Chapter 14

Holy shit.

That man. I hadn't paid any attention to him as the guys made their way up on stage. Instead, the initial fear of performing trapped me instead my own head.

But I"d seen him before. One time.

With Stevo.

That guy had to be in the mafia.

Shit.

Lake led us in the opposite direction than we should be heading in. That man had answers. I could convince him that I didn"t have anything. Stevo had only ever given me a cold. They sure as hell wouldn"t care about that.

Logically, I knew the mafia was dangerous, but this was as close to neutral ground as possible. I took a step away and Lake gently, but firmly pulled me back. Then we were in a back hall and moving faster.

Joaquin appeared at the end of the hall, out of breath. He ran three steps in and the door swung so hard behind him, it almost hit a man in the face.

I gasped.

"You"re a real dick, you know that?" the man grumbled.

"What happened?" Joaquin panted, jogging to meet us in the middle.

There was no one else here. How strange that they had back hallways the staff didn"t use during the busy times.

"Donnie was one of the judges for amateur night," Lake spat, tugging me closer. "He didn"t try anything. Just made sure to let Beasty know about Stevo. Then he left through the room's main entrance."

"I"m on it. I"ll meet you in the office." The man with Joaquin was decked out in all black with dramatic, spiked hair. He took off at a sprint like he knew exactly where he was going.

Was he staff?

"Let"s head to the office." Lake still held onto me, but he pulled his phone out with his other hand and sent off a text.

The guys took up positions around me and somehow, we made it back to the office without ever passing another person. I needed a blueprint of this club.

"Who was that?" I asked just because I needed to. Just in case I was wrong. But in my gut, I knew I wasn"t.

Lake stuck his tongue in the side of his mouth and narrowed his eyes. I didn"t think he was going to answer me, then he said, "Donnie Pesci."

"And that is..." I trailed off, my heart thumping erratically against my chest.

The dance had been amazing. A high of adrenaline like nothing I"d ever experienced and I couldn"t even enjoy it before something fucked up with the boys came back to bite me in the ass.

Shit, this wasn"t all them, though. Was it?

I was the one who got mixed up with Stevo in the first place.

"One of the Pescis. Atlas, did you have the cleaners here today?" Lake leveled a serious gaze on Atlas.

"Of course." He raised one brow in calm defiance.

Releasing a breath, Lake took a seat and leaned back as he faced us. He seemed wired but worried. Tired but ready to go at a moment's notice. For the first time I could remember, Lake looked his age instead of several years younger.

"The Pescis are the mafia. The mafia is the Pescis. Donnie is the youngest brother." Lake narrowed his eyes on me as if he was measuring my reaction.

I nodded. Right. "We should have talked to him. He wouldn"t do anything while we"re all in public–"

Joaquin barked out a laugh and bent over to slap his knees. "Beasty. You"re not this naive. I know you"re not."

I scowled as he slowly straightened. "What"s that supposed to mean?"

"Come on," he said in exasperation.

I wasn"t stupid, and I didn"t appreciate him acting like I was. I wanted a way out. A way to live my life on my terms. And as long as we treated these guys like they were the big bad boogiemen, then that was what they"d be.

You had to bring your monsters into the light to kill them. That was the only way.

"They need to know I"m not a threat." I balled my fists up at my sides.

Kim–Sweet, sweet, Kim, came close, holding up his hands. "That man, he has a penchant for starving kittens. He"s known as the Backroom Bandit because when he"s not hurting innocent kittens, he"s torturing people unfortunate enough to get on his nerves." Kim nodded, like he could see the disbelief in my expression. "You think someone like that is going to care that you"re not a threat?"

"You can"t be serious." I raised both brows.

Joaquin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Beasty, the mafia doesn"t care about threats. They care about reputation."

Some of the antsy energy slipped through the cracks of my system. That...made so much fucking sense, and I didn"t like it.

It made everything I"d been hoping for either a non-option, unpredictable, or both. Actually, definitely both.

"Because you killed Stevo." I turned to Lake.

"Shhh." Joaquin flapped his hands. "We had the place cleaned but you never know if there"s something we missed."

"Sorry." I winced. I wasn"t completely behind what they were doing, but I didn"t want to be their downfall. I couldn"t be. "There has to be something we can do. I can"t live under this threat all my life." I brought my palm up to the side of my head.

I"d had a couple years of freedom after foster care. I hadn"t come this far just to shut myself away in a box.

These boys? They were used to it. Locked inside a glass cage because Atlas and Kim were famous. They had to constantly worry about who had access to them because people were crazy.

"I just, I need some air." I started moving to the door, but Kim intercepted me.

"Beasty, what"s wrong?"

"Everything," I said, but my own voice sounded as if it was down a wind tunnel. Shaking my head, I rubbed my forehead. Everything was wrong.

How did they live like this? They didn"t say it so much as broadcast the tension in their body language and ticks.

Joaquin's hands twitched as if he wanted to shuffle his deck of cards. I glanced back at Lake, and he wasn"t any better. His nails were digging into his thighs. He probably had indents in his slacks.

In front of me, Kim rolled his lips together as he watched me.

The only one not moving was Atlas. He was eerily still. No expression. No blinking. Just observing me.

"I need air," I repeated. "Please," I begged, knowing Kim would understand.

"Okay, yeah, okay." He pulled his keycard out of his wallet and scanned the pad next to the door. It unlocked and he tugged on the handle before it could relock.

Even that small thing. I didn"t have a card with access. I was stuck where they wanted me. Did they not think about those things?

Were they oblivious to the fact that I was at their mercy or did they want it this way?

I didn"t want to think bad of them, but the more I knew them, the more I realized their capacity to...

Nope, I wouldn"t voice those thoughts, even to myself.

The door swung open and we just stepped into the holding area when someone started banging on the next door.

"Open up! Police!" The words were just distinguishable through the thick door. And they sounded like they came from the ceiling.

My heart exploded in my chest and I stumbled back.

Hands caught me and passed me off to the next set of arms.

Lake prowled toward the door, scanning his keycard with angry movements.

"Not fucking funny," he berated before the door was all the way open.

Adrian stood there, grinning with his hands on his hips. The other man, the one with the black and red spikes in his hair stood behind him, a slightly amused expression softening his face. Gio was the only one of the three who didn"t look happy to be there.

His face was red like he"d ran five laps around the club.

"Kim, take Beasty home."

"No," Kim said and Lake twisted to glare at him. "Who knows what they have planned for tonight? For all we know, he could have clowns hanging out in front of our house. I"m not leaving the club unless we all leave the club."

One long beleaguered sigh, then Lake motioned the other guys to go into the office. "Fine. Main dining room only. That"s the safest place."

Atlas watched me as he leaned against the office doorframe. Joaquin opened his mouth like he was going to say something. He was the one who spoke to me first when they picked me up from graduation. He was also who made me feel wanted at one of the first jobs they took me to.

I waited, my chest swelling for some unknown reason. Hope maybe? He might not care, but sometimes his actions said otherwise.

Joaquin just shook his head and turned back to the room. I deflated, and everyone noticed.

I hated pity. As much as I hated attention, I'd rather get laughed at than pitied. My shoulders curled forward and I spun toward the next door.

Lake didn"t have any issues doing what he wanted. He caught my arms, holding me still as he dropped his mouth to mine in a fiery, brief kiss. I grunted when he bit my bottom lip.

His lips smiled against mine, and he laved the hurt with his tongue.

"Stay with Kim. You want to ask questions later, fine. But not here," he whispered, then let me go.

I couldn"t tear my gaze away from his back as he sauntered into the office. Joaquin and Atlas were already deep inside where I couldn"t see them, leaving Gio and his two friends in view.

Soon, Lake"s body mass covered any glimpse the three men had of me.

"Come on, Beasty. If you want, I"ll have the bartender make a strong drink for you. I want to tell you how beautiful you were while you danced–"

I almost snorted but I held it in.

"–and you can tell me if you liked it or not." Kim plucked my hand from my side. Then he lifted it, playing so carefully with my fingertips.

This was Kim. He always touched me so sweetly and marveled at the image. I had too, when I was with them before. It had been obvious no one touched him. Hardly ever, even at most of the events I went to. That he was comfortable touching me, and that he wanted to, had always been a high.

That thrill and wonder had been missing when Lake brought me back.

I was scared to want things I"d thrown away. It was strange. I was still in a weird place, stuck between what I wanted and knowing what was good for me. Yet, the gentle brushes of his fingers against mine set off a light tingle in my stomach.

No one else but Kim had ever sparked that reaction in me before.

Until Atlas had created a need so intense and frightening in the Black Room, it was like hot needles jabbing my lower stomach and inner thighs.

Then Lake short-circuited my mind, melting me into a puddle with the power he showed me I had.

"Let"s go," Kim repeated as he opened the next door and led us to the club.

I was so lost in my thoughts as I trailed behind him that the trip to the VIP table was all a blur. One second we were standing in the in-between room, then Kim was sliding me into the booth.

"Good evening, Mr. Kim. What can I get you?" A server dressed in their crisp black uniform stopped at the edge of our table.

"I"ll just have a sparkling water. What do you want, Beasty?" Kim slid into the other side of the round booth, immediately picking my hand back up. His long fingers warm against my palm.

"Just a water too. Thanks," I mumbled through a weak smile, plucking at the edge of the shorts I'd worn for the dance. Andrea had been so kind as to supply an outfit for amateur night.

"You know, I think you have a real talent for dancing," Kim said as he pulled my hand to the tabletop in front of him. He turned it over and started tracing the blue veins in my wrist.

"Don"t lie, Kim." I rolled my eyes, some of the intense emotions clearing the longer I was away from all the tension in the office.

He froze, then smoothed his fingertips farther up my arm.

"I thought you were beautiful, that"s not a lie. That"s so far from a lie, it hurts not to speak it." He wasn"t loud. Kim never was, but tucked back away in the corner of the VIP section, I could still hear him and a pleasant rush floated up my back.

"We"ve had this conversation before." Didn"t he remember?

"And I thought you were beautiful then too." He slid his gaze to my face, and one side of his mouth tipped up. "Beauty isn"t skin deep, anyone ever tell you that?"

Snorting, I curled my fingers into my palm. I wanted to pull my hand back, but I couldn"t break the touch. The tingles sliding up my arm and resting deep inside my chest were too addictive.

"That"s hilarious coming from a man who makes his living from his face."

He nodded, his expression turning somber as he broke eye contact.

"Kim, I–"

I could kick myself. How many times had I thought how horrible his life was because of his beauty? He"d been taken by that horrible man because he was pretty. And now I was rubbing it in. I couldn"t win for spewing shit that didn"t matter.

"It"s fine, Beasty." He said something else, but I glanced out at the crowd.

A man was walking through. There wasn"t anything that stood out about him. He was mostly in the shadows anyway, but he turned to look at the stage, and in that second, my breath caught.

Yanking my hand back, I sat straighter.

There was no way he"d be here. Why would he? Did he work with the boys somehow?

All these questions swirled inside my head that I didn"t have the courage to ask. I couldn"t move.

A brief swell of shame soured the back of my tongue, and I was horrified I could even feel that about being here with Kim.

Yet, I couldn"t deny the emotion.

There, walking out of the club, was Books.