Chapter Four
Slade
I knew the second Christine stood next to me that she was up to something. I just couldn't figure out why she was all of sudden on my side. Balducci gave her another sickening smile and went on his way, but I knew it wasn't over. Worst of all, I knew Christine wouldn't stop.
Keeping an eye on her should have been easy. We had a DJ scheduled for that night who drew a huge audience, and Christine only had a few hours to get the club ready for the crowds. She moved like lightning between the bar, the floor, the backstage, and her office. My office, but I had long ago given up my claim. My investment might have kept the club open, but it was Christine's energy that brought it to life.
I was exhausted just watching her.
"Sorry, boss, gotta get through here," one of the bar-backs said.
I shifted out of his way and searched for a new vantage point. The young man gave me a second glance, and I knew what he was thinking. Why was the club owner just standing around staring at people?
He followed my gaze and smiled. Christine had that effect on people.
I wished that explained why Balducci liked her so much, but just the thought tied my stomach in knots. My old boss always had an agenda. Christine was not only beautiful, she was successful, and her business savvy was the only thing that outdid her undeniable attractiveness. Balducci wanted her, maybe more than he wanted to destroy me.
I was still weighing that when the club doors open. It should have been a great night. There was a record number of people waiting in line and Balducci's men were nowhere in sight. The DJ was scheduled to start in an hour, but he was already creating a buzz on the floor. I just couldn't relax. And I couldn't see Christine.
I slipped behind the bar to pour myself a stiff drink, only to catch a glimpse of her across the dance floor. She had her arm through the scruffy, young DJ's and was proudly introducing him to our more notable guests. The way she smiled and squeezed him closer turned my insides to stone.
"You know you don't have to be jealous, right?"
I blinked hard and turned to Cara. The waitress/bartender was close to Christine and normally very quiet. "Who says I'm jealous?" I asked.
Cara pried the vodka bottle out of my fisted fingers. "Everything about you says 'jealous.'"
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
Cara poured a generous amount of the vodka over ice and handed me the glass. "She chose you just this afternoon. Doesn't that make you feel better?"
I winced, remembering the awful scene with Balducci. I'd started a fight within inches of Christine. Maybe I just wasn't cut out for protection. The skills my old boss had made me cultivate were much more aggressive. "Christine doesn't trust me."
"And you don't trust her." Cara glanced over the bar to where Christine and the DJ greeted another group of fans.
"They look pretty friendly, don't you think?" I asked.
"Christine is a good friend. That's why she set me up with him." Cara crossed her arms and grinned up at me.
"You're dating the DJ?"
"Yeah. So, the question is, what are you doing?" Cara asked with one raised eyebrow.
I knocked back half my drink. "Going crazy," I muttered.
"How about you go talk to her instead," Cara said.
"What is it with bartenders and good advice?" I finished my drink and tossed the glass to Cara.
She caught it then shoved me out from behind the bar and got back to work. When I turned around, Christine was only a few feet and a half dozen customers away. I pushed my way through the crowd and had to smile when the DJ's face paled. He extricated himself from Christine and slipped off to see Cara at the bar.
"I wanted to thank you," I said, blocking Christine from escaping.
She frowned, then purposefully misunderstood me. "Not a bad crowd tonight. You're welcome."
I stepped in front of her again. "I meant for backing me up with Balducci."
A wildly popular song came on and the crowd shifted us toward the dance floor. Christine was pressed up against me, and I automatically put my arms around her to shield her from the press of the partiers. The pleasure of touching her ran through my body like electricity, and I could tell from her suppressed shiver that she felt the same. There was a new, warmer light in her eyes when she looked up at me.
"I just wish we were on the same page," Christine said.
I lowered my head to hear her over the pulsing music. "How do we do that? What do you want, Christine? I just want to help you."
The angry fire leapt back into her expression and she tried to shove me back. "I want to know why Darren killed my sister."
My body felt like lead. All I wanted to do was protect Christine, and what she asked was the opposite of that. "What if there's no good answer?"
"Any answer is better than not knowing," she snapped.
She wouldn't believe me. How could Christine understand that what Darren did was probably a mercy? Unless she had firsthand experience with that kind of brutal leverage, Christine would never understand what killed her sister. I could tell her two thousand times over and she would never believe me. I had to figure out a way to make her understand before she went after the truth herself.
I held on to her, my arms tightening as the crowd around us surged. "Okay. We'll figure it out. Together. How about I get us a bottle of wine and we meet in my, I mean, your office?"
Christine was suspicious. "You really want to help me now or are you just trying to distract me?"
I nuzzled her neck, breathing in her scent before I said, "Maybe you could use a distraction. Help clear your head."
She laughed and though the sound was lost in the heavy bass of the club music, I felt it lift some of the weight off me. "Nice try, Slade. I'll meet you in the office to talk about what happened with Balducci. That's it."
That was enough for me. I kissed her cheek and headed to the back stairwell. There a huge bouncer nodded and let me go downstairs to the wine cellar. It felt like we finally had a break, just long enough to breathe easy and maybe enjoy one night together. The thought lit my blood on fire. It didn't matter what mess was going on, I still wanted Christine. Every inch of her.
I opened the door to the wine cellar with a particularly good vintage in mind. Then I saw the partial shoe print in the dust near the far wall. Only a few people were allowed down in the basement and that corner had been untouched for weeks. I glanced at the party decorations, the wall-hangings, and the sparkly streamers. Nothing was out of place. But someone had been there. Why?
Waiting until the crowds came in so they could move through the club undetected.
The blood froze in my veins. Someone was in the club who didn't want to be seen. I left the bottle of wine and raced back up the stairs.
"Have you seen anyone strange around here?" I asked the mountainous bouncer.
He shook his head then frowned. "There was a dude hanging around when I got here, but he was just finishing a phone call."
"What did he look like?"
The bouncer shrugged. "Just a regular dude."
I moved back toward the dance floor and grabbed the first cocktail waitress I could see. "Have you seen anyone strange? Someone here not dancing?"
She laughed and tossed her bottle-blond hair. "Everyone's dancing. The music's great!"
"No wallflowers? No creeps?" I asked the waitress.
"No," she said then bit her lip. "There was one kinda creepy guy. Real pale."
Fear choked me but I managed to ask, "Did you see which way he went?"
"I dunno, toward the bar?"
I left the cocktail waitress in the sea of dancers and plowed my way through the crowd back to the bar. Cara capped off a pint of beer and joined me as quickly as possible. The look on my face made her breathless.
"What? What is it?" Cara asked.
"Hey, buddy, we're trying to order drinks here," some guy down the bar yelled.
He backed off after one glance. I turned to Cara. "Have you seen a pale man?"
Her hand went to her throat in a worried gesture. "The guy who used to stalk this place when it was Club Prive? I saw him earlier when you all were pushing and shoving Balducci's men at the door."
"I think he's still here," I said.
Cara shivered but steadied herself. "Okay. But he can't do anything with this huge crowd of people, right? Maybe he's just here for some fun."
I shook my head. Someone had to know how dangerous he was and Christine was far more likely to believe Cara over me. "He doesn't have fun."
"You know him?" Cara asked. The horror on her face was enough to make me wince.
"His name is Aaron. He works for Balducci, specialized service," I said.
"No. No. That doesn't sound good. What the hell, Slade? How can you let people like him into this club?" Cara asked.
"I didn't let him in, and I'm certainly not going to let him stay. I just need to know if anyone else has seen him. We have to find him now." I glanced around the packed club. "And where's Christine?"
Cara pressed her hands to her mouth as if to suppress a scream. "She went up to the office a few minutes ago."
"Alone?" I asked.
"She said she was meeting you!"
A tray of glasses smashed to the floor as I leapt out from behind the bar. Terrified party-goers pressed against the wall as I pushed my way through to the stairs. The two bouncers stationed at the bottom of the stairwell jumped to unhook the velvet rope as I charged past and took the stairs two at a time.
Every bad rumor and nightmare whisper I had ever heard about Aaron rang in my head. He'd been with Balducci longer than anyone else and yet no one knew him. He didn't talk. He just followed orders. And I knew firsthand that Aaron's orders were always the most awful. He handled all of Balducci's dirty work with a quiet efficiency that made him seem more of a phantom than a real person.
On the top floor of the club, I tore open every single door in the hallway. I couldn't risk Christine being cornered in one of the private rooms. Every second counted. The floor pulsed with the heavy bass of the club music but I caught each door before it made a sound. I couldn't let Aaron know I was coming. I'd never gone up against him directly and it was a terrifying prospect.
Every room was empty, and I raced toward the office at the far end of the hall. The door flung open and there they were.
"Slade!" Christine called.
Aaron stood in the middle of the large room with both hands in the air. He was unarmed but when he saw me a switchblade appeared as if by magic. I had just enough time to step back as the blade sliced through the air. The front of my shirt fell open but I was uncut. Aaron slipped out the door and I was about to charge after him when Christine ran into my arms.
"He just appeared out of nowhere," she said, her words muffled against my sliced shirt.
"Are you okay? Did he try to hurt you?" I tipped her face up and searched her eyes.
Christine shook her head. "He said he had a message for me. What does that mean?"
I wrapped my arms tight around her and said nothing. Silence was better than the truth. If Aaron had a message for Christine, then her life was in danger. And I had no idea how to keep her safe.