Page 241 of The Black Trilogy

Tia was one of those left behind, along with Ryan. It wasn’t lost on me, the glances they kept giving each other—Ryan when he thought I wasn’t looking and Tia shyly from under her eyelashes. Which of them would make the first move? I didn’t think it would be Tia, not after the events of last weekend. And Ryan was watching me out of the corner of his eye, wary of upsetting momma bear.

I contemplated giving them a bit of space, but my red phone buzzing on the table in front of me interrupted my thoughts. Normally a message on that phone would concern me, but when I looked, it was only a text from Nick.

Nick: Help!

I doubted he could have got into an emergency situation in the club. Or at least, not what I classed as an emergency.

Emmy: What??

His reply came a few seconds later.

Nick: Being mauled. By the bar.

Even though he couldn’t see me, I rolled my eyes.

“What?” Tia asked.

“Nick has a small problem. He’s got separated from the herd, and now he’s being hunted by a pack of women who are out for blood. He wants me to rescue him.”

“This I have to see.”

Tia scrambled off the couch, and I noticed Ryan got up as well and trailed behind, his eyes dropping a little too low for my liking. We left the relative peace of the VIP area and descended into the main room of the club, the beat of the music getting louder with every step.

By the time we reached the bottom, the volume made talking a waste of breath. I grabbed Tia’s hand to keep her close and used the locator app on my phone to find Nick amid the writhing mass of bodies.

He was pinned down by the bar, a trio of silicone-enhanced women pressed up against him. One of them had her hand inside his shirt. He removed it, only for it to be swiftly replaced by the lime-green talons of one of her friends. It was like watching Dawn of the Dead with Barbie doll wannabes rather than zombies.

With Tia in tow, I fought my way over. This was one of those rare moments when I regretted the club being quite so popular. Nick saw me coming, and I caught the glimmer of desperation in his eyes. The irony wasn’t lost on me. Here stood a man who’d managed to survive some of the most difficult combat situations I’d ever known only to be brought down by a swarm of spray-tanned stick insects.

I parked Tia six feet out, and mouthed, “Stay here.”

She confirmed with a nod, and I saw Ryan take her back.

I pushed through the crowd to Nick, elbowing girls out of the way as I got close. He relaxed as I plastered myself to his side and wrapped my arms around his waist.

“Oi!” Barbie number one said, or rather, shouted.

Nick gripped me tighter, and I stood on tiptoes to lick a trail up the side of his neck, stopping at his ear to inform him, just loudly enough to be heard over the music, that he was a massive idiot.

He only grinned.

Hands tugged at my top, and I turned to face the gaggle of irritated girls. It was too loud to make out most of what they were saying, but I think my interpretations of “we saw him first” and “find your own” probably weren’t too far off the mark.

Tempting though it was, I refused to get into a catfight in my own club, so I executed plan B instead. Sadly, it wasn’t the first time I’d had to help Nick out in a situation like this, so he knew the drill. I lived in the hope that one day he’d learn to avoid these problems, but for a smart man, he could be annoyingly oblivious when it came to his effect on women.

Nick cupped the back of my head with a hand and brought his mouth down on mine. Which should have been hot, but it felt like I was making out with my brother.

Had the women left yet? If not, I’d need to switch to plan C, which meant hauling them out of the club by their hair extensions and dumping them in the river. Although judging by their overly inflated chests, there was a good chance they’d float.

“Gone?” I asked.

Nick nibbled my earlobe. “They disappeared a while back, but I was enjoying myself.”

I smacked him on the backside. “Idiot.”

Nick only grinned, and I dragged him back over to Tia. She hadn’t moved an inch, but her mouth had dropped open.

“Just giving an old friend a hand. No need to look so surprised,” I said.

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