No, this was a bit of brick painted black, squatting across the tracks like a wad of tar.
Maybe it was the night. Maybe it was Layla being back. Whichever, I looked at what had been our playground. Beast and me. Now, I tried to see it like Layla would. Not that I’d ever be stupid enough to bring her.
The pink trim hurt my eyes, even in the dark. Half the neon bulbs were burnt out and the foundation had gone to rot three decades past.
Whoever’d originally built this shithole into a honeypot had a sour sense of humor. The Cat House was the kind of place that wouldn’t let you forget you were on the wrong side of them. Beast and I’d gotten used to the wrong side of things a long while ago though. It’d been ours. And now, it was just mine.
“Hey, man. Been a while,” the bouncer, Monty, greeted me. “I heard about Beast. I’m sorry.” Beast. Fucking Beast. Why’d I think I could get away from it all here?
I flinched, then gave him a nod. A quick duck inside the windowless club, and it was like I was in another world.
More neon lights, a dark atmosphere, and grungy carpets greeted me as I walked through the crowds of people. It was open twenty-four hours, but it always seemed like it was the middle of the night.
I needed a drink.
“Your usual?” Sandy was working the bar. “A bourbon and a dance?” she suggested. “Or two?”
“Yeah, I’ll take the dance, and the drink.” I chuckled. I needed a break, and something that stung on the way down. Something that made me numb.
Besides, some T & A couldn’t hurt.
As long as Brandy wasn’t working.
Sandy laughed in my face as she slid me a bourbon. “Brandy isn’t in, but I’ll send you a new one. Real pretty. Been curious about the bikers.”
“Sure. Why the hell not?”
I had to hand it to her, Sandy was just as gorgeous as the strippers, but she didn’t care to dance. And she was smarter than most people gave her credit for. She saw everything. I’d known her for years, and I respected her. Any man who so much as touched her would get decked.
First by Sandy herself, then by whoever was on protection duty. Then by me.
She was like a little sister to me, in a way.
I walked away from the bar and up the stairs to the VIP room. The room was mine whenever I wanted it, regardless of the time or the place. It was also two in the afternoon, so it wasn’t like anyone would be up there, anyways. I sat on the couch with my drink in hand and waited.
I needed a distraction, and hopefully Sandy’s new girl would provide it. Thinking about Lala had my insides boiling. I could have fooled myself, said I was pissed at her, but the truth was that I was pissed for her. I needed to find the fuckers who had killed her brother. I needed to forget why she had left. And why she was back. I needed something to drive out the old memories of promises made and broken. And I needed to ignore the future beyond avenging the man who had been my club brother and best friend. Because there was no future. Not with Layla. I wanted it, but there was a death to avenge and the President to deal with. And who knew what Layla wanted.
The only thing I knew was what I needed to do.
Vengeance, justice—the words echoed in my head with the pounding of my blood.
“Are you ready, big boy?” A young woman walked into the room wearing little more than a pair of panties. She had long dark hair, a longer waist, and even better legs. A month ago—hell, a week ago—I would have been ready to go, but as she started to dance I realized something.
She wasn’t what I wanted.
She wouldn’t replace Layla.
Not her eyes, or her smile. And certainly not the feel of her warm body up against mine.
Fuck.
I couldn’t be here. I couldn’t do this.
I got up from the leather sofa, pushing off me.
“What the hell?” The dancer looked absolutely pissed.
“Don’t worry, honey. You’ll still get your money. I just got some business to handle.”
I slipped some cash in her hand and pushed through the curtain of the room, moving through the building and out the front doors. I needed fresh air. I needed a bike ride. And I needed to see her again.
Layla.
I’d promised to protect her. I’d promised to make sure she was safe. And I was going to do exactly that.
***
“What the hell are you doing here?” Shit. That voice. I turned around in the middle of the parking lot to see Brandy standing there, waiting. Looking at me with those hard eyes.
I was in a whole mess of trouble. This was just the bitch I was trying to avoid.
“Not now, Brandy,” I barked and hoped it would be enough to keep the woman at bay. This was the last thing I needed, and it only compounded my anger.