“You’re such a hussy. I can feel those take me I’m yours vibes rippling off you like waves in an ocean, girl.” She wraps her hand around her throat in a dramatic way as if she’s drowning.
I put my phone on the table and run my hands over the smooth buttery soft leather of the sofa I sit on. “You are too much sometimes, you know that?”
“But ya love me.”
Pretty glossed lips pull up into a mischievous grin and then it dawns on me. She plays coy behind her margarita glass while pushing another toward me.
I take it. “You knew they were going to be here. Not just tonight but this whole week.” I lean forward. “That’s the real reason you wanted me here, isn’t it?”
I can’t believe I am so stupid. I drown my harsh words with tequila instead of letting them hurt my friend. I know she only means well.
The mood shifts from casual to tense. “You are always talking about wanting a family. I happen to know something and I’ve been waiting to see if the chemistry between you guys would work. And now I think I have my answer.”
I lick the salt from my lips. “Like some cupid?” I don’t believe what I am hearing.
She’s leaning across the table like she’s telling me a big secret. Maybe it is.
“Hear me out, okay? A couple of the women who handle club contracts between members were talking in the bathroom last week and I overheard that all three men of the Southern Alliance are looking for a breeder.”
My brows shoot up. “Come again?” I did not hear that right. Booties, onesies, and strollers are not items I associate with those three. Try more like bullets, caskets, and midnight lust fests in a dark ritzy sex club.
Belle gestures with her hands over her belly like my expression says I’m lost.
“You know.” She makes a baby bump gesture. “A breeder. Someone to have their baby under contract.”
Yep. That’s what I thought. “You are not serious. You didn’t talk to them about me, did you?” My heart races and not for the same reason as earlier. Oh God repeats on a loop at a high volume through my head.
“No, silly.”
I take a deep breath and center myself inside, the pad of my thumb finding the pulse point on my wrist.
One.
Two.
Three.
I release the air in my lungs.
“Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Sapphire. Have you seen my cousin? She’s about this tall, cute, plump ass in a skin-tight white strapless dress. Love in her eyes and always happy. It’s annoying really. I’ve seemed to have lost her and found a nosy blonde trying to get me killed instead.”
She rolls her eyes dramatically. “Cute ass, huh? Okay, I’ll take that.” She taps my phone. “I can give them your number if you like. Walk over, drop it on their table.” Her smile is devilish while my expression is closer to a sheet of paper—completely blank.
“Belle, please don’t get me killed. Your brother is sweet and all but I don’t want to get on his bad side.”
“Okay, okay. I get it. I know how miserable you are about thinking you owe Harlon. I just wanted to help. Tell me I didn’t see what I obviously saw between you and those men just a minute ago and I’ll drop it.”
“It was nothing.”
“Did I mention it’s a paying job?”
Lord save me. “Paid to get knocked up?”
“Yep.”
I gulp my margarita, tossing the whole thing back letting my cheeks bulge with the liquid.
I know the second she sees the bruises. The quick, sharp intake of her breath is deafening.
Well, that’s one way to get off the topic of babies and breeding.
There’s not a good enough concealer in the work to hide the black and blue marks marring my skin, but I tried.
“Oh my God, Sapphire! What the holy hell happened?” Her voice climbs and her eyes dart all over. My throat, my bare shoulder. My fingers. “Were you in an accident?”
Worry pours from her.
“Here I was flooding your phone all day with silly selfies and talking babies when you were in trouble and obviously traumatized.”
She weaves the fingers of one hand through mine over the table’s polished top. “Tell me. What the hell happened?”
Using the other she turns my chin left and right no doubt noticing the thumbprint on one side and the five fingers on the other.
“Damn, Sapph, is that a cut? Who did this to you?”
It’s a long shot she’ll drop the subject but I try anyway. “It’s nothing. A misunderstanding at work. It’s all sorted out. Honestly. How about another margarita?”
“Here, take my drink. I’ll get us more. Lots more. Should I cancel my show? Oh, crap.” She glances at her watch. “It’s almost time.”
Her chilled margarita is shoved into my hands. Thank you, sweet baby Jesus.
I start with a small sip which is heaven, the second and third shoot straight to my brain. The rest works to loosen the kinks in my body.
One more of these and I should be good to go.
Belle stops a passing waiter dressed in Club Sin’s attire. Black dress slacks and crisp white shirt. No name tag.
“Hey, sweetie, will you bring a pitcher and an ice pack please?” Belle moves into momma hen mode. There will be no stopping her now. She was that way growing up and hasn’t changed. It’s just who she is.
“Now tell me everything.” Big brown eyes don’t leave my face as I spill my guts for the next half hour. Snake Eyes, the knife, Riot…everything. It’s what’s great about our relationship. Besides being cousins, we are each other’s confidants.
“I hope Harlon cuts his nuts off and feeds it to him in front of those two assholes who were supposed to help you.” Raking her gaze over my neck again she looks close to picking up the phone and making a few phone calls. Something her brother, Harlon, does. She may want to think she’s not part of the family business, but it’s in her genes as much as it is mine.
Except, Belle is determined to make her own life and not be shoved into a straight jacket of rules. Only after a few shows Club Sin: New York City has reached out for her to visit and perform. With her men of course.
We clink glasses. Around a mouthful of tequila and salty margarita mix I concur. “I don’t doubt Snaky is wishing for a career change right about now.”
“Speaking of careers, how long before you tell my brother to stick it and you run away with me to New York?”
“As soon as you tell him you’re screwing three guys in the middle of a sex club.”
Her face scrunches at the sight of mine doing the same.
In a low voice, she says, “Would you seriously pass up the chance to have something with those three if you had a chance? C’mon. You can tell me.”
I take her hand in mine. “The problem with that is I owe Harlon. You know that. It doesn’t matter what I want.” I release her fingers and sit back.
“I know he stuck up for you when no one else did. We both did. You did the same when every dickhead in the family wanted to bury him alive for the threesome marriage he had. And now here you are as my rock when I am about to get my freak on in front of a room full of Chicago’s elite. That sounds like tit for tat, babe. You deserve to be happy too and if they do that for you should walk over there and offer to buy them a drink.”
“Not happening. Isn’t it almost time for your show?”
Around us, the room is starting to fill with members. There are not many areas left from the looks of it. Belle has attracted quite the audience, the little minx.
“I wish I was as brave as you are. And I wish it was as simple in my head as it is in yours. You want something, you go after it.” I gesture to our surroundings. “Case in point. But for me? I am different. My future is murky at best. And what happened with your father–”
“No.” Her voice is firm. “My father was killed because he was an asshole who conspired with your father, only he got caught. Their choices, their consequences. What happened to my father is not your fault. But it doesn’t matter what I think. You have to know in your heart of hearts what will make you happy.”
We’ve disagreed on the topic of her father for a long time. Her father was killed by the bounty holder for the money my father stole.
I open my mouth to reply, but she’s already standing, a look of pure joy on her face. “More later, okay?” She whisks me out of the booth and I turn to come face to face with three rugged Navy SEALs. Make that nose to chest.
“Hey sweetheart,” draws one. He’s a southern boy with the down-home charm and irresistible good looks. No wonder Belle is smitten.
He slips a thick arm around her waist while the other two come up on the other side.
Holy crap. Before now I’ve only seen parts of them from a distance. I didn’t actually try to watch the show. I always kept my head down.
Up close I’m stunned by their good looks.