Skye Morrison Vampire 2 Sins of the Father (7 page)

The music started and I quickly looked up at
the DJ booth. Quinn was up there and he had the house laptop up.
Jameson had once told me that he and Archer personally put together
over three thousand ten-hour playlists that they could choose from
on any given night to play at the club. I was overly impressed with
their music selections and danced around the back of the bar with
Ducky as I helped him pour ice into our beer coolers.

Before I knew it, all of the dancers were in
their cages and customers were pouring in. Ducky, Hunter and I
worked as a team and made fast work of the incoming orders. The
night was passing quickly and it was midnight before we knew it. I
chanced a peek at the full second floor and saw the curtain drawn
around the table that the large gathering of men was at.

Someone tapped my shoulder suddenly and
startled me. “That guy over there wants to talk to you,” Ducky said
as he handed me a bottle of beer and motioned with his head to the
right. I thanked him and walked down to the end of the bar.

“Well hello again, beautiful girl,” a
handsome man purred at me and it took me a second to recognize him.
His name was Dic and I met him last night on my break. We shared a
beer and some engaging small talk.

I smiled and happily greeted him, handing
over his bottle of Dos Equis. “Well, hey there handsome,” I said
with a grin. “Fancy seeing you again.”

He smiled a heart-stopping smile and laughed.
His deep dimples flashed and I felt my stomach flutter at his
handsomeness. Dic was in top form tonight. He had on a tight black
V-neck t-shirt that showed off his muscular, tattoo covered arms
and his rich, brown hair was carefully messy. I found myself
leaning into him as he spoke. “I told you last night that I’d be
seeing you again,” he said in a deep, masculine rumble.

I felt my face flush hot and grinned. “Indeed
you did,” I teased. “So what brings you back, tonight? Is it the
music, the drinks, or the dancing?” I asked, leaning closer to
him.

He cocked his eyebrow at me and smiled.
“Something like that. Care to dance?”

I laughed and bit the corner of my lip.
Why the hell not
? I looked around at the bar and saw that we
weren’t overly busy so I held my finger up to him and motioned for
him to wait a moment. I walked over to Ducky, asked him to take
over for 15 minutes, and walked around to the front of the bar.
Hunter gave me a questioning look and I quickly told him I’d be
right back. I love to dance and I’d been dying to let loose on the
dance floor all night.

I took his hand and allowed him to lead me to
the middle of the floor. We started dancing as the crowd closed
back in around us. I was rocking my hips to the beat as my hair
whipped about. Dic pulled me closer to him as the song slowed and
morphed into another. We wordlessly danced up against each other,
my body hyperaware of his tight, muscular one. He pulled me even
closer to him and we ground against each other, lost in the
pounding of the song.

Dic bent his head down and spoke softly in my
ear as he gripped my hips. “You’ve got some serious moves,
toots.”

I smiled and looked up into his rich,
chocolate brown eyes. “Right back at you, babe,” I said with a
laugh.

We danced for a few more songs before I
remembered that I was still at work. I didn’t want to stop, but I
had to. “I’ve got to get back to work,” I said with a groan,
standing on my tiptoes to speak in his ear.

He smiled, grabbed my hand, quickly spun me
around and dipped me. I laughed as he pulled me back up. “God,
you’re fun,” I said genuinely as I laughed and looked up into his
eyes.

He cocked his eyebrow and chuckled. “Maybe we
can do this again?” he asked hopefully.

I bit my bottom lip, excited at the thought,
and smiled. “You’re on, mister.”

He quietly led me back to the bar and I
walked around behind it. I got him another beer and walked down to
the end of the bar to give it to him, but he was nowhere in sight.
Hm. That’s weird
, I thought.
Where did he go? He must
have gone to the men’s room or something
. I took the beer for
myself, chugging it down quickly and got busy filling drink orders.
I didn’t see Dic for the rest of the night and I was slightly
disappointed. I had at least wanted to thank him for the dance.

By 2 am the music had shut down, the club was
closing and people were slowly making their way out. A few of the
cage dancers came by the bar to say goodnight to me as they made
their way back to the employee lounge to change and leave for the
night.

I was almost finished counting out the tip
jar when Trey and Seamus walked over and sat at the bar. Trey
looked absolutely worn out and my heart went out to him. Scanning
hundreds of people’s emotions couldn’t have been easy.

I walked over to Ducky, handed him his cut of
the tips, thanked him for being such an awesome barback tonight,
and quietly told him that he could cut out. He gave me a quick
hi-five and took off for the employee lounge.

I poured up a fat glass of bourbon and sat it
down in front of Trey. “Drink up, honey. You’ll feel better soon,”
I said sympathetically.

He smiled tiredly at me and wordlessly
thanked me with his eyes. I reached over, gently patted his hand,
and turned to Seamus. “What can I get you hon?” I asked him as I
got out a clean glass from behind the counter.

“Whiskeh’ darlin’ and don’na be holdin’ ou’
on meh’,” he said in his deep Irish accent with a sigh, running his
fingers through his short black hair. I quickly poured him five
fingers of good Irish whiskey and slid the glass in front of
him.

Hunter finished counting down the drawer and
he gathered the cash and credit card receipts together and put them
in a bank bag. “You want to take this up to the office, or shall
I?” he asked with a smirk.

I pursed my lips at him and grabbed the blue
zippered bank bag. I didn’t know what he was smirking at, but I
didn’t want him thinking I was scared to go upstairs for some
reason. “I’ve got it,” I said, smirking back and then smiling. He
was teasing me and I couldn’t help but find it a little funny. He’d
been playful and light hearted all evening. It was nice to finally
get to know Hunter as more than just the pretty face he was.

“Hold up now, young’en,” Seamus said quickly
as he pulled a thick stack of cash from the inside pocket of his
black blazer. “Give ‘dis to ol’ Jameson fer’ me. Tell ‘em to put it
in da’ safe wit’ yours.”

I took the huge stack of cash, thanked him,
and made my way over to the grand metal staircase. I slowly made my
way up as Aoife and Lochlan made their way down.

“Evening, Skye,” Aoife said as she narrowed
her eyes at me. I involuntarily flinched and looked away from her.
“Good evening, Aoife,” I said quickly and stepped faster, eager to
get away from her.

Lochlan was a few steps behind her and he
dramatically wagged his auburn eyebrows at me. “’Ave a fun night,”
he teased.

I shot him a look that begged him to zip it.
I didn’t want anyone overhearing him and reading into it. He
laughed as I quickly passed him without a word. I got up to the
second floor and saw that one of the cleaning crew was hard at work
already. The janitor was reaching over to pull back the closed
curtain around the table that I had last seen The Faithful
occupying. My mind immediately flashed back to Greyson’s mutilated
body and I clutched the envelope and the money tighter to my chest.
I felt my heartbeat speed up as irrational panic set in. My breath
quickened as my heart pounded in terror.

He pulled back the curtain and I saw that it
was unoccupied aside from a few empty bottles and glasses. I sighed
in relief and my knees suddenly felt weak. I silently thanked God
as I clutched my chest. I didn’t know how many closed curtains I’d
have to see opened, or how many weeks would have to pass before I
got over the horrible events of last night.

I swallowed thickly as I shook my head and
made my way up the small spiral staircase and over to Archer’s
office. The door was open and I tentatively peeked inside. Jameson
was sitting on the couch, his head tilted back, and his hands
clutching a tall glass of blood.

He opened his eyes when he heard me walk in
and he smiled tiredly. “Hello,
a luaidh
,” he said
sweetly.

I dropped the money and envelope on Archer’s
desk and turned back to Jameson. “Is Archer here?”

He shook his head and rubbed his right
temple. “Thank God, no. He and
An Dílis
left a few hours
ago.”

I quietly shut the door and walked over to
him, sitting in his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“What’s wrong, honey?” I asked as I placed a soft kiss on his
lips.

He nuzzled my neck with his nose as he took a
deep breath in and sighed. “You smell so good. I can tell you were
dancing tonight. I smell the sweet sweat on your skin,” he said as
he softly growled.

I shivered in momentary excitement, got up
from his lap and sat down in the chair across from him. It was hard
to do, but something was bothering him and I wanted to know what it
was. If we started attacking each other sexually, I might never
find out. “Talk to me babe,” I whispered seriously.

He sighed again and ran his fingers through
his shoulder length brown hair. “It’s not easy keeping my brother
out of my head.”

I sat up straighter and grasped the arms of
the chair. “Tell me,” I demanded. “What happened?”

He licked his lips and quickly downed the
full glass of blood. He looked at me for a few seconds before he
answered. “When I came back upstairs with the bottle of Connemara,
one of
An Dílis
noticed red lipstick on my mouth and brought
it to my attention.”

I cringed. “Damn it,” I cursed in a whisper
and shook my head.

Jameson chuckled dryly and continued. “Yeah,
my thoughts exactly, love.”

I got up out the chair and took the empty
glass from his hands. I set it down on the small bar against the
wall and walked back over to him, straddling his lap. “Then what
happened?” I asked as I gently ran both of my hands through his
silky hair and massaged his cool scalp.

He leaned his head back into my hands and
sighed contently. “Archer asked who I had been kissing.”

My fingers froze mid stroke and I took a deep
breath. “Does he know?” I asked warily.

He opened his eyes and looked deeply into my
own. “No,” he said with a small, cautious grin. “One of the men
asked him a question and I quickly thought of something else.” He
smiled up at me and grabbed my hips in both of his hands. “You have
no idea how hard it was to not think about your soft body lying in
wait under mine.”

I blushed and shivered at the thought of our
near intercourse earlier in the stockroom. I wetted my lips and
slowly brought my mouth down to his, lightly licking the width of
his bottom lip before gently sucking it into my mouth, teasing it
softly with my teeth.

Just then a knock sounded at the door and I
allowed Jameson to have his lip back so he could speak. “What is
it?” he called out. The door slowly started to open and Jameson
used his vampire speed to lift me up off his lap and place me on
the couch next to him.

Lochlan poked his head in and smiled widely,
his dark blue eyes shining with amusement. “’Ello, lovebirds,” he
teased in a mocked British accent.

Jameson crossed his arms over his chest and
sighed. “Can I help you, brother?”

“Aye, brother,” Lochlan said with a
mischievous grin. “You can let me watch you and this fine feek here
go to town.”

Jameson laughed, shook his head and hurled a
throw pillow off the couch at him. “In your dreams,
cac ar
oineach
!”

Lochlan threw his head back and laughed hard
as he gently tossed the pillow back to Jameson. “And I have a
feelin’ it will be tonight!”

“
Burraidh
,” Jameson bit back with a
laugh. “Get to the point, old man.”

He smirked at me and looked back at Jameson.
“We’re done for the night and everyone is leavin’. Are ya’ comin’?
I thought I’d trade places with Trey tonight and ride with you.
Thought maybe you’d be in the mood to tell me a bed time story…one
that involves a stockroom an’ a gorgeous topless girl?”

This time I picked up a pillow off the couch
and launched it at Lochlan with stunning accuracy. He easily caught
it and laughed again.

“Alright, you two,” Jameson with a smile.
“Enough. Lochlan, Skye and I are going to go out for some coffee,
so why don’t you catch a ride home with Seamus. Tell Trey to do the
same.”

Lochlan crossed his arms over his chest and
smirked. “Who are you foolin’? You can’t drink coffee, Jameson. And
we’re not supposed to leave unless we’re wit’ our buddy. Remember
the rules?”

Jameson took a deep breath and blew it out.
“I’ll be fine, I promise,” Jameson said, an edge of pleading to his
voice. “Cover for me at home?”

Lochlan thought a moment and was silent.
“Alright,” he said, suddenly serious. “But, if you get in to any
trouble, you better call us.”

“Aye,” Jameson agreed with a sigh of relief
and thanked him.

“And if our Archer reads my mind tonight, I’m
not at fault for that,” Lochlan quickly added. “I’ll try to stay
away from him, but I can’t promise anythin’, brother.”

“I know,” Jameson said and thanked him again
as he watched Lochlan walk out the door and close it behind
him.

“So,” I said with a smile, “where are we
going to find coffee at 3 o’clock in the morning? Are you taking me
to a truck stop? How romantic,” I teased.

Jameson laughed and pulled me onto his lap
again. “No, I was thinking that breakfast in bed tomorrow morning
sounded better.”

My lower abdomen tightened in anticipation
and I smiled and kissed him until I was breathless.