“How was the visit with Meyah the other week?” Connor asked as he wiped down the bar. It was getting late, or early, I guess you could say. At almost three in the morning, there was still one girl on the stage and eight or so men hanging around, but for the most part, the staff were already cleaning up, and last calls had come and gone.

I was finally off duty and desperate for a drink.

Connor was the manager at X-Rated, the MC’s strip club. It was one of our major income makers, and also a business we used as a cover for other money we had coming in—not so legal money.

The girls at X-Rated were well looked after, and the club had high standards of what was expected from them. No drugs, regular health checks, no drinking on the job, and absolutely no fucking the customers.

We made sure that our business was run properly because X-Rated and the girls there were a reflection of the club. The members took shifts working as bouncers and also working for the new personal security firm the club had developed, which over the last year had grown bigger than we had ever anticipated.

I picked up the beer Connor had left for me and let the bitter liquid drench my throat before wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “Didn’t go as well as planned. She basically told me I was a tiny piece of shit on her shoe. The kind that was worse smelling than any other piece of shit she’d ever stepped on.” I screwed up my nose, just saying the words made me feel like I’d licked something sour. “I screwed it up pretty bad, and I’m fucking itching to fix it, but the damn courts have me stuck here until the end of the month.”

Connor raised his brow and stopped wiping. “So what are you gonna do?”

“She’s back this weekend,” I told him, taking a sip of my drink for a little liquid courage. “I ain’t gonna let her leave again. I can’t man. I feel like half a person. I can’t let her go.”

Connor’s head bobbed up and down. “Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do for the people you love, you know?” he commented, hearing me loud and clear. He opened his mouth to add more, but the moment quickly disappeared in a puff of smoke when I heard one of Connor’s waitresses scream. I looked over at the stage seeing Amy scrambling to get up off a man’s lap, with no help from him as he laughed and held his arm securely around her waist.

I slammed my beer down on the counter and rushed over. “Hey! Let her go,” I called, giving him a few seconds warning to release her before I got there and started swinging. I could feel Camo, Levi, and Connor coming up behind me, obviously making note that the guy in question wasn’t alone.

There were three of them, and they’d been here for hours, going through alcohol like it was fucking water and laying down over the top tips for the girls. I’d been keeping a close eye on them hoping they wouldn’t be stupid enough to do exactly what the fuck they were doing.

A few steps from the table, I was about to grab the fucker by the throat when Amy swung her elbow back and caught him in the nose. His head flew back, and he cried out in pain, shoving Amy off his lap. There was a resounding thump as her body slammed into the table before tumbling to the floor.

Two giant steps, and I grabbed Amy’s hand, tugging her up off the floor and into my arms before these assholes got any more bright ideas. I leaned back, searching her face for injuries while I held her up with one arm around her waist. She was a little dazed and obviously thrown by what had just happened, her body shaking as she blinked and shook her head.

“You okay?” I asked, pushing the hair away from her face after spotting an instant bright red mark across her cheekbone from where it had hit the hardwood. “Fucking hell. Camo, take her.”

Gently, I passed her off to Camo as he came up beside me looking at Amy in concern.

“You guys need to get the hell out of here,” Connor ordered, his face a picture of fury, but he was trying to keep his cool because that was his job. “Now. Before I call the police and have Amy here press charges.”

The offender—we’ll call him fucker one—climbed from his chair, wobbling on unsteady feet as he rounded the table. His friends—fucker two and fucker three—followed, looking a little wary and a tad soberer, but blindingly ready to follow their friend into battle.

“The little bitch broke my nose, I should be the one calling the cops,” he protested, his hand over his nose trying to catch the blood that was drizzling out. “The slut has been flirting with us all night, but when I finally offer to take her home with me, she turns me down. Fucking cock tease.”

“Flirting!” Amy gasped in horror. “You showed me pictures of your wife, and I told you how beautiful she was. I hope she figures out what kind of man she married, and I hope she figures it out soon you pathetic excuse for a man.” Camo kept a firm grip on Amy, but the girl had bounced back, the shock of what had happened was gone, and she was fucking pissed.

We didn’t have weak females working here, I can tell you that for sure.

Most of our girls knew how to stand up for themselves, and if they felt like they couldn’t do that, then they knew there was no shame in speaking to one of the boys and getting them to do it for them. We were here to keep them safe.

“Time for you all to leave,” I stated strongly, taking a step forward. I was ready to usher these guys out, peacefully or with force if I had to. Either way their pictures would be taken and they’d be blacklisted.

That was the plan anyway, turned out fucker two had a different idea.

There was a loud smash, the sound of glass breaking. “Don’t you dare fucking touch me. I know you fucking motorcycle riding bastards,” he slurred, making me think that maybe fucker one wasn’t the most drunk. All three of them were wearing expensive suits, you’d think they would have some kind of class. “I ain’t being buried in a hole in the woods just because Randle tried to grope some pussy.”

I frowned. The dude thinks we’re gonna off him just because his buddy is a misogynistic asshole. Jesus, ain’t nobody got time for that.

“I wouldn’t even waste a bullet in my—”

He didn’t wait to hear what I had to say. Suddenly fucker one went flying, and fucker two was coming, almost diving at me while swinging a broken bottle in his hand.

My first reaction was to swing, throwing a right hook at the side of his face. It connected with his temple, but with the momentum of he’d already gathered, and the way he was erratically waving the broken glass around, I couldn’t move fast enough to get completely out of the way of the weapon, and I was instantly angry at myself. The sharp, jagged edges of the bottle slashed through my shirt where my cut hung open and piercing pain shot through my body.

“Ham,” Amy called when I stumbled backward, hunching my body over and pressing my palm against my hip, but trying to keep my eyes on these guys in case they decided to attack again. Not that they’d get very far because Connor and my brothers were already right there with me.

Levi came like a flash from the side, leaping on top of fucker two as he crumbled to a pile on the ground, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Levi made quick work of flipping him over and pulling both arms behind him, probably a lot harder than necessary. Fucker one and fucker three stood in awe, their faces turning white. They looked between each other, their eyes meeting for a second before both of them took off running, scrambling for the door, leaving their friend knocked out on the floor.

I expected Connor to race after them, but instead, he headed toward me with a worried frown. “Kat! Call an ambulance,” he yelled to one of our girls who was standing at the edge of the stage watching the whole thing go down.

“It’s fine,” I tried to tell him, but it was followed by a wave of pain that almost made me want to vomit. The adrenaline was quickly wearing off, and I was beginning to feel a little lightheaded. “Fuck,” I cursed under my breath, wobbling as I searched for a chair to sit on.

“Here. Sit the fuck down,” Camo ordered, pulling a seat over to me and holding my arm as I lowered my body into it, excruciating jolts of pain shooting like electric shots through my body.

I groaned loudly in both pain and frustration. “Last thing I fucking needed,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “Maybe I should kill the motherfucker and bury him in a hole in the forest.”

Camo snorted out a laugh. He pulled his cell from his pocket. “I better ring Op,” he said, hitting the speed dial.

“Tell him I’m fine and not to fucking come down here,” I demanded, pressing even harder against the wound in my side, after looking down and realizing there was blood seeping through my fingers.

“The ambulance will be here soon,” Kat confirmed as she rushed over, a large cloth in her hand. She kneeled down beside me, it was almost comical to see her crouched there in her stage outfit with rainbow feathers sticking out all over the place and a worried look on her bedazzled face. “Here, let me have a look.”

I leaned away from her. “Like fuck! Can you see the blood coming out? I’m trying to stop it, if I let go—”

She reached out, ignoring my protests and pried away from my hands.

I screamed—yes, I fucking screamed like a little bitch—when she pressed the thick cold cloth against it, applying pressure.

“Goddammit, woman!”

She grinned up at me, the gems in the corner of her eyes sparkling in the light. “No internal organs fell out when I did that. So I think it’s safe to say you aren’t going to die. It’s just a couple of cuts, they look kind of deep, but a few stitches and bing bang… you’ll be ready to go.” Kat was basically the only woman here who would be able to get away with saying every single thing she just fucking said because she’d been here working at X-Rated so long she’d become more like family to the club and less like an employee.

I decided not to reply, focusing on breathing through my nose as I tried to block out the pain which was now threatening to steal my sanity. Usually, I’d avoid the hospital like the fucking plague, but the moment I heard those sirens coming, I almost yelled out fucking hallelujah because I knew they had the drugs.

And right at the moment, I was pussy enough to tell everyone there that I fucking needed them.