Page 32 of Devoured
But now? I was the help. I would rip off my boot and ram it into Mike’s thick skull if I had to.
I raced towards the two of them and leaned on the table. I tapped his shoulder.
“The hell you want?” Mike said, snapping around to face me.
“Leave us alone,” Kendall said, though her voice sounded weak, not filled with the usual fire she had when it came to me. For all I knew, she felt pressured to give into Mike’s demands, that she owed him her body because of the money he had spent on her in the past. I couldn’t stop my foster dad, and I hadn’t stopped Jake. But this time, I could do something about it.
“Your name is Mike?” The club member nodded. “The lady said she’s not interested tonight, Mike. Are you interested, Kendall?” I turned to her. She shook her head.
“She gets like this,” Mike tried. “Likes playing rough but gets all shy about it. It’s not a big deal.”
But I didn’t believe it. Kendall was a seductress. She didn’t play games with anyone. She knew exactly what she wanted.
“Are you interested?” I asked Kendall again.
Her blank face told it all.
I don’t care if Kendall hated me. I was not going to let something like this happen ever again.
“She’s not interested,” I said again. “Get the hell off of her.”
I pulled his jacket, yanking him as hard as I could. His side slammed into the table, and the security guards raced towards us.
“The fuck?” he whined.
“I can handle it myself!” Kendall yelled, reaching for my hair. But there was nothing to grab, hadn’t been any since she cut it off years ago. And by the time she realized it, the two security guards had grabbed Mike, escorting him out of the club.
Security had been a little late to the scene, but I knew they had been trained to be discreet when it came to bouncing club members. Maybe there was room for improvement in that area. I would have to talk to Roland about it.
Mike glared at me. “You messed with the wrong guy,” he barked.
An empty threat. “Dahlia isn’t here to let you in anymore, Mike. I’m the new manager now. From now on, you have to go through me now. Good luck,” I said. It wasn’t the whole truth, but if I was manager, like Dahlia and Roland had agreed, then I could help affect those decisions.
Adrenaline eased through my system, heat pulsing in my veins, my skin clammy. I turned back to Kendall.
“You ruined everything!” she yelled.
“Answer me honestly,” I said, lowering my voice. “Did you truly want to make money off of that man tonight?”
She stared at me, her bottom lip quivering. Then she hissed, “I’m not going to answer your stupid question.”
“Because I’m right, aren’t I?” I asked. “You didn’t want him touching you.”
I wasn’t going to let another man hurt one of my servers like that ever again. Not even Kendall, a woman I despised. We all deserved human decency.
Her whole demeanor changed as she thought about it. “I froze,” she whispered. “I don’t know what happened.”
After what she had been through with Jake? It was understandable that the slightest aggression would make her stop in her tracks.
“No one blames you for that,” I said. One of the other servers approached us, a shadow off to the side. “Take Kendall to the Greenhouse.” The server nodded, then helped Kendall up, putting a comforting arm around her. I was glad the other server could do that; I was never good at being touchy-feely with most people, even if they needed it. “Get her a snack and some water.”
I watched the two of them head towards the door to the Greenhouse, when a hand landed on my shoulder. Still full of energy, I flipped around, staring up at Roland.
“Roland,” I said, surprised that he was taller than me, even in my twelve-inch heels. “You’re still here.”
“We have some business to discuss,” he said, his voice unusually formal. He took me by the shoulder, his grip firm on me. I flinched. What did he want now?
“Business?” I asked. “You want to remodel or something?”
