“Did anyone bother her before that?” I glanced over the crowd, looking over the men in attendance and half expecting to see a scar-faced biker sitting amongst the crowd, lurking for another chance to steal my girl.
“No, boss.” Theo shook his head theatrically. “She was giving off—” He grimaced, “Well frankly, she was hostile toward anyone that came near her. She just sat at the end of the bar and drank.”
“Is she drunk?” I questioned, moving toward the staff entrance to the back offices.
He shrugged leaving me to go on my way, “Kind of hard to tell when there’s that much anger radiating off of such a small woman.”
“Thank you, Theo.” I called, but didn’t wait for his reply as I moved through the dark hallway to my office. To be honest, I never wanted her to be in this place. The space I used for such carnal things over the years felt like it was tainting her perfection.
I could see the desk lamp on through the frosted glass of the door and hesitated outside. Theo said she was angry. And Carly said to be gentle with her.
But what did my Dove need? Would she bolt and run away from me again?
Would she yell and fight?
Would she cry and crumble?
Before I could dwell on it, I turned the brass doorknob and took in the sight before me. “Dove.”
Laila sat in my office chair, with her feet up on the polished desktop and a glass of red wine between her fingers. She wore the same clothes from earlier, and as she looked at me from over the rim of her glass, I could almost physically feel the fatigue through her stare.
She didn’t say anything to me but watched me with those dark eyes I’d fallen in love with from the very beginning. Usually, they rounded with fear and excitement when I called her Dove, but tonight, they stared flatly.
