JACK: Las Vegas Bad Boys(62)

Also, her Amazon-goddess limbs—and her perfect blonde extensions, and her luscious fake eyelashes, and her tiny dress that I swear is a shirt—make me sort of weep internally.

I still can’t believe Jack said no to that and yes to me. I mean, being this close to her makes me want to sleep with her.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asks.

“Me?” I look around and realize everyone in our party is looking at us.

I should have taken Emmy up on borrowing a pair of stilettos because I could use a few inches right now. Being at least eye level would even the playing field.

Which is dumb. There’s no need to level anything.

She holds a hand up to her security guard, directing him not to follow us as we walk to a private table farther back in the club. My bodyguard is close by but, following Ashley’s lead, I wave him off as well. We sit down, and I’m grateful it’s less noisy here in the back.

“I just needed to apologize,” she begins. “For everything. Jack blocked me on his phone, which I get. But I haven’t been able to make things right with you guys. I totally effed up, and I know we don’t know one another that well, but, Tess, I didn’t mean for things to get so ... insane.”

I sigh, unfolding my arms because being hostile won’t help anything. She really does appear sincere.

And she had no idea her press hounds would result in any real danger.

Emmy would probably say I’m a softy, that I’m letting people walk all over me. But Claire didn’t press charges against the father of her child even though he had millions.

Things change when the past is no longer the only story you have to tell.

I have new chapters. A new story. One with Jack and a long-lost family, and friends and a future. I’m living a fairy tale. I don’t need to play with fire to let the old books burn. Jack was right; I’ve slayed my dragons. Now I can ride off in the sunset with my Knight.

“I forgive you, Ashley.” I smile softly. “But, um, revenge is an ugly beast. It ruins things. Maybe stop being angry at Jack for not being the man for you, and start opening your heart to the possibility of something else. Someone new.”

“I already found someone new. Maybe that’s why I’m so forgiving, right now.”

“Good for you, Ashley.” I pat her hand, proud of myself for getting through this conversation.

Music pounds from the stage as Jack makes his entrance. Beats blare and his hands are in the air, raised high. It’s like slow motion magic; it’s like the calm before the storm.

I’m so distracted by the unexpected apology, by Ashley’s freaking gorgeous face, and by the fact that Jack is up on stage, that I don’t notice the chaos that begins to swirl around me. Around the club.

And then I hear the gunshots.

I spin, in a hazy fog, as the thousands of people at the club shriek, scream, look for cover. Throwing their hands over their heads as they fall to the floor. Eyes widen in horror; security closes in.

But I don’t focus on any of those things.

All I see is the throng of men coming toward me, the flood of faces covered with bandanas. The raised guns, the leather coats. The bikers who have penetrated.

In an instant, the strobe lights go out and the club is dark. My bodyguard isn’t by my side; I have no protection. Ashley has dropped to the floor, shrieking like a hyena.

It’s so dark that I don’t fault anyone for not coming to my rescue—and besides, no one knows the source of the blackout, the cause of the gunshots. Except for me.

I know.

As if a spotlight is on us, I feel his eyes lock on mine. The eyes that haunted my dreams and tried to claw their way to my heart. Tried to ruin me.

The eyes that allowed heinous things to happen to me. The eyes that told me I was his daughter, when all along I was nothing borne of him.

I was not his flesh and blood, and I was not his little girl. To him, I was trash. To him, I was worthless.

Until I left him with a dead wife and a hell of a lot of secrets on the Brotherhood. I lied for him; I saved his ass.

And now he is coming for mine.

“Cammie.” His voice bellows in the dark. I’m sure the club is surrounded by hundreds of riders. They are the Anarchy Brotherhood for a reason. They don’t play by anyone’s rules, certainly not the rules of this casino.

I draw a breath, wishing that Jack were by my side.

“Get away from me,” I hiss.

“You’re a hard girl to track down, you know that?”

“This is stupid. You’re gonna get killed.”

“I don’t think I have anything to worry about. These nightclub bouncers don’t have guns. No one here carries.”

I don’t understand why he’s so confident, walking toward me so slowly, unless he has this place surrounded in ways I can’t imagine. This club is isolated, a cavernous space in the middle of a massive casino. You could secure the perimeter, dismantle the power source, and do whatever the hell you wanted inside.