Dani had always suspected that getting arrested would be a classier experience if you were rich. She was right. Even the metal handcuffs had seemed a little less intrusive when the officer slid them around her wrists, almost apologetically, while his buddy had taken down Rand’s statement as someone with a IV after his name tried to explain his outrage and dismay over the attempted theft of a crystal bunny rabbit.
It almost made it worth it—hell, what was she thinking? Listening to Rand describe her theft of the tiny trinket had totally been worth a night in jail.
As she’d been read her rights, she’d felt his gaze on her. Still, she hadn’t given him the satisfaction of looking back. She’d kept her glance averted, her manner cool and assured. Part of that was to show how little she cared about getting arrested; which, in fact, she didn’t. Lou would be pissed, because she’d be missing her shift. But Lou was always pissed. Jimmy would probably call her at least six or seven more times, but he’d get over it. And she hadn’t been kidding: taking her chances in jail had seemed a hell of a lot safer than spending even another five minutes with Rand Sterling Winston IV.
There was just something so disturbing about the man, something that had snuck up on her when she wasn’t looking and planted itself in her brain. In the space of only a few minutes, she’d gotten to the point where she couldn’t even look at him without fearing she’d betray how much she wanted him, how much she yearned to feel his hands hard and sure over her body, her legs wrapped around his hips.
Easy girl. Even now, sitting in the middle of the Boston PD’s holding area, she could feel sweat beading between her shoulder blades, and she knew her breathing had gone a little ragged. She forced herself to focus on the fact that her hands were cuffed not by Golden Boy, but by the boys in blue, and her night held nothing more exciting than a long and tedious paperwork shuffle in and out of cells.
Still, there was no denying it: She’d won.
She was the one in jail, yes. But she’d still won.
Because Rand hadn’t gotten what he wanted, and she hadn’t given in. She hadn’t really wanted to—the idea of dinner with the man had zero appeal. Sex? Again, that was an entirely different prospect, and had kept her sufficiently warm throughout this cold-ass night. She had a feeling it was going to keep her warm for quite a few more nights, too, and she looked forward to that as much as she looked forward to getting the hell out of jail.
She might as well get comfortable, though. She sure as shit wasn’t going to call Erin and ruin her evening. Besides, as long as she kept her focus, no one would try anything here. Even in the designer dress, which probably cost more than two months’ worth of tips at the bar, she looked like what she was. A street rat crawling just above her station, happy for the blast of fresh air—even if it meant she had to take the hit of the oncoming car to get it.
“Michaels.”
Dani looked up at the uniformed officer, who was unlocking the cage. “Charges dropped,” he said, ignoring the outcries, questions, and demands from the other cell occupants as he led her out of the room and down the hall. “The arrest will stay on your record, but you’re free to go. You can pick up your things at that window.” He pointed down the hallway and Dani nodded, glancing back at him. She opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped just in time. What was she thinking? That Rand would give the man additional instructions, like “have her look for the limo out front?” Regaining control over herself, she offered the cop a tired smile, then moved to gather her personal effects.
Rand might have been entertained by her this evening—certainly he’d been somewhat entertained, or he wouldn’t have sprung her so quickly—but being entertained was a far cry from continuing to dog her heels. He’d be on to the next girl quickly enough, or return to the Ice Princess who’d accompanied him the night of the gallery show. Dani’s mind lingered a little too long on the woman, an unexpected pang of jealousy spearing through her. She was everything Dani wasn’t—rich, for one, but also totally above it all, chillingly perfect. Is that what Rand was attracted to? A frigid flawlessness that matched his own?
Well, perhaps frigid wasn’t quite the right word.
Dani pushed that thought away as she stepped out of the front of the precinct building with a wary glance, instantly regretting her lack of a coat. The rain had finally stopped, thank God, but the overnight temperatures were plummeting, and it was well past midnight.
There was no limo in sight, as she’d fancifully imagined, so she hailed a cab. Since this was the precinct house, there was one waiting at the front, and the guy knew enough not to look at her with too much curiosity. Smart man. She wasn’t far from the club, but she felt grimy, out of sorts. And cold. As it was, she’d be late for her shift, but late might still count for something with Lou. She hoped.
She pulled out her phone as the cab moved through the frozen, slick landscape, and it jangled in her hand. For once, it wasn’t Jimmy. Almost as bad, but at least she’d get to test her theory.
She fit the phone to her ear as she connected the call. “Sorry I’m late. Just got out of jail,” she said, smiling at the abrupt, shocked silence on the other end of the line. Once again: so worth it.
“Who posted your bail?” Lou’s voice was curious, not even a trace of anger in his gruff question, and Dani unwound a little more.
“Charges dropped. You got coverage tonight or do you still need me?” For just a second, Dani considered the possibility that she could take her fake Choos and go home. “Sorry I didn’t call earlier.”
“Yeah, the cops don’t usually let you check in to work when they’re busy hauling your ass downtown. But to answer your question: I got no coverage, I got nothing. And for whatever reason, we’ve got people hanging from the rafters here tonight. I could use the help, if you didn’t get shivved in the big house or anything.”
Dani frowned at her phone. Lou wasn’t the biggest asshole she’d worked for in Boston, but that didn’t make him a saint, either. And he was being awfully polite for a boss whose number one bartender had been AWOL throughout a busy night. “Ummm…Everything okay?” she asked.
“Just get here.” The phone went dead, and Dani sighed, pocketing it as a new concern shifted through her. Rand, staring at her across the room, his eyes predatory. Not the kind of man used to being denied, even when he was asking for something inane. Was he following her even now?
Instinctively, she turned around in her seat, but there was no way to tell if the lights of the cars behind them had been there all along, and the cabdriver looked half-asleep himself. Still, what if Rand had been waiting for her outside the precinct lockup, just to see where she would go? How much did he really know about her? Or she about him, for that matter?
Oh, give it a break. Dani rubbed her hand over her face. No way would he be at the club tonight, either way. Lou would have warned her off if someone strange had come in sniffing around for her. He’d just sounded peeved at the crowd, not worried. Either way, Dani wasn’t used to feeling like she was second-guessing her every move. Rand had gotten under her skin, and the man wasn’t even around to gloat.
They swung onto a familiar street, and the taxi angled to the side, the driver half-turning as Dani pulled out a twenty. “Keep it,” she said as the man’s eyes widened at his unexpected tip. “Shitty night.”
She prayed it wouldn’t get any worse.
Walking through Club Noir was like descending through the nine circles of hell. The deeper you got into the place, the darker and more twisted it became. Dani’s station was at the last bar in the public section, before the club devolved into a VIP no-alcohol zone, with private rooms for private parties to party, privately. Patrons could be served, but only if they brought their own liquor in ahead of time, and they typically tipped well, so it worked out all around. All that aside, the main attraction of the club was its public dance floor and multistage bar areas, and that’s where the crowds tended to be. Well before she even got to her station, Dani could see why Lou had been so insistent that she come in tonight. The place was crawling with clubbers writhing to the house beat, their frantic pulsing almost desperate and the club stifling hot after the sharp chill of the weather outside.
“What’s the deal?” she shouted to her backup, a beautiful goth girl whose piercings teetered just on the edge of pain freak.
“No clue.” The girl shook her head. She poked a thumb to the corner. “You got company, though.”
Dani turned to where she was pointing, a wild flare of excitement punching her hard. When she saw who was waiting for her in the darkness at the end of the bar, however, her stomach knotted up. Jimmy. No wonder Lou was on her ass to come in. She nodded her thanks to Shae and pulled a beer, setting it on the counter in front of her baby brother before responding to a string of demands.
Finally, she worked her way back over to him, dropping her elbows onto the bar top. She leaned down until he looked up at her. Jimmy was so good-looking he almost took your breath away, if not for the wild-ass crazy look in his eye, the product of one too many beatings delivered by one too many assholes. They’d come up together in the system, thrown together as brother and sister, and through some miracle they’d been able to stick together through two horrific households before the last one happened to them. The one that had changed everything, in some ways…but still not nearly enough.
Nevertheless, Jimmy had almost made it out, and now that he finally had a reason to go for it—a real shot at a family—Dani couldn’t let him backslide.
“Hey, little bro,” she said, giving him a smile she actually meant. “What can I get you?”
“Not you—me.” Lou had come up during a break in the action. He pounded Jimmy on the back, and Dani didn’t miss Jimmy’s wince, though to his credit, he didn’t say anything. “I’m giving your friend here a job. Barback, starting tonight. You train him, and maybe I won’t throw you out for trying to get out of your shift tonight by way of the police.”
“Barback!” Dani frowned down at Jimmy. “What the hell? What happened to your corporate gig—”
“Need a second job,” Jimmy said, his eyes rounding in the way that Dani knew from long experience was her cue to shut up. “Family, you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” She turned and smiled at Lou, hiding her concern behind a wide and easy grin. “I’ll get him up to speed.”
“You do that,” Lou said. “And come talk to me before you leave this morning. There’s work coming out of my ears, doll, and I need your help.”
She nodded, then watched the round man amble off. He clapped a few regulars on the shoulders even as he stayed clear of the younger crowd practically vibrating off the walls. When she swung her gaze back to Jimmy however, she knew she wasn’t going to get any answers out of him. His face had completely shut down, his gaze now sullen, withdrawn. Back on his beer.
Fine by her. He’d talk when he was ready. And as soon as she figured out what was happening that was so bad that he was willing to work night and day instead of spending every second with his wife and his new, beautiful baby girl, she’d find a way to fix it.