Page 4 of Fight

Eyes move to look up to see Róisin dancing overhead, and they nod. She’s already a favorite at the club, and the faces around me look angry.

“Thank you for taking the time to take out the trash, Cerenity,” one of the girls in front of me says, snagging the hand of one of her friends. “Now that the coast is clear, let’s go dance!”

Taking a moment to breathe, I gaze around at my surroundings. Auggie is livid next to me, interrogating the bouncers about why they didn’t notice that, and as the manager of the club, it’s well within his rights to do so. They appear angry and chastised, nodding their heads at whatever he’s saying.

Xander stalks back in with Blake on his heels, looking worried as they approach us. Touching Augustine’s elbow with the hand not holding the bat is enough to pause his next words, I wait for the bouncers who threw the alpha out to report to me.

“We may have a problem,” Xander grumbles. “Can we talk in your office? I also think we need to make sure everyone is moving through the club better.”

The bouncers to my right know they’re in deep shit, standing taller. “I’m so sorry, I’ll make sure I’m walking a wider band around the club,” one of them says. “Róisin shouldn’t have been cornered like that, either. She didn’t want to wait for me to come out of the bathroom, and went ahead of me.”

“If the cage dancers are walking the club floor, hold your bladder or clamp down on your fucking sphincter,” I growl, not waiting for an answer as I jerk my head for Xander and Blake to follow me to my office. The other men know they fucked up, and I don’t give very many second chances.

I have a reputation in Minneapolis for running a tight, neutral establishment. I don’t care if you’re in the mafia, a police officer, an alpha, a beta, or a Goddamn kangaroo, you’ll treat everyone here with respect. It’s the reason why my club is packed every night that we’re open, and people keep returning.

Turning into a hallway away from the club goers, I walk back to my office, placing my thumb over the lock to open it. Auggie’s hand shoves it open as I walk through, flicking on lights as I move toward my desk.

Facing the alphas as they enter, I raise my brow as I drop the bat in front of me.

“Give it to me straight, gentlemen,” I murmur.

Xavier sighs as he closes the door behind him, holding his wrist behind his back. The alpha has been out of the military for years, if he’s falling into this habit, I really am in deep shit.

“First, I want to apologize for the lack of security presence on the floor,” he begins. “This shouldn’t have happened, and then you wouldn’t have had to handle things the way you did. While throwing out the injured alpha, he spouted off a lot of nonsense, but he mentioned his name. It’s Arthur Bailey, who is one of Tommy Madden’s made men, in the British mafia in Chicago.”

“What was he doing at my club in Minneapolis?” I ask. This could be really bad if Tommy decides to retaliate, though he was at my club a couple of months ago for the Omega’s Haven fundraiser. His best fighters fought for the charity, and then donated all of the bets placed.

It was extremely generous of them. I think one of his men is Wren’s brother, which is why he extended the favor.

Still, just because he’s willing to do something nice, doesn’t mean he’s not going to snap back because I beat the shit out of one of his men.

“No idea,” Xavier grunts.

“Some of their business does bleed outside of Chicago at times,” Blake says softly. “Regardless, please watch yourself when you’re outside of the club. They’re vicious about taking care of their own.”

“Thank you, Blake, I’ll do that. Now, what are we going to do about security on the floor?” I ask.

If we’re going to be here, may as well make it into a productive team meeting.

Forty minutes later, I’m really fucking thirsty and need to work out some energy. Dancing helped, but my anger feels right on the surface tonight.

Auggie stops me as I begin to follow my security team.

“You okay? Need to go a couple of rounds in the ring?” he asks.

“Yes please,” I say. “I’m twitchy as fuck, and need to punch something. As soon as I know the club is locked down for the night, we can leave together.”

Augustine and I tend to drive together to work, because it seems silly not to when we’re going home to the same place. The only time this isn’t the case, is if one of us is running errands beforehand. After tonight, I’m sure he’ll be a little extra growly about making sure I stay safe.

The next two hours fly by, and then we’re leaving to head to the gym, knowing the club is shut down properly.

A yawn escapes me as I pick up my water bottle to take a sip, making me roll my eyes.

“I may not last long tonight, but I want to spar at least once,” I admit.

“Yeah, right,” he teases me. “As soon as you get moving, the adrenaline will kick in and I’ll have to carry you out of there. This isn’t my first rodeo, Sweetheart.”

My heart flip-flops at his easy term of endearment, and I force myself to shrug as if I’m indifferent. We both keep our gym bags in his truck, so it’ll be easy to change. Once we arrive, I grimace as I dig into my bag to pull out a quick descenting perfume. It’s expensive, but I like it more than the lotion, and it does the trick of neutralizing my scent.

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