Hunter straightens back up, but I grab his arm. “Who are you?”
He smirks. “A rough and sexy, good guy.”
My eyes track him across the club until I lose him in the dim lighting.
He hasn’t told me anything I didn’t know, but he has confirmed to me that it isn’t my imagination. As for staying away from it all, I can’t do that because I need some sort of proof before I go to Ruben. I know he’s aware of something going on here at Kenza, but I’m positive that he doesn’t know what. I have a feeling it has something to do with Simon, and Ruben won’t believe his trusted manager is up to no good unless I have proof.
I’ll be so glad when my shift finishes tonight so I can go home and think about everything that has happened and how to get the proof I need. I only hope being in Ruben’s arms stays out of my head, but I have a feeling it’s going to be front and center.
Chapter 7 ~ Ruben
Coming awake abruptly, I lie in bed trying to decide what actually woke me up—waiting—thump thump!
Someone is banging on the door…and my phone is buzzing away having been put on silent as I dropped into bed last night, or rather the early hours of the morning.
Rolling out of bed, I stroke down my morning wood, which feels damn good. Grabbing my phone, I realize I’ve missed calls and numerous texts from Ramon telling me to open the ‘fucking’ door. At least I know whose trying to break the door down.
Yanking up last night’s jeans, I zip them as I make my way across to the door, which I open, and turning my back, say, “Give me a minute, I need the john.”
“Whatever,” Lucien mumbles.
I hope they’ve brought breakfast and coffee. Lucien has a thing about Starbucks and with a bit of luck, I hope they’ll have called on their way over. I can hope.
Needing to take a leak, I shove into the bathroom and close the door behind me, praying my dick behaves now that it’s started going down.
My brothers have a habit of dropping in unannounced, but not usually so damn early, which fills me with dread. What have they discovered?
No matter how many times my brothers tell me not to take the vandalism and break in personally, it’s difficult not too. It’s my place. Why wouldn’t I take it personally? By causing shit to happen here, the person responsible is basically hitting me where it hurts. I’m pissed with everything and last night was the first night I’ve slept properly in so damn long.
I grin because that had more to do with Rosie than anything else. She’s under my skin and has been for a while. Her soft skin calls for my fingers to touch her—her innocence—her sass. God, does she have sass. She’s a hot little package, which has managed to do what no one else ever has—caught my undivided attention—making me chase.
Frowning at the thought of the chase, I pull a sweater on and grab some clean socks, thinking about what move to make next on sweet Rosie. I should leave her alone, but I can’t. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want Rosie.
“Ruben, what the fuck are you doing in there?”
“I’m coming,” I reply to Lucien.
“Did we really need to know that,” Ramon comments and starts laughing when he sees me walking toward him.
“Fuck you!” I say, but there is no fight in my words.
Chuckling, I help myself to a coffee and chocolate chip muffin that they’ve brought with them before turning to face them. “Why the early morning visit?”
“Early morning? Have you looked at a clock at all since we obviously woke you up? Because it’s eleven-thirty.”
“Shit.” I had no idea it was so late in the day. I’m usually up by eight. I guess that’s what happens when all the sleepless nights catch up to you.
Glancing at Lucien, who looks distracted, I turn to Ramon who says one word, “Drugs.”
Choking on my coffee, I slam the cup down on to the table.
“What the fuck do you mean drugs? That’s what is going on at Kenza?”
Ramon nods his head in response.
“Who?”
“That we don’t know,” Lucien says joining in the conversation. “Last night I overheard a couple of guys talking about buying some heroin. One of them seemed to know all about it and said his supplier was here at the club. When they’d finished talking and I heard the door slam closed, I went to follow to see who it was, but there was no one there. I figured they’d headed back into the club, which was packed last night.”
Not saying anything, I sit and stew; wondering whom the fuck would bring drugs into my club. “It can’t be staff they know what happens if I find drugs on them in my club—can it?” Doubt rears its ugly head as I go through my list of staff. There isn’t anyone who I can say has been acting out of sorts. My staff gets paid well for the job they do so that they won’t be tempted to take the piss out of the club.
“You need to get an uncover cop in here. I have a couple of contacts we can use, but you need someone who knows about this shit to be in the club. Nothing is going to happen while you’re around, or us for that matter. It was pure fluke that Lucien heard what he did last night.”
I lounge back on the sofa with my feet up on the coffee table and my head resting along the back. Closing my eyes, I rub at my temples. I’m mad as fuck that drugs are being sold right under my fucking nose, and god help the bastard responsible when I find him.
“Set it up,” I tell Ramon. “It can’t hurt to have someone here. I want to know if they put someone in the club.”
“I’ll tell him.” Ramon slouches into the chair looking exhausted.
He hasn’t been himself for a while. It’s bugging me that my brother seems to have the world on his shoulders and won’t talk to me or anyone else for that matter.
Lucien watches him as well.
“I’ll ask Simon to keep his ear to the ground as well.”
“Do you trust him,” Lucien asks.
Lucien’s question plays over and over in my mind. He’s my manager, and I guess the one person in the best position to betray me, but I do trust him. I gave him a job—a chance. I can’t imagine him being the one responsible. “I won’t mention the undercover cop you’re trying to get here, but I’ll mention I’ve heard that we might have a drug problem and to keep his eyes open.”
“Okay.” Lucien nods and starts eating his muffin.
Turning to Ramon, I demand, “Talk to us, and don’t give me that shit about there being nothing wrong. You’ve changed. I’d even go as far as saying you look…sad.”
Ramon meets my eyes before looking away, and I know he’s about to lie to me.
“Don’t say anything if you’re not willing to tell me the truth because that will just piss me the fuck off.” I lean forward, resting my arms on my knees while waiting for Ramon to decide whether to speak or keep quiet.
A while back Lucien thought that Ramon was gay, and then Carla appeared as his so-called girlfriend. This made a telltale out of my oldest brother, but when we discovered he’d been pretending with Carla, it made me stop and think.
Although the thought of another guy touching my junk does nothing for me, if that’s the way my brother swings then I’ll support him no matter what. He’s my brother and I’d still be damn proud to call him that.
Then there’s Sylvia from the office who works as Sebastian and Michael’s assistant. I’ve seen the looks he gives her on the few occasions she’s been at a gathering at someone’s house.
He’s damn difficult to get a hold on what’s going on in his life.
“Carla’s brother is still missing.” He rubs his hands through his hair. “No one seems to know where he’s gone. It’s as though he’s disappeared from the face of the earth. The detective I hired was following his trail, but it’s gone cold. I have no idea how the hell I’m going to tell Carla.” He laughs. “I’ve even thought about getting Sebastian to tell her, but Noah and Carla are my friends so I can’t really do that. I need to be the one to tell her. I just wish I knew if he was okay.”
Sitting bac
k again, I think about what he’s just said and I can’t help go back to the gay thing. “Are you gay?”
Lucien starts coughing. “Wrong way,” he whispers as he continues to cough.
“Idiot.” I shoot a glare at Lucien before turning back to Ramon. “You didn’t answer the question,” I remind a very uncomfortable looking Ramon.
He sighs and meets my eyes. “Not exactly.”
“Um, but not exactly doesn’t answer the question. Either you are or you aren’t.”
“Fuck.”
“Look, I’m not trying to put you on the spot, which I guess I’ve done, but it doesn’t matter to me whichever way you answer. I’m just trying to figure you out, and you’ve been troubled for a while now. I’m sick of listening to you saying everything is okay, when it clearly isn’t.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes before Lucien speaks, “I’m with Ruben on this. You’re our brother regardless of who you prefer. We’ve always stuck together and that isn’t about to change so spit it out.”
“I’m bi. Fuck!” He leans forward and puts his coffee cup on to the table and rests his arms on his thighs. “I was with Noah up in Canada, and he lived here with me until he up and disappeared. I like women, just prefer…men.” He looks between Lucien and me. “Is this weird?”
I shake my head, answering him, “No. We’ve suspected for a while now, although you threw us when Carla was pretending to be your girlfriend. I’ve also seen you watching Sylvia.” I grin. “You going to do anything about her?”
“I’m not in the position to do anything about her.”
Well now, my morning turned out to be a hell of a lot more informative than I expected, but I could do with something a bit more substantial in my stomach than a muffin. I decide to let my brother off the hook…for now.
With a large plate of food at the diner calling me, I get to my feet, and say, “If you ladies have finished, I’m going out to get something to eat.”
“Ladies my ass,” Lucien grumbles. “I’ll come with you.”
“I could eat… You both won’t say anything to the others will you? I’ll tell them when I’m ready for the folks to know.”
“I’ll stay quiet, but the sooner you tell them the better. They’ll react the same as we did, well, maybe Sebastian will act like he’s five, but Michael and the folks will be fine.”
“I suspect Sebastian may know.” Ramon shrugs. “Carla does so she may have told him, but I don’t know for sure.”
Lucien laughs. “If he knew you can bet he’d have let you know.”
Ramon nods as Lucien and I follow him out from my apartment and downstairs to the club, where I see Simon entering his office. I need to talk to him, and hope I can trust him with what I’m about to tell him.
I thump my brothers on their backs, and tell them, “I’ll meet you at the diner. I’m going to have a word with Simon about what we discussed.”
“See you there.” Lucien walks out the rear door.
“Thanks Ruben,” Ramon looks relieved as he turns to follow Lucien out through the door.
With a sigh of relief, I walk toward Simon’s office to tell him what I’ve discovered about the club. The doubt from earlier creeps up and I realize that I should try to gauge his reaction. This is shit—suspecting people who I trust to run Kenza. But this shit is going to stop, and soon.
Chapter 8 ~ Rosie
“Hey Rosie, how are you doing?” Hunter asks me, taking a seat at the bar that I always seem to be wiping down whenever he arrives.
“I’m good.” I place a longneck in front of him and lean on the bar. “What’s going on Hunter? Do you know who is causing the trouble here?”
Taking a long swallow, he holds my gaze. Keeping his drink in one hand, he leans closer to me and I fight the urge to move away from him. He’s crowding my space, but I refuse to back up. “You’re cute and Ruben’s a dick for letting you go.”
I wasn’t expecting that, and counter with, “Ruben has never had me to let go of. Now, you were saying?”
He laughs. “I wasn’t saying anything.”
“You were about to tell me what the fuck is going on inside Kenza,” I offer him my best smile, which I’ve been told can turn heads, “and I was about to listen.”
Narrowing his eyes he leans even closer to me. “You get any closer you’re going to face plant in my lap—not that I’d complain, but I think your boyfriend might have something to say about it.”
“Hmmm. You’re an ass, and you’re trying to distract me so I forget my original question, which I haven’t in case you’re wondering.”
Hunter’s eyes stay on me the whole time I’m serving a couple of other customers. He doesn’t bother me because I know he isn’t really interested in me. He has the whole flirt from a distance thing going on, which is perfectly fine with me considering my hang up with my boss.
Moving to the front of the bar, I collect a couple of empties that have been left lying around when I spot Ruben across the room glaring daggers at me. Well, what the fuck’s pissed him off, and why is he looking toward me like that?
He’s the one who likes all that stuff that I’m not into, plus he’s been ignoring me since our embrace or whatever you want to call it at the bottom of the stairs.
“Hmm. He might not have you, but he wants you and he’s jealous as hell you’re over here flirting with me.”
“I’m not flirting with you, Hunter. If I was really flirting with you I can assure you, you’d know.” I place my hand on his shoulder and slowly caress down his back to the waist of his low cut jeans and back up to his opposite shoulder—he shudders.
Seeing the heat in his eyes, I escape back behind the bar. Perhaps I’ve gone too far. My intention was to tease and have a laugh, but perhaps it’s backfired.
Clearing his throat, Hunter says, “Not that I mind you flirting with me, but I think you better keep your hands to yourself because that felt too damn good.”
“Rosie!” Ruben practically roars from the end of the bar. “My office… Now.” He turns and heads toward the back of the club.
Shit! This isn’t good. He looked really angry.
I go to follow Ruben when Hunter grabs my wrist. “Are you frightened of him?”
“What?” I shake my head. “No.”
Hunter lets me go as Craig arrives to take over from me.
“I’ll be fine. He won’t hurt me.”
This I know from the bottom of my heart or at least I know he won’t physically hurt me. Whether or not he’ll hurt me emotionally remains to be seen.
Offering Hunter a smile, I turn and head to Ruben’s office to face the grizzly bear.
When I’d been teasing Hunter with my hand on his back, I’d temporarily forgotten Ruben was watching me from the back of the room.
Taking a deep breath, I knock on his door and enter to find him pacing back and forth in front of his desk. The agitation is clear in his step and the tightness of his shoulders, then he turns his wild eyes towards me and I fight the urge to run back to the bar.
“Come in and shut the door.”
I do as I’m told, but I feel the perspiration on my palms Worry creases my brow at his agitation. I’ve never seen him like this before.
“Ruben—”
I don’t finish because he’s on me—pinning me against the door—nose-to-nose with me.
“You touched him—caressed his fucking back. Did your touch make him hard?”
Wow. He’s really worked up over my teasing of Hunter. There isn’t an inch between our bodies and being this close I can feel Ruben throbbing against my belly.
“Stay away from him Rosie. He isn’t for you.”
Fuck this. “You don’t have any say in who I get with. I like Hunter and he knows what he wants. I’m not confused about what he wants from me.” He doesn’t have to know I don’t believe Hunter wants sex with me.
I try to push him away from me, but he’s like a brick wall. “Ruben, stop being an ass and let me go.”
> “Stay away from him,” he says, glaring at my mouth.
“And what if I don’t want to stay away from him?”
He blinks as though he can’t believe I wouldn’t do what he wants me to. “You are the most pigheaded woman I’ve ever met and you drive me fucking crazy. I don’t know anything about him so I want you safe.”
I’ve had enough of this. He’s an idiot if he thinks I could want someone else when the only man I want is pinning me against the wall with his hard body.
“Make love to me, Ruben,” I say. The words are out before I even realize I’ve said them. They shock us both and we go still, the tension crackling between us. I groan inwardly; that was supposed to be a silent question in my head.
“Fuck, Rosie.” His breathing starts to increase and his penis twitches against me.
“I’ve wanted…you forever, but you’re too damn innocent. But I can’t let anyone else touch you.”
What the fuck does he mean? It’s okay for him to fuck who he wants but it isn’t for me.
“Let me get this straight.” My nostrils flare in anger and I can feel the heat in my cheeks. “It’s okay for you to go about your life fucking who the hell you want to, but you’re saying it isn’t alright for me to do the same. Does that about cover it? Because I’m telling you right now I’ll fuck who the hell I want to, and it won’t have a damn thing to do with you.”
He rubs against my belly. “That’s for you,” he says with his jaw clamped tight, “and you need to be careful what you say to me because make no mistake—I want you. I want you so damn bad that no one else does it for me anymore. When I jack off, it’s because of you. It’s you I picture lying on my bed with your legs spread open for me, and me alone. It’s you I imagine on your knees as you suck me off…and this,” he cups my pussy in his hand, “belongs to me… Are we clear that my cock only wants to get wet between your thighs?”
My heart feels ready to burst out of my chest with his closeness and words. He’s the sexiest man I’ve ever seen and my head is telling me that no matter what he said it’s now or never.
Delight Page 5