Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
What the hell were they doing? One of them grunted, and I slowed down, waiting for one to slip up. I wanted to put a bullet in his fucking head. Richie was nowhere in sight. I scanned the club, looking for his short fat frame, wondering where the fuck he went. I stopped, turned around, and my thugs-times-two stopped right behind me.
“Call your boy. This is bullshit.”
I’d dubbed Jake Frankenstein in my mind because of the way he looked and his height. He said, “Keep moving,” as he gave a slight push on my arm. I wanted to fuck him up so bad.
“Be cool, man. There are people here.” He was pissing me off. As we walked through the doors of the club, I spotted Tori leaning behind a pillar—the same one I’d leaned against the first night I saw her.
And the look on her face was sheer terror. Did Richie get to her?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Tori
Something was wrong. I had no idea what I’d just seen. Still, a chill clung to my body long after watching Bennett escorted outside by two of Richie’s biggest knuckleheads. Frog walked was more like it. Bennett could handle himself. I knew that. But still…I’d worked the bar at Parkston’s long enough to know that Richie had a huge entourage, mostly of the thick-necked, brass-knuckled variety. They looked like the kind of guys who would do anything for some quick cash. Richie had the money and power to snap his fingers, and they’d ask how high to jump. I bet they wouldn’t hold back if Richie asked them to rough someone up.
Someone like my Bennett.
My stomach rolled as my eyes followed the men's path moments before. The idea of Bennett getting hurt…
No. I couldn’t go there. Not in the middle of the club. This wasn’t the time—or the place—to go to pieces.
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a long breath to quell the nausea.
A touch at my elbow sent me jumping out of my skin. I whipped around lightning fast and found myself face-to-face with Barbie. Her dark eyes widened at my reaction, and I realized I had thrown my hands up as though ready to strike out at her. I instantly dropped them, clasping my fingers together behind my back.
“I didn’t mean to startle you, Avery,” Barbie said. “There’s a gentleman at the bar asking for you. He’s one of your regulars.”
I followed her eyes to a tall, lanky man at the bar. His sandy blonde hair flopped over his forehead, and as he glanced up at me, he gave his head a slight shake to toss it out of his blue eyes. His name was Liam, some wealthy businessman from the UK who rolled into Hollywood once a month when working on some movie deal. He was a sharp dresser with a silver tongue and an accent that made most ladies drop their panties from the first “Hello.” He was also a hell of a tipper, so I indulged his flirtations.
He smiled at me from across the bar, and I gave him a slight flutter of my fingertips. “I’ll be right there,” I said out of the corner of my mouth to Barbie.
Barbie nodded. “I’ll let him know. Sorry, again, for scaring you.”
“No worries. I was just lost in thought.”
Barbie sauntered off, and I tracked back to looking at the front doors of the club. Surely, if Richie dragged Bennett off for some kind of interrogation, he would have taken him out the back. Wasn’t that how these things usually worked? It had to be a mistake. I was jumping to conclusions. I had no proof that anything had gone south with Bennett and his deal with Richie.
In fact, I hadn’t even seen Richie. Where was that short little bastard?
I cast another glance around the club and came up empty. Most of the night’s guests had wandered off to the private rooms or suites, leaving the main room scarce. If Richie was still here, he’d be in the red room. His room.
Liam was still looking my way from the bar, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Damn it.
“Snap out of it, Tori,” I growled under my breath as I returned to the bar. I mustered up a fake smile, thrust my shoulders back to make my tits pop out of my low-cut blouse, and leaned in to greet Liam.
“Good evening, handsome. Business or pleasure?”
Liam offered a wide smile. “With you, Avery? It’s always a pleasure.”
I threw him a wicked smile, playing my part to perfection, and reached under the bar for a bottle of his favorite liquor. “In that case, I think I’ll join you on this round.”
Liam’s eyes danced with excitement. He thought he was finally going to get in my pants.
Poor, naive bastard.
I retrieved the bottle of bourbon, the same expensive shit Richie liked to drink and made a show of pouring one shot.