Chapter 24: : Chapter 24

“EASY.” The bouncer came from nowhere, cutting me off from Nick as he charged between the tables and leaped at the group of bouncers who were beating Caleb.

“You’re not supposed to be back here. It’s exclusive only.” He took one look at me, his gaze lingering for a second on the mark on my face, before he stepped closer.

I shook my head, stepping to the side. “Get out of my way.”

“Not so fast.” He moved in, grabbed my arm, and shoved, forcing me backwards.

I jerked my gaze to Nick, a scream trapped in my throat, watching as Nick slammed one of the assholes to the floor and swung his fist at another.

“Pretty little thing like you.” The bouncer forced me backwards, through the door and out into the main club, pulling the door to the back room closed behind him.

“Get off me!” I shouted, wrenching my arm free. I spun, searching the tables full of of men, seeing the barely clothed dancers in front of them.

“Need help?” Another bouncer came from my left as a deafening came from the back room.

I lunged, shoving the first bouncer aside to get to the door. They needed me…

A hand clamped over my mouth, smothering my scream.

“This the Banks bitch?” the second bouncer growled at my back. I fought against his hold, opened my mouth as wide as I could, and bit down.

I thrashed my arms, tearing from his hold to stumble backwards. “Stay…the fuck away from me.”

Men sat at tables not ten feet away, but they did nothing as the two big bouncers flanked my sides and inched in.

“Gonna pay for that, Banks bitch,” the handsy asshole snarled.

Came from behind the bouncer.

He turned automatically. I caught the flash of rage in Tobias’ eyes before he unleashed, punching the jerk right in the nose. The towering male stumbled backwards and lifted his hand as blood spurted from his nostrils and ran down his lips.

“Get your hands off her,” Tobias roared.

My pulse raced as he stepped closer and turned that savage gaze to me, searching my eyes. “You okay?”

I nodded, my heart in my throat.

But then the other bouncer reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. “Should’ve stayed away, Tobias. Now I’m gonna wreck that pretty face of yours.” He lashed out, driving the blade through the air dangerously close to Tobias’ face.

I let out a scream and lunged, clawing his cheeks from behind as the other guard tore me off him, lifting my feet from the ground.

The attack stopped dead with the roar. The bouncers turned, finding a blond guy, flanked with his own dangerous-looking bodyguards, striding toward us. He glanced my way, scowled, then turned to Tobias. “You know better than to come here.”

“Yeah, well, not like I’d planned on it.” Tobias yanked his arm free, shooting the bouncer a glare. “I came for my brother, and I’d already be out of here if your fucking attack dogs had let me.”

The bouncer with the bloody nose growled and stepped forward.

“Ryth?”

I spun at the voice, trying to tear out of the bouncer’s vise-like grip as Gio stepped out from behind the bullies. “Gio?”

I caught the flinch from Tobias, then a low, menacing chuckle. “Of course. It’s just like you, isn’t it, Lazarus?”

I froze.

“Let her go, James,” Lazarus muttered, and the asshole at my back released his hold.

“Jesus.” Gio came closer, his wide eyes fixed on me. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

I adjusted my dress, rage simmering close to the surface as I stared at Gio. “I could ask you the same thing.”

He glanced at Tobias as he answered. “I decided the party wasn’t worth attending. So, I came here instead.”

I glanced at the nearest dancer, who spun around the pole and spread her legs for all to see. “To a stripclub?”

“To club,” Lazarus muttered, before directing those intense eyes my way. “Ryth.”

I focused on the with his fucking attack dogs. When I looked at him, all I saw was my father’s bruised and beaten face. I hated him for that…for the fucking men he had behind the prison walls, men who obeyed their commands. The Rossis. I took a step forward, drawing a flinch from one of one Lazarus’ men, until he waved his attack dog back.

“I know what you did,” I murmured, glaring right into his eyes. “To my house and my father.”

There was an explosive glint in his eyes as Lazarus regarded me carefully. “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

I flinched, then looked around the club. He was calling my bluff, seeing if I was really going to spell it out for everyone to hear. He was seeing if I was going to be…

I stilled, my mind racing. I faltered, caught in a trap of my own making. Was I making things worse for dad, just by being here?

Dad’s words echoed in my head as I stared into Lazarus Rossi’s clear blue eyes and tried to think. Was I one step away from making things worse…?

First, dad’s arrest…

Then, our home…

Where would it end?

I swallowed hard, the hate in me cooling just a bit.

“Well done,” Lazarus murmured. “Looks like you’re not as stupid as the company you keep. There might be hope for you yet, Ryth.”

He looked at Tobias when he said it, triggering him to lunge.

“Uh-uh.” The towering, musclebound guy next to Laz shook his head. “You and I know you don’t want to do that, T.”

Another came from the back room, echoing through the door.

“Yeah? How about you tell them to let my brothers go, Logan?” Tobias demanded.

Lazarus glanced toward the door and motioned him forward. In the blink of an eye, the massive bodyguard left his side and disappeared through the door.

Gio stepped closer and reached for my arm. “Come on, Ryth, let’s leave these two to piss it out.”

He was trying to drag me away…so they could Hurt him? I shook my head and took a step toward Tobias, my voice shaking. “Get the fuck away from me, Gio.”

“It’s not what you think,” he grumbled, his kind eyes flashing with desperation.

“Isn’t it?” Tobias moved closer, so close I felt the warmth of him against my back. “You came on to Ryth, tried to fucking poison her against us.”

Gio stiffened. But it was Lazarus who spoke. “Not poison…” he denied, glancing my way. “Keep an eye on.”

Rage rippled at my back as Tobias reached around, sliding his hand along my stomach and cupped my breast, pressing me against him. The move couldn’t be any more primal.

It said and something inside me howled with satisfaction.

Gio flinched, his gaze moving to Tobias’ warm hand kneading my breast. He licked his lips, then met my gaze.

“I knew you were a cold, ruthless bastard, but this is a new fucking low, even for you,” Lazarus growled. “She’s a kid, Tobias.”

“She’s ,” Nick spat as he came through the door.

His mouth was bleeding and one eye was weepy and swelling. “Nick!” I tore from Tobias’ possessive hold and rushed forward, touching his forehead above eye before I turned on the leader of this pathetic fucking club. “You Nick just smiled over my shoulder. “Looks like she’s got your number, Lazarus.”

“Fuck you, Nick,” Lazarus growled. “Fuck your goddamn brothers, too.”

I reached toward the corner of Nick’s eye and saw him flinch. God, if the bone was broken…

“Ryth.” Lazarus held Nick’s glare. “Why don’t you come to the bar? I can get ice for your…

It’ll give us time to talk.”

That same possessive glint shone in Nick’s eyes.

“You want to talk to her,” Caleb sneered as he tore his arm away from a bouncer and strode through the door. “Then you talk in front of us.”

There was no ice to be found, not for Nick’s face, or for the searing rage that burned between these two warring sides. There were no strained fences to be mended. Lazarus saw that now as he met my gaze. I swore there was a flicker of disappointment mingled with…

He nodded toward Gio. “You ever want to talk to me, Gio will make that happen, until then…” he glanced at Tobias and the others. “Watch your back.”

“Watch her back?” Tobias snapped as Lazarus turned and strode away.

My pulse spiked with the roar.

Fear punched through me as the rest of the club came into focus. They all stared, every asshole who’d refused to help me…and every dancer on stage. There was no twirling around the poles in this second, not until the other guy at Lazarus’ side snapped.

Tobias clenched his fists.

Nick seethed with anger.

But Caleb…Caleb looked at me with tormented need as he licked his bloodied lips and muttered, “Let’s get out of here.”

I followed all three as we made our way through the tables. Caleb reached out and grabbed a bottle from one of the tables as he passed.

“Hey!” the asshole seated there roared, and shoved to his feet.

Lazarus barked. “Let them go.”

It seemed everyone always did as he ordered. The asshole quieted as we made our way out through the black door and into the blacker night, all four of us bruised and shaken.

Caleb lifted the bottle to his lips and took a swallow.

“You’re a real fucking asshole, you know that?” Tobias snapped as we strode toward the car.

Caleb glanced my way, then held out the bottle, his focus fixed on me as I took it and drank. Heat burned all the way down, making me splutter.

“Yeah,” Caleb answered. “I know.”

Nick limped as he walked toward the car, but Caleb slid his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer. “You think I’m an asshole?” he slurred, taking the bottle and drinking again.

“I don’t know what to think.” I sucked in a breath that tuned icy in the back of my throat as Tobias yanked open the Mustang’s passenger’s door, and climbed into the rear, leaving the door open behind him like a summons.

Nick slid in behind the wheel and started the Mustang.

“Maybe I can change your mind, then?” Caleb handed me the bottle, then strode forward, leaving me to trail behind.

I took another swallow, trying to stop the shaking of my hands, and followed Tobias inside. His glare was instant as he snatched the bottle from my hand. “Next time you want to meet up with your fucking boyfriend, Ryth, just fucking say.”

He swallowed some Scotch as Nick shoved the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot, then accelerated hard.

“I need a goddamn drink,” Nick snapped, then winced.

I caught the lick of his lip in the rear-view mirror as he headed for home. But it was Tobias’ words that stung. I reached out and snatched the bottle back from him as he lifted it to his lips again. “For the last goddamn time, he’s not my boyfriend.”

“Yeah?” He moved, pushing himself across the seat to drive me backwards, and snarled in my face. “Maybe someone might wanna tell him that.”

My pulse leaped. The bottle in my hand drove into his side. My nerves were frayed and the Scotch mingled with the cheap champagne. But I was past the point of caring now…past the point of playing his goddamn games.

I leaned forward, tilted my head upwards, and kissed him.

He stiffened above me. His hate tasted so fucking good on his lips…until he let out a wounded sound. His hand was in my hair in an instant, fisting the strands until my scalp burned as he shoved his body harder against mine.

The words resounded in my head as the kiss deepened.

Because the truth was…I wanted Tobias…

I opened my mouth, my hunger greedy. An acute surge of desire ignited that fire inside me before he broke the kiss and pulled away.

He hated me.

I saw it in his eyes.

He hated me for invading his home and ruining his family. But he wanted me more. That torment was tearing him apart…

He lowered his gaze to my dress, then slid his hand up the inside of my thigh, bunching my dress under his touch.

He was careful but unhinged as he met my gaze. “What the fuck are you doing to me?”

The answer was simple…

Bringing me undone…