I led the pack of us past the line, hearing various boos and scoffs from the patient patrons, and stopped at the front. We were greeted by a bouncer–a big, muscular man who was shorter than me but had twice the amount of muscle. No way that guy wasn’t ‘roid raging.
“Back of the line,” he said with an uninterested tone. We weren’t the first pissants to try and cut the line.
“We’re here to see Pete Hannigan. He invited us.” I flashed the gold business card Pete gave me at Aces. It was a long shot, but I had to try something to avoid waiting an hour or more to get inside.
The bouncer took the business card from my hand, examining it front and back, his eyes flickering to each of us. “You can go. Tell Pete that Bruno let you in,” he smirked as he unhooked the rope and let us pass.
The magic business card. Wouldn’t be surprised if the bouncer got a cut for letting Pete’sclientswalk through the door unscathed.
“Wow, this place is…” Beck started.
“Way better than Aces?” Axel asked.
The three of them looked around in amazement–and yeah, it was impressive. The ceiling had to be twenty feet tall. There was a long bar that was lit up with blue lights. Black leather booths lined the room, and in the center, there was a dance floor twice the size of Aces.
There was a stage with a band set up and playing music. They rocked out with a guy singing an old Blink-182 song at the mic. The crowd went nuts over it. It looked like karaoke but without the lyrics rolling on a screen. And the singer was actually good. The music reverberated throughout the place, the bass thrumming my boots, and I scanned the area, looking for any sign of Pete or Ashtyn. Pete said he did “skin auctions” at this place. There was another floor above us, which could be where the illegal shit went down.
As I scoped the room and the guys tried not to drool over the beautiful waitresses, my eyes stopped on a familiar face. He looked older than the last time I saw him, which was last Christmas. His tanned skin held a few more wrinkles and his dark hair a few more grays.
“Uncle Gio?” I asked the man in question.
His head jerked toward me and a smile grew on his face. Uncle Gio pulled me in for a hug and slapped my shoulder. “West? What are you doing all the way over here?”
Uncle Gio was dressed in his a freshly pressed black suit with black leather loafers. His dark eyes honed in on mine and I’m sure he was wondering how an eighteen-year-old got into this club.
“I’m looking for Pete Hannigan. I think this is his place?”
Uncle Gio chuckled. “He wishes. What business do you have with that piece of shit?”
“He’s got my sister,” Remington interrupted like my uncle was going to know who his sister was.
“He’s got my girl,” I corrected. “And I think he may have brought her here.”
“Here? To my club? That motherfucker,” Uncle Gio said as he eyed Remington’s cut. His club? Pete had been telling everyone Ethereal was his. What a loser.
“Franco,” Uncle Gio snapped at the man behind him. “Where’s Hannigan? That asshole is bringing girls here. I told him not to do that again. Fucking asshole.”
Franco pulled his phone from his pocket and started tapping on it. “He’s here, sir. Probably back in one of the offices.”
“Let’s go find him.” My uncle and Franco led us toward the back of the building. There was a door to the side that was guarded by two bouncers, both of which were even bigger than Bruno. They opened the door and moved out of the way for us.
Uncle Gio walked with purpose down the hallway, going right to where Pete was holed up. We burst through the door to find a very shocked Pete, and a half-naked woman scurried up from the floor in front of him. Pete shoved his dick back in his pants and stood up, adjusting himself. The woman picked up her shirt from the floor and ran out the door, obviously embarrassed she’d been polishing the knob of a slimeball like Pete Hannigan.
“The fuck did I tell you about doing that shit on company time, Hannigan?” Uncle Gio asked furiously. He grabbed Pete by the collar of his hideous pink dress shirt and yanked him close.
Uncle Gio was a big dude–all the men in my family were over 6’2”. He was muscular for an older guy, and I knew he didn’t pull any punches when it came to his businesses.
“Uh, so–sorry boss, she uh, she propositioned me. It’s hard to turn down a beautiful woman on her knees for me,” Pete chuckled nervously.
The look on the woman’s face told me there was more to that story. It didn’t look like she was on her knees willingly, or at least it didn’t appear that she’d done thepropositioning.
Uncle Gio pushed Pete backwards and he sank into the office chair behind him. “What’d you do, Pete? Did you take my nephew’s girl and bring her here?”
“You–your nephew’s girl? Uh, I brought my old lady’s daughter over. Not sure if that’s his girl.”
“What’d you do to Ashtyn? Where is she?” I yelled as rage poured off me. Beck held Remington back and Axel held me back, both of us itching to beat the shit out of Pete. He trembled. Not such a tough guy now, are ya? He looked from Uncle Gio to me to Remington. He had two guys ready to kill him–one of which wore a gang cut, the other who spent more time punching shit in the gym than sleeping.
“Settle, West. I’ll handle it,” Uncle Gio said calmly. His calm was fucking scary. If he was calm, you should probably leave the vicinity. “What did I tell you about bringing unwilling girls into my business?” He pulled a sleek black gun from his waistband.