CHAPTER EIGHT

Dalton

 

“Fuck,” I swore as I watched the Gentry girls drive away. 

“Is there a problem?”  asked Annabella, the hostess.  She never missed an opportunity to touch me in some way and she didn’t miss one now. 

“No problem,” I told her and recoiled when her skinny fingers stroked my upper arm. 

“You sure, Boss?” she asked.

I was going to snap at her to quit calling me ‘Boss’ and then decided not to bother.  In the three months she’d been working for me I’d figured out that Annabella harbored a head full of boss-fucking fantasies.  She was wasting her time.  Someone around here was bound to be into those perky tits but I needed a personality to go with those virtues and Annabella was as personable as a spider. 

“You should get back to the door,” I said tersely and brushed off her grip as I stalked back into the club.  No, this girl didn’t do a thing for me.  The only girl in a long time who’d managed to spark my interest had just peeled out in her crappy Toyota. 

I couldn’t help but feel responsible for Cami and Cassie getting attacked by one of Griffin’s thuggish associates. I thanked the stars that I’d gotten a call about a kitchen emergency otherwise I wouldn’t have been anywhere near that hallway.  I would have been back at the table sipping a fucking drink while awaiting a view of Cami Gentry waltzing back into the room in her sexy silver dress.  When I thought about what might have happened if Griffin and I hadn’t been there I nearly vomited all over the bar. 

“You look like you need this,” said Clive, one of the bartenders, as a shot of whiskey landed in front of me.  I didn’t often do shots but I swallowed it without hesitation. 

I felt someone land on the stool next to me and I sensed it was Griffin before he spoke. 

“Can I get one of those?” he asked Clive.  When the shot arrived, his fingers touched the rim of the glass but he didn’t drink it. 

Griffin sighed. “They get out of here okay?”

My anger was rising.  “You mean quietly?  Without causing you any headaches?  Yeah, they did.” 

“Dalton.” 

“Are those fuckers still around?  Did you send them a couple of the best bottles from the wine cellar to make up for the fact that assaulting women isn’t tolerated here?”

His jaw hardened and he stood up.  “Let’s go talk.”

“Fuck you, buddy.” 

“I’m still the boss,” he growled in my ear. 

We were attracting some attention now.  I noticed Clive pretending not to listen as he polished shot glasses and a couple at a nearby table glanced at us curiously. 

I stood up and let Griffin follow me to the back, past the rest rooms, beyond the kitchen and down the hallway called the VIP Mile where a half dozen well appointed rooms were available for the private use of important members and guests. 

I barged into the one Ivan the Asshole had scampered into after I flattened him earlier.  It was empty now. 

Griffin closed the door behind him and regarded me soberly.  “How about giving me a little fucking benefit of the doubt, Dalton?”

“We should have called the police.” 

He shrugged.  “The girl didn’t want to.” 

“Then you should have let me cripple the son of a bitch.”   

He looked amused.  “I’ve known you for years, my friend. You haven’t got that kind of violence in you.” 

I thought of the terror-stricken face of Cassie Gentry.  I thought of the way Cami screamed in rage and tried to beat Ivan off with every scrap of her strength.  Griffin didn’t know me at all if he believed I wasn’t capable of doing permanent damage to that motherfucker. 

“Who are they?” I asked him.

He didn’t flinch.  “Investors.  Like I already explained.”

“Since when does Sullivan Enterprises require foreign investors to stay afloat?”

Griffin sank on to the leather couch.  “Your world is the club, Dalton. The pieces you’re responsible for fit together neatly.  The big picture is a little harder to explain.” 

  “I see. And your big picture includes some Russian mafia thugs.” 

Annoyance flashed across his face.  “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” 

“Maybe not.  But I do know that there are rumors.  You’ve heard them.  I know you have.  So far I’ve opted to ignore them but if you’re asking me to ignore situations like tonight…well, old friend, you’re asking too fucking much.” 

There’d never been an honest conversation between us about some of the gossip that circulated about the club.  I was sure it couldn’t be true, that there was nothing going on in my midst that was worse than the usual crooked politicians and business deals that might be under the table and unethical but certainly not illegal.  There were no prostitution rings, no drug dealing, no political bribery.  

“I’m not asking that,” Griffin said.  “Honest to god I feel like crap about what happened.  My associates brought some shitty companions along but that was never part of any plan approved by me.  You have my word that there’s nothing to worry about. Come on, don’t allow some drunk fucker to shake your faith.”   

I chewed on that.  “I need to ask you now, not just as an employee, but as a friend.  Is there anything going on around here that I need to know about?”

He didn’t hesitate, didn’t even blink.  “No.” 

Griffin’s answer didn’t make me relax much but I had no choice at the moment but to take him at his word. 

“I better get back out there,” I said.  “Got a club to manage and the night’s not nearly over.” 

“Sounds good.  I’ll slip the doorman a Benjamin as a thanks for dealing with crowd control.” 

“His name’s Fabio.” 

Griffin cracked up.  “No shit?”

I wasn’t in the mood to laugh with him.  “Nope.” 

I was about to walk through the door when Griffin casually said, “I’ll talk to the Gentry girl tomorrow.  Smooth things over.” 

My fist closed around the door handle.  Griffin and I had been good friends for years.  Mostly I thought he was a good guy.  Yet there were sporadic moments when I wondered how well I knew him.  This was one of those moments.  I didn’t know if I was just being paranoid.  But I did know that I didn’t want him near Cami. 

“Don’t,” I snapped.  “I’ll talk to her.” 

He grinned.  “She really turned your head, didn’t she?  Can’t blame you.  She looks like she’d be fun to play with.”

I left the room without saying another word. 

Back in the club, the small stage was about to be occupied by the eleven o’clock show.  The singer who was stepping up to the mic had been hired recently to work two nights a week, a local girl who toiled away in an insurance office all day and nursed dreams of being discovered by a major record label.  She had a fantastic voice and crooned a selection of mournful ballads.  I stood in the back and listened for a few minutes before Clive pulled me aside to talk about some supply issues behind the bar.  My mind wasn’t really on liquor inventory so I told him to see the assistant manager, Luis, about placing an order. 

For the rest of the night I kept to myself, avoided Griffin and was unintentionally short with the staff whenever they approached me with a problem.  When I turned the lights out for the night I felt a little bad about brushing off some of my employees.  I prided myself on being a good boss who enjoyed an easy rapport with his staff. 

 On the walk back to my suite I took the long way around the manmade lake and wished I didn’t live at this damn place.  The arrangement that had always seemed convenient now struck me as fucking depressing.  I’d moved here at a low point in my life and at the time I was content to shove my personal life aside.  The end of my baseball career and the implosion of a struggling relationship had left me grateful for the club because I knew it would occupy most of my time.  It was a lonely existence but that was what I wanted.  Tonight it was no longer enough.  Tonight I couldn’t stop thinking about Cami and how I’d been a conceited jackass when I invited her here tonight.  I’d started believing in the legendary elite status of Aqua Room and I jumped at the chance to show it all off to her. 

“That’s right, baby, I run the hottest club in town.  Does that blow your smartass mind enough to push that sexy dress up over your hips and let me fuck you like a beast?”

 I groaned out loud, partly because I was disgusted with myself and partly because I had an instant tent pole in my pants over the mind-fucking fantasy of Cami shedding her clothes and spreading her legs.  The way I was feeling right now I could easily go ten rough rounds inside that tight little body.  Damn, I’d just met this girl a few days ago and I didn’t know why the hell I wanted her so badly.  I just did. 

There was a rustling in the brush to my left and I froze.  Most of the desert creatures that crawled out of their holes at night were small and harmless but coyotes would sometimes attack in packs.  Plus there’d been bobcat sightings out here in the last few weeks and one morning a stray tomcat was found bitten in half.  What’s more, rattlesnakes were an ever present worry. 

I swiped a good sized rock off the ground and waited.  The rustling intensified, then veered off toward the lake.  Seconds later I heard a small splash.  Fierce whispers followed but surely that was my imagination, prompted by a sudden gust of hot wind.  The hour was after two a.m.  There was no moon in the sky.  No one would be running around at this time, especially not off the path in the unseen brush.  More than likely some wild animal was doing a little nocturnal hunting. 

My fist closed around the rock just in case something with teeth came charging out of the darkness.  Several minutes passed but there was nothing except the faint music of Sonoran desert toads.  Eventually I started feel like a fool listening to nothing in the middle of the night and I walked the rest of the way back to my building.

It was only when I reached the door to my room that I realized I was still holding onto the damn rock.