by Alison Mello
“You look upset about that.”
He sighs. “At first I was because I thought he was going to close me out of all work communications, but I told him I wanted an earwig so I knew what was going on at all times. I finally convinced him when I told him it was for your protection.” He steps closer. “I had to promise not to leave your side all night long.” He slips his fingers into my hair. “Can you handle that?”
I bite my lip. “I think I’ll manage.” I close my eyes for a second, trying to compose myself. “Shane, I need you to know how much you mean to me, and all that you’ve been dealing with to keep me safe is so appreciated. I love you and I want to be with you, but I also feel bad that you’ve had to put up with all of this.”
“Sshh, I won’t hear of it, baby. I love you and I’ll be damned if some jackass is going to get to my girl.” He winks at me and presses his lips to mine. “Now let’s get to the club. Logan is already there with some of the security team.”
We pull up to the club a short time later and sure enough, the back is already filling up with cars from the staff. There are two spots that have been saved for me and my security. I take a deep breath, sling my bag over my shoulder, and climb out of Shane’s truck. Shane leads the way and security follows behind us. When we get inside, there are people walking around checking the club top to bottom ensuring everything is all set. “Look who’s here,” Logan shouts, putting his arm around me. “How are you?”
“Honestly, I’m fucking nervous as hell.” I chuckle and Logan bursts into laughter.
“Gather around, everyone. The boss is here and it’s time to get this meeting started,” Logan shouts out to the room of bouncers, security guards, and undercover cops. We all gather around what Logan calls ‘Bar One’ and take a seat. Logan takes the seat beside me and Shane is on my other side. “Listen up. Katie has worked incredibly hard on this event, and as you all know, there’s a threat out there. The threat isn’t against the club but her entire family, and they’ll all be under this one roof tonight.” Logan gestures to the club. “One of the key things about making this promotional night a huge success is ensuring their safety. I don’t care what goes down tonight, but we rectify it quickly and quietly. We need to show that we can handle anything that comes our way. That will get us the high-profile people we want. Not to mention if one hair on this sweet girl’s body is hurt, I will have your balls. Am I clear?”
Everyone’s nodding as Logan glances around with the look of death. He means what he said and I have no doubt that if one of these guys fuck up, they’re gone. “Good. Now listen. The caterer, radio station, and media will be here shortly. Bouncers who are at the door, no one gets in without the postcard I showed you and their name must be on the list. If they have a card but they’re not on the list, you must call me to the door. I’ll find out who they are and get an okay from Cooper to let them in.”
My father nods and I chuckle at Logan using my father’s nickname. I didn’t even know he knew his nickname. All the guys at the station call him that; they have since he was a rookie. It just stuck.
“Everyone is on earwigs. Turn them on and program them to station three if you haven’t already.” He looks at Jonah, who is sitting next to him. “Jonah, starting with you, do a check and then go straight around the bar. I want to know everyone’s is on and working.”
They go all the way around the room doing a mic check. They get to Shane and he does his mic check, everyone agreeing that they could hear loud and clear. Suddenly there’s a banging at the door to the club. My nerves are so shot I jump half out of my skin.
“Stone.” Jonah nods toward the door and the two of them go check out who’s it is. They come back a minute later with the DJ from the radio station. Logan greets him and tells everyone to get to work.
The club is all abuzz with people getting things ready. Bartenders have arrived and are making sure the bars are stocked with all they need. I’ve introduced myself to the DJ and thanked him for coming. He gets to work hanging a banner from the DJ’s booth that’s showing what station he’s from.
Evelyn walks up behind me. “Hi, Katie.”
“Hi Evelyn, how are you?” I say with a smile as I give her a small hug.
“I’m good. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here tonight. This is a great experience for me.”
I smile. “It’s no problem. Listen, when the caterers get here, I’d like you to make sure they set up over here. They’re going to have both hot and cold foods and I don’t care the order they set up in, but it all needs to be set here. If you can be in charge of them and make sure that runs smoothly, that would be a huge help.”
“You got it. When are they due?” she asks, looking around.
“Any minute, actually. Excuse me, I have to go talk to the woman setting up the decorations because she should be done and she’s not.”
I walk up to Cindy. “Hey Cindy, is everything okay? I ordered a bunch of decorations that I don’t see out yet.”
“Yeah, there was an issue with the order so we didn’t get everything in on time.” My brows shoot up.
“And you didn’t think to notify me?”
“Well there was nothing we could do about it, so no, I didn’t. I figured we’d make do with what we had.”
“Are you done setting up?”
She sighs. “Yes, we are.”
I put my hand out for the bill she was supposed to deliver to me tonight. She walks over to her bag and pulls it out handing me an envelope. “I’ll call you next week,” I tell her before calling over to Jonah on my earwig. “Jonah, can you meet me at Bar Two to escort Cindy and her crew out please?” He responds and appears a minute later.
“I’m really sorry,” Cindy says before walking out with Jonah.
“What’s wrong?” Logan asks.
“Take Cindy’s party company off the list of available party organization companies. She dropped the ball on my sister’s decorations and never called to tell me.”
“You got it. I assume you’ll get me someone else.”
“Yeah, I’ll work on it this week.”
Shane appears at my side. “Anything I can do, baby?”
“Nope, the caterer is setting up with Evelyn now.” I nod in their direction. “The DJ is ready to go, and my boss should be here any minute.” I shrug. “All Logan and I have to do is our quick radio interview before the club opens to our guests.”
“I guess we should go do that then,” Logan says.
Both Shane and Logan escort me up to the DJ’s booth to talk to the guy. “You guys ready to chat?” J.J. asks as we approach the booth.
“Sure,” I say with a smile.
J.J. suddenly stops the music and says, “We’re live at Club Thrive with club owner Logan Michaels and Katie Cooper from Millennium Marketing.” He turns to Logan. “Logan, was the idea to rent the club out your idea?”
Logan laughs. “Nah, man. I just open the clubs. This was all Katie’s idea.” He looks at me. “The girl is brilliant.” I can feel myself blushing at Logan’s sweet words.
“Katie, how’d you come up with the idea to have the club available for parties, rather than another themed event?”
“Well, J.J., this is LA and we like to have fun. There are always parties happening. It doesn’t seem to matter the night of the week, I figured it would be pretty awesome to be able to say you had your party at Club Thrive and you had the club to yourself. We all know that Club Thrive is the place to be anyway.”
“You heard it right from Katie. Club Thrive is the place to be,” J.J. says into the mic, using his high-energy DJ voice. “Logan, what can your clients expect when they rent Club Thrive for an event?”
“They can expect security, privacy, quality food from a great caterer, and of course the best DJs in LA. We have set up a variety of party package options for our clients and to get all the info all they have to do is either give us a call or fill out the party info sheet at clubthrive.com.”
“All right all
you party people in LA! Check it out at clubthrive.com. You can be among the coolest in LA when you throw your next event at Club Thrive.” J.J. puts the mic down. “Okay, the radio station will run that a few times throughout the night, so you guys are good to go.”
“Thanks, J.J.” I give him a hug, Logan shakes his hand, and we all make our way back down to the party.
I finally spot my sister walking around with my dad. She and my mom came separate with their own security detail. “Happy Birthday, Kara,” I tell my sister as I wrap her in a hug.
“Thank you so much. This is so cool. I can’t believe I have Club Thrive to myself for my birthday.”
“You’re very welcome. Have fun, but do me one favor, be careful tonight, okay?”
“I will.” She hugs me again and runs off to see some of her friends, who have finally started arriving.
“Nice job, Katie.” Tanya approaches me and gives me a hug.
“Thanks, Tanya. Wait ’til you hear this.”
“What’s up?”
“J.J. from the radio station threw our company name out as the firm that worked with Logan to get this up and running.”
“That’s great!”
“Yup, I just got us free advertisement.”
“Did you actually speak?” she asks with excitement.
“Yeah, I did a radio interview with Logan.”
“You did what?” my father asks, scaring me. “Do you realize you just told Blade where you are tonight?”
“Daddy, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. It was part of the setup that Logan and I would do an interview.”
He sighs and presses the button on his earwig. “Be on alert. Katie was just broadcasted on the radio. It’s now out that Katie is at Club Thrive.”
Shane rubs my arm in comfort. “It’ll be okay. No one is getting in here without the proper ID.” I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself.
“Let’s celebrate your success with a drink, shall we?” Tanya says, trying to raise my spirits.
“Sure.” Shane takes my hand leading us over to the bar, where we’re greeted by Miranda.
“Hello, ladies.” Miranda gets up to hug us. “Girl, you did an awesome job. The music is kicking, the dance floor is full of your family and your sister’s friends, and everything seems to be running smoothly.”
Kyle says from behind her, “I agree. This is amazing.”
I look around the room and a sense of pride washes over me. The lights are dim, but not dark like on a typical club night. The food is set up to one side of the room with her cake. There are glittery twenty-ones scattered around the room, and streamers wrapped around certain banisters. Of course, the huge happy twenty-first birthday banner I ordered didn’t come in, but it’s all good. They’re right the place does look good.
Glancing over to the dance floor, I see my sister dancing in a circle with not only her friends but our aunts and cousins too. Evelyn walks up to us at the bar. “The caterer asked me to give you this envelope.”
“Thanks, it’s the bill for the food,” I say with my brows raised to let her know I caught her comment from the meeting we had at the office.
She blushes and walks off embarrassed.
Miranda bursts out into laughter. “I can’t believe she said had the nerve to mumble that in front of all of us.”
“What did I miss?” Tanya asks, but before I can answer, Kara comes over.
“This is the best birthday ever!” she shouts. “I’m twenty-one and it’s time for a drink.”
Kelly’s behind the bar laughing. “What can I get you?”
“I don’t know. Something fun and fruity?” she shouts.
“Then you get Skyler’s favorite, a Blue Hawaiian.” Kelly gets to work making her drink. A few of her underage friends try to get away with ordering a drink, but Kelly is good. “Nice try, girls. Come back for your twenty-first birthday and I’ll hook you up.” They pout and walk away with diet soda in their cups.
A short time later, Miranda says, “I think it’s time we hit the dance floor. You’ve done your job now it’s time to have some fun.”
I look at Tanya, who nods her approval. Shane, Miranda, Kyle, and I all walk out to the dance floor. We start dancing, and I’m introducing Shane to some of my distant family that he’s never met before.
A song or two passes when I notice Kara’s no longer on the dance floor. I start scanning the room, but I’m not seeing her. She’s not at the food table, and I don’t see her at either bar. I turn to her friends. “Where’s Kara?”
They shrug. “She went to the restroom about ten minutes ago but hasn’t come back.”
I bolt in my high heels off the dance floor with Shane in tow. I hear him shout into his earwig. “Someone find Kara.” I push through the door to find Evelyn, but not Kara.
“Have you seen my sister?”
“She was in here a few minutes ago. I wasn’t feeling good so I came in here to get away from the noise. She left about five minutes ago.”
“Fuck,” I scream as I run out of the ladies’ room.
“Shane, she’s not in there. She’s had a lot to drink. She could have wandered off in the wrong direction. This club is huge.”
“We’ll find her,” he’s trying to sound brave but I can hear the fear in his voice.
“I have Katie and we’re checking the employee areas of the club for Kara,” Shane calls into his earwig as we rush toward the back room when I swear I hear screaming.
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“There it is.” I grab Shane’s hand and run through the back door of the club to find Trenton on top of Kara. Shane pulls him off and punches him so hard blood flies. I run to Kara’s side. She’s on the ground, panting. He takes a good swing at Shane and connects, knocking him to the ground. He starts to kick him when Kara says, “Fuck this.” She pulls a knife I didn’t know she had and runs at him. She knocks him off balance, then kicks him in the nuts as hard as she can. She starts to walk away, but he grabs her from behind. She swings her arm straight back, stabbing him, and he screams out in pain. She stabs him again and again, he finally collapses to the ground, and there’s blood everywhere. She’s stabbed him in the groin multiple times. She’s about to go at him again when Shane pulls her away. The guy’s now on the ground bleeding and groaning in pain. Kara collapses to the ground in shock.
Shane is panting and in pain, but he calls into his earwig. “Cooper, get to the back of the club.” Within seconds, Cooper and four undercover cops come running through the back door.
Two of the cops call in for a couple ambulances, telling them to get here as quick as possible, but no lights or sirens as they approach the club. Cooper kneels by Kara. “What happened, baby girl?”
“I went to the ladies’ room and suddenly I felt off. I was leaning on the wall trying to find my way back through the club, but somehow I ended up back here and that’s when I was jumped.” She closes her eyes. “Bastard tried to rape me,” she says through some tears. “I thought he was going to succeed when Shane pulled him off me.”
“He got a good hit in on Shane, but Kara attacked him,” I add.
“Everything you’ve been teaching me came to mind. I kicked him in the balls as hard as I could and then grabbed the knife you gave me and stabbed the fucker as fast as I could.”
My father smiles proudly at my sister. “Well, Blade, it appears my daughter kicked your ass and now you’ll be going back to jail, and this time I can promise you there will be no technicalities for you to be released on.” The guy groans as he rolls over to reveal the nice job my sister did on his package. His hands are covered in blood as he squeezes his nuts.
“It looks like you won’t have to worry about pictures to beat off to anymore, you fucking loser. I hope you rot in jail for the hell you put my family through, you piece of shit.”
My father walks off to talk to the ambulance driver, while the other two guys get to work on the asshole lying on the ground.
The two EMTs load Blade’s ass onto the stretcher, handcuffing a hand to each side so he can’t escape. One of the cops climbs into the back of the ambulance with him while the EMTs check out my sister. “It looks like you’ve been drugged. We need to take you to the hospital to have you checked out.”
“Do I have to? It’s my birthday party,” Kara whines.
“You should go, Kara,” my father says, standing over her.
“Fine,” she stumbles slightly as she tries to stand.
“Smart choice.” The EMT winks, catching her as she falls off balance. He helps her onto a stretcher.
“My legs are like Jell-O,” Kara says.
“That’s a combination of the drugs and adrenaline from everything that went down.”
“I’ll meet you at the hospital.” I hug my sister and it’s her undoing.
She begins to cry. “I was so scared. Thank you so much for finding me.”
“That’s what big sisters are for.” I rub her arm and give her a tight smile.
She chuckles, wiping her tears before they load her into the ambulance. My father says to Kara, “We’re all right behind you.” The doors to the ambulance close, and I run up to Shane.
“Are you all right?” I ask him, full of concern.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s just a few bruises.”
My father shakes his hand. “Thanks for saving my girl.”
“I’m glad I got there in time,” Shane says, “Let’s go let everyone know we have to take off, so the family doesn’t worry.” My father nods, and we all hurry inside so we can get to the hospital.
“You guys did an awesome job handling the situation. I’m glad your girls are both safe now.” Logan is pumped that everything was taken care of in a quiet fashion. “I’ll wrap this up for you guys. Go, be with Kara.”
I hurry out the door with Shane and my parents to meet up with my sister at the hospital. On the way, I turn to Shane. “I’m so glad this is over and my sister is going to be all right.”
