Dominion (Alpha Domain #1) (12 page)

C
lub Monaco
.

The stomping ground for pimps, drug dealers, and pretty much every criminal family in the area. The club was considered a safe ground for all rival groups, meaning there was no chance that the Sanchez family would pick a fight with us here.

Not unless they wanted the entire club to turn against them, which was what happened when you tried to start something in the safe zone. It was the code around here—one that had been put to use only twice since its opening four years ago.

Since those two times, nobody had been stupid enough to try anything within a block of the club.

“What the hell are you doing here?” a large bouncer demanded as he eyed me from head to toe.

My team was fairly well-known in the area, but we didn’t make it a habit to visit this bar unless it was business related. It had been months since my last time here, when I paid a visit to a snitch who refused to meet with me privately.

Smart guy.

“Business,” I said, my tone clipped. “Are you going to let us in or not?”

He hesitated, eyeing both myself and the three men standing behind me. After a long moment of consideration, he sighed and moved the velvet rope out of our way. I didn’t bother to look back as I strolled purposely into the club, knowing my men were right behind me.

Once we were inside, I scanned the room until my eyes narrowed on the upstairs area. It wasn’t exactly a VIP section, but more of a ‘
pay your way to get a private table, but the girls will cost you extra
’ section.

It made the most sense for them to be up there, probably hidden behind a curtain in a booth while they paid women to suck them off. It wasn’t exactly the prime conditions for this confrontation, but at least it’d catch them off guard.

“Upstairs,” I said, my voice just barely audible over the thumping bass of the song that echoed against the walls of the club. Mason jerked his head in acknowledgment and slapped Troy on the chest to grab his attention, pointing up until the other man nodded.

We moved as a group and when we reached the staircase, I slipped the bouncer five crisp hundreds and he let us up with no questions asked.

Now the fun part
, I thought to myself as I frowned at the closed booths.

Mason tapped me on the shoulder then pointed to the bar. I nodded, handing him the rest of the cash I had on me and watching as he made his way over.

Buying information could be a difficult job for me. I was pretty well-known and that had the tendency to make people freeze up.

Mason, however, was not well-known. And he was just the right amount of threatening for people to gladly give him what he wanted as long as he promptly went away after.

A few minutes later, he returned to us with a beer in one hand and the information we needed. He tipped his head to the side and I followed him to one of the middle booths.

“You sure?” I asked quietly as we stood outside the curtain.

A boisterous laugh came from the booth and I realized that he had gotten good intel. That was definitely the laugh of a Sanchez son.

“Positive.”

I pointed to one end of the booth and waited for Mason and Troy to get into position. Derek stood by my side and waited, my fist held in the air until the sound of another laugh hit my ears.

I made the signal and we threw open opposite ends of the curtain, sliding into the booth while Derek and Troy pulled the curtain closed and stood guard outside.

“What the hell is this?” Dante hissed right before his eyes locked with mine.

Excellent, he’s next to Mason. Which means—

I turned to the side and nearly gagged as I watched a girl who was obviously strung out on something as she bounced on Mario’s miniscule cock.

With an amused snort, I said, “No wonder you have to pay for it.”

Mario hissed, “Get the fuck out of here before I put a bullet in your head.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” I chided with a shake of my head as he reached for his gun. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Are you forgetting the rules of Monaco?”

The girl’s glassy eyes turned to me and I felt my heart clench at the thought that this could have been Amber. Shaking the thought from my head, I turned my cutting gaze to Dante.

“You better warn your lapdog to back down.”

The corners of his lips turned up and he looked from me to Mario.

“Relax, my brother. Let’s not get unnecessarily violent, hmm?”

“Dante, this motherfucker is—”

He held up his hand and narrowed his eyes. “You do not speak unless I tell you to. One might think you’re not properly appreciating the gift I have given you,” he said as he gestured to the girl. She continued to ride Mario, eyes unfocused until Dante snapped his fingers and whistled. “Girl! Come to me.”

I watched with a sickening feeling as she pulled herself off Mario’s cock and crawled up on the table towards Dante. I pointedly avoided looking at her exposed cunt, not wanting to even think about the things they would have made Amber do if she had been captured.

“Suck my dick, girl,” Dante demanded as he lifted his hips and unbuttoned his fly. After she slid under the table and got to work, he grunted once, thrusting up into her mouth before he settled back down and turned to me. “What can I do for you, Mr. Fredrick?”

“You can show me a little fucking respect and detach that girl’s mouth from your cock while you’re talking to me.”

Dante laughed—the sound nearly making my ears bleed. Even Mason looked disgusted, which was saying a lot.

“Oh my friend, you should show
me
some respect. You’re the one who interrupted
my
time, after all. Unless—Oh! Are you offended that I haven’t offered to share? Silly me. Girl! Lend these gentleman your hands.”

A cold shiver crept up my spine and I nearly bolted out of the booth when I felt the girl’s hand creep up my thigh in search of my flaccid dick. I shoved her hand away and bit down on the rage that was demanding that I kill this fucker right now.

“No thanks,” I ground out. “I’m here to talk, not to use one of your whores.”

“Ah, but haven’t you already?”

Mason froze as I coldly asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Have you already forgotten that you stole a girl from me recently? A pretty girl—one I was planning to keep personally. I imagine you’ve probably already taken such a beautiful girl on a ride of your own.”

Bile rose in my throat because I couldn’t deny the truth of his words. Instead of reacting to his blatant attempt to piss me off, I simply said, “She doesn’t belong to you.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed and every bit of mirth drained from them in an instant. “But she does. I was owed a debt and her owner signed over her life to me.”

“That piece of shit was not her
owner
, Dante,” I hissed as I leaned forward to avoid watching as Mario grab ahold of the girl’s hand and guided her to jerk him off. “She’s not a piece of fucking property.”

“No, of course not. A beauty like her is a piece of
art
, Allen. And she would have been an excellent piece to add to my collection.”

“Maybe you’re not understanding him,” Mason chimed in as he leaned forward as well. “But property or art or what the fuck ever—the girl isn’t yours. She’s ours.”

Dante let out a low breath and shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“I can pay you for her,” I cut in, still holding on to the vain hope that this could be settled without the risk of putting Amber in even more danger. “I’ll pay you double the amount that Chris owed you.”

He appeared intrigued by the offer, tilting his head to the side and regarding Mario. “What do you think, boy?”

“Whatever,” he said breathlessly, pumping his hips under the table and tossing his head back against the leather booth. Like a train wreck, I watched as his eyes rolled back and his mouth fell open—his body jerking as he came in the girl’s hand.

Fucking disgusting prick.

“I say... no deal.”

My eyes cut back to Dante. “Are you serious?”

His face was solemn as he nodded. “Yes, I’m serious. You will return the girl to me immediately, or face the consequences.”

If we weren’t going to solve this peacefully, then this was exactly what we needed.

“Is that a threat?” Mason asked, eyes darting to me for a brief second to confirm that the plan was still a go. I inclined my head slightly and watched as he nodded back.

“It
is
a threat. I want that girl.”

“You’re not getting her back,” Mason said with a chuckle.

“I believe I will, if you little piss-ants know what’s good for you. If you and your friends want to live, you will bring her to me within twenty-four hours.”

If the threat itself wasn’t enough to get my murderous rage running, what he said next certainly was.

“Return her to me and no one will die. But one way or another— by this time tomorrow, I
will
be buried balls deep in her tight cunt.”

I slammed my fists on the table and slowly pulled in a long, sobering breath. I watched Mason as panic appeared on his face, afraid that I was about to break the code and raise hell inside the safe zone.

Instead, I simply said, “Fair enough.”

“I will see you tomorrow,” Dante called as I stood up. I didn’t look back at him, but I could still hear him as he said, “Girl, hold still. I want to come on your face.”

I clenched my jaw tight enough to send sharp stabs of pain through my entire face and slid back the curtain, walking away from the sound of his hand working his flesh and the girl’s whimpers as he released with a grunt.

“
O
verall
—that could’ve gone worse,” Mason said as soon as we were on the road heading back towards the house. “But
fuck
, man. That shit was disgusting. Could you guys hear it?”

“Unfortunately,” Troy said dryly from the passenger’s seat. “I’m just grateful I didn’t have to see it.”

“We’ll fix it,” I said, more to myself than to anyone else. My knuckles were white as I clenched the steering wheel hard, wanting nothing more than to get home and make sure Amber was okay.

And tell her how much I cared for her.

And to assure her I’d
never
treat her like Chris did—or like Dante would, if given the chance.

“We’ll make it right. Set the captives free,” I mumbled as I refocused on my thoughts.

I could feel the curious look Troy was giving me from the passenger seat and the silence in the back of the car alerted me that I was likely getting the same looks from Derek and Mason.

“I think you need to get a few hours of sleep before this goes down, Allen. With all due respect—we don’t need you for the set up.”

“That won’t be necessary. I need to—”

Mason interrupted me mid-sentence. “John can cover for you while you spend a little time with your girl and get a few hours of shut-eye. The rest of us will alternate until we’re ready to go.”

I wanted to argue, but I knew my body was running on fumes. Plus, the idea of spending some time alone with Amber was more than enough to make me cave.

“Alright, fine. When we get back, I’ll get John to relieve me for a few hours.”

Everyone seemingly satisfied with my response, the rest of the ride back to the house was silent.

I
was having
what was probably the best dream of my life. I was lying on a deserted beach with Allen on one side and John on the other—both of them totally nude and feeding me ice cream spoonful by spoonful, occasionally letting a bite plop onto my own naked body and then licking it off with their talented tongues.

But something was ruining it. Every now and then, the colors would flicker as if someone was flicking a light switch in my head, stirring me out of the fantasy even though I was desperately clinging on to it.

“Wake up... John, wake UP!”

A violent jolt to my right pulled me all the way out of sleep and I yelped when I felt John abruptly sit up and move to block my body with his own.

I sat up in bed and looked to the doorway with wide eyes, a sigh of relief slipping past my lips when I saw a thoroughly unamused Allen staring at us. John relaxed and sat on the edge of the bed, running his hands through his hair as he breathlessly laughed.

“You scared the shit out of me, man.”

“Nice to see you were keeping her safe,” Allen said coldly.

John bristled and sat up. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, I just—”

“Save it. They need you downstairs.”

“What about you?” he asked as he stood up and grabbed his discarded jeans from the floor.

“You’ll be covering for me so I can get a few hours of sleep. The guys seem to think I need it.”

John nodded, avoiding Allen’s steely gaze as he redressed.

“Allen, it’s my fault,” I said softly, hoping that I could dissolve some of his anger.

I wasn’t entirely sure it worked at making him less mad at John, but when he turned to look at me, his eyes softened instantly. I gave him a small smile, hoping he’d return it, but that was apparently pushing my luck.

“Get some sleep, man,” John told him, patting him on the shoulder and finally meeting his gaze. “And I’m sorry for passing out. It wasn’t intentional.”

Allen nodded and I could tell he was trying very hard to reign in his anger. He patted John on the shoulder, but didn’t say a word as he started walking towards the bed. John gave me an apologetic smile before leaving the room and I waved to him before the door clicked shut.

Once we were alone, I sat up on my knees and crawled to where Allen was sitting on the edge of the bed. I hesitantly laid my hands on his shoulders and whispered, “Allen?”

“Yeah?” he whispered back, his voice cracking slightly.

I frowned with concern. “Are you alright?”

He turned his head back to look at me and I gasped at the glassiness of his eyes.

“Not really.”

I crawled back on the bed and tugged him with me, allowing him a moment to remove his shoes before he laid down beside me.