Celestial Nights [The Protectors 4] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic)

by Marla Monroe

  “I’m getting pretty damn tired of doing this every week. Someone needs to get a brain cell on speed dial and stop this shit. If you can’t keep your wits about you when you come here drinking, then don’t come!” Celeste yelled that last part.

  Tyler was just about to start hauling the four dummies who’d started it all out the door when several of the other patrons gathered them up for him and escorted them outside. Celeste’s surprise probably mirrored his own. No one had ever helped before.

  When they returned inside, Tyler nodded and told them thanks.

  “She runs a clean bar and we like being able to come out here from time to time and unwind. If we have to go into town, we’ll end up with a DUI whether we’re drunk or not.” One of the good Samaritans shrugged before returning to their table.

  “Celeste, have Crystal give them a round on the house for that.”

  “You bet. I know what they’re drinking. I’ll set it up. Crystal, did you hear that?”

  “On my way to pick it up,” the waitress said over the earpiece.

  Tyler was damn glad once again that they all wore them. No one was on their own anymore. The waitresses couldn’t wear high heels so that they stood out in the crowd. If they got into trouble, unless they were lucky, they had to work it out the best they could.

  By the end of the night, Tyler was exhausted and the girls had gotten bitchy. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the entire night felt as if they were waiting on something. Like the night itself was holding its breath for something to happen. Only it hadn’t and they were all exhausted from all the tension in the air. He swore his shoulders hadn’t relaxed since the first episode with Doug and his friends. Now they ached.

  “As soon as you girls get the empties and wipe down the tables, call it a night. I’ll mop up when I wake up. We all need a good sleep after tonight. I can’t believe it’s only Friday night. Tomorrow will be worse so wear your work breeches and your running shoes.” Crystal’s wit never stopped amusing him. “I’m going to fall asleep before I get home,” she complained.

  “Hell, no you’re not. You drove tonight. Wake your ass up, honey.” Velma popped the poor woman on the back of the head.

  “Ow!”

  The three waitresses quickly straightened everything up, setting chairs on top of tables and wiping everything down. Tyler walked them to their cars and then locked down the bar, checking each door twice before following Celeste upstairs to bed. When he flipped the lights to the staircase off, he still felt as if they were waiting on something. Nothing downstairs looked out of place from where he stood on the landing, but there was just something in the air that worried him.

  “Come on, biker boy. I’m tuckered out. Time for a quick shower and bed.” She sighed when he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Hey, I said quick shower, not quickie. Keep those hands to yourself, mister.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Hey, Tyler. I may have a buyer for your bar. Do you have the details for me?”

  Tyler grinned. Morgan had come through.

  “She’s asking two hundred to include the bar, the booze left at the time of sale, and all assets in the building other than her personal items and furniture she will be taking with her. There are two apartments upstairs. One is maxed out in bling while the other one is functional and clean. It’s a ready-made business complete with three waitresses who will more than likely still want their jobs.”

  “She’s only asking two hundred for all of that?” Morgan’s voice dropped a note or two. “What else is wrong? The place is a nice size according to the dimensions you sent with the pictures. The two months you shared from the books proves it’s a money maker. Why isn’t she asking for more than that?” Morgan’s voice hinted that he thought Tyler was holding back on him.

  “Like I told you before, there’s the issue with the other bar and the fact that Lyle stirs things up for fights and brawls periodically. She’s just wanting to get enough out of the place to start over when she moves.”

  “She planning to open another bar wherever she settles down?” It didn’t take intuition for Tyler to hear the disapproval in Morgan’s voice.

  “No. She doesn’t want to run a bar anymore. She want’s something low key and less stressful. I haven’t got a clue what that might be, but whatever it is, I hope it will be there near you guys.”

  “I hope so, too. Amanda could use another woman around here.” Morgan was silent for a few seconds. “Look. I’m going to tell my contact that she’s asking four but is willing to negotiate. Anything less and he’s going to drop it because he’ll think there’s something wrong with the deal. He’ll want to negotiate, but you make sure she digs her heels in and fights for a good deal.”

  “I’ll make sure she understands. Honestly. I thought it might go for about three, but four seems steep even to me. Are you sure?” Tyler hated questioning the man since he’d been the one to find a possible buyer.

  “I know buying and selling businesses. I could tell him three hundred fifty but it would still end up selling for around three hundred. This will make him think he’s juked her down a hundred grand and got a great deal at the same time. Trust me, Tyler.”

  “I do, I do. I just work these places, I don’t know anything about how much they’re worth.” He chuckled when his friend suggested what he should be working with his girl to convince her to move to their neck of the woods.

  “I’ll call you when I hear back from him.” Morgan hung up, leaving Tyler grinning as he waited on Celeste to finish dressing.

  She’d kicked him out claiming he was distracting her. Him? All he’d been doing was trying to help her out of her bra. Well, technically, she was trying to get into it and he was trying to get her out of it. So yeah, maybe he had been interfering a bit.

  “Ready?” She wrapped her arms around his neck from behind, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

  He looked up at her and reached for her braid to tug on it. “Only if it comes with a ‘yes you may undress me’ clause.”

  “Honestly, you have a one-track mind, Tyler. Get your head out of my pussy and on the game. Saturday night. Busy and bumpy. You know the drill.” She laughed despite chastising him about his obsession with having sex with her.

  He loved her laugh. It rang with innocence but was edged by a little naughty. He could listen to that sound all day long and never tire of it. Celeste happy was an amazing thing. He wanted to keep her that way.

  “Got a bite on the bar, babe.” He waggled his brows up at her.

  Her eyes went wide. “Really? Already?”

  “Are you disappointed?” he asked, hoping she wasn’t.

  “Hell no. When will we know if they accept our price?”

  “About the price, babe. We need to talk about that after closing. Okay?”

  Her frown turned into a pout. “I thought two was a good price. Hell, the bar clears three most years.”

  “Oh, it’s not too much, it’s too little. Don’t worry about it right now. It’s all good. We’ll talk later.” He jumped up and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go, slow poke. You still have to mop the floor.”

  “Oh, damn. I forgot about that.”

  “Teach you to give the ladies an easy night. They didn’t have to count the till or run reports. Now you’re going to be mopping the floor, as well.” He shooed her out of the apartment so he could lock up.

  “Not if you mop the floor while I set everything up.”

  “Now why did I know you were doing to suggest that?” Tyler bit his cheeks to keep from smiling. “I might could be persuaded to handle the mopping for the right price.”

  “You work for me, remember? I say you have to mop the floor.” She pushed at him as they walked down the stairs to the main floor.

  “You hired me as a bouncer, not a janitor. I just help out sometimes when you offer overtime or other perks.” He turned around and pulled her into his arms. “So what perks are you offering me tonight?”

  Celeste stared up at him wi
th a calculating glint in her eyes. “I do know how much you like oral. How about that in exchange for mopping the bar for me?”

  Somehow he wasn’t winning this round. He could feel it. “Oral sex for mopping the bar. That sounds reasonable. I think.”

  “Shake on it?” Celeste stuck out her hand at chest level.

  Tyler narrowed his eyes but shook her hand. “Deal.”

  “Wonderful. When I finish my shower tonight, you can make good on your part of the deal.” Celeste twirled out of his arms.

  “Huh?”

  “You can give me oral sex like we just shook on. Mop now, lick later.” The wench had the nerve to wink at him.

  * * * *

  “Everything is going a little too well for my peace of mind, Velma.” Celeste loaded up the woman’s tray.

  “Hey. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Just don’t say the C word and we might make it out of this alive tonight.” Velma waved her hand at Celeste.

  She had no intentions of saying that word out loud. Calm was a curse word in the entertainment industry, like quiet was in the health care industry. You just didn’t tempt fate.

  “My lips are sealed, Velma. How is Crystal doing?”

  “She’s fine. I just don’t understand how that girl can be so innocent after working this bar for three years. She has to be a little slow or something.” Velma took her tray and body surfed her way through the crowded room.

  Celeste figured Crystal had Velma fooled was all there was to it. She wasn’t nearly as clueless as she pretended to be. She let Velma baby her on purpose.

  She was getting low on long necks again. She needed to hit the store room and ice some more down while she had a lull in the requests.

  “Tyler, I’m going to the storeroom for long necks. I’ll be back in a few.”

  “I’m outside carding some wannabes. I’ll be back inside in a few.”

  She smiled at the pained expression she could hear in his voice. They were promising him everything that they were legit IDs. More than likely at least one was a chick who thought she could give him a blowjob for a pass. In her wildest dreams.

  Celeste nodded at Jennie as she slipped from behind the bar to walk around back to the door to the storage room. She fished in her pocket for the key and froze when someone put a knife to her throat.

  “Don’t breathe a word or move a muscle. This is how this is going down. Unlock the door then drop the key into my hand.” The foul smelling breath behind the chopped words didn’t clue her in to who she was dealing with. He didn’t sound the least familiar to her.

  Celeste did exactly like he told her to. She hoped someone was hearing the man over the mic, but since he was talking so low and directly into her ear, she wasn’t sure. So far no one had asked if she was okay yet.

  “Good. Now inside, bitch.” A hand shoved the door open in front of her before the light flipped on, blinding her for a second.

  She started to turn around, but a hand wrapped around the back of her neck holding her in place.

  “Don’t fucking move. Have you forgotten what I’m holding against your neck? Feel this?” He pricked her skin with the knife.

  She wasn’t sure, but it felt as if a drop of blood rolled down her skin. It wouldn’t be enough to harm her, but it was enough to remind her that the knife was there. She heard another set of footsteps. There were at least two of them in there with her. What did they want?

  “Take what you want and leave. You already know that the sheriff won’t show up until he’s good and read to anyway. There’s at least a couple of thousand dollars in booze back here. Just grab it and go.”

  “I said don’t make a sound, bitch.” He hit her on the side of the head with something too hard to be his fist. Did he have a gun, as well?

  “Sorry.” She spoke up again as if too dumb to know she was doing it again.

  “I thought she was supposed to be smarter than this.” This came from someone entirely different than the first man. She didn’t recognize his voice, either.

  I’m supposed to be smarter than that? Someone put them up to this, so it has to be Lyle. I’m going to end up dead or hurt really bad if I don’t get someone to hear me and come looking for me, soon.

  “Look, there’s no need for you to act like an asshole when you’re already going to steal all my booze. Just take it and go already.” She made sure she spoke in the general direction of the mic.

  Hers lay in her braid that was lying over her left shoulder where it would be out of the way if she’d had to use her shotgun. Now she wished she’d just let it hang loose like the other ladies did.

  They would have seen it if I had, so this was the best choice. I just have to make enough noise that someone pays attention. I can’t let these idiots know I’m trying to talk to someone or they’ll realize there’s a mic and destroy it.

  “Jeeze, what part of shut the fuck up don’t you get, lady? Just do what I say and it will all be over before you know it.” The man behind the voice pushed her across the room until she hit the opposite wall.

  “Ow! That hurts, asshole.” She deliberately yelped when he shoved the side of her face against the cinder block wall of the storage room.

  “Shut the fuck up!” He hit the back of her head harder this time. “I’m going shove my cock down your throat if you don’t fucking zip it.”

  That let Celeste know that this wasn’t going to be a rob and run or a rough up, rob, and run. They were planning to really hurt her. Lyle was definitely behind this. She didn’t have many choices, but she’d play them out in order to give her the best chance of getting out of the situation with as few injuries as possible.

  “Hurry up, man. I want my turn.” The second man sounded as if he were standing by the door across the room.

  “Shut the fuck up, man.”

  “I don’t know what you think you’re going to do, but I’ll fight you. Let me go now and you can leave before anyone is the wiser.”

  He slammed her head against the rough blocks. “You should have left when you had the chance. He said to be sure you knew that this was for Burt.” Her attacker pulled on her braid. Pain sharp like needles tore at her scalp.

  Celeste was afraid that if he kept pulling at her braid it would dislodge the mic and earpiece and he’d see them. She fought to keep her head as straight as possible to prevent that from happening. She swore he was tearing her braid right out of her scalp.

  The next thing she felt was the knife slide down the back of her blouse. The sounds of material ripping told her that the knife wasn’t as sharp as she’d thought, but was sharp enough to draw blood. Cool air hit her back where the material of her shirt fell open. He slipped the knife beneath her bra and a quick jerk sent it snapping around, as well.

  The first icy tendrils of fear gripped her heart in cold talons. When the cold blade of the knife snaked between her bare skin and the waistline of her jeans, that fear sank to her stomach where it squeezed until nausea boiled up from her gut. She was either going to throw up or pass out.

  “Tyler will hunt you down and gut you if you do this.” Celeste didn’t have to think about yelling out Tyler’s name.

  “Celeste! Where are you?”

  Her captor ripped down the back of her jeans, shoving at them even as he pinned her against the cinder block with his body. Celeste struggled, cursing him with every possible crotch rot ever dreamed up as she promised Tyler would find them in the storage room and stop them from hurting her. She emphasized that there was more than one man there with her. She didn’t want him to get hurt while trying to help her.

  “I’m coming, babe. Hang in there. Nothing matters except that you’re alive. You stay the fuck alive for me, babe.” His voice came in gasps and was barely above a whisper as if he wanted to keep her attackers from hearing him. “We’re almost there, babe.”

  “What the hell is taking you so long? Hurry it up, man. I want to stick my dick in her ass. Bet she’s never had a dick in her ass before.” The other man migh
t not get the chance to touch her, but Celeste wanted to take her baseball bat to his crotch before he left there.

  “Shut up!” The man holding her shoved his hand around between her legs, using his knee to spread them enough that he could. “Fucking bitch. Spread your legs before I stick this knife between them so you will.”

  “Tyler!” She didn’t even try to hold back this time, Celeste bellowed his name out at the top of her lungs.

  Something hit her hard on the back of the head and everything tilted on its side. She heard the sound of splintering wood then shouts, curses, and was that a gunshot? Tyler. Had he been shot?

  What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I move? I need to get up and see about Tyler. Please let him be okay.

  “Celeste!”

  She heard him but just when she was sure she’d see him everything went black.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Are you sure you’re okay to stand up by yourself?” Tyler’s nursing had become tedious to her. He wouldn’t let her go to the bathroom alone.

  “I’m fine, Tyler. I don’t have to stand up to pee like you do. Just close the door and leave me alone. I’ll call if I need any help.”

  His worried stare slowly disappeared behind the closing door. “I’m right here if you need me. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I know that, Tyler. You haven’t moved an inch from my side all day. I’m fine.” She felt like she’d been dragged behind a garbage truck down a gravel road, but she was alive and relatively unharmed.

  “You have a concussion, babe. He hit you pretty hard with that gun right when I got inside the room. The doctor said you’d hit the side of your head on the cinder block at some point, too. I figure that was his doing and not yours.” Tyler’s words sounded so sad in a voice that had gone hoarse from calling her name over and over then settling down to tell her he loved her and would never let her out of his sight again.

  “I know, but I’m going to be fine. Nothing bad happened. You got there and saved me.” She told him that over and over so that he would believe it. In his head, she’d been raped and murdered while he’d been helpless to protect her. She prayed that eventually it would sink in that she really was safe.