I told Matt about my advisor, about my classmates, about everything at Naveah that evening. We were squished into the VIP booth, he had an arm on the back of my seat, and he was turned toward me, shutting out the rest. His friends were across from us, girls around them.
Guy had his arm around one of the girls, sitting on the inside of the booth.
Chester was lounging back, another on his lap.
And Tony—I didn’t want to even look. He had tugged a third behind the corner, and I knew she was kneeling, but they couldn’t be doing what it looked like they were doing. They were out of eyesight from us, but not from the rest of the club. Though the club was darker than normal that night. Torie came over with drinks and mentioned they had a lighting emergency.
Tony was probably taking advantage. So gross.
“It seems intense,” Matt was saying, but his gaze kept going past my shoulders. I was at the end of the booth, and he had a perfect view of the tables surrounding the dance floor. I wasn’t going to take bets that he was eye-fucking a girl and that soon after he left the table he’d be screwing her for real. It’s what my brother did. Even if he said he was going for drinks for everyone, I knew not to believe him. He would go for drinks and would bring them back, but the time from leaving to coming back would depend on how long it took for him to get with the girl.
We’d had family dinner with Cyclone and Seraphina at the main estate earlier tonight. Marie was still gone, which was odd. Marie ran the place. Her being gone, super weird. My mom was there, but distracted through the entire dinner. Kash was still in meetings. Same with Peter, so it ended up being a sibling dinner with their aunt.
The aunt.
That was it.
I didn’t know her name. I kept forgetting to ask Kash and Matt. Then she was walking into the room and I expected her to introduce herself. Nothing. She shook my hand when I introduced myself, and stood behind Seraphina with an almost sad smile on her face.
She was pretty.
I remembered the slight heart attack I had when I first saw her, walking behind Cyclone and Seraphina when I FaceTimed them. She looked so much like Quinn, it’d been hard to see her.
I’d hoped that effect would go away, but it hadn’t.
The hairs on the back of my neck were permanently standing upright the whole time during dinner. It was the second time I’d seen Cyclone and Seraphina in person. Everyone waited, giving me two weeks to heal. They were going to give me more, but I’d had it with everything. I was fine. I would be fine. Let me get on with my life.
But that wasn’t the same deal with my two younger siblings. Every time I wanted to go see them, they weren’t available. There were lots of family therapist meetings for them, and if they weren’t in those, then they were with other trauma specialists or divorce therapists. It was a bit of overkill—bad wording there, but that’s what I thought.
Then again, maybe I couldn’t judge. It hadn’t been my mom who tried to kill my half sister. So tonight I had high hopes of really getting some bonding time in.
And I wanted to hear if they were already talking about AI in there, too.
I was relieved that, by the end of our pizza, he had never mentioned AI at all, just that the older guys had been super friendly and curious about me. Seraphina seemed happy, too. Lots of smiling and laughing. Matt kept teasing her about the guys in her grade. He kept mentioning an E.J. and she kept blushing. Her whole face was a tomato by the end of the dinner.
The aunt was there, always there.
The official reason was that she was there to help take care of Seraphina and Cyclone, but she was lurking. Sitting. Staring. Actually seeming nice when I looked at her, but I couldn’t look at her. I just saw Quinn.
Breathe, babe. Breathe.
I was breathing.
I was fine.
Quinn was not there anymore, and though her sister seemed nice, I had to bail. Matt was cool with it, so we came to Naveah after, and now there were two drinks in for me, three for Matt, and a couple shots for the others.
I stopped talking and waited.
It took a second before Matt blinked, his eyes finding mine again. “What were you saying?”
“Right.” I was grinning. “Go. Do your thing.”
He was quiet a second, measuring me. “You won’t be mad?”
“Matt.” I gave him a look. “You’ve been eye-fucking someone over there this entire time. I doubt you heard a word I said.” I nodded again, jerking my head behind me. “Go. Do your thing. Have fun.”
“You sure? You did have your first day of classes today…” But he so wanted to go. I could see it, and I heard it in how his voice trailed off.
Another look from me.
“Right.” He laughed, dipped his head down, and knocked on the table. “Then let me out, sis.”
As he passed me, his phone buzzed. He checked it before showing me the screen, saying at the same time, “Sit tight. Your man is on the way.”
The text was from Kash.
Heading there now. Bailey okay?
Matt paused, his back turned to me now as he sent a response. Then he shoved his phone back into his pocket. He gave me a last wink over his shoulder, grabbed his drink, and turned to head down the stairs connecting our booth with the rest of the club.
“Francis! What the hell, man?” That was from Guy, his hands lifted in the air, but with a smirk on his face.
Matt just grinned. “You know where I’m going.” He motioned to me with his drink. “Watch my sister for me. Her man’s on the way.”
Guy’s eyes darted to me. His smirk never lessened, and he lifted his head up in response. “You know it.”
Chester and Tony had both stopped whatever they were doing with their girls. I still wasn’t looking at Tony, but I saw Chester lift his head up and glance over his shoulder at Tony before he looked at me.
He didn’t say a word. Tony either.
Tony did come back to the table, and to my side. “Can I slide in?” There was no girl behind him. She was heading down the stairs, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and straightening her shirt.
My stomach rolled over in nausea, but whatever.
I stood up and stepped to the side.
Tony didn’t say a word, only slid inside the booth and moved so he was closer to the girl next to Guy. There was a good distance between him and me. Two people could’ve sat there. Still felt too close to Tony. Guy seemed decent, but I’d seen enough from Chester and Tony. My guard would always be up around them, a fact they both seemed to know, because neither gave me a greeting when they showed. They just came up, nodded to Matt, and did their thing. Guy came up later, a wider smile and an actual greeting for everyone.
No girls. No Fleur, Victoria, or their third friend. Those girls were different than the ones flirting / making out / doing other explicit acts, like the girl who had just scampered away and the two remaining at the table. I was still new to their scene, but I knew that much. These girls were used for one thing: entertainment. Whether it was for flirting or blowing, the girls were used and then told to run off. Once they were done with the girls, the girls had to take off or the guys got nasty.
I’d witnessed it. It hadn’t been fun to watch.
But girls like Fleur, Victoria, and their other friend, they were different. They had connections to these guys. Families. Their parents were colleagues, helped each other with charity benefits. They were money. The discarded girls weren’t, and so these girls didn’t do much to me. There might’ve been a nasty look, but once they were told who I was, they shut up immediately. In this realm, being Matt Francis’s sister lent me protection in that way.
Also being Kashton Colello’s girlfriend skyrocketed me above them, too, but I wasn’t like Victoria or Fleur. I didn’t look at these girls with disdain, just a fair amount of discomfort, because who gives a blowjob next to a booth?
That was a new level of awkward for anyone.
But these girls didn’t know that I was the one who might be nice to them. They simply did not talk to me. It’d been like that the first night and every night since.
So, with Matt gone, I sat back in the booth and prepared to wait in silence until Kash showed up. Guy was the only one who might say something to me, but he was firmly distracted by his girl. Her hand had disappeared under the table, and the motion made it clear what she was doing.
Tony was still smirking.
Chester also was nodding, and as I sat there and watched, he took his girl’s hand and moved it beneath the table, too. She had to maneuver to one side of his lap so she could do what he wanted, but a second later, yep. Pretty obvious.
I was sitting at the sexual acts table.
Kash couldn’t get here fast enough.
It was ten minutes later. Ten minutes where I sat in silence, listening to the music, sipping on my rum and Coke, and studiously ignoring the guys, when a shift in the club happened.
Everyone felt it.
A buzz swept through the club, making everyone pay attention, whether they realized it or not. They instinctively knew someone more powerful, someone more dangerous, someone they should fear was in their midst. It was a feeling in their gut, and whether they acknowledged it or not, they were affected by it. Conversations quieted. People began looking around.
A zap of energy was in the air, and all heads turned as a path opened toward the stairs leading to our booth.
There was my man.
Kash Colello had arrived.
Seriously intense eyes, eyes that were dark and fixed on me, and I couldn’t tell from the nightclub’s lighting, but I had firsthand knowledge how his usual cognac-brown eyes could go to simmering midnight if he was in the right mood. And that mood was either being pissed off or being turned on.
Based on how his strong jawline was set, and how his broad and defined shoulders seemed rigid, I was going with the first mood. It also didn’t help that the lights were flickering and casting shadows that played over his high cheekbones. I still melted on the regular if I saw water dripping down them.
Honestly. They were delicious to look at.
Mix them with his lips, very delectable and kissable and lickable lips—
I was thinking I shouldn’t be getting turned on by watching Kash stalking over here, looking like he was going to lay into someone.
I couldn’t help myself.
That body, and how he was moving toward us, did things to me.
Another thing I knew from personal experience was that body of his. He was ripped, with barely an ounce of fat on him.
Yes, indeed. Kash Colello was very blessed with some fan-fucking-tastic genes.
He was almost stalking forward, but he was moving with a lithe, predatory motion to him. There was no expression on his face. He was locked down, but he was angry. His eyes were almost glittering. Tony and Chester both sat up straighter. Tony’s hand clenched into a fist on the table. Even Guy, who was still wearing an easygoing smile, was wary. His eyes dimmed a bit, and his jaw tightened, but he did it all while grinning.
Kash walked up, his eyes still on mine, lingering, before sweeping over the rest of the table.
The girls had both stopped their ministrations, their eyes glued to Kash, and their jaws slackened.
His gaze paused where the girls’ hands were under the table before he growled, “With Bailey here? You serious?”
Tony jerked, slamming into the back of our booth, jostling the rest of us.
The girl’s hand jumped back up to the top of the table. She was blinking, looking dazed, but color was coming to her face. Her gaze moved to mine before she lowered her head, her hair falling forward to cover her face.
“She stayed. It’s not our problem.”
Tony was an idiot. He was talking back to Kash, so he was more than an idiot. He was a moron.
Guy’s grin lessened. Then a chuckle came from him as he, too, seemed shocked at what Tony said.
Kash’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t move. He didn’t lean over the table. His face didn’t show anything, but when he spoke, Tony knew, I knew, everyone knew. Tony had just made a very, very stupid decision.
“I had a meeting with your father today.”
Those words were whispered from Kash, but everyone at the table heard. And everyone took notice, because Kash was reminding Tony in a very simple way that he was connected to him in a way Tony couldn’t touch. He was connected to his family’s money.
He was above Tony’s family—way, way above.
There was a reason Kash had remained hidden as long as he did. When he came out of the shadows, the entire world took note. They took note of his connections, his wealth, and he was catapulted into being even more powerful than my father—and that said a lot.
Anyone who had ties to Calhoun Bastian should instinctively be feared.
Kash made this point. “His company is going to go bankrupt. He wants me to come in, pour money into the company and save it.” Now he moved, stepping closer to the table, his eyes never moving from Tony’s.
Tony seemed to suck in his breath.
Kash leaned forward, placing his hands on the table so he was in Tony’s space, invading it and pushing him down. “I’ve not made my decision if I want to save your father or not. Keep being you and you’ll help me make that decision.”
Keep being a dick. Keep being a douche. Keep just being Tony and Kash wouldn’t save his father’s company.
Tony’s jaw clenched. His hand was still in a fist, but he swallowed. His Adam’s apple moved up and down, and air hissed from him as he forced his hand to relax on the table, right between where Kash had put his hands.
I knew that’d all been intentional.
Move in. Force your presence on them. Remind them you control them. Remind them they are not as dangerous as you are. These were all moves that Kash was doing. He was reminding Tony of that fact right now.
Tony was the small guy here, and Tony hated it.
“Sorry, man.”
Tony backed down, but it was visibly costing him.
“Good.”
Simple, precise, and a killer shot. Kash switched his gaze to me.
He reached down and grabbed my hand. A thrill went through me, sliding down my spine in the best way and he pulled me behind him. The path remained open, but then I saw there were guards lining the way. Kash and I swept past them, heading for the door. As we passed by the last staff desk, someone stepped back quickly. I looked up, thinking it was Torie, or someone maybe I wouldn’t know.
Hoda stared back at me, her eyes wide. She was holding a drink tray in front of her, turned vertically as if to shield her, and as we both startled at seeing the other, she recovered quicker.
Her eyes moved past surprise to hostility, and then they slid down to my hand in Kash’s and they turned cold.
I didn’t have time to say anything. Kash was out the door. Three steps and we were both sliding into the back of the waiting SUV. Once inside, the door was shut behind us and I turned toward Kash to greet him. He greeted me first.
His mouth was on mine.