Page 78 of Dublin Brute

She might be right. It’s just not the way we usually do things.

And, as off-putting as it feels to let the authorities settle things with our enemy, that’s not what’s curdling my dinner.

All I can think of is Nora working at Legend.

She’s alone and within the hunting grounds for these fuckers.

Nora

The beat of the bass thrums through my bones as I weave between dancing bodies with my tray held high. The light show pulses in time with the music being played by the live band on the stage, casting streams of blue and purple across the sea of faces.

Legend is packed tonight, the dance floor a writhing mass of sexy bodies.

“Two cosmos and a dirty martini.” I set the drinks down at a table of giggling girls dressed to the nines. One slides me two twenty-dollar bills and tells me to keep the change.

Kate catches my eye from across the room and mimics drowning herself in the sea of bodies. I stifle a laugh. We’re both exhausted after apartment hunting all day, but the energy of the club is infectious and the more we work, the more money we’ll have for our new place.

I meet up with Kate at the main bar about an hour later. “How are you doing tonight?” she shouts over the music as we pass each other.

“Tips are good as long as I keep the drinks flowing.”

She tells Toni her order and grins. “I swear I’m dreaming! The Pearsall flat was perfect!”

It was.

The night flows in a rhythm of drink orders, dodging handsy customers, and sharing excited looks with Kate. Despite my former eagerness to join the nightlife, my feet are killing me in these heels and if one more guy tries to cop a feel of my breast, I’m going to throat-punch him.

But physically assaulting customers is frowned upon, and I won’t risk getting fired when freedom is finally within reach.

“Nora!” Alexis waves me over to the bar. “You’ve got a call on the club line. You can take it in the break room. It’ll count as your ten-minute break.”

My heart skips. There are only three people in my life who know I work here. Kate, my father, and Brendan. Since Kate is across the club working, and my father would send an agent here to give me a message if something important came up, it must be Brendan.

I hurry through the crowd and through the staff only doors into the back hallway. The cutoff of booming music is deafening. Or that could be panic cutting my brain off from the world as I grab the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.” Brendan’s deep voice sends a shiver down my spine.

“Is everything okay?” I twist the phone cord around my finger, glancing at the door. “Areyouokay?”

“Aw…are you worried about me, angel?”

“Always.”

“Well, I’m fine. I’m sorry to have scared you, but you’re on shift and this couldn’t wait. Listen, I need you to be careful tonight. The McGuire’s are up to no good and have men targeting women in clubs north of the Liffey.”

“Targeting how?”

“Drugging them and kidnapping them for their sex trafficking operation. From what we’ve figured out, they’re well-dressed and charming, right until they roofie the girl’s drink.”

“And they’re doing that here?”

“Here in the Northside, yes. Whether they’re at Legend, I can’t say. I just wanted to warn you to be careful and to tell you that if you see two biker-types: a burly black guy and a scruffy guy with a leather dog collar, that’s Frenchie and Drake. I’ve ordered them out of the shadows and put them on your protection, just in case.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“Trust me, angel, I really do. I won’t be any good to anyone if I don’t know you’re safe. If I had any say in the matter, I’d be guarding you myself.”

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