Page 10 of Vengeful King

I almost hold my breath as I walk up to the place. I don’t know where to start; it’s been such a long time since I’ve even been to a club as a patron. I approach the front doors, and the bouncer at the door gives me a quick once-over and murmurs something into his lapel. He doesn’t stop me from going in. There’s no door charge, then—or I’ve passed some test I didn’t know I had to. Whatever the case, he lets me in, and then it hits me.

The music is balanced. I can feel the bass buzzing up through my heels, but it’s not overwhelming. The lights are well done, too. There aren’t too many and it isn’t too dark inside. It’s just perfect enough for privacy, well lit enough for security.

I scan the place as quickly as I can. I see a dance floor, shining deep green, almost black. It looks almost like marble. The private seating is curtained, sequestered away from the noise. There are almost imperceptible outlets beneath the upholstered seats. So people do business here, I assume. The kind that you can’t do anywhere else.

My heart thumps faster. There are people inside already, mingling in little crowds like they’ve got some kind of seating arrangement. I feel like a kid walking into a new high school where the lunch tables have been decided. I have no clue where to go.

I have to think fast. There’s a hallway barely visible from the front of the club, back past the bar. It looks like there’s a hallway. It’s not the bathroom, so maybe it’s offices.

Maybe it’s where Lachlan is.

I take a deep breath. I know I have to go back. I have to apply for a job.

That’s my only way in. I’ve known it from the start—I’ll have to work, have to get close. And I’m willing to do it, because the alternative is that I fail. And I can’t do that.

I make a beeline for the back. As I walk, it starts to come back to me in pieces—the little rules, the ways you move around a club to let people know it’s comfortable for you. It’s your home. It’s not a place you can be tricked, roofied, cajoled away with a drink or a whispered word.

I used to know how to work a room. It’s starting to come back to me.

But when I get to the hallway, I recognize a bouncer I didn’t notice before. He looks me in the eye and I know whatever unspoken rule that let me get in doesn’t apply here. Not to this place.

I try my first trick. I smile, barely a lift of the corner of my mouth, calm. Like this is my place, too.

“I need to get back there,” I say. “I need to speak with someone.”

He doesn’t budge. “Speak with who?”

“It’s about a position,” I say, letting my smile widen a little. Purposefully, I allow my gaze to wander over his broad chest as my voice drops. “A job.”

But the guy doesn’t respond to my flirting. He doesn’t give a shit about me. I can tell. He isn’t even interested in me; his face is rigid, his eyes not wandering over my body at all. He isn’t going to be swayed by sex appeal or sweetness.

Shit.

“I think you should go back,” he says, tilting his head toward the dance floor. “While you can still enjoy yourself.”

Is that a threat?My heart beats faster, fear chilling my skin, but I try to keep my head up, looking him in the eye. I have to get in.

“If you’ll just—”

“Miss, I suggest you turn around. Now.”

Dammit.It’s not going to work.

CHAPTER4

Lachlan

The club is a busy place on a Friday night. Most men like me keep odd schedules, all based on what deals we’re making on any given day.

The benefit to being your own boss is that you can choose when you’re off. But if you’re serious like I am, you’re never truly done with work. There’s always something more to do.

Tonight is no different. I know my brothers are probably out with their wives, or out with friends. Doing things to unwind. They have that luxury; I’ve worked hard to make sure that’s the case. Everything I do is to make sure my family is taken care of, protected, free to live their lives.

It doesn’t leave me much time to live my own.

I don’t have much of a life outside of business. There’s too much, and it always happens at once. With Aiden, there was Rose and her father. With Connor, there was Willow and her messy entanglements. I’ve been so busy keeping up with them and their safety that it’s been a long time since I’ve even had an evening to myself.

But it doesn’t matter. I don’t need the strings of a relationship. I have the women I bring around to my place, and that takes care of that need.

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