by Ellie Danes
I opened the door to the wine cellar with a particularly good vintage in mind. Then I saw the partial shoe print in the dust near the far wall. Only a few people were allowed down in the basement and that corner had been untouched for weeks. I glanced at the party decorations, the wall-hangings, and the sparkly streamers. Nothing was out of place. But someone had been there. Why?
Waiting until the crowds came in so they could move through the club undetected.
The blood froze in my veins. Someone was in the club who didn't want to be seen. I left the bottle of wine and raced back up the stairs.
"Have you seen anyone strange around here?" I asked the mountainous bouncer.
He shook his head then frowned. "There was a dude hanging around when I got here, but he was just finishing a phone call."
"What did he look like?"
The bouncer shrugged. "Just a regular dude."
I moved back toward the dance floor and grabbed the first cocktail waitress I could see. "Have you seen anyone strange? Someone here not dancing?"
She laughed and tossed her bottle-blond hair. "Everyone's dancing. The music's great!"
"No wallflowers? No creeps?" I asked the waitress.
"No," she said then bit her lip. "There was one kinda creepy guy. Real pale."
Fear choked me but I managed to ask, "Did you see which way he went?"
"I dunno, toward the bar?"
I left the cocktail waitress in the sea of dancers and plowed my way through the crowd back to the bar. Cara capped off a pint of beer and joined me as quickly as possible. The look on my face made her breathless.
"What? What is it?" Cara asked.
"Hey, buddy, we're trying to order drinks here," some guy down the bar yelled.
He backed off after one glance. I turned to Cara. "Have you seen a pale man?"
Her hand went to her throat in a worried gesture. "The guy who used to stalk this place when it was Club Prive? I saw him earlier when you all were pushing and shoving Balducci's men at the door."
"I think he's still here," I said.
Cara shivered but steadied herself. "Okay. But he can't do anything with this huge crowd of people, right? Maybe he's just here for some fun."
I shook my head. Someone had to know how dangerous he was and Christine was far more likely to believe Cara over me. "He doesn't have fun."
"You know him?" Cara asked. The horror on her face was enough to make me wince.
"His name is Aaron. He works for Balducci, specialized service," I said.
"No. No. That doesn't sound good. What the hell, Slade? How can you let people like him into this club?" Cara asked.
"I didn't let him in, and I'm certainly not going to let him stay. I just need to know if anyone else has seen him. We have to find him now." I glanced around the packed club. "And where's Christine?"
Cara pressed her hands to her mouth as if to suppress a scream. "She went up to the office a few minutes ago."
"Alone?" I asked.
"She said she was meeting you!"
A tray of glasses smashed to the floor as I leapt out from behind the bar. Terrified party-goers pressed against the wall as I pushed my way through to the stairs. The two bouncers stationed at the bottom of the stairwell jumped to unhook the velvet rope as I charged past and took the stairs two at a time.
Every bad rumor and nightmare whisper I had ever heard about Aaron rang in my head. He'd been with Balducci longer than anyone else and yet no one knew him. He didn't talk. He just followed orders. And I knew firsthand that Aaron's orders were always the most awful. He handled all of Balducci's dirty work with a quiet efficiency that made him seem more of a phantom than a real person.
On the top floor of the club, I tore open every single door in the hallway. I couldn't risk Christine being cornered in one of the private rooms. Every second counted. The floor pulsed with the heavy bass of the club music but I caught each door before it made a sound. I couldn't let Aaron know I was coming. I'd never gone up against him directly and it was a terrifying prospect.
Every room was empty, and I raced toward the office at the far end of the hall. The door flung open and there they were.
"Slade!" Christine called.
Aaron stood in the middle of the large room with both hands in the air. He was unarmed but when he saw me a switchblade appeared as if by magic. I had just enough time to step back as the blade sliced through the air. The front of my shirt fell open but I was uncut. Aaron slipped out the door and I was about to charge after him when Christine ran into my arms.
"He just appeared out of nowhere," she said, her words muffled against my sliced shirt.
"Are you okay? Did he try to hurt you?" I tipped her face up and searched her eyes.
Christine shook her head. "He said he had a message for me. What does that mean?"
I wrapped my arms tight around her and said nothing. Silence was better than the truth. If Aaron had a message for Christine, then her life was in danger. And I had no idea how to keep her safe.
Chapter Five
Christine
"I'm okay, honest," I told Slade. My cheek was still smashed close to his hard chest, and I could feel his heart hammering. "He didn't do anything; he didn't even have a weapon."
"He doesn't need a weapon," Slade said.
His curt remark brought the icy fear back up my spine. "Who is he?"
Slade guided me over to the red sofa in the corner of the office. When I sat down, he pulled me close again and said, "His name is Aaron. He works for Balducci."
"Doing what?" I swallowed hard and hoped the rest of my words didn't come out as squeaks.
Slade squeezed my shoulder. "Intimidation?"
He clearly hoped I would accept that vague and frightening term. I leaned back so I could look at Slade's eyes. "You mean like killing people who don't do what Balducci wants, don't you?"
"I mean it doesn't matter what Aaron does because I'm going to make damn sure you never see him again," Slade said.
"He said he had a message for me. What do you suppose it was?" I asked. Goose bumps rose along my arms and I leaned back against Slade's comforting warmth.
"I think we both can guess." His jaw flexed hard as he frowned over at the door.
Two bouncers were wedged in the hallway while Cara ran back through the security footage. She called from the security office. "He must have known where the cameras were because there are no clear shots of his face. Good news is there's footage of him leaving. He's gone."
"Catch that, boss?" one of the bouncers asked.
"Yes, thanks." I shoved off the sofa and stood up. My body swayed but I covered it up with a quick, pacing circuit around the office. "You can head back to your posts. We'll go over all the security footage tomorrow to figure out how he slipped by us. Full review."
Slade jumped up. "That doesn't mean you're going back to work."
I avoided his reach and kept pacing. "I'm fine. We've got a full crowd tonight, and there's no one I'm leaving everyone with all that's been going on."
"She's going," Cara said from the doorway. The bouncers headed back downstairs to their posts but I couldn't get past Cara. She stood with her fists on her hips and a sharp look in her eyes. "You're such an amazing manager that we all know how to manage without you for one night. You need some company?"
Slade took my arm in an iron grip. "She's going to spend the night at my apartment. I'm assuming you can get along without me, too."
Cara smiled and nodded, then she sent a quick wink my way. "Good luck."
I wanted to protest but the squeaky edge was still in my voice and my knees still trembled. I kept replaying the scene over and over in my mind. The pale man had appeared out of nowhere and caught me all alone. With all the noise from the dance floor, no one would have heard me scream. It didn't matter that Aaron had immediately raised his empty hands above his head to show he was unarmed. Slade said he didn't need a weapon to do his job.
I let Slade lead me down the stairs a
nd out the back door. A cab waited in the alley, and he tucked me inside while he talked with one of the bouncers.
"Sure wish we had that bottle of wine you promised me," I said when he got in the cab.
Slade chuckled as he gave the cabbie his address. "Funny you should mention that." He produced the bottle from his coat. "I sent the boys back downstairs to check out where Aaron must have hidden himself away. They just happened to pick up the right vintage for us."
I was still shivering when we arrived at Slade's apartment, so he went directly to the fireplace and left me to admire the view. Huge windows lined the side of his loft apartment with a wide vista of the busy city below. I could see lights on in a few places across from his building, and then took a hesitant step back.
"What if Aaron is supposed to deliver the same message to you?" I asked.
Slade stoked the fire higher and his face with grim in the orange light. "He won't stand a chance."
"Because you know him? You've seen him at work before?" I flopped down on the sofa, glad for the warmth of the fire.
Slade shifted so he knelt in front of me and took both my hands. "Yes, I worked for Balducci. Yes, I did things that were wrong and that I will regret for the rest of my life. I tried to tell myself it was all in the name of survival, but the truth is I was dumb and I let him hook me."
"So how did you get out?" I asked.
He studied my hands for a long time. "I planned and saved for nearly a decade before I made Balducci a deal. It was business, a real estate deal, and I had worked hard to have all the leverage. He had to let me go."
I tipped his chin up so I could see his eyes. "I thought men like Balducci didn't let anyone go."
Slade stood up and jammed his hands in his pockets. "I know you don't believe me and I don't blame you, but the real estate deal is a fact. It's all above-board, by-the-book, and on paper. Look it up. Everyone knows that deal got me free and clear of Marlon Balducci."
I felt a stab of guilt and plucked at his sleeve. "Sit down, Slade. I'm sorry. The whole thing with my sister has made me scared to trust anyone."
Slade sat down. "It's the smart move."
"You know what a smart move is?" I asked. "Wine."
He poured two glasses and sat back down on the couch, just inches away from me. The large sectional stretch around to run along the wide windows, but Slade was right next to me. Soon the heat from him was warmer than the fire and my first glass of wine went down too quickly.
"I didn't know Cara was dating the DJ," Slade said.
He surprised me and I laughed. "I can't believe you've never seen them together. I swear they make-out all over the club like teenagers."
"A workplace romance. Huh." Slade swirled the wine in his glass, finished it and poured us both more. "I thought as club manager you would frown upon work place romances."
"It doesn't interfere with their work," I said.
"I suppose we can't punish them for kissing at work. Would be pretty hypocritical." Slade's stubbled cheek was close to mine and I saw his smile out of the corner of my eye.
"And here I thought you were capable of being discreet," I teased him and felt a flare of heat between us.
"We're not at the club now," Slade said. "No need to be discreet."
"Or charming?" I asked.
Slade laughed and plucked my glass from my hand. He put it down on the table alongside his and then brought both hands to my face. "I'm not a smooth-talker but. . ."
The rest was lost to a long, warm kiss. Slade teased me with a gentle brush of his lips, again and then again, until I smiled. Then he shifted closer, let his lips press harder, and the rush of heat dropped down low in my body. My lips parted and he moved deeper.
His hands drifted down from my cheeks to skim over my shoulders. I felt his fingers trace my collar under my hair and a warm tingle followed his light caresses. I leaned back slowly, the heat from the fire and the magic of his lips melting away all my stress and worry.
Slade wrapped one strong arm around my back and shifted me into his lap. I put my hands on his chest for balance and then let my palms rub against his chiseled muscles. He groaned against my lips, and I drew back just enough to tease him with a few soft, fluttering kisses. His arm tightened, and he drew me harder against him, demanding a deeper taste.
I was so shocked when Slade pulled back that I tipped forward, my breasts pressed to his rapidly beating heart. "What? What is it?"
For one terrifying moment, I thought Aaron was behind me. The jolt sent ice water through my veins and I scrambled to get off Slade's lap.
"It's okay. Everything's okay," Slade muttered. "It's just we can't. I mean, we can but we shouldn't. You're probably still in shock and I'm supposed to be taking care of you."
I punched his shoulder. "You scared me."
"See?" Slade asked. "You really should rest."
"Fine." I plumped up the cushions at the far end of the couch. "All I need is a blanket."
Slade stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. "Get up, Christine. You're sleeping in the bedroom."
"Not with you." I tossed him an angry glance.
A smile twitched across his stubbled jaw. "I'm sleeping on the couch. Come on, you can help me change the sheets."
He practically tucked me in and I thought I would fume for hours. How could Slade save my life, kiss me like that, and then walk away? The answer came when I realized it was morning and I had slept straight through the night.
I stretched and froze when my first rational thought was crawling onto the couch next to Slade. I was stiff, still the effects of last night's shock, and I was starving, but the only thought that held was how badly I wanted my body next to his. The kiss replayed in my mind until I felt the heat again on my lips and emanating from my core. All I had to do was walk out into the living room.
Did that mean I trusted Slade?
The thought had me bolting upright in his bed. I had been accusing him for days about still working for Balducci, as if he was some double-crossing snake at fault for all our problems. What if he really was trying to protect me?
I leaned over the side of the bed and scrambled for my phone. The newspaper articles were not hard to find. The real estate deal that Slade had managed gave Balducci his first foothold in Midtown. It was a game changer and it was easy to see how Slade could have negotiated his freedom as part of such a stellar deal.
I got dressed as I thought through every fact I knew about Balducci. He was old school, got his start in a bad neighborhood, but had illusions of grandeur. His 'turf' was increasingly shrinking due to city gangs and redevelopment. Balducci was looking to move on and that was why he was pushing us so hard. Slade had taken his freedom and the money he earned and done better than Balducci could have dreamed.
Slade was sprawled out on the sectional couch with a pair of throw blankets still not able to cover him. His rumpled hair and bare arms were enough to make me pause but I didn't dare wake him up. Slade would never let me head straight back to the club. And he certainly wouldn't let me try to reach out to Aaron.
No matter how tempted I was by Slade and his kisses, I couldn't rest until I knew what message Aaron was trying to give me. He'd risked a lot to corner me in the club when almost any place would have been easier. So, I had to know. So, I had to blow Slade a kiss and slip out of his apartment to catch an early cab before he woke.
Chapter Six
Slade
I should have known she'd be gone in the morning. I cursed myself again for the wine. If I hadn't finished the bottle I would have heard her sneaking past me. I only drank the rest to drown the taste of her on my lips.
A bright stab of sunshine was reaching between the neighboring buildings when I stumbled out on to the street and hailed a cab. I gripped my head, slipped into the backseat, and told the cabbie to get me to midtown before the morning traffic turned every street into a snarled mess. He accepted the challenge with a grim smile and took off at a sickening speed.
&nbs
p; Despite the jarring cab-driving and the fact that she left me, all I could think about was Christine. I should have been guessing her next move and how to keep her safe but my mind kept slipping back to her sweet lips. It made me all the more determined to finish this mess with Balducci. With no more obstacles between us, I could only imagine how great she would taste.
Those heated thoughts changed to a different fire as soon as I saw her calmly pouring a cup of coffee behind the bar. She sloshed the first sip as I came in the club doors and yelled, "You couldn't even leave a note?"
Christine raised an eyebrow. "You knew where to find me."
"But after last night, I thought we were in this together," I said.
A few of the employees, cleaning crew and supply teams, looked on with growing interest. I could already hear the rumors they would spread about our night together. I strode over to Christine and spoke in lower tones. "How am I supposed to protect you if you run away in the middle of the night?"
"It was hardly the middle of the night," Christine scoffed. "I didn't peg you for a deep sleeper."
I snatched the coffee out of her hand. "And I didn't peg you for stupid. Christine, you should be afraid. What happened yesterday might have only been a warning but this is no game."
"How can you not want to know what the message was?" Christine asked.
I choked on the hot coffee. "Stop right now."
"Stop what?" she asked, all innocence.
"Stop thinking that Aaron is a good way for you to get more information about Darren. If you were smart, you'd be praying you never see either of them again," I said.
"Darren?" Christine slammed her fresh cup of coffee down on the bar. "The only reason you're interested in Darren is that he's an easy way to get rid of your old boss. Squeeze a murder confession out of him and you'll probably get some juicy tidbits on Balducci."
I rubbed my aching head. "I thought we went over this. I don't owe Balducci anything anymore, so I have no need for elaborate plans to get him off my back."
"So why are you so determined to get to Darren before me?" Christine asked.
"Because I don't think he should go to jail," I said. Her hand shook slightly as she refilled my coffee cup, so I rushed on. "He'll never escape the life by being thrown in jail. Inside, he'll just learn new ways to get by and make new contacts he'll never be able to shake."