Finding Home: A Club Dark Novel (7 page)

I continue to watch as the club quickly fills up. I’m still sitting at the bar watching Amber do her thing and again, I’m amazed at how much of a badass she is at her job. Glancing around at the other screens, I try to get a good look at everyone’s face, but it seems pointless; none of them look at all familiar or stand out. I’m focused on the screens wondering why I’m wasting my time with this when suddenly, the mystery guy who wouldn’t show his face before appears in the shadows behind the bar. I still can’t make him out, but for some reason, I have a sickening amount of dread filling my stomach. I briefly see him smile up at the camera right before the screen goes black, and I know exactly who he is. I’d know that smile from anywhere.

I swear my heart has literally stopped. How did Aaron find me so quick and why did he even bother? “That’s all we’ve got. Everything else from last night has been wiped clean; did you happen to recognize anyone?” Alex questions as he turns the lights on. Out of pure stupidity and panic, I say no. Apart from Aaron cheating on me, I’ve never known him to be anything other than a gentleman. Surely he’s not the one behind all of this. “We figured as much, but wanted to cover all of our bases. Okay, Mr. Lewis, we’ll continue to see what we can do about recovering the missing footage. In the meantime, I suggest that you keep Miss Carter close to ensure her safety. I’ve also called in another team of security until we get to the bottom of this.” I like this side of Alex, he’s all professional and take charge, which just reaffirms my belief that he has a military background.

“Thanks, Alex. Please keep me updated. It’s almost time to open the club, and I’m taking the night off. I trust you guys can manage without me?” Cory questions with an eyebrow raised, and I have to admit it’s sexy as hell.

“Absolutely, sir, enjoy your night off.”

Cory motions for me to stand up and follow him out the door. He gently takes hold of my elbow and begins to walk in the opposite direction from where we came in. The hall itself is long and dark with many doors on each side. These must be their clients “playrooms,” and I’m curious to know what’s on the other side of the door.

Lost in thought and not paying the least bit attention, I’m taken by surprise when I find myself trapped between the wall and a very firm chest. My heart is racing and the look in his eyes only makes it double its pace. He looks angry, and I have no idea why. He has me barricaded between his hands which are placed firmly against the wall on either side of my head. Leaning in, he runs his nose along the dip at my collarbone causing my entire body to tremble and come alive. I’m terrified of the reactions he’s bringing out of me, he’s practically a stranger, but one touch and he has me weak at the knees.

“Miss Carter?” he whispers right in my ear.

“Mmhmm?” is the only response I can manage as I feel his hand glide across my neck and slowly travel over my shoulder, down my arm, and around my ribcage, until his large hand settles against my hip. A squeal escapes my lips when I feel his grip on my hip increase before he forcefully pulls me flush against his hard body. With more thought than I should need, I drag my eyes to his and am taken aback when I see the anger in his face.

“I’ll only ask you this once, so please consider that before you lie to me.” He slides his hand up my body, dragging his fingers over my stomach and along the sensitive area of my ribs. I feel my breathing pick up as his hand gets closer to the swell of my breast, and a gasp escapes my lips as I desperately hope he continues his journey and touches me where I need to be touched. What’s wrong with you Lacey? You have never been this needy. I drag my gaze up to his eyes, the look on his face telling me that he’s enjoying my reaction. Slower than I ever thought possible, his hand finally makes contact and my breath catches in my throat as a deep moan tries to escape. He trails his hand up the side of my breasts and quickly flicks his thumb across my nipple sending a warm feeling straight to my core. Without notice, his hand wraps around my throat and he crashes his body against mine. I feel his erection through his pants and it gives me a tiny thrill that I have this effect on him. He brings his other arm down and traps mine against the wall. He pulls back just slightly and asks, “What are you hiding, and let me give you a little reminder on not lying to me.” He applies just enough pressure around my neck to have me squirming. There’s absolutely no way I’m telling him about Aaron. I’m not convinced this has anything to do with him. But I do vow to track him down and find out what he’s doing here.

I settle for a half truth and pray that Cory doesn’t see right through it. “For a brief second, I thought I recognized someone, but it turned out I didn’t,” I say, feeling completely breathless. Cory studies me for the longest minute of my life, and I feel like he can see into the deepest parts of me until he suddenly drops his hold and steps back putting far more space between us than I would like. I’ll admit, that hurt a little.

“So why didn’t you say so?” he questions.

“Because I didn’t think it was important after I realized it wasn’t who I thought it was.” Lie! He stares me down a little longer before he turns his back on me and walks toward the center of the club. I’m sure he can tell I’m hiding more than I’m letting on, just as I’m sure he’s expecting me to follow him. But I need a few minutes to myself to gain some composure.

As I enter the main part of the club, I find Cory leaning up against the bar talking with Amber. Ugh! I am so not ready for this conversation. Guess there’s no time like the present, and it’s not like I even have a choice. I pull up my big girl panties and make my way over to the bar, mentally preparing myself to deal with her.

“Lacey, oh my God! You’re here? I honestly didn’t think I’d see you back, especially this soon.” Amber talks a mile a minute and honestly it’s just making me feel even more uncomfortable.

“Cory thought I might be able to assist in looking at the security footage. Turned out to be a waste of time,” I say with just a little too much bite in my tone. Subconsciously, I know it’s not her fault, but part of me wants to blame her. She did, however, bring me to this bar and serve my drinks. She had to have seen some-thing suspicious. I watch as she visibly flinches but quickly recovers.

“I’m so sorry, Lacey, I can’t believe this even happened. I’ve been beside myself with guilt and worry since you left last night,” she says, and she looks sincere. But I’m still upset and need someone to blame.

“Yea, I got your letter,” is all I offer her as I gaze over at Cory. He’s just standing there staring at me. There’s a look in his eyes I can’t quite place, but it’s setting me on edge and I’m suddenly not so sure it’s a good idea to be going home with him. Then again, staying at this club is out of the question so I guess I’ll go with the lesser of two evils and just go back to his place.

He looks away from me to address Amber, “I’m taking the night off. Alex will be taking over for the night, so if you need anything please address any issue with him.”

She looks bewildered for a second before she responds, “Yes, sir.” She mumbles quieter than I’ve heard her speak before.

“If you see anything questionable, alert someone in security immediately. You’ve worked here long enough to know who belongs and who doesn’t look right.” I can see the hurt in her eyes as she nods in response. I’m starting to feel slightly bad for her. It was pretty busy in here last night. Realistically, I know there’s no way she could have kept an eye on me all night; besides, I’m an adult and should have been paying closer attention to my surroundings.

Before I have a chance to say anything, Cory grabs my hand and starts to walk me to the door. “Let’s go,” he barks and I turn my head shooting Amber a look that says I’m sorry.

“You don’t think you were a little too harsh on her?” I ask as I’m hurrying to meet his long strides.

“She’s lucky I haven’t fired her; I still haven’t fully decided against it.” We reach his car which is very discreet considering the kind of money I know lines his pockets. He opens my door for me and waits until I’m in and buckled before making his way around to the driver side. We head back toward the interstate. I can feel the tension radiating off of him and for some reason, I have an overwhelming urge to take it away, to calm him somehow. Looking over at him, I notice his knuckles are white from the tight grip he has on the steering wheel. Doing something completely out of character, I reach over and gently rub my fingers down his shoulder and across his arm, trying my best to be as soothing as I can. After a few seconds of doing this, I see his grip on the wheel start loosen and his body starts to relax so I place my hand back in my lap. I still want to comfort him, though.

“Would you like to talk about it?” I ask, hoping to get him to open up.

He lets out a deep sigh and says, “I’m not used to this, Lacey. I’m a private man. I work, I go home, and there’s never really been an in between for me. Now I’m having to run a full investigation into my club and question the loyalties of my employees. It’s an adjustment I wasn’t prepared for.” Something tells me that last statement is geared toward me. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t prepared to play safety guard to some stranger he knew nothing about and just met last night. It stings a little, but I understand. But for the record, I have told him that I can figure this out on my own. I never asked him to be my hero.

The rest of the ride is quiet, but at least some of the tension is gone. I feel myself relax the further we get from the club and am relieved when Cory and I fall into a comfortable silence.

As we pull up to the front gate of his house, I finally get to take in the awe and beauty of the exterior of his place. I was too preoccupied when we left earlier and unconscious when he brought me here last night, so this is the first time I’m able to take it all in. There are simply no words to describe the beauty of this house; it’s huge, but not in an over the top, grandeur way. It has an old Victorian yet modernized feel to it. There appears to be three levels to the house, which makes sense considering the gym is in the basement and there looks to be a set of stairs leading down the side of the house. The house is painted white with black shutters and a solid black door. The porch is what I’m most impressed with. It sits above a flight of stairs and looks as if it wraps around the entire house in both directions. Across the banister hanging about every three feet are flower pots that house some of the most beautiful flowers I think I’ve ever seen. At the other end of the porch hanging from the ceiling is a porch swing that looks like it would make for some pretty incredible nights just curled up with a blanket and a book.

I’m so deep in thought that I didn’t realize we stopped until Cory is at my side, opening the door for me. “Thank you,” I say and step out of the car. “Your house is beautiful.” I can hear the awe in my voice.

“Thank you,” he says with a smile on his face and takes my arm. “It belonged to my parents’ and they signed it over to me once I completed college. They had retired and decided to explore the world, so it’s not like they had much use for it anymore.” We walk up the stairs to the front porch and I’d like nothing more than to be able to just sit outside and get to know him. So I take a chance and grab his arm gently pulling him over to the porch swing. To my surprise, he doesn’t even hesitate, instead, he willingly follows me and smiles at me before taking a seat.

We sit there in comfortable silence for a few minutes until he speaks making me wish we’d just gone inside where I could find a room to hide in. “So tell me how you found yourself in Seattle. No offense, but you look a little too small town to be in such a big city.” Oh! Okay, I didn’t realize I had a look. Do we really have to talk about this? I guess he’s got to know eventually, though, right?

“Well let’s see, my lifelong friend turned boyfriend, cheated on me with my best friend. Oh, and I got to witness it up close and personal. So I did the only thing I could think to do. I ran. Seattle just seemed perfect. Big enough to get lost in and not a place he’d know to look.”

At least, that’s what I thought until I saw him on that screen this afternoon. I still can’t wrap my mind around this. I made sure to pack discreetly, and Aaron was nowhere to be seen when I left. Yet, there he was not twenty-four hours after I left. He had to have followed me, but why?

“Well, that’s his loss, and you don’t need a man like that. Did you leave any family behind?” Another sore subject for me.

“Not exactly. I lost my parents’ when I was young, and I didn’t have any siblings. I guess that’s a good thing, though, made it that much easier to walk away. How about you? Any siblings? Are you close with your parents?”

He chuckles a little, and I decide right then that I love the sound and vow to make him do it more. “I have an older sister and younger brother. So yes, I’m a middle child. I actually just celebrated my thirtieth birthday a few weeks ago. My sister is thirty-six and my brother is eighteen.  He is graduating high school next month so I suspect I’ll be seeing my ever-elusive parents next month as well.” Talking about his family and seeing the love and joy on his face brings me a pang of sadness. I’ve had a long time to mourn the loss of my parents’ but I still miss them and the life we could have had together.

“We’re a tight-knit family most of the time, but we’ve all drifted apart in the past five years or so since my parents decided to see the world.” He says the last part with a hint of disappointment in his voice, and I can’t help but feel bad for him.

“Who does your brother live with now that your parents are away?” I ask, finding it odd that his brother is still in school but his parents took off.

“My sister, Ansley, and her husband have a house out in Tacoma, and Lance loves the schools out there so it just worked out.” My heart aches just a little listening to all of this. I’ve always longed for a family. I mean, I was placed in a home after my parents’ passed, and they were really sweet to me. But we never had that family connection. I’m glad Cory has had that opportunity.

“Hey,” he says, startling me out of my little moment. “Are you okay?” he asks lifting my chin to look at him.

“Yea. Just thinking that I’m glad you’ve had the chance to grow up with your family.” I see a frown forming and feel bad for turning what was a good moment be-tween us into something depressing.

“Oh, Lacey, I’m so sorry.” He takes my hand and starts rubbing his thumb across my knuckles. It’s the subtlest thing he can do, but it gives me chills nonetheless. This man is so hot and cold, I swear it’s like he has a severe case of bipolar or something. He’s got this gentle side that seems to only come along in rare moments like these. And then he’s got this deeper, darker, more reserved side that I’ve seen the most since I first laid eyes on him at the club last night.

“I have an idea,” he says once again making me jump. “Have you ever rode a motorcycle?” he asks with a twinkle in his eyes. Oh boy.

“No, never.” Fear and anticipation fill my stomach at the thought of getting on a motorcycle with him.

“Come on.” He all but demands, pulling me down the stairs and around the porch until we reach the garage. I watch as he punches in some numbers on the keypad and the door starts to lift. He leads me to the back. On the way, we pass one of the most gorgeous trucks I’ve ever seen. Oh, did I mention I’m a truck girl? This one is impressive. All black and chrome and jacked up on twenty-twos. This bad boy is so shiny I can see my reflection in it and the fact that Cory’s standing right behind me. I turn to see this big ass goofy grin on his face. This man is too sexy for his own damn good.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just admiring the view. Although I wouldn’t have pegged you as a Ford lover.” I smile as if I wasn’t just ogling over his truck.

“I’m not. But one look at her, and I knew I had to have her.” He stares me straight in the eyes as he says this, completely stealing my ability to speak. He looks away but continues to speak, “She’s a 2015 F-150, with only about five thousand in the engine. I don’t get to drive her much.” That makes me curious, if this were my truck I would be driving it everywhere.

“She’s a beauty. You may just have to let me take her for a spin.” There is a twinkle in my eye now and a huge grin on my face as I turn around and admire the truck a little more.

“I’m not so sure about that. I don’t let many people drive my cars,” he says while grabbing my hand and pulling me after him.

We reach an area in the back corner of his garage, that might I add, is huge; if he wanted to, he could put an entire house down here. It’s just that large. This part of the garage has been boxed in with a door that leads inside. He opens the door and disappears inside just to reappear moments later with a very intimidating motorcycle. I’m starting to see a pattern of black themes with his vehicles. This one is black with white on the tires, front wheel covers, and right in front of the seat I can make out the Harley Davidson logo imprinted on the side, but that’s about all you’re getting out of me. Bikes aren’t exactly my forte.

“Stress used to run my life. I was always worried about something. Whether it was getting through college, living up to my parents’ ideas, or even wondering if I made the right decision when I decided to open the club. Something always found a way to get under my skin making me worry for days on end. A guy I employed at the time suggested I learn to ride. He said the adrenaline mixed with the illusion of power could be my ticket to relieving some stress. So I started with a beginner and worked myself up to this bad boy. This one’s a 2014 Harley Road King, definitely one of my favorites,” he says, stroking the seat. It’s really cute to see how passionate he is about his little toy.

“So does it work, does it help to relieve your stress?” I ask, eager to find out if it was the key to helping him relax.

“Let’s find out shall we?”

There’s that grin again, making it close to impossible to say no.  Against my better judgment, I grab the helmet he hands me and wait on him to get seated before climbing on behind him. “Place your legs here,” he says, showing me the pegs on each side of the bike. He grabs each of my hands and places them around his stomach. I can feel the warmth through his shirt as well as a very firm confirmation of just how in shape he actually is. “Hang on tight, we will be going fast so whatever you do, do not let go.” Do I detect a smile on his face? That asshole.

“Where’s your helmet?” I don’t want him to get hurt if something happens.

“It’s safer on your head.” He grins as the bike rumbles to life, vibrating through my chest. 

Like the scaredy-cat that I am, I wrap my arms as tightly around his stomach as I can and bury my face into his back. I don’t miss the rumble vibrating through him as he laughs at my expense. Jerk! We take off and I still have my face buried. I feel frozen in place with my heart trying to escape my chest. Once we are past the gate, he stops to hit a button on his bike that immediately closes the gate behind us. Then he gently pats my leg. “Relax, Lacey, I promise you are safe with me, and I won’t let anything happen to you. Just relax and enjoy the ride.”