Colleen agreed, only because she had things to do here first and Istvahn would be able to handle the details for Nefertiti. She toyed with the idea of bringing Dante in to help at the Hot Spot tonight, but after the altercation with Jana today, maybe it was for the best that he stayed away from her. She considered closing the Hot Spot tonight, but she hated disappointing the clients.
They were lining up at the door now. She didn’t want a bunch of disgruntled people wandering around. Anyway, she had Micah and Steve, with Max and Dionne on call. They should be all right to keep an eye on anyone who crossed the line. Her bar managers were also the best in the business, so it freed her and the Doms to walk around the club searching for potentials and stopping trouble before it happened.
The first few hours went well. They reached capacity and offered the people on line, waiting to get in, drink vouchers at Cielie’s and Shira’s with a pager. Colleen was dressed in Gaultier, a corset dress shaped like a butterfly; Dita von Teese had worn the blue-and-black version at the 2014 spring fashion show. Colleen’s was red and gold, and she wore the stockings and elbow-length gloves to match.
Someone jostled her from behind, and she nearly sloshed her champagne over the one-of-a-kind dress. Colleen turned to glare at the oaf, and came face-to-face with Kevan Lewis, one of Chase’s old teammates.
“What are you doing here?” She used the tone she usually reserved for off-the-rack clothes.
“We came to check out your nightclub.”
Colleen looked around and spotted three more players heading toward them. “This is a private club. I’m afraid you have to be invited by a member.”
“Chase invited us.”
“Did he?” She raised her eyebrow. That was news to her. “He didn’t mention it to me.”
“You two weren’t talking much last week.” Kevan ran a hand over his jaw and looked her up and down. “I heard you were very busy with Samuel Kincaide.”
“My relationship with Chase is none of your business.” She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her upper arm and yanked her back.
She threw her glass at him, which freed her up to toggle her microphone. “Code five mid-bar.”
“You little bitch.” Kevan wiped away the liquid and dragged her toward his buddies.
Crap. If Istvahn had been here, this never would have happened. She grabbed Kevan’s thumb and yanked down hard. Kevan let her go, probably mostly to save himself a hand injury, because his grip had been solid.
“You remember Trent, Dorie, and Jason, right?” Kevan said, flinging her into the center of them.
Where the hell was Micah?
“I haven’t had the pleasure.” She left the microphone on, so she was still broadcasting to her team. They’d know they’d be facing four rowdy jerks.
“I’d like to give you the pleasure,” Trent said. “There’s a room over in the corner where you can suck my dick. It’s all private-like.”
“Go to hell. I thought you were Chase’s friends.”
“We are, bitch. That’s why we came here. You don’t get to fuck around on our bud when he’s not even flirting with another chick all week.” Dorie went to poke her, but she grabbed his finger and twisted. He pulled away and dodged her kick to his knee.
Jason shoved her back into Kevan, who wrapped his arms around her, trapping her own arms. Colleen searched over their heads. Still no sign of security.
“Are you assholes looking for a jail sentence? Get out of my club before I have you arrested for assault and harassment.”
“We’ll press charges right back,” Jason snarled.
“For what?” Colleen spat. She stamped down, trying to smash Kevan’s foot. Finally she back-kicked into his shin, and he shoved her away.
“Ow, you bitch. For doing things like that,” Kevan said.
“You really want to go on record that I beat you up?” Colleen said, blowing back a lock of hair that had fallen into her face from the struggle. Finally she saw Micah and Steve bearing down on the group. Jesus, they were going to have to work on their response time.
“I’ll tell you what,” Kevan said. “Break up with Chase. For good this time, and it ends here. No publicity, no nothing.”
“You’re no good for him,” Jason added. “He needs a down-home kind of girl. You’re not in his class.”
“Me, on the other hand,” Trent said with a hand on his heart, “I just got a forty-million-dollar four-year contract. You and I could make some hard-core plays. I ain’t an old man, but I got the cheddar to keep you in the style that you’ve grown accustomed to. I just need a little test drive, if you know what I mean.”
“Get these assholes out of here and put a permanent ban on them for here and every one of my hotels worldwide,” Colleen said to her two Doms as they arrived on the scene.
“There’s four of us and only three of you, and one of you is a woman,” Kevan pointed out.
Micah kicked the back of Trent’s knee hard enough that he went down. He caught Jason’s punch, then spun him around and cuffed him. Steve gut-punched Dorie, shoving him into Kevan hard enough that they both lost their balance. Colleen stepped aside as they crashed to the floor, leaning over to handcuff Dorie while he was dry-heaving. Steve moved around them, light on his feet for a big man. He stomped a boot into Kevan’s nose. When Kevan howled and put his hands up to cover the gushing blood, Steve cuffed him as well. Micah finished securing a sobbing Trent, and the four men didn’t look so tough now.
“Gentlemen, you are being escorted to the doors of Couture,” Colleen said, moving out of the way of the blood splatters from Kevan’s bashed-in nose. “If you’re not out of here in five minutes, I will call the police and add trespassing to the charges being filed. You’re welcome to talk to my lawyers after that.” Colleen dusted her hands over the lot of them.
Two other security men rushed in and helped Steve and Micah with removing the trash. She would review the tapes to check the time. It had seemed like a half hour, but in actuality it had probably been less than five minutes. Rubbing her shoulders, Colleen was annoyed to realize she was shaking.
Chase saw his friends as he got out of his car in the parking lot. “Yo,” he called.
“Where have you been?” Kevan said, his face half obscured by his balled-up shirt.
“You guys weren’t fighting?” Chase groaned.
Trent was limping, Dorie looked like he was going to puke any minute, and Jason was clenching and unclenching his fists.
“That bitch girlfriend of yours had her bouncers beat us up and throw us out.” Jason got up into his face.
“What the hell did you guys do?” Chase grabbed Jason by the shirt and twisted.
“Nothing, man. We were having a good time. She got all bent out of shape when we tried to ask her about Kincaide. That’s when she snapped her fingers and ten big guys threw us out. One of them busted Jason’s face, and the other one might have put Trent out of the game.”
“Oh, man.” Chase took a good look at Trent. He wasn’t walking well at all.
“One of her thugs ambushed him,” Jason said, pulling free from Chase’s grip.
“Was it Dante?” Chase asked, thinking it was just like that little creep to sneak up on a guy and sucker-punch him.
“Yeah, I think so,” Trent said. “I gotta go and ice this up. Coach will kill me if I can’t play on Sunday. Dude, what if I can’t play?” Panic tinged his voice, and Chase winced in sympathy.
“Don’t worry about it. It was just a bar fight. You’ll be sore, but you should be all right in a few days.” I hope. “Here’s the keys to my place.” Chase gave them the address for the GPS. “I’ll figure out what the hell is going on and meet you guys there later.”
“Chase, man,” Dorie said, “be careful.”
“I don’t need to be careful,” he said. “I don’t want to be careful.” After a week of feeling older than dirt and twice as useless, Chase wanted to see Colleen. He didn’t want to fight. He didn’t want to beg forgiveness. He wan
ted to bridge his two worlds together so his football friends could hang out somewhere he was still relevant.
But that wasn’t meant to be, because Dante had thought he could take out his aggravation on Chase with his friends. But he’d show him that wasn’t going to fly. Chase stormed out of the parking lot and headed to the Hot Spot. Fuck Dante and his bullshit. Dante had gone too far now. He had no right to mess with a man’s career. Trent was one of the best tight ends in football. Dante was way out of line with all his Domliness if he thought he could hide behind Colleen this time. In fact, the ball club would probably sue the shit out of Colleen for this. What was she thinking?
He burst into the Hot Spot, bypassing the line of waiting people; Colleen had white-listed him weeks ago. He didn’t see her right away and his gut twisted, wondering if she was sharing a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue with Samuel Kincaide. Was that why she had hustled his friends out so fast? Chase caught sight of her by the stage, where a bunch of naked people were walking down a runway. She looked like a dejected butterfly in a dress more silly than hot.
No one was near her, especially not Dante and not Samuel Kincaide, who was a billionaire and had two good knees—at least until Chase got through with him, if he was sleeping with Colleen. As he approached her, Chase’s focus narrowed on her smile. It was plastic. She was performing again. Maybe Kincaide was stalking around here with a net waiting to capture her. Chase came up behind her, whirling her around.
She drew her fist back. “Chase?” She blinked in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”
“Stop with the punishment shit.” He held up his hand. “I want to talk to you.”
Her welcoming smile trembled and then dried up to a firm line. A warning bell went off in his head, but he was too pissed off to slow down. “I’ve been calling you all day.”
She closed her eyes. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s been crazy.” Colleen put her arms around him.
He stiffened. No, she wasn’t going to redirect him with sex.
“You’re not going to believe what—”
Chase put her at arm’s length. “Trent may never play football again.”
“W-what?” Colleen stuttered.
“You need to keep your Doms in line like you keep the subs.”
“Obviously I’m not doing a bang-up job in that department.” She put her hands on her hips.
“I drove six hours to be with you tonight.”
“About that,” she sighed. “I have to cry off for tonight. There was an—”
“You’re not invited anyway. The guys are staying at my place.”
“You’re letting those jerk-offs stay with you? After what they pulled?” she shouted.
“Those jerks are my friends. They were only trying help in their own fucked-up way, and you threw them out.”
Colleen was unable to speak for a moment.
“You’re the last person they want to see tonight. Unless you’re willing to come without your goons and we can all talk like rational people.”
“Rational people?” Colleen glanced down at the glass in her hand, filled with a dark liquid, and then glared at him.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Chase warned.
Which was probably like waving a red flag at a bull—or in this case a butterfly. He was too close to dodge as she tossed it in his face. Chase managed to close his eyes in time.
“Rum and coke,” he said as the sticky liquid dripped down his face. “Real mature.”
“You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. But that’s pretty much standard for you, isn’t it?” she spat out. “And a six-hour drive? What did you do, go back to Atlantic City after the game?”
“So what if I did?”
“You couldn’t have been in much of a rush to see me, then.”
“You weren’t answering my calls,” he shouted at her.
All of a sudden, Max and another Dom he recognized from the dungeon, but whose name he couldn’t remember, showed up at his shoulders.
“Oh, what? Dante couldn’t be here this time?” Chase sneered at them. “Are you going to gang up on me and toss me out? You’re going to need a few more guys.”
Colleen shook her head. “Go home, Chase. You’re delusional. And I don’t have the energy to sort through this shit tonight. I’ve got more important things to worry about.”
“Is that right? A week apart and I’m not important? You made me wait a whole week just to talk to you, and now you can’t spare five minutes? Fuck you.” Chase shook off Max’s hand.
“Hey, man,” Max said. “Calm down.”
“Fuck you too, Max.”
Chase turned and shoulder-checked the other Dom out of the way.
“I didn’t say you weren’t important,” Colleen said. He heard her sigh. “If you hadn’t stormed out of my office, last week would have been much different.”
He turned back. “Your power trips are getting out of hand.”
“Are they?” she said, all trace of emotion gone. She could freeze ice cubes with her tone.
“Your life is more than the dungeon. You don’t always need to be in control.”
“Really? Is that so someone like you can call the shots? I’ve got news for you, Chase.” She closed the distance between them.
It pissed him off that Max and the Dom were still flanking her. Did they think she needed a bodyguard? From him? Where was Istvahn, anyway? He was expecting the big Russian to put him in a full nelson and toss him out on his ass any minute now.
“Your tantrums are getting old,” she said. “You’re worse than a two-year-old, the way you blow up and rage and then come back like a dopey puppy looking for forgiveness. You owe me respect, and if not that, then at the very least you owe me the benefit of the doubt. But you barrel into my club, get in my face, and start talking about shit you know nothing about? Typical Fairwood.”
“You’re high maintenance.” He pointed at her.
“No shit, Sherlock.” She put her hands on her hips. “You knew that going in. What’s your excuse for being a prima donna?”
“I can’t handle this right now. I’m going back to my friends, who are probably going to press charges against Dante, and the league is going to come after you if Trent can’t play.”
“Bring it.” Colleen gestured come here at him.
“You’re a crazy bitch.” He twirled his finger beside his temple.
“And you’re done. You’re the last possum to call me that tonight.”
“Possum?” Of all the things she could have called him, that wasn’t what he thought was going to top the list. It threw him, the way she said it with such vicious glee.
“Yeah, footballers who play dead at home and get killed on the road.”
“Oh,” Chase said, a grin tugging at his lips. “You want to play?”
“Get the fuck out.” Colleen glared at him.
“Let’s go, man,” Max said with a friendly hand on his shoulder. The other Dom just glowered at Chase.
“I’ll tell you what,” Chase said over his shoulder to her. “You’re the one that’s going to be punished now. Don’t bother calling me. I’ll call you when I feel you’ve learned your lesson.”
“Chase, for God’s sake stop digging,” Max whispered in his ear.
Colleen gave him the bird. He blew her a kiss.
It hit him driving home that he never did get her side of the story.
Asshole.
Chapter 17
Chase shifted in his booth. He’d already banged his knee against the iron pole twice. Max had called him a few days after his fight with Colleen. They were meeting at a local diner because he was persona non grata at Couture. She’d changed her cell phone number, and his calls didn’t even go to her secretary anymore. Some new chick took a message and said she’d pass on the information to Colleen but that Chase shouldn’t expect a call back.
He’d fucked up.
Again.
And he had no idea how to make it better.
H
is friends had drunk all his booze, and in the morning Trent was walking fine and Kevan’s nose looked almost normal. Then they’d gone back on the road, leaving Chase alone with his PS3 and his bobble head.
When he agreed to meet Max, Chase had been hoping that he would bring a peace offering from Colleen, but it had been forty-five minutes and an entire stack of pancakes and her name hadn’t come up once.
Chase was trying to figure out how to address the elephant in the room when the lion came striding into the diner. Istvahn glanced neither left nor right but walked straight to the booth where they were sitting. Max looked up when Istvahn stopped at their booth.
“Is Tee all right?” Max said. “The baby?”
“Still nothing. She’s hooked up to like thirty monitors, so at the slightest hint of a problem they’ll induce, but they’re still hopeful that they can do it naturally.”
Max held out his hand. “Good luck, man.”
They shook.
“Care to sit down?”
“No, I have to get back to the hospital. I came to give him something.”
Chase tensed. He was at a disadvantage sitting, and the table would make things awkward if the big Russian started something. Istvahn reached inside his jacket. Chase half rose out of the seat, maneuvering to tackle him to the floor if he pulled a gun. But instead Istvahn removed a DVD case with two fingers and tossed it on the table.
“That better not be a sex tape,” Chase joked.
“You’ve got one last chance,” Istvahn said.
“Or what? You’re going to kill me?” Chase gave a half laugh to ease the tension.
No one laughed. Hell, Istvahn didn’t even blink.
“What’s the DVD?” Max asked.
“Security tapes. Clint edited them. I feel that Mr. Fairwood needs to see what actually happened that night. The lawyers have the unedited version if he feels the need to verify what he sees.”
“He’s sitting right here,” Chase said, annoyed that Istvahn was talking over his head as if he wasn’t even there. “If Colleen wants me to review this, all she had to do was ask. I’ll come back to Couture and review the footage there.” He rose, but Istvahn pushed him back down again.
Fever Page 18