Page 117 of Lash

"About? Anything that concerns us?"

"To a degree. We'll cover that later though, as a team."

I shake my head, sighing in frustration. "Just make me one promise, please."

She tilts her head to one side and lifts that shoulder toward her ear. "If it is a promise I can keep, I'll make it."

"If things go sideways, you bring us in."

She nods. "I can promise that."

I hold out my hand. "Repeat it and shake on it."

"My word isn't enough?"

"I want to hear you say it, and I want to shake on it. That way I’ll know you have really given me your word." I keep my hand extended.

She stares at my hand for a moment, and then grasps it, squeezing firmly. "I swear on the brand and the oath that if I need help, I'll call you in."

I grin. "I'm tempted to question what you consider needing help, but I recognize I may be pushing my luck."

"It's good to see you happy, Nicolae."

I let out a breath. "Honestly, it is good to let myselfbehappy."

"That's part of why I have to do this, Nicolae. You all have had to deal with your pasts. Now it is my turn. Rafael has been haunting my life for far too long. If I want any chance at happiness with Lorenzo like you all have, then this is the only way forward."

I nod, clasping my other hand around our joined hands. "I understand. Just know that we're here for you. No matter what."

She nods. "I know. You've all more than proven that."

I say nothing to the others as we load up, but I see them all giving her looks, and I know they're all curious—and probably correctly guessing at what's going on with her.

We arrive at Club Sin in the late afternoon, with the hot desert sun blazing huge and bright low on the horizon. I sigh as we reach the door leading from the private employees-only parking lot down to our quarters—it feels like a lifetime has passed since I was last here. I see Solomon looking around and probably feeling similar.

I clap him on the shoulder as we drop what few belongings we have in the common area. “Sort of strange to be back," I say. "Everything about me is totally different since I was last here."

He nods, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "For fucking real, man. Last time I was in this building, I'd just found out my mother had murdered my father and killed herself. I was single, assumed Scarlett was probably dead or at the very least hated me, and figured I'd spend the rest of my life alone." He watches Scarlett enter the common room and look around, taking it all in. "Now look."

Tatiana is doing the same, and for a moment I see the common room with new eyes.

A long, narrow, high-ceilinged hallway runs from the exit to the parking lot on one side of the common room, with five doors evenly spaced on each side—our bedrooms. Pale gray epoxy floors sprinkled with blue flecks carry through the entire space—hallways, bedrooms, common room, everywhere. Stairs at the end of the hall lead up to the parking lot. Opposite the exit, the hall opens to the common room.

As you stand with your back to the hall, facing the common room, the kitchen is on your left—it's industrial, and huge. Two long cafeteria-style tables with built-in benches frame the space, running end to end parallel with the hall. Beyond that is a mammoth island with white cutting boards and roll-top chilled containers. Along the far wall is an eight-burner range, two matching glass-front, industrial-sized refrigerators, one for food and the other for beverages. There's a floor-to-ceiling rack stuffed with pots and pans and baking trays and cooking utensils and everything else you could possibly need, with a magnetic knife holder on one side cluttered with high-end culinary knives.

On the right side is the den. A U-shaped black leather sectional big enough for fifteen people to sit on without crowding each other frames the space, the open part of theU facing the wall and the professional cinema-grade projector and screen, with floor-to-ceiling speakers facing the couch, a subwoofer on the floor behind the couch, and more speakers in the ceiling hanging behind the couch facing the wall. A glass-fronted cabinet next to the TV screen contains all the requisite electronics, and a smoky, black glass coffee table fills the opening of the sectional.

The hallway continues past the common area, this one short and dead ending—closed doors on the left and right lead to, respectively, the Club Sin floor and the offices for the administrative portion of the Club; a third open doorless entryway in the center leads to a professional-grade gym filled with squat racks, machines, racks of free weight, racks of kettlebells ranging from dinky five-pounders to a cluster of monsters on the floor weighing upward of 200 pounds, and a cardio section with treadmills, assault bikes, rowing machines, and battle ropes, while another area features several heavy bags, a sparring ring, and speed bags.

Before Rev started this whole process, the common room was usually pretty messy. We're good about keeping our personal areas tidy, but the common room was often a bit of a mess. Now that there are women living here, all that has changed.

It's not just clean and tidy—it has personality. There are brightly colored throw pillows on the couch, wicker baskets piled high with fuzzy black fleece blankets sit on either end of the sectional, and framed movie posters fill the empty spaces of the wall near the TV—Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Jarhead, Saving Private Ryan, and other military-themed movies, as well as lighter fare posters likeWhen Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle,andThe Princess Bride, with a few comedy posters thrown in for fun—The Three Amigos, Blues Brothers,andStepbrothers.

There are vases of fresh flowers on the tables in the kitchen, bowls of fresh fruit on the island, and a giant three-wick candle burns on the coffee table, giving off a scent redolent of fresh cookies.

"Damn," I hear Rev say. "Girls've been busy."

"Gotta say, I fuckin' love it," Saxon says. "Feels homier."