I handed him a twenty when he came back with our beers. “Keep the change.”
“Thanks, man.” Max flashed another bright smile.
“Ashtyn was in here last night, right?”
He nodded. “She’s been working a lot lately. I don’t know how she keeps up with school and being here so damn late. She must be running on fumes.”
“Was there anyone in here bothering her?”
Max narrowed his eyes, contemplating a response. “She thought there was a girl here that she knew. The one who fucked the guy she liked. How did she describe her–a raging bitch with fake blonde hair and too much makeup,” he laughed. “Oh, and herteacher. Super awk.”
Kendra and Reynolds.
“Sounds super awkward,” I agreed. “Did he do anything…weird?”
“The teacher? Not really. Ordered one drink and sat here for over an hour. He left when I was outside on my break. Jerk didn’t even leave a tip,” Max smiled. “I’ll be back in a bit to check on y’all. Duty calls.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Bronx asked once Max was out of earshot.
“We’re going to sit here and act like we’re having a good time. Once I see Ashtyn’s boss, I’m going to talk to him and get as much information as I can.” I took another sip of beer. “Now drink your beer and pretend to be normal. You’re making me nervous.”
Bronx tensed and tried to relax his shoulders. He was a ball of nerves with everything we’d learned in the last hour. I was too, but I was better at hiding it. If it was Reynolds who left those bruises on Ashtyn, I’d have to consider the best plan of attack. Bronx did some digging on the ride over to Aces. He was a rich fucker. With his daddy being some higher-up in government, which afforded some protection, he wouldn’t be easy to get a hold of.
Bronx ordered three shots of whiskey–two for himself and one for Cade since I was driving. Cade pushed through the thrall of people to get over to us.
“Find anything?”
“Not really,” he moped, taking one of the shots and downing it. “I need more.”
“What’s wrong?” Bronx asked. Cade was moodier than normal since that night with Gabby. He didn’t want to discuss it, but I knew it bothered the hell out of him that she ditched him to sleep with Everett. I figured a few hours at Aces would make him feel better, but it appeared to make things worse.
“Nothing,” he sighed. “This whole thing is just bringing me down, man. Thinking of someone hurting Ash. She’s a good girl.”
“Shh, keep your voice down,” I said as I looked around. No one was paying attention to us. “We don’t know who knows what around here. Play it cool. Trust me, I’m fucking wrecked by it too. But we need to hold our shit together and figure out what happened.”
“It’d be a lot easier if she would justtellus,” Cade said as he sat in the recently vacated seat beside me.
“If it was easy, then it wouldn’t be Ashtyn,” Bronx said as he downed his last shot.
“Shit, there he is.” I nodded over to the velvet curtain that just parted. A guy with slicked-back black and gray hair walked through it, smirking as he looked around the crowd. He puffed on a cigar and hooked his thumb through his belt loop.
“I’ll be back. Try to blend in,” I warned before navigating the crowd to get to Pete.
I knew it was him, not only from what Ashtyn said about how he looked–the beer gut, greasy hair, and tacky suit–but he had an air about him. The air that said he was running the show and he was not to be fucked with.
“Excuse me, are you the owner here?” I asked as I approached him. He stunk of sweat and smoke, and I made a mental note to shower as soon as I got home.
“I am,” he smiled and puffed on his cigar, blowing the smoke in my face. “Who’s asking?”
“I’m interested in one of your girls,” I said. He didn’t respond so I continued, “Ashtyn.”
His eyes lit up and he chuckled. “Geez, who isn’t lately? Girl has a waitlist a mile long, but she doesn’t like to play nice with the customers.Yet.”
I schooled my initial reaction to scowl and laughed instead. “Is that right? That’s okay, I like it when they fight back.”
“You say that, but the last guy who had her back there–poor schmuck–she lambasted his ass. Wasn’t even sure he could get it up with the way her mouth was running, tearing him down.”
“Haha, he sounds like a pussy,” I said, internally wanting to rip the smug look off his face.