Page 66 of Layne Closure Ahead

EPILOGUE

When Layne walked into Cassidy’s Cave the upbeat music was pulsing throughout the entire strip club. The place was packed with primarily male patrons looking to get their dicks hard by watching a bunch of girls remove one article of clothing at a time while flashing smiles of fake interest.

In the dimly lit space, several small stages cluttered the floor, the main stage was at the back, and two birdcage-style platforms hung from the ceiling. Glitter was everywhere. It looked like there had been a reverse harem of unicorns that had all jacked off all over the joint.

Joey was at her back, scanning the room for any sign of Liam. His hand rested on the small of her back to confirm his presence there with her after not getting past the doorman nearly as easily as Layne had with a flash of her pretty smile.

It didn’t take long to pinpoint Liam’s location. He was making a spectacle of himself over at a VIP table surrounded by no less than four women who were employees of this establishment evidenced by their lack of clothing. Easily, Liam had probably dropped a head-spinning amount of money on this night out.

Liam stood up with his shot glass in the air and yelled. “Shots on me!”

Layne groaned. “For fucks sake.” She didn’t want to deal with this, but she was going to have to. If not her, who else?

Joey leaned down and spoke into her ear. “Can I just take him out back and give him a dose of reality?”

She tried not to let the smile fully tug at the corners of her mouth at the thought. As tempting as the offer was, she knew that this was going to require more finesse and less brute force. After shaking her head to decline Joey’s request, she walked through the crowd, avoiding men tripping over themselves to get a better view of their visual entertainment.

Her brother leaned over and wrapped an arm around one of the girls, planting an aggressive kiss on the side of her face before whispering something into her ear.

Layne had been told by one of her associates that he had been here since they opened up six hours ago. Based on his noticeable level of intoxication and disheveled appearance, she fully believed it. His shirt was half untucked from the waist of his pants, the top few buttons left undone enough to bare his pale chest in front of all his monetarily compensated admirers.

When Layne got to the table, she began picking off one girl at a time while Joey stood back and didn’t get in her way like the smart man he was. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest while he casually observed. Joey still wished Layne had let him knock some sense into her brother. The night was still young though, so perhaps there was still a chance.

Liam was too busy guiding one of the dancer’s hands onto the crotch of his pants when he finally noticed Layne physically moving one of his admirers from the table to make a path closer to him.

“Well, look who it is! Come to join me in the celebration?” He lifted a half-empty bottle of vodka that was easily worth a grand.

“Li, you’ve done enough celebrating for the entire club. Let’s go.” She motioned with her hand for him to stand up.

“Don’t be such a stuck-up bitch. Our business is on the way to being back on fuckin’ top!” He tugged the girl to his right closer to his side. “Right, baby?” His drunken stupor caused him to forget that Layne was standing right there trying to have a conversation with him as he began to make out with the girl hanging onto his arm.

The only thing that would make this situation worse is if Kristill were here to curse him out and cause an even bigger scene. Thank God for small favors from the universe that she wasn’t here.

Layne’s hand grabbed the girl’s arm and pulled her up to her feet. “Here, take this.” She shoved a hundred-dollar bill into her hand and shooed her away.

Predictably, Liam had an angry outburst like the manchild he was. “What is your goddamn problem, Layne?!”

Tiredly, she sighed. “I’m not doing this here with you, Liam. Let’s go outside and deal with this.”

“You’re not the damn boss of this family.” Liam snorted at the ridiculous thought of it.

It was clear this was going to be a battle. Layne attempted to soften her tone. “That’s what we need to talk about.”

He shook his head, not seeing that there was anything to discuss.

She was losing the little patience she had for his bullshit. “Liam, get the fuck up. Now.”

“What the fuck ever.” He pulled his wallet out and dumped a wad of cash on the table amongst the various shot glasses and empty bottles.

Layne looked over at Joey. “Watch him while I close things out here, and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.” The last thing she needed was ill will towards the O’Reilly name now that a new era was on the horizon.

She looked at Liam and gave him a stern look. “Stay here, keep your mouth shut, and your hands to yourself or so help me, Li, I will call every club in the five boroughs and have them blacklist you for life.”

She turned and walked away to go to the bar to speak with the owner to make sure she smoothed things over for any troubles Liam may have gotten himself into. Layne pulled out a credit card to cover any of the miscellaneous charges and idly tapped it against the bar top while she waited.

“You were looking for the owner?” The steamy and smooth voice came from behind her. When she turned, she was met with a man who looked to be in his early thirties, far younger than she would have expected for a strip club owner. Not to mention he had these light brown eyes that were like freshly melted milk chocolate that could lure you in with as much of a wink.

Layne lifted an eyebrow not hiding her surprise that this guy wasn’t who she was expecting. Most strip club owners she had met were sleazy and creepy old men. No, not this one. He was dressed semi-casually, with a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows exposing the cords of his muscular forearms, and a pair of lightly distressed jeans. It was hard to tell with the lighting and the gel in his hair, but he looked to be an ashy shade of blond.

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