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CHAPTER 33

BY THE END of the week, the bruising around Tia’s eye had faded enough to be hidden with make-up. Bradley had done exactly that for her yesterday and taken her out shopping. When I got home, there were bags everywhere, and Bradley was Tia’s new best friend.

Then on Friday afternoon, Dan rocked up and announced that as nobody had plans this evening, we were all going out.

“I think I have something on,” I told her.

“No, you don’t. I already checked your schedule.”

Super. Why did Sloane have to be so efficient? “Dare I ask where?”

For Dan, going out could mean anything from a belly dancing class to hopping on a plane to Rio for the carnival. Although to give her credit, that was one awesome trip.

“I haven’t quite worked that out yet, but it’ll be fantastic, I promise.”

Just what I was afraid of.

“Can I come?” Tia asked.

Dan looked at me and raised an eyebrow. Tia had only turned seventeen a couple of weeks ago, and Dan didn’t understand the concept of a tame night out. Last year, she’d promised a quiet dinner, which turned out to be served on the smooth, tanned body of a naked cowboy. Well, almost naked. He left his boots on. No, I could hardly inflict Dan’s perversions on Tia. But then again, I’d be a hypocrite if I criticised doing stupid things at a young age, wouldn’t I?

“Sure. Just promise you’ll stay sensible.”

“Woohoo! Bradley, will you help me pick out something to wear?”

“We’ll make you look fabulous, darling.” He gave her a high-five, and she grinned at him. Women loved Bradley.

When had I last been out for fun? Not for months. Since Black died, fun had been the last thing on my mind. Guilt needled at me—guilt for not being a better friend, guilt that I might have a good time, guilt that I was alive and Black wasn’t.

How could I get out of tonight’s activities?

I sat quietly, staring out of my “thinking window,” a glass oval above the window seat at the end of the second-floor hallway that overlooked the garden. Bulletproof glass, of course. Black had insisted. Soft footsteps announced Nick’s approach, and he dropped down beside me.

“When did you arrive?” I asked.

“Just got in. And apparently, now I’m just going out.”

“Dan can be quite convincing, can’t she?”

“You don’t want to go?”

“Not really. It doesn’t feel right.”

“Because Black’s not with you?”

“Yeah. He’s in a hole in the ground and I’m still here. It doesn’t seem fair that I enjoy myself.”

“I don’t know whether there’s anything after death, but if there isn’t, Black won’t care what you do. And if there is, he’s up there watching over you, desperately wanting you to be happy. No way would he want you to mope around for the rest of your life.”

“I guess.”

“I don’t have to guess; I know. Come on, join us for a little while. I’ll come back early with you if you’re not having a good time.”

Nick’s sweetness convinced me. Since I’d got back, he’d taken it upon himself to act as my protector in Black’s absence, at least after he’d got over his hurt from me disappearing. I’d never needed someone to shield me before, but something inside me changed when Black died, and I constantly doubted myself. Right now, I wasn’t confident I’d ever get back to being the old me completely.

New me was alien, a stranger who’d taken over my body. She felt things. Emotions. Anger, hurt, love, frustration. I’d always managed to lock those away before. Somehow, Nick knew this and sheltered me from the outside world as best he could while at the same time pushing me to repair myself. I was beyond lucky to have him around, and I owed it to him to try.

“Okay, I’ll go. I can’t stay out too late anyway because Tia’s coming with us.”

“Whenever you want to leave, just say the word.”

I reported for duty at the appointed time, and from the outfit Bradley had laid out on my bed, I guessed we were going to a nightclub. Where else would I wear a pair of tight black jeans and a top made entirely from zips?

Zips? Seriously?

Did Bradley think I needed ventilation? Because I had no desire to show any flesh otherwise. At least he’d picked out my favourite boots, black leather with studded snakes slithering up the front. I’d had them for years, and Bradley was under threat of losing a limb if he ever threw them out.

Still not feeling the vibe, I climbed into the limo parked outside with Tia following. Dan already had a glass of champagne in her hand, but I shook my head when she offered me one.

“Where are we going?” I asked her.

“Just Black’s. Things got busy at work this afternoon, and I ran out of time to organise anything else.”

“Black’s is fine.”

At least we’d get good service there. As you can probably guess from the name, the club was another of my investments.

I enjoyed a night out dancing, or at least I used to, but I hated clubs filled with stinky sweat and watered-down drinks and too much noise to have a decent conversation. To solve the problem, I’d opened a small chain of exclusive clubs so I could have a good night out, drunk or sober, all over the world. Thanks to my marketing team, they were always packed.

“Are you talking about the Black’s?” Tia asked. “As in the best club in London? The one it’s almost impossible to get into?”

“That’s the one,” Dan said. Turning to me, she added, “At least somebody’s excited.”

“Will I even get in there? I’m only seventeen. I have a fake ID, but Arabella got it for me, and it’s not very good.”

“Yeah, you’ll get in. We’re all on the guest list. I know the owner,” Dan said.

“Awesome.”

Thankfully, Tia’s experience last weekend didn’t seem to have affected her too much. What with that and the kidnapping, she’d proven to be remarkably resilient. Although she was the youngest in the car, she’d grown up a lot since I first met her, and I felt proud of the woman she was turning into.

The journey didn’t take long at that time in the evening, and we soon pulled up outside the club. The line stretched halfway along the block, as usual. My bank manager would be thrilled. Oh, oops, that was me. Following Black’s death, I owned his Swiss bank as well.

We walked straight to the velvet rope, and the bouncer let us in without bothering to glance at his clipboard. We got a few jeers from those waiting at the front of the line, but such is life.

“Thanks, Tyrone.”

He gave me a gold-plated grin and a salute. He’d worked at the club for three years now, another graduate from the Blackwood Foundation.

Black’s had two floors—the lower level housed the main dance floor, DJ, and bar, and the upper, quieter level had a dining area, another bar, and the VIP rooms. The floor was cut away in the centre so partygoers could look onto the dance floor below, and a staircase led down from each side of the balcony.

The club manager met us as we checked our coats then ushered us into a VIP room. Squashy sofas sat either side of long, low tables, already set out with a selection of snacks. This one also had a private bathroom and its own waitress.

“Things going okay tonight, Ricky?” I asked him.

“One minor disagreement between a group of punters earlier, but we clamped down on it sharpish. Apart from that, everything’s peachy.”

“Good.” I settled back into the grey leather. “Could you send in enough beer to keep this lot happy?” I motioned to the other guys. “And some water and a couple of bottles of wine?”

“Sure thing, boss.”

When the drinks arrived, I checked out the menu and ordered dinner. There was none of the usual fried rubbish. Brown food, Toby called it. He’d assisted with the recipes, which consisted of semi-healthy tapas-style dishes that wouldn’t have been out of place in a restaurant, and because it tasted great, we could charge a packet for it.

The alcohol flowed and more people turned up from Blackwood. Dan must have spread the word when she visited the office this afternoon. The room filled to overflowing, and she rose a little wonkily from the sofa, tugging down her tight skirt.

“It’s getting claustrophobic in here. Who wants to hit the dance floor?”

She looked at me, and I declined with a shake of my head, but two-thirds of the people in the room followed her downstairs. Phew. The rest of us had space to breathe again.

Tia was one of those left behind, along with Ryan. It wasn’t lost on me, the glances they kept giving each other—Ryan when he thought I wasn’t looking and Tia shyly from under her eyelashes. Which of them would make the first move? I didn’t think it would be Tia, not after the events of last weekend. And Ryan was watching me out of the corner of his eye, wary of upsetting momma bear.

I contemplated giving them a bit of space, but my red phone buzzing on the table in front of me interrupted my thoughts. Normally a message on that phone would concern me, but when I looked, it was only a text from Nick.

Nick: Help!

I doubted he could have got into an emergency situation in the club. Or at least, not what I classed as an emergency.

Emmy: What??

His reply came a few seconds later.

Nick: Being mauled. By the bar.

Even though he couldn’t see me, I rolled my eyes.

“What?” Tia asked.

“Nick has a small problem. He’s got separated from the herd, and now he’s being hunted by a pack of women who are out for blood. He wants me to rescue him.”

“This I have to see.”

Tia scrambled off the couch, and I noticed Ryan got up as well and trailed behind, his eyes dropping a little too low for my liking. We left the relative peace of the VIP area and descended into the main room of the club, the beat of the music getting louder with every step.

By the time we reached the bottom, the volume made talking a waste of breath. I grabbed Tia’s hand to keep her close and used the locator app on my phone to find Nick amid the writhing mass of bodies.

He was pinned down by the bar, a trio of silicone-enhanced women pressed up against him. One of them had her hand inside his shirt. He removed it, only for it to be swiftly replaced by the lime-green talons of one of her friends. It was like watching Dawn of the Dead with Barbie doll wannabes rather than zombies.

With Tia in tow, I fought my way over. This was one of those rare moments when I regretted the club being quite so popular. Nick saw me coming, and I caught the glimmer of desperation in his eyes. The irony wasn’t lost on me. Here stood a man who’d managed to survive some of the most difficult combat situations I’d ever known only to be brought down by a swarm of spray-tanned stick insects.

I parked Tia six feet out, and mouthed, “Stay here.”

She confirmed with a nod, and I saw Ryan take her back.

I pushed through the crowd to Nick, elbowing girls out of the way as I got close. He relaxed as I plastered myself to his side and wrapped my arms around his waist.

“Oi!” Barbie number one said, or rather, shouted.

Nick gripped me tighter, and I stood on tiptoes to lick a trail up the side of his neck, stopping at his ear to inform him, just loudly enough to be heard over the music, that he was a massive idiot.

He only grinned.

Hands tugged at my top, and I turned to face the gaggle of irritated girls. It was too loud to make out most of what they were saying, but I think my interpretations of “we saw him first” and “find your own” probably weren’t too far off the mark.

Tempting though it was, I refused to get into a catfight in my own club, so I executed plan B instead. Sadly, it wasn’t the first time I’d had to help Nick out in a situation like this, so he knew the drill. I lived in the hope that one day he’d learn to avoid these problems, but for a smart man, he could be annoyingly oblivious when it came to his effect on women.

Nick cupped the back of my head with a hand and brought his mouth down on mine. Which should have been hot, but it felt like I was making out with my brother.

Had the women left yet? If not, I’d need to switch to plan C, which meant hauling them out of the club by their hair extensions and dumping them in the river. Although judging by their overly inflated chests, there was a good chance they’d float.

“Gone?” I asked.

Nick nibbled my earlobe. “They disappeared a while back, but I was enjoying myself.”

I smacked him on the backside. “Idiot.”

Nick only grinned, and I dragged him back over to Tia. She hadn’t moved an inch, but her mouth had dropped open.

“Just giving an old friend a hand. No need to look so surprised,” I said.

“Uh, okay. It’s just odd seeing you with anybody but my brother.”

“I get where you’re coming from, honey, but I’m sorry to say that’s over. Your brother’s a great guy, but I’m not the one for him. Our relationship was all kinds of screwed up. I hope one day he’ll meet a sweet girl who’ll give him what he needs, which is someone with considerably less baggage than I’ve got.”

She pursed her lips for a second or two, thinking. “I’d like it if you guys got back together, but I understand if you don’t want to.”

That was what she said, but the wistfulness in her voice made my breath hitch. She still dreamed of happily ever afters. I knew they didn’t exist.

“I’ll always be there for you, though. You know that, right?”

She brightened a little. “Really?”

“Call me any time, day or night. There may be moments I can’t answer because I’m in the middle of something, but if that’s the case, I’ll always phone you back. You can talk to me about anything.”

“Uh, there is one thing…”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think if I asked him, Ryan would dance with me?”

“Way he’s looking at you, honey, I think Ryan would do anything if you snapped your fingers. The only reason he hasn’t is because I’m here, ready to chop off parts of him he’d quite like to keep if he does anything inappropriate.”

“You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

Bless her, she looked so worried.

“Maybe not to Ryan, but any man who hurts you, I’d make their life pretty miserable.”

“Thank you. I think.”

“Now, go dance.”

Tia smiled and walked over to Ryan. I saw her talking and gesturing, and then they both headed for the dance floor.

I pulled out my phone and fired off a quick message.

Emmy: Keep your hands above her waist or you’re on surveillance duty for the next six months.

Ryan checked his mobile, then our eyes locked and his chin tipped up as he acknowledged my words. I knew he’d look after her. Ryan was a good kid, and Tia needed that.

“Come and dance!” Dan grabbed my hand and dragged me into the heaving sea of bodies.

Nick repaid my earlier favour by keeping eager men at bay, but my heart wasn’t in it, and after a few songs I escaped back to the VIP room, now empty, thank goodness. Boy, I really was the life and soul of the party tonight. I knew I should have stayed at home. Even the tapas tasted like cardboard as I waited for the rest of the gang to come back.

“You okay?” Tia asked, red-faced and obviously buzzed.

“Fine. Just not really feeling it tonight.”

But she was. I knew this because when she sat down, she did so on Ryan’s lap. His arm stayed loose around her waist, and I noticed he was careful not to drop it any further downwards.

Good man. See? I trained them well.

“What’s that?” Tia poked the top of my arm. One of Nick’s girls had tugged a zip open, leaving my skin exposed. A multi-coloured skull glowed through the gap, and my lips curved into an involuntary smile.

“It’s a tattoo. A special one that only shows up in black light.”

“Why a skull?”

“It’s a sugar skull. I thought it was cute.”

Not only that, sugar skulls were a part of the Day of the Dead, which was what I created when I was on form. My skull showed up under black light because it was under Black that my skills to create my own Dia de Los Muertos first emerged. The design was symbolic, but I couldn’t tell Tia that.

And now, as the skull shimmered under the ultraviolet spotlight above me, I thought of my husband and knew where I’d be going the next day.

Luckily, Tia’s attention was taken by her phone ringing. I glanced at the screen. What did Arabella want at this time of night?

Tia picked up and answered, “Hey, what’s up?”

Then her face went ashen.

“L-L-Luke,” she stammered. “I can explain.”