Page 22 of Shattered
CHAPTER 7
Rourke
The only sign was on the black, double-doored entrance, the wordsThe Dahlia Districtin gold letters. No explanation of what that meant. The confidence that those who found it would know what it was.
English ivy climbed the walls of the brick buildings. In the back of the main, tall building was a pergola covered in hummingbird vine, the orange blooms stretching open, ready to let anything inside. This area was presumably meant for smoking or taking private calls, and was accessible from a door on the inside of the main building, as well as walking to it from the outside. I waited there, knowing that Jake worked security at the club, and would eventually make his way out to survey the surroundings or to take a break.
I was dressed like a club member should be: a pressed suit, an expensive watch gifted to me years ago, a pocket square elegantly placed; I smelled of money. I kept myself on my phone, as if I was tending to important business discussions. No one would suspect me of anything. I was simply a club member who was taking a break in the fresh air.
About two hours after opening, a man with brown hair, dressed in a black button-up shirt, came through the door. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and put one to his lips. He nodded at me.
“What’s up, man?” he asked.
I lifted the phone. “Working.”
“Me too.” He looked up at the sky through the leaf and flower-covered slats, then he lit the smoke and sighed. I turned off my phone, stowing it in my pocket.
“You’re Jake,” I said, offering a hand, “Mel’s friend, right?”
“Yep,” he said. We shook hands.
“What’s she like?”
“Mel? She’s a good girl,” he nodded to himself, “There’s no better girl than our Mel.”
I studied him, observing the way he tucked his upper lip. He was hiding something.
“But?”
“But what?”
“You’re stopping yourself from saying something. What is it?”
His eyes flicked to me, then back in front of him. “She’s had a hard couple of years, you know? Sometimes it ruins her chances of landing the best deals in the Terrariums. But,” he smiled, “she’s always there for the people who need her.”
“Hard couple of years?”
He took his time before saying the next words, as if pondering the best phrasing. He was trying to sell her to me, then. “You know how your parents are supposed to be there for you? Well, she hasn’t talked to her parents in years. She pretends like she doesn’t care, but I think it still hurts her, you know?”
“How can you tell?”
“I don’t know, man. She sleeps all the time but always seems tired. Won’t show up to shifts even though she knows Dahlia adds it up.” He shifted towards me. “But don’t let that discourage you, man. She’s a good girl. I respect her. She might not have a family, but she treatsmelike family, you know? And the rest of the servers here. Mel always has our backs.”
It was more than respect. Jake obviously liked her. I wondered how many years she had turned him down, or if he had never tried at all.
But hehadtried. Melissa had made that clear from the way she avoided my eyes.
“How did you two become friends?” I asked.
“I used to work with her roommate.” Ah, the lovely Colin. How nice of these two men to be friends. I was sure Jake thought he was a damn saint, compared to Colin. “I brought her to the Dahlia District, actually.”
He said those words proudly, as if tricking a friend into a debt-scheme was an achievement, not a punishment.
“Have you ever had sex with her?” I asked. The honesty in his eyes flickered into uncertainty, his jaw dropping slightly. “Come on, Jake. I know she’s not a virgin. I’m asking, man to man.” I rolled my neck back and forth, then added, “Locker room talk.”
He nodded slowly, then the grin returned. “Yeah, a few times actually.”
“What was she like?”
