by I. T. Lucas
"What can I get you, ladies?" He pushed up from his chair, and his smile was so genuinely friendly that she thought for a moment that the whole thing had been a product of her imagination.
"The usual for me… Kri, the same?" When Kri nodded, Amanda turned to Syssi. "What would you like, darling?"
"Club soda for me, thank you." Syssi offered Alex a perfunctory smile.
"You sure?" Amanda cocked a brow.
"Absolutely, I had enough to drink for one day." Syssi grimaced. It took almost two hours before the vertigo sensation from earlier had dissipated, and there was no way she was subjecting herself to that kind of misery anytime soon.
After a quick kiss on Amanda's cheek, Alex left for the bar.
Her companions began to chitchat, and Syssi tried to join in but gave up when her voice got hoarse from straining to be heard over the music. And yet, it deterred neither Amanda nor Kri. Oblivious to the noise, they kept at it as if they were sitting in Amanda's living room.
How they could hear each other was beyond her. Even trying to listen in on their conversation was proving too much of an effort. Which left her with nothing better to do than watch the sexually charged dancing scene below.
If not for the clothing that provided some small barrier between the writhing bodies, it would have looked like a mass orgy.
Had it always been like that?
She didn't remember it being so bad. Had things changed so much in only a few years? Or was it possible she just hadn't noticed it before?
Be that as it may, it was kind of depressing to think that she had gotten either too old for the club scene or had been too clueless to notice what had been going on around her before. Or both.
"Come on, Syssi. Let's go dancing." Amanda tapped her shoulder, diverting her attention from the pseudo porn show below.
"Go ahead. I'm going to stay here. It's way too crowded down there for me, not to mention stinky." Syssi strained her voice, trying to be heard without actually shouting.
"You sure?" Amanda asked, exchanging looks with Kri.
"I'll stay with you." Looking disappointed, Kri sat down.
"No way! Go have fun. I'll watch you guys from up here. Go!"
Amanda glanced at Kri and nodded, apparently deciding it was safe to leave Syssi on her own.
Heading down, Amanda stopped by the upstairs bar to talk to Alex, and with a hand on his shoulder said something in his ear. When both of them briefly glanced Syssi's way, she waved and smiled, letting them know she was on to them.
Doubtless, Amanda had asked Alex to look out for her little friend.
CHAPTER 35: KIAN
Pacing restlessly once the girls had left, Kian had waited about two minutes before pulling out his phone and calling Onegus.
"What's up, Boss?" His chief of Guardians answered after several rings.
"I know it's late, but I need you to grab Bhathian and go to the Underground. Amanda is heading there with Kri and Syssi… you know, one of the potential targets for the Doomers. I want them guarded."
"Amanda will have our heads for following her. She doesn't like us snooping around her hunting grounds."
"I don't care. If she gives you any crap, tell her to take it up with me." Kian slowed his agitated pacing only to kick the couch, making the whole thing slide and hit the coffee table.
"Yes, Boss."
"Thank you… and try not to get in her face. I just need you to keep an eye on them."
The easing of pressure he had expected after ensuring the girls' safety never came.
As much as he hated to admit this even to himself, his motives hadn't been all that noble. The truth was, he loathed the idea of Syssi in a club teeming with lustful males—without him by her side to scare them off.
Just imagining the men leering at her made him see red.
Since when did he develop such a possessive streak?
And sending the guys to basically spy on Syssi was almost as bad as stalking her himself.
Damn, he wasn't that kind of guy… or was he?
The kind of man he wished to be would trust Syssi and give her all the space she needed without obsessing like a lunatic the moment she got out of his sight.
But this wasn't about him not trusting Syssi. This was about the men that would be lusting after her, their dirty thoughts touching her, somehow contaminating her.
He knew the sort of things men would be fantasizing about doing to her, not because he was a mind reader, but because he had been guilty of the same.
Men are pigs… each and every one of them.
Taking a deep breath, Kian ran his hands through his hair and tried to calm down. Come on, buddy, every attractive woman would be the source of male fantasies, it's harmless… most of the time…
Yeah, trouble was, he couldn't help feeling as if those supposedly harmless fantasies were sullying his Syssi…
CHAPTER 36: SYSSI
Syssi watched Amanda and Kri weave through the dancing floor, each dragging a hunky guy behind.
That didn't take long, she thought as they started undulating and rubbing against their partners in an overtly sexual way.
It was kind of shocking to see Amanda behave like that. Despite all of her prior proclamations of wantonness, Syssi couldn't believe her boss would get randy, with a stranger, on a dance floor, in a crowded club.
The distinguished professor, Dr. Amanda Dokani, was indeed a slut.
Syssi chuckled, admitting that she shouldn't be surprised. Amanda had made it abundantly clear, on numerous occasions, that she was ruled by a ferocious appetite for sex. The fact that Syssi had believed her boss had been greatly exaggerating for dramatic effect and had been proven wrong was her problem and not Amanda's.
And her young cousin was even worse.
By the way Kri was grabbing her partner’s butt, grinding against him and shoving her tongue into his mouth, it was obvious the girl was cut from the same cloth as her cousin. Except, she was more aggressive about it. Not that the guy had a problem with her dominance. Judging by his stupefied expression, he was loving every moment of it.
Amanda and her guy were a step further. He had his hand under her loose blouse and was fondling her braless breast while she had her palm pressed between their bodies. And it didn't require X-ray vision to imagine what was going on down there.
Too embarrassed to watch, Syssi turned her back to the railing and reached for her soda glass. But it was empty.
Symbolic of her situation, that seemingly insignificant fact unnerved her more than it should have. With nothing to hold in her hands and no desire to keep watching what was going on below, there was nothing to distract her from the awkwardness of sitting alone in a club that was bursting at the seams with people.
Looking for the waitress, she spotted the young woman taking an order from one of the booths, and as soon as the girl turned, she waved her down.
Watching as she sauntered over in her high heels, Syssi pitied the poor girl's feet at the end of the shift. Not that she thought the waitress had a choice in the kind of footwear she wore on the job.
The black pumps, as well as the really short black shorts and tiny white halter top, seemed to be a uniform of sorts for all the hostesses serving drinks—with only slight variations in style and make.
With a boss like Alex, Syssi was willing to bet that the girls were required to buy their own version of the uniform. Not only would it be in line with his sleazy character, but it would also explain why the outfits were not identical.
"What can I get you?"
"I'd like a sangria, but very light on the wine, please. And some nuts or tortilla chips if you have them." Syssi wasn't hungry, but the snack would keep her hands busy while she waited for Amanda and Kri to come back.
This outing was turning out to be not as fun as she imagined it would when Amanda came up with the idea. Not by a long shot. Right now, she would have rather been with Kian at his place, instead of sitting alone, nauseated by the noise, watching others maki
ng out and feeling like she didn't belong…
But then, the whole point of going out had been to get away from him, so she could think clearly and rationally without the hormonal haze of being around him clouding her head.
Which proved to be an exercise in futility.
Without something to distract her, she kept obsessing about him anyway.
Mercifully, it didn't take long for Amanda to come back. Syssi smiled at her friend and the guy she was dragging behind her; the same one she saw her getting busy with on the dance floor.
Except, instead of returning to the table, Amanda stopped at the bar, and after exchanging a few words with Alex and a little hand-wave in Syssi's direction, she and her partner disappeared through a door hidden behind a thick velvet curtain.
What the hell?
Forgetting the club was underground, Syssi thought the thing was covering a window to the outside, not a doorway to God-knew-where or what. When a few moments later Kri pulled the same stunt, Syssi struggled to see what was behind the curtain. But it was too dark.
As if lying in wait for just the right opportunity, Alex showed up the moment the curtain had dropped behind Kri and parked his butt in the chair next to Syssi.
Sitting way too close to her, with his arm on the back of her chair, he was invading her personal space.
"It's hard to hear above the music," he explained, but the hunger in his eyes and his leering smirk made it clear he had more than talking on his mind. "So, how do you know Amanda?" he asked in her ear as he pretended to absentmindedly play with a lock of her long hair, winding it around his finger.
Was this the special attention Amanda had asked him to show her? For some reason, Syssi didn't think so…
Shaking her head a little, she tried to free her hair without being too obvious about it. "We work together," she answered in the coolest tone she could muster, which was only a shade away from outright rude.
"Ah, the university… must be exciting," he continued in the same seductive tone.
"Where did Amanda and Kri go?" Syssi tried to divert his attention. And regretted it as soon as his expression turned from leering to pure lust.
Oh, boy… She diverted his attention alright… In the wrong direction…
"We have some private rooms in the back, reserved for… special guests… with special needs… Come, I'll show you." With each pause, he wound a little more of her hair on his finger until he reached her scalp. Not pulling on it or causing her pain, he was nonetheless holding her immobilized as he slowly closed the distance between their mouths.
With his smug face no more than an inch away from hers, she was about to tell him to stop, and if that didn't do the trick, to kick him where it would count, when he suddenly let go of her.
Following his gaze, she saw what or rather who had given him pause. Walking toward them were two very large men; the kind that made the bouncers up front look like accountants.
"Hello, Alex old man. Have you seen Amanda and Kri? They and another girl, Syssi, were supposed to be here. Kian sent us to check up on them." The guy seemed friendly enough, easy going. And yet, judging by Alex's tensed body, he made him nervous.
"Bhathian, Onegus, always good to see you guys. I guess that you haven't met Syssi, yet, because she’s right here. I'm keeping her company while Amanda and Kri are doing their thing in the back."
The men seemed oblivious to the implied activity that was taking place in the rooms behind the curtain, as well as to the way Alex had been all over her when they'd walked in.
Apparently, Kian hadn't specified the kind of checking up he had in mind.
"Hi, Syssi, nice to meet you. I'm Onegus." The pretty blond one offered his hand, smiling a smile that could melt ice.
"Bhathian." The tall, serious one shook what she'd offered.
"Nice to meet you too, would you care to join us? Please, please say yes… Syssi pleaded with her eyes, hoping their presence would keep Alex's tentacles at bay.
But apparently, being male meant that they sucked at reading facial cues. "We would love to, but Amanda is not going to be happy about us showing up on her turf. We'll just go and sit over there at the bar; give you gals your space." Onegus smiled politely.
"I'm sorry, but I can't stay either. After all, I have a club to run." Alex made it sound as if she had been keeping him there.
Whatever, she wasn't about to correct him. Syssi was just glad to be rid of him, and as far as she was concerned, he could keep his damn pride and shove it.
Alone at the table again, she glanced at the men. Sitting at the bar, the two were hard to ignore, drawing the attention of the few single females there, and even some covert wistful looks from those accompanied by a partner.
Onegus… Bhathian… What peculiar names. Come to think of it, so were Anandur, Brundar, and Kri. Even Kian was unusual. The only one with a common name was Amanda.
Maybe they were foreigners? But where were they from? They had no accents that she could discern. Except, sometimes their choice of words and some of their gestures seemed out of place, or rather from a different era.
The way Brundar lifted off the sofa when she came in, bowing a little… Come to think, both Bhathian and Onegus bowed slightly when shaking her hand. Maybe the bunch spent some time in Japan, absorbing the local penchant for bowing.
Still, that didn't explain the names. If she had her phone, she could have Googled it while waiting for the girls to come back. But Kian hadn't provided the replacement he had promised yet. She would have taken care of it herself if given a chance to get out. But as Kian and Amanda were determined to keep her prisoner, she was forced to rely on her jailer.
"Hey, you." Amanda plopped down next to her, looking spent and relaxed until she noticed Kian's men at the bar. "What are they doing here?" she hissed.
"They said Kian sent them to watch over us. Who are they? Do they work for Kian, or are they friends of yours?"
"More like family."
"More cousins? You must be kidding."
"What? I told you it's a family business. We are big on employing our own." Amanda waved the waitress over and ordered more drinks. Then went back to glaring angrily at her cousins. "But it pisses me off that they are here. Like they have nothing better to do than follow me around."
CHAPTER 37: KIAN
After pacing around his living room like a caged animal for what seemed like hours, Kian pulled out his phone.
Update! he texted Onegus.
It took the guy forever to answer. They are fine, nothing interesting going on, besides Alex pestering Amanda's friend.
Fuck, that was it. He was going to that club whether Amanda liked it or not. And if Syssi accused him again of unwarranted jealousy, so be it.
Kian could barely tolerate the thought of all the other males in the club sniffing around Syssi, and Alex was a sleaze-ball bastard to top them all.
There was a limit to what Kian was willing to suffer in the name of gentlemanly conduct.
Even though Alex managed to run his club skirting around clan law by not breaking any clan specific rules, he was breaking plenty of the human ones.
The prostitutes, Kian had to grudgingly accept as their services were needed for some of his men. But he abhorred the drugs. Alex claimed he didn't deal; just turned a blind eye to the stuff changing hands in his club. Still, Kian had his doubts.
The guy was living a lifestyle that even a successful club like the Underground couldn't support. To make that kind of money, Alex must've been doing something illegal.
Hell, he had just bought a new super-yacht; a luxury Bluewater beauty that must've cost over twenty-five million.
For some inexplicable reason, Amanda liked the guy and considered him a friend. A bad judgment on her part. But she was a big girl and he couldn't tell her who to be friends with.
Syssi, on the other hand, he would keep as far away from that scumbag as possible.
Without bothering to change, Kian slid into a pair of loafers, grabbed a j
acket, and heading for the garage called for Okidu to drive him in case he decided to stay and indulge in more than a couple of drinks. Not that drinking would have been enough to impair his driving, but the last thing he needed was to be pulled over and fail the breathalyzer test.
CHAPTER 38: SYSSI
Syssi couldn't help but notice that Kri's expression upon returning from her back room activities was very different from Amanda's. She looked irritated. Walking behind her, her partner looked kind of lost and confused. And as Kri took a seat at their table, the guy went downstairs without even waving goodbye.
Come to think of it, Amanda's partner hadn't joined them either. Strange. The club scene must've changed a lot in the six years Syssi hadn't been part of it; and not for the better.
"I feel like dancing some more. Anyone care to join me?" Kri said and finished her drink on a oner.
"I will!" Amanda chirped, shooting up from her chair.
The woman sure bounced back quickly.
"I'm good. You go ahead." Syssi shooed the two away.
They kept staring at her as if she was nuts.
"You didn't dance even once. What's the point of coming here if all you do is sit up here? You have to come with us… at least one song." Amanda reached for Syssi's arm.
Syssi leaned away. "No, really, I'm fine here. Watching you guys is enough entertainment for me," she said, failing to hide the slight note of sarcasm in her tone. Though with all the noise, she doubted the girls could've heard it.
Exchanging looks with Amanda, Kri shrugged and headed for the stairs. A moment later, Amanda shook her head at Syssi and followed Kri down.
Sorry to be the disappointing prude…
Syssi was angry with Amanda, for the head shaking, for dragging her here and then behaving the way she did.