“Always am. Night, Toby.”
“Night.”
Even though I knew Toby was as exhausted as I felt, sleep wasn’t going to come easy to me.
“Want to go to bed?” I asked Toby as I offered him my hand.
“I don’t think I could sleep.”
I pulled him off the couch, pressing his smaller body to mine.
“Who said we needed to sleep?”
His smile was all the consent I needed. I scooped him up, his legs wrapping around my waist, and carried him to my bedroom.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Toby
Atlas and I tumbled to the bed, our mouths fused together, only parting to remove our clothes. My insides felt like a growing knot of anxiety, worry, fear, and sadness over everything going on. But when Atlas licked his way into my mouth, when his hands glided along my skin, it was like he was wiping away every negative emotion.
The room quickly filled with moans, grunts, and heavy breathing. I loved how we smelled together, felt together, were together.
“How’s your shoulder?” Atlas asked as he slid his tongue over my nipple, heading toward my stomach.
“Fine, fuck.”
He chuckled and then took my cock in his mouth with quick, hollowed thrusts, and I could feel my orgasm rising to the surface.
“Atlas.”
My cock fell from his lips, and he practically folded me in half. “What the…?” I didn’t get another word out. His mouth sealed over my hole in the dirtiest kiss I’d ever had. His tongue kept plunging inside, and I swear I could’ve died right then and there and been fine with it.
“You taste so sweet,” he said, eyes on fire, lips glistening with spit.
“Fuck, Atlas, please, please fuck me.”
He grinned and pressed a finger into my slick hole. “Oh, I’m gonna fuck you, baby.”
Torture, the best, most amazing, super, fucking outstanding torture. Atlas played my body, and every time I thought I’d come, he released me with a dark chuckle.
“You’re evil.” I was breathless as I watched Atlas stand, walk to the side table, and pull out lube and a condom.
“I’m a sin, remember?” Where he once said that with sadness, it was now said with acceptance. Not like he was okay with being a sin, but maybe seeing that not all pasts, no matter how dark, taint us forever or label us as something we don’t feel we are.
“You can sin all over me.” And then we were both bursting out with laughter over my corniness.
I opened my arms and Atlas fell into them, our bodies aligned, and we kissed. Quickly he slipped the condom on, rubbed lube over it, and in a flawless glide, was inside me.
“You always feel amazing,” he said as he moved in long, deep thrusts.
“You always feel like you belong.”
He pressed his lips to mine, tongue and teeth, and he moved faster, harder, driving us to orgasm. When we came together, mixing, loving, all the anxiety washed away. It was just us, and for the moment, we were okay.
Monday morning came with phones vibrating and people wanting to come up and talk to Atlas. Joker’s Sin was allowed to open. The investigation did prove someone tampered with Ledger’s controls, and inside the barrels of water there were traces of oleoresin capsicum, or as Atlas explained it, “The shit that’s in pepper spray.” All in all, Atlas was cleared of any wrongdoing, and while they were still investigating who could’ve done it, he was allowed to open.
There was no point in trying to tell the police it was Vick Keller; when we did, it was met with scorned responses and eye rolls. Atlas being able to have his club back was good news. By the afternoon, we were all down at the club, trying to see how we could reopen with pizazz.
“We need to do serious cleaning,” Max said, and he was right.
While the police and fire department investigated, they didn’t clean anything.
“We could maybe work up a cool Friday reopening. Build up the hype on the website and such. Tell the papers and news. Take the time to clean up and come up with a cool idea?” I said and when I was met with positive feedback, I was excited.
There was still no news from TJ about anything with Vick and Wang. When I texted Shane, he said things had been quiet. And that reminded me.
“Hey, Atlas.” He was talking with Ledger about something but excused himself and came to me.
“What’s up?”
“Okay, so if you say no, I’ll understand. But, I have this friend, you see, right?”
He smirked. “Okay, just say it.”
“He works at Vick’s, he’s like my best friend. Anytime anyone tries to leave Vick’s, well, you know…he needs to get out of there, and the only place safe is here right now. Even if it’s also a target.” I had to chuckle at my logic.
“What’s he do there?”
“He’s a bartender. Really talented.”
He took my face in his hands and kissed me. “Have him come in whenever we’re here cleaning up. I’m sure we can find a place for him.”
I leaped into Atlas’s arms and kissed him until Max and the others were whooping and hollering.
I tried not to let the chaos and mayhem that was whipping all around us bother me. Maybe I was naïve or whatever, but it all seemed like it couldn’t touch me. Oh, how I wished that was true.
When I called Shane that night to tell him the good news, while he was happy, I could hear something was wrong in his voice.
“What’s going on, Shane?”
“Something weird. I was leaving work tonight, right? Vick was in his office with Liberio like always, door shut. I was punching out when there was a pounding on the back door.”
All I could think was, at least I was talking with Shane so whatever it was, he was okay.
“Liberio came down the hall, grunted for me to get the fuck out, and opened the back door. There were three Chinese dudes there. If Liberio was worried it didn’t show, but I had to wait until they got inside to get out of the place. When I did, I passed this big-ass limo, the window was cracked open, and holy fuck, Toby, it was Wang Zhao, the crime boss.”
Oh, my God! “Are you sure?”
“Uh yeah, the guy is on the news a lot, and I see him at Vayne’s sometimes when I pick up food. He has like, his own table there or something.”
“Wow. Well, maybe Vick pissed him off, or maybe they work together.” I couldn’t let Shane know. If he knew, he’d be in danger.
“Great, that’s all we need. A powerful crime boss in bed with Vick.” He sighed loudly into the phone. “So, whatever. Can I come by the club tomorrow?”
“Yeah, sure. Atlas and I will be there about eleven.”
“Great. See you then.” He disconnected, and I went to where Atlas was reading something on his laptop in the living room.
“Atlas.”
He lifted his head and quirked a brow.
“Shane will come by the club tomorrow at eleven, but he told me something.”
I sat and told Atlas the entire story Shane told me. He was quiet as I went on and on. And when I finally finished, he rubbed his eyes.
“I’m gonna call Ciro. Sounds like whatever was going to happen is about to.”
I left him to talk to Ciro and decided to take a shower and get comfortable. I hoped whatever shit rained down on Vick and Haven Hart missed me and everyone I cared about by miles.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Atlas
Ciro let me know he’d speak with TJ but that whatever Wang was up to, it was early days. We’d have to wait it out.
All morning Toby was talking up his friend Shane, telling me how amazing he was, funny, loyal, and how he would never have survived Vick’s as long as he did without him. I knew the second Toby asked that I’d likely hire him. If he was the person Toby described, there was no doubt the others would like him too.
“I’ve hated leaving him there, but he was really good at keeping in touch, so I knew he was okay. I just hope he’ll be safe after he leaves there.” Toby’
s sympathy and worry were endearing, and all I wanted to do was reassure him.
“He will be, we’ll make sure of it.”
We had breakfast and made our way over to Joker’s Sin. We were all sitting around a table discussing opening night ideas when there was a knock on the front door.
“Oh, that’s Shane.” Toby got up and went to go to the door, but Ciro stopped him.
“Do Shane’s knuckles make a magical sound unique to your ears?” He was being sarcastic, but I got what Ciro was saying.
“No, that’s stupid, Ciro.”
“Then you don’t know it’s him. Have a seat, buttercup, I’ll get it.”
Toby rolled his eyes but did as asked. I leaned over and squeezed his hand. “We have to be safe.”
“I know.”
“Is this Shane?” Ciro asked, and we all turned. Toby got up, rushed over, and hugged him. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Yes, this is Shane. Shane this is Atlas, Ciro, who answered the door, Ledger, he’s the DJ, and Max, he manages the bar section.”
Shane was beautiful with bright-red hair, a small smattering of freckles, and piercing gray eyes. He was taller than Toby, but who wasn’t? He had some muscle definition but not much.
“Hey, there.” Max shook his hand. “If all goes well, you’ll be working with me.”
“Oh.” Shane smiled, his pale skin pinking. “Awesome.”
As he went around the table, Ledger was scoping Shane out, unsurprisingly. Max had too, but I also knew gingers weren’t his type. When he got to me, I stood and shook his hand.
“Toby talks about you a lot, and if you’re half as wonderful as he says you are, then I’m sure this’ll just be a formality.”
“Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Durand.”
“Atlas, please.”
Talking with Shane felt easy. He was likable, funny, and I could see exactly why Toby was friends with him. There was no question—he was a perfect fit for our merry group. Max had plenty of bartenders, but they were all part-time, so taking time off wasn’t easy for Max because he didn’t have someone steady in it like he was.
“Shane, are you looking for full-time work?”
“Oh, yes. I need all the hours I can get.” I wasn’t going to pry, but there was a lilt of desperation in his tone.
“Great. Max runs the bar; he has many part-timers there, and I’m sure he’d love someone to be full-time to help him out so maybe he could take a night off.”
Max’s eyes widened in delight. “Oh shit, yeah. I’d love to teach someone some managerial duties, so in an emergency I could scream and there you’d be.”
The table erupted in laughter, and I was glad to see Shane jump right in.
“Absolutely. At Vick’s I run the bar and floor. It’s small, but it’s a lot of work. I totally understand.”
We spoke for a little while longer about the jobs he handled, and then it morphed into stories about him and Toby. We stayed away from any horrible ones, and when we were all done, I had one last thing to talk to Shane about.
“We’re all aware of the type of man Vick Keller is, Shane. If he finds out you even came here to interview, it’ll be a nightmare for you. So, it’s best you’re not alone.”
I could see worry on Shane’s face; I’d seen it too many times on Toby’s.
“I really appreciate it, but Vick doesn’t know I came here today. I work tonight and should be fine. Once I start here, if I do, then I’ll let you know.”
I wanted to argue, but Shane was a grown man. “If you have any inkling that Vick knows you came here, text Toby, and someone will come pick you up.”
“That’s…” He dropped his gaze to his lap. “Thank you.”
I met everyone’s faces, and it was a silent agreement. “Shane, we open Friday. We’d love you to be here for that. We’re in the planning stages, and if you can start tomorrow to help out, that would be great.”
“What?” He beamed and laughed. “Seriously, just like that?”
“That’s how it was with me too. But, Shane, the longer you’re at Vick’s, the worse it’ll be. Start tomorrow and never look back. This place is amazing.”
“Come here around noon tomorrow, I’ll have paperwork ready for you. We can talk more then.”
We said our good-byes, and Ciro said he’d walk Shane out.
“I think he’ll be a great addition,” Max said as he tapped the table with his hands excitedly. “Can’t wait to get a night off.”
“We’ve been closed for like, a week, you’ve had a ton of time off,” Ledger said.
Max shot him the bird and said he had to go through the new inventory. We had so many great ideas for opening night.
“Good news,” Ledger said. “Looks like none of those dancers are going to sue you for the acid shower.”
“You heard from their lawyers?”
He shook his head. “Nah, heard from ours. Only you could fucking almost blind ten people, and they still love you.” He chuckled and got up too. “I have to plan my music.”
When we closed up for the night, Ciro hadn’t heard any news from TJ. She said it was still quiet. So maybe when Shane saw Wang, it was a business meeting, and he hadn’t clued in to Vick’s deception.
We grabbed a pizza and returned to the penthouse.
“Opening night will be amazing,” Toby said as we stepped into my place. Oddly, the lights didn’t turn on.
“Did you shut the motion lights off?”
Toby shook his head. “I know you have when I’ve been here, because you don’t want things going dark when I don’t move for three seconds,” he joked.
“Step back.” I pulled Toby’s arm and shut the door.
“What’s wrong?”
I didn’t answer right away; instead, I called George. “Hey, Mr. Durand, everything okay?”
“Has anyone been by to see me or any deliveries?”
“No, sir. Nothing during my shift. And you were leaving just as I was coming on.”
“Okay, can you do me a favor and put a call into maintenance? I’d like them to check my lighting. My motion sensors aren’t working.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Durand. You have a nice evening.”
“You too, George.”
Opening the door once more, I flipped the light switch on. The setting was dim, and everything appeared to be okay.
“Atlas, you’re paranoid, and you have every right to be. It’s likely a glitch, or one of us forgot to set the sensor before we left.” Toby took the pizza from my hand and moved toward the living room. “Now, come on, I’m starving.”
Chapter Forty
Toby
I could tell Atlas was having a hard time letting it go about the sensor lights, even after I told him they weren’t on. His excuse was that someone could’ve turned them off. After pizza, I put on his favorite movie, but he was tense.
As I rested my head on his lap, I tried rubbing against his dick. He chuckled a few times, but when I peered up at him, his gaze was wandering over the place.
“It’s really bothering you.”
“Toby, I know it seems like I’m crazy, but with you here, with everything going on, I’ve been meticulous about security. I know I left the sensor on because I came back inside to do it.”
I did remember Atlas saying he forgot something and going in to do it, but I never asked what. He wasn’t ill; if he said he did it, then he did. The sudden thought that we weren’t safe had me whispering into Atlas’s ear.
“George said no one came in. Aren’t there cameras all over this fancy place?”
He didn’t wait until I moved to get up, so I practically fell off the couch as he ran toward his room.
“No, no, it’s okay, I’m fine.” I chuckled. When he re-entered the room, he had his laptop.
“You’re a genius,” he said opening his laptop.
“And for that compliment, you’re forgiven for almost tossing me on the floor.” Sitting on the arm of the large chair, I watched as Atlas lo
gged into what appeared to be the building’s security feed. “You can access this?”
“Everyone who lives in the building has access to corridor feeds and lobby ones. It’s a huge perk.” He clicked a few things, and the hallway outside his penthouse popped up.
I watched as we left this morning and Atlas went back in. I saw us get on the elevator, and then Atlas sped it up. We saw some security guys come up a few times walking the hallway, then leave.
The time read an hour before we came home, nothing yet. Just as I was about to say something, the elevator door opened on the screen. George appeared there. “Another round?”
“Maybe.”
We watched as he crept by the door for a little too long, slid a card in the slot, popped the door open, and slid inside.
“What the fuck?” Atlas whispered.
A few seconds later he came out, but the door was left ajar. Then a couple of minutes after that a man came to the door.
“It’s Liberio.” I spoke softly. I’d know that man anywhere.
He was inside the apartment for about ten minutes and left, shutting the door behind him.
Seeing George on the screen answered the question of why George said no one was here.
Atlas put the laptop down and went over to the sensor panel. “Yeah, but what the fuck does the panel have to do with anything? It’s weird.” I would have thought George would be aware of the cameras everywhere. Clearly, George wasn’t thinking, or he was forced to let Liberio in.
It was weird, I’d give him that. We knew Liberio had left, so he wasn’t there. A short while after Liberio left, we had come home. But deactivating the sensor would make it obvious someone was here.
“Do you think he’s just trying to scare you?” I asked, joining Atlas as he stared at the panel. We were both talking so softly, like we knew were being heard. And that thought made me realize we likely were.
“What if it has nothing to do with the lights, but like it’s a switch. Knowing you’ll go over to turn the light on. It would signal you’re home so Vick knew.”
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