Addiction (3 page)
He ignores me. “I’ll give you thirty-five.” He snaps his fingers. “Hurry up,” he orders as he pushes off my door and walks away. “I can’t be late,” he mumbles, but I still hear him.
Late for what
?
Savannah walks back into my room. I give up the fight when I see the makeup bag in one hand and a comb and hairspray in the other. “Now, what do you plan on wearing?” she asks giving me her
I won
smile.
“Does it matter?” I ask with a sigh as I push my long brown hair out of my face. I guess this means I don’t have time for a shower.
“Of course.” Her excitement is annoying. “If you wear something pink, I won’t put bright red lipstick on you. I wouldn’t want you to clash.”
I roll my eyes. “Black. I’ll wear black. It will fit my mood.”
“See, was that so hard?” She starts to pull out eyeshadows, and I nod my head.
“Yes. Yes, it was.”
Exactly thirty minutes later, she’s applying red lipstick to my lips when my brother enters my room now dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a light blue button-down shirt that matches his baby blue eyes. “We need to get going.” He checks his watch and then he taps his foot.
Is he nervous about something?
“Why are we in a hurry?” I ask him.
“We’re not.” He shrugs carelessly, but I can see the tension in his eyes as he looks around the room aimlessly.
“Done,” Savannah announces cheerfully.
“You look beautiful.” He walks over to her and wraps his arms around her from behind. They look like they are Barbie and Ken. As much as it drives me nuts to see them get all cuddly, I can’t help but admit they are an adorable couple. And I will have beautiful nieces and nephews.
I stand from the bed and walk over to my full-length mirror. I frown as I look down at my white jean shorts and black top. I messed up when I let Savannah dress me. My boobs are trying to fall out of the black tank top she picked, and my jean shorts are so short that I can feel the breeze from my ceiling fan on my ass.
I slip on my black high heels that I don’t wear often and smile at them. “Ready.” I actually feel pretty good about going out now minus the outfit. Somewhere while getting ready, I got excited about getting out of this house and dancing. I’m not much of a drinker, but I do love to dance.
“Is Dillon meeting us there?” Savannah asks as we load up in the car.
“What?” I squeal. “Why didn’t you mention Dillon was going to be there?” He may be my brother’s friend, but he gives me the creeps. My brother threw a party a couple of weeks ago, and he kissed me. And he continued to kiss me even after I tried to push him away. Thankfully, my brother walked in and saw it. He pulled him away and told him never to touch me again. I had never been so glad that my brother was protective over me until that very second.
My brother speaks, looking at me in the rearview mirror. “I spoke to him a little bit ago. Something came up and he had to pass.”
***
I sit in the backseat of Savannah’s car as we pull up to what looks like an old abandoned warehouse in an industrial part of Chicago. “This is it?” I ask confused as I look around at the lack of nightlife. It’s pretty dead over on this side of town.
“Yeah,” my brother responds as he pulls into the back parking lot. It’s already packed.
I eye the red brick building skeptically. It doesn’t look like any type of club I would want to enter. “How long has this place been here?” I ask, looking around at our surroundings. This looks like a bad part of town to me.
“About nine months,” Savannah answers as she gets out of the car. “When the owners bought it, it was just a run-down warehouse.” I take a quick look around at the surrounding warehouses, which still look abandoned. Windows busted out and graffiti on the sides. Trash litters the ground. “Then they turned it into this awesome club. It’s like three stories.”
I look at the top of the red brick building having to lean my head all the way back to see the rooftop. “Geez. What kind of club needs three stories?” I wonder out loud.
My brother answers. “The actual club is on the first floor. Then the second floor is more like a loft. It just holds one office that overlooks the club.”
“And the third?” I question when he doesn’t mention it.
“I heard that one of the owners actually lives on that floor. Two guys own it, but one guy, I think his name is Cason, runs it, and he loves it so much he refuses to leave it,” Savannah adds with a smile.
“Charming,” I mutter. “How did you find this place, Blane?” They go out together often, but I’ve never heard them talk about coming to this side of town. And by the way Savannah was talking, this is her first time here.
“A friend,” is his clipped response as he reaches over and grabs Savannah’s hand. She then reaches out and takes mine with her free hand. As we round the back of the building, we come up to the end of the line that seems to wrap around the building. I can see the entrance up at the front.
“It’s gonna be closed by the time we get in.” How is this place that popular, yet I’ve never heard of it?
My brother starts to pull us to the front of the line as Savannah and I protest. “People will be pissed,” I hiss.
“No worries,” he throws over his shoulder.
We come up to the front of the line and a man dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a tight white shirt that has security written in bold black letters across his large chest is checking ID. I can’t help but look him up and down. The holes in his jeans make me question if he’s wearing anything underneath them. A few of the holes are so high on his muscular thighs that you should be able to see his boxers or whitey tighties, but all I can see is skin. Tight, muscular skin.
“Brecken,” my brother says as we approach him.
The guy looks up from the ID of the woman who he was examining and smiles at my brother. A smile you would see on a teeth-whitening ad. A smile I’m sure most women find attractive. I’m sure he gets his pick of them every night. “Well, hello there, Blane. I didn’t know you were coming tonight.”
“Thought I would bring my girls out for some fun tonight,” he says with a smile, but there was no excitement in his voice. I frown. It’s not like him not to want to take Savannah out dancing. Maybe he’s mad at me for tagging along.
The guy my brother called Brecken looks at Savannah and then at me. His eyes linger on my breasts for a little too long, but I’m not surprised. Savannah has me dressed like a slut. She said something about me needing to find a man who would appreciate what I have to offer and be willing to rip it off me.
My brother turns to face us. “Savannah, Taylor, this is one of the owners of Seven Deadly Sins. Brecken, meet my girlfriend, Savannah, and my sister, Taylor.”
Seven Deadly Sins?
Yep, never heard of it.
His dark eyes widen a bit as Blane announces me as his sister. But then soften when he looks down at my chest once again. Yes, I understand that tits have that power.
“Go on in, man,” he announces with a smirk before he steps out of our way for us to enter.
We step through two massive black doors and walk down a long dark hallway as the music starts to filter in. With every step, the music gets louder—to the point I can’t even hear myself think. The vibrations beneath my heels have me looking down to make sure the ground isn’t shaking. I have to let go of Savannah’s hand a few times to allow the drunks to walk between us as they stumble from side to side on their way out.
We come to the end of the entrance, and for a second, I’m momentarily blinded by the bright lights that flash from the ceiling down on us. Savannah reaches out, grabbing my hand again, and tightens her grip. I look up to see that my brother is saying something to us. It’s almost comical as I watch his mouth move, but no words come out. You can’t hear a thing over this music, so I just nod my head and hold onto Savannah’s hand so they don’t leave me behind. I’d hate to get lost in here.
They pull me to the left as we all try to squeeze our way through the mass of people. I find myself calling out sorry as I touch people who are trying to dance even though they are not on the dance floor; they’re just standing around the entrance.
We come to a stop as a man comes up to my brother. I can’t really get a good look at him since Savannah is standing between us. I shuffle from foot to foot, my heels already hurting my feet.
Why didn’t I stay home?
I could have faked a cold. I don’t know why I thought this would be a good idea. I thought getting out of the house would be fun, but now I’m regretting that decision. I just wanted to spend some time with my brother, but how are we going to talk with all of this noise?
After a few seconds, we start to walk again and make our way up to the bar against the far wall to our left. My brother raises his hand and gives a nod to a guy behind the bar. Surprisingly, the blond-headed guy does the same as he acknowledges my brother. My brother starts to pull Savannah and me through the people to make our way up to the front.
“What do you want?” he yells when he turns to face us.
I don’t hear what Savannah says, but I respond with, “Water.”
Savannah grabs his shirt and pulls him down to her so she can speak into his ear. He nods his head and then throws me a big smile. I narrow my eyes on her knowing that she just told him to get me something alcoholic.
CASE
I stand at the top of the stairs of my club and scan over it, keeping my eyes open for anything that looks like it may be trouble. Anything can happen at a club like this. One where people know that anything goes.
Looking down at my watch, I see it’s eleven o’clock. I reach into the back pocket of my black slacks and pull out my cell phone. I’m just about to pull up Blane’s number when a message pops up from him.
Blane:
I
’m here, but I didn’t come alone.
I grind my teeth as I type a reply.
Lose them!
I don’t care who he has with him; he knows he’s here to work not fucking play around. As I place it back in my pocket of my black slacks, I look around once again, now looking for only one person in particular. Blane. After several seconds, I see him standing at the front of the bar. I’m about to walk toward him when he turns from the bar and passes two women some drinks. He leans down and kisses the blond on the lips before she places the drink to her lips and takes a sip.
The other one, the brunette, doesn’t seem as happy about her drink choice as she looks down at it and makes no attempt to drink it. She has a frown on her face as she reaches down and pulls the top of her black shirt up to try to cover her cleavage. I hate to tell her, but that’s not gonna work.
My gaze looks her over as she stands there. She looks like any other clubgoer tonight—wearing a tight fitting and low-cut shirt to show off her big tits. My eyes lower to her white jean shorts that accentuate her long, lean legs. She turns, giving me her back, and I can see from up here that her ass would bring any man to his knees. She may be on the skinny side, but she still has curves to her. The kind of curves that make a man's mind go straight to the gutter while his cock stands to attention.
I meet women in here every night who throw themselves at men. The ones who not only dress the part of a hooker but act on it as well. But from here, she doesn’t seem that type. And that makes her even sexier to me. I like the ones who seem timid. The ones who make you work a little harder to get in their pants. Men like me may take the easy ones to bed any day, but give us a challenge, and well, it makes my dick hard just thinking about it. What man doesn’t like to conquer a woman who would never look twice at them? A woman can play hard to get as long as she wants, but she will eventually relent. As long as the man plays the right cards—he can have any woman he desires.
Blane gets my attention, and I clear my throat as I readjust my hardening cock behind my zipper.
This isn’t the time.
I have work to take care of. He leans down and kisses the brunette on the cheek, and I wonder who these two women are to him. He’s never mentioned any women before to me. Then again, we’re not all that close.
TAYLOR
I take a sip of my Peach Bellini and catch Savannah smiling at me. I hate to admit it, but it’s pretty damn good. I lift it up in the air and mouth a ‘thank you’ to her and my brother. She smiles and I can tell by his features that he starts to laugh at me. He then wraps his arm around her and leans down to give her a desperate kiss. I look away while taking another long sip of my drink. I really hate feeling like the third wheel.
While they make out, I take this time to glance around the club. I don’t go out much, but it seems like any other club. The walls are painted a glossy black that shines each time the strobe lights hit it. I look up at the tall ceilings and see a large mirror over in the top left-hand corner of the club. The lights bouncing off it are somewhat blinding. The lights are set to the music, and they flash with each beat. A black dance floor covers the middle of the club and high-top tables line the walls.
I look over at the security guard standing at the end of the long entrance hallway and next to him is a set of stairs. Hmm, I didn’t see those when we entered. Probably because I was too busy trying to get my eyes to focus on the new surroundings.
A man catches my attention, as he stands halfway up the stairs. I look at him as he scans the club. He’s dressed as dark as the club in all black. Black slacks hang low on narrow hips. A black button-down shirt is expertly tucked into his black pants. But his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, exposing both forearms. I can tell from here that ink covers both of them.
I take another sip of my Bellini as my eyes take him in, and I realize that he looks dangerous. Mysterious. Someone you wouldn’t want to fuck with. He holds his back straight and his head high. From here, I can tell his body is tight as if he’s just waiting for a fight to break out. I’m sure it happens often in a place like this.
The security guy at the bottom gets my attention as he walks up the stairs and leans in to tell the mysterious man something. He drops his head as he listens to what the guy has to tell him and nods a few times. Then he looks up from his shoes. His eyes land on my brother for a few seconds and then mine. I take another sip of my Bellini as his eyes rake over me in a way that would normally make me feel violated. But, for some reason, it makes heat run up my spine. His eyes hold mine, and there’s no shame in them. I instinctively reach down to pull my shirt up, to try to cover my boobs, and he actually smirks at that.
I try to look away as he stares at me with intensity. Even on the other side of the club, I can feel his eyes burning my skin from where he stands. The way his gaze slowly runs over every inch of my body as if he’s saving it to memory for later.
I don’t get out much. I’ve never been the one to choose a club or a bar over my bed or a book. I’ve never seen a man look so evil and pure like he does in my life. I imagine he is the type of man a woman would talk about to her friends when they reminisce about that one time they took a ride on the wild side. That one time that they had a taste of sin. No man like that has one woman in his life. He has multiple. And for some crazy reason, the way he is watching me now has goosebumps prickling across my skin. My heart is beating so loud in my ears, I no longer hear the music. I should be ashamed. I should turn and look away from him. I should …
My hands go flying when I’m jerked backward and some of my drink runs down my shirt. “What the …?” I yell over the music as I turn and reach for some of those little square napkins that bars think are useful.
“Sorry,” Savannah yells in my ear. I pull back as it rings from her words. She looks down at my tits and gives me her puppy eyes. “It was an accident,” she hollers.
“What did you want,” I call out, grabbing a few more napkins. I take a quick look around before I try to wipe what is left of my drink off my shirt. I no longer see the mysterious guy on the stairs.
“Bathroom …” She grabs my hand and starts to pull me again. Thankfully, this time I hold on to my drink.
She drags me through the heavy crowd, and I scream out sorry and excuse us. I’m pretty sure no one can hear me, and those who can, don’t really care. We make our way to the end of the bar, and she pulls me to the left. We walk down a dark hallway as the music starts to fade a little more with every step. I like that fewer people are back here than in the main part of the club. I look curiously into a few doors that are staggered down the hallway. One labeled
PRIDE
, the other
LUST
.
I wonder what goes on in those rooms?
The next one reads
WRATH
.
We pass more, but Savannah is on a mission, so I don’t get to read anymore.
Finally, we come to the end of the long hall and the door that says
Restroom
on it. She pushes it open as she releases my hand. “Let’s get you washed up,” she says with a big smile on her face.
I look at myself in the mirror and am thankful I wore a black top; it hides most of the drink. “What were you doing?” I ask. “When you grabbed me. You could have just tapped my shoulder, you know?” I laugh.
She yanks some paper towels down and her smile brightens. “I saw the other owner.” She places her hand on her chest and sighs heavily. “He is so fucking gorgeous.” I wet the paper towels and continue to clean myself off as she continues. “He’s been arrested …” Her voice trails off as she gets a dreamy look on her face. “That’s so hot!”
I look up at her. “And that makes him attractive?” I wonder.
Her green eyes widen. “Seriously? He is a total bad boy. Doesn’t put up with anyone’s shit. I heard he beat the shit out of a cop. Like broke some of his bones.”
“Nice,” I say dryly. I can see why he was arrested.
“I’ve been told that women beg to fuck him and men beg to watch him fuck them,” she says matter-of-factly.
“Have you begged him for anything?” I ask trying not to laugh at how in awe she sounds.
“I haven’t had the chance yet.” She winks at me playfully, and I allow myself to laugh. We both know that she would never cheat on Blane.
“Well, if you ask me, he sounds like a jerk,” I say. “You know the ones we hated in high school.” He probably uses people to his advantage.
She rolls her green eyes. “We’re not in high school anymore, Taylor. Those guys were dicks with Mommy and Daddy’s money. They were conceited and thought they ruled the world.”
“This guy sounds no different.” I look down at my chest and examine the damage. Besides being wet, it looks pretty good.
She spins me to face her and places her hands on my shoulders. She gives me a little shake as her eyes widen. “You need to open your eyes, Taylor. I love you, but you are too innocent.”
I snort as I push her away. “What kind of statement was that? There’s nothing wrong with not being a slut who dates the guys who will spend fifty percent of their life in prison and the other fifty percent looking at themselves in the mirror.”
“You’re not a slut. But you play it too safe.” She frowns. “You need to have some fun.” She faces the mirror as she fluffs her blond hair with her fingers. “There is nothing wrong with sleeping with someone for your own pleasure.”
“How did we get on the topic of my sex life?” I ask, watching her as she licks her plump red lips in the mirror.
“You have no sex life,” she declares.
“Who can get horny when you have to hear your brother having sex with your best friend?” I shudder.
She chuckles. “Be that as it may, you need to get some as well. It’s been too long.”
I let out a sigh, knowing that she is right. I just don’t sleep with a man unless we are in a relationship. One-night stands have never been my thing. “I’ve been busy with school,” I add defensively.
“School is over,” she says turning to face me now. “And there’s no time like the present.” She grabs my hand and pushes the door open for me.
I let Savannah pull me by the arm as we walk down the hall heading back to the bar. I cringe as the music blares the closer we get. As we come up to the bar, she comes to a stop, and I run into the back of her.
“Seriously,” I hiss as I try to hold up my drink, or what’s left of it.
I’ve worn enough of it already.
She spins around to face me. “Blane’s gone,” she announces over the music. Before I can respond, she gets up on her tiptoes and looks around the club for him.
I do the same, and when I come up with nothing, I look back down the hallway from which we just came. “Maybe he went to the bathroom?” I offer.
She bites her lip nervously and then nods her head. I’m not all that nervous because he wouldn’t leave us here. I start to walk back down where we just came from when I see one of those private room doors is open. I look into it as we pass and see the back of my brother as he sits down in a chair. Without thinking, I walk in.
“Blane, what are you doing …?” My words trail off when he jumps up from his seat, and my eyes land on the black coffee table sitting in front of him. “What the hell, Blane?” I shriek as I see a baggie full of pills on the coffee table. “Are those drugs?” I demand. My brother doesn’t take any kind of medication. He doesn’t even like to take Tylenol when he has a headache.
“Is there a problem?” a man who sits across from my brother demands as he jumps to his feet. He glares at my brother in question.
“I assure you, there’s not.” Blane places his hands up in surrender. He then turns to face me and narrows his eyes at me. “Is there, Taylor?” he snaps.
“Of course …” Savannah grabs my arm and yanks me backward. I can feel her body physically shake as I press against her.
“Please, shut up,” she begs in my ear.
“But …” She digs her nails into my skin, and I grind my teeth together. I take a deep, calming breath and nod my head. Speaking wouldn’t be good at the moment.
I look up at the man who still stands in front of my brother. I now realize he was the man I saw standing on the stairs earlier. His body is stiff and his hands are fisted by his sides; his tense posture pulls at his tattoos on his arms as he stares down at me with narrowed blue eyes.
“No problem,” I say trying to defuse this situation. I sure as hell didn’t get out of bed to get my ass kicked by a man who looks like he wants me dead.
“You need to leave,” he demands with a deep voice.
I blink a few times as he directs his attention to Savannah and me. “Excuse me?” I question. You hear about situations like this all the time—drug deals gone bad. Is that what this is? Oh, my God, is my brother selling or buying drugs? I suck in a shaky breath. “Blane …”
The man cuts me off. “Leave.” He delivers the one, simple word as a demand with the promise that if I don’t walk out right now, there will be consequences.
My heart beats hard against my chest, but I square my shoulders and lift my chin. Trying to find some courage, I swallow nervously, but my brother has made no attempt to tell the man otherwise. But I refuse to leave without him.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see something move and turn to see what it is. My heart stops beating completely when I see it’s the security guy who stood at the bottom of the stairs by the entrance. As I turn to face him, I take a step back. He looks much bigger as he stands in front of me. I can see why someone would choose him for security. He’s gotta be over six-foot-four. And it’s not only his height. He’s massive everywhere else as well. His shoulders are wide as if he once were an NFL player. One of his thighs is bigger than my waist. His black security shirt is tighter than most pairs of jeans I own.
I give him a nervous smile trying not to show him that I’m terrified of his size. The smile he returns to me is nothing less than threatening. It makes the hair on my neck stand up.
The security guy takes a couple of steps toward me, and the man speaks again. “If you don’t leave this room right now, I will have you escorted out.”
I panic as my eyes fly from the security and to the other guy. “I’m not leaving without Blane,” I find the courage to say.
“I’ll be right there,” Blane assures us before he tosses the security guy a hateful look. “Just wait for me by the bar.”
“But …”
“Go!” Blane shouts getting pissed at me.
I take a deep breath as I try to calm my racing heart. I throw the guy dressed in all black one last look before I grab Savannah by the hand and storm past the security guard and out the door.
CASE
I stand in one of my private rooms as I stare at the guy in front of me. Blane knows he fucked up. “I didn’t know I had to inform you not to bring bitches to our meetings,” I grind out.
He was watching the door as the two women left. At my words, he turns to face me. “I tried to leave them behind. I thought I could do it without getting caught,” he snaps.
I raise an eyebrow at his tone. He takes a calming breath. “And they’re not just bitches, so don’t call them that.”
“Who are they?” I demand.
He runs a hand through his dark hair. “Savannah is my girlfriend.”
“And the other?”
“Taylor is my sister.”
The one I was eye fucking earlier is his sister? “You have a sister?” I growl.
