Page 11 of Don’t Break My Heart (Secrets of Ravens Hollow #3)

I catch up with Margherita as we pass the bar. “Do you spend a lot of time in this place?” I ask just to make conversation.

She shrugs. “Most nights.” She points to a dark section down the back.

“Those are the playrooms for anyone who wants a more private experience. Upstairs is the main bar; only guests with access are able to come down to the basement. Mostly only businessmen with a lot of money or associates of my husband’s. ”

“You just sit there all alone all night?” I ask, kind of horrified for her.

Her eyes flicker with something that looks a hell of a lot like shame.

“Not always, but Valentine doesn’t like it when I talk to other men, and the only girls around are normally the dancers.

” She takes my hand in hers, our eyes locking.

“It’s nice to finally get to meet you, Ava.

We need more girls in the family,” she says sadly, and I feel so sorry for her.

She looks lost or broken, I can’t decide which, and I can’t help but wonder if she was married into this family by choice or if she was a business transaction much like myself.

“It’s nice to meet you as well. Please, call me Sloane, that’s what all my friends call me.”

That pulls a proper smile from her, and it lights up her pretty face. “Okay. It’s a strange nickname for you, though, right? If you want you can call me Daisy. I don’t really have any friends these days, but that’s what the family call me.”

“Why don’t you have any friends?”

She glances back at the table where the three brothers sit in deep conversation. “It’s just hard when you’re married to a Moretti. You’ll see.” She sighs heavily, and I feel the weight on her shoulders. She is sad and lonely, poor girl.

I grab hold of her wrist and drag her to the bar with me. “You have a friend now. And this friend needs to block out her shitty day.” I turn toward the bartender dressed in black leather lingerie. “Two fireball whiskey shots, please.”

She gives me the once-over, judging me from under her thick dark lashes, then pours my shots, popping them up on the bar in front of me.

I collect them up and hand one to Daisy, grinning from ear to ear. “To making new friends.” I clink my drink with hers then throw it back. I enjoy the familiar burn of the spicy drink, a pleasant warmth spreading through me instantly.

She looks over the little shot glass with curiosity.

“You’ve never had whiskey before?” My lips quirk up at the sides, so ready to corrupt this girl. She looks like she hasn’t had a day of fun in her whole life, and that’s just not right.

She purses her lips. “Ladies don’t drink whiskey, Sloane,” she responds, a little too much judgment in her voice.

I huff out a laugh. “I’m no lady, sis, and tonight with me, you don’t have to be either. Drink it,” I encourage her.

She hesitates for a second, looking back at the bartender, who is well and truly turning her nose up at the two of us.

Then she throws back the shot, shaking it off as the burn hits the back of her throat.

“Kind of makes you feel alive, right?” She offers me a small cheeky smile, and I know I have already won her over.

I tap the bar, asking for another two. “Precisely.” I smirk, knowing she needs this just as much as I do. With a wicked gleam in my eyes, I throw back the second and watch as she does the same. Fuck, it feels so damn good to be back in public again, back in a club, even if it’s not my own.

She takes my hand in hers, her eyes twinkling. “Come dance with me, Sloane.”

I glance around, looking for any excuse not to dance. I literally want to bury my problems in this bottle, that’s my idea of a good time. “There’s no dance floor.”

She giggles, covering her mouth as she does, her attention flicking back to her husband. “I know a spot.” She tugs on my hand.

“Okay.” I look back at the bartender. “I’m going to need the bottle.”

A hand goes to her waist, and her eyes narrow. “And how are you paying for that, sweetheart?” She looks down her nose at Daisy, and I have to wonder why. She must know who she’s married to—her boss and the dude who owns this place!

I lean over the bar getting nice and close to the snobby little bitch. “See that table of gorgeous men over there?” I point my finger in the direction of the Moretti brothers. “They’re footing the bill. Any questions, just ask my husband Orlando.”

I hear Reef’s chuckle from behind me, and I throw him a wink. Onyx is more stoic, more on edge, and I know us being out in public is the last thing he wants. He’s worried, but can’t he see this is what I need?

The bartender’s perfectly shaped brow shoots up, and her gaze narrows. “Fuck, you’re her, aren’t you, that missing girl. You don’t look like your picture.” The way she says it like there is something wrong with the real-life version of me makes me want to jump the bar and body-slam her.

I cringe internally, trying not to let the horror show on my face as I snatch the bottle from her hands. “As I said, ask the men if you have any questions,” I snap back, bitchy as hell.

I let Daisy pull me past the golden cages with dancing girls shaking their asses and down to a quieter end of the basement, where she said the private rooms were earlier.

I glance back over my shoulder to the men, knowing Orlando is watching my every move.

He raises a brow, and I shrug. The girl from the bar is leaning over the table talking to Valentine, and the way she looks at him gives me a creepy feeling, like her look toward Daisy from earlier was more than just her looking down her nose at us for drinking.

She’s jealous of Daisy. I have seen women like her before, way too many times.

Valentine’s hand slides down her back, landing on her ass where he slaps her, and she grins back at him.

Fuck. That prick is definitely sleeping with her.

Daisy tugs on my hand, oblivious to the scene behind us as she focuses on getting us into one of the rooms. She shoves open a heavy black curtain to reveal a dimly lit space, all charcoal walls and chandeliers.

A plush leather lounge runs down one wall and there’s a stripper pole in the center of the room.

“Normally it’s for private dancers, but we can make it our own. ”

I grin back at her. I just knew she would be fun once she got a proper drink in her. “I love it.”

Onyx glances my way from his spot in the doorway, giving me a look like I have lost my mind.

He knows I’m not this girl. But fuck it, tonight I want to be anyone but who I am.

I have been locked away so long I just want to have a little fun.

And Daisy looks like she needs it as well.

“That girl from the bar, is she always such a bitch to you?” I ask, not able to help myself .

She shakes her head. “Don’t worry about her. I try not to.”

“But she’s…”

“She’s a slut who seems to be my husband’s flavor of the month. He will get sick of her and move on, he always does.”

I grab her arm and lean in closer. “You let him sleep around?”

She bursts out laughing. “Stops him from wanting it from me,” she says, unaffected by my outrage. She holds out her hand. “Can I have a little more?”

I pass her the bottle; she needs this more than I do. She takes a large swig, the remains dribbling down her chin. “It’s good, right?” I ask her.

“Burns the hell out of my throat. But it kills the boredom, and I can’t do another night of this mindless hell.”

Oh God, I feel like I just found my soul sister. I snatch the bottle back and throw back another swig myself.

She leans in a little closer to my ear, looking in Onyx and Reef’s direction. “The big guys follow you everywhere?”

“Yep. Don’t worry about them.” I smirk at the boys as I say it, pulling a cheeky grin from Reef. The man is a saint, falling into his new role with no pushback. I have to wonder what Romeo is offering him, or if he knew all along his life would end up here.

“Careful, trouble,” Onyx warns.

“I’m being very careful, big guy.” I wink in his direction, the effects of the alcohol sinking in and making me extra flirty. What I wouldn’t do to sneak off with the two of them and have a little fun.

He grumbles out a response I can’t make out. I think something about me being the death of him.

Daisy giggles as she watches us, I’m sure having no understanding of what she is watching, but she likes the banter.

Happily, she moves to some sort of music player and presses play.

Sia’s “Chandelier” blasts through the speaker, and she starts to move to the beat of the music. “Come on, Sloane, dance with me.”

Before I know it, I’m watching with my jaw nearly hitting the floor.

“The girl can dance,” I say so only the boys can hear me.

Daisy looks like she’s in her own little world.

She looks happy for the first time since I met her tonight.

Not only has she got rhythm and moves in time with the beat of the music, but she looks like a goddess when she does it.

She comes for me, taking my hand so I’m forced to move further into the room with her. “I can’t dance like you.” I laugh, knowing I have two left feet, one that’s still sore to walk on.

“Who cares, just move.” She knocks her hip with me and spins me around, laughing as she does. Her happiness encourages me to move along with her. I glance to the boys and see them watching my every movement, and fuck, something in the desire I see encourages me to keep moving.

The two of us dance to the beat of the music, moving like no one is watching.

My moves are a little more provocative than hers because I know I have two sets of eyes glued to me, and while they might not be able to touch me in this place, they can look, and I can enjoy the way it feels to have their lust-filled gazes on me.

It’s the most fun I have had in forever.

“Where the hell did you learn to move like that?” I ask her when the first song comes to an end.