Page 68 of Merciless Intents

Justin nodded and pulled me against him, placing a small kiss on the top of my head. Luna wrapped her arms around both of us, and she kissed my temple. I loved how affectionate both of them were. They were the best friends I could hope for anywhere but definitely here in a place full of the most awful people on the planet.

“We understand,” Justin said. “The offer stands, though. You ever need help, I’m there. If you need me to deal with Damian and Asher, I will. I stay pretty quiet and out of the way, but I’m not afraid to get involved when it’s someone I care about. My friends are off limits.”

Luna smiled. “We already adore you, and we accept you. Youandyour secrets. You’re right. Eventually, it would have driven a wedge. You made the right decision telling us this. We may not understand a friend needlessly hiding things, but wedounderstand boundaries, and this is a boundary for you. Tell us when you’re ready. We’ll respect your privacy. That being said, if you’re ever indirectdanger, you better tell us. We may not have all the fancy training you do, but we have money and resources. We can definitely hire people whodo.”

Her friendly smile right then turned into something dark and vengeful. She looked as though she was plotting revenge on someone she didn’t even know existed, and I kind of loved her for it.

I laughed. “Well, it’s good to know I have friends who would spend God knows how much money on mercenaries to deal with my problems and keep me safe.”

“You laugh, but we really would,” she said before pulling away and walking around to climb in the backseat on the passenger’s side.

I opened my door and hopped in as Luna settled into the back. There wasn’t a lot of room back there, but it was enough. Justin pushed the seat back and climbed in the front passenger seat. He was far too tall to sit in the back comfortably without turning sideways.

“I’ll drive, and you guys give me directions. I have no idea where we’re going.”

* * *

After about forty-five minutes,we ended up at a warehouse. It looked kind of shabby on the outside, though notcompletelyran down. Judging from the supplies sitting outside the building, it was obvious there was work going on, but not much had been done on the outside at least.

As we climbed out of the car and walked closer, I realized all the windows and doors were new, and old shingles scattered along the side of the building suggested the roof was new, so that was a start. The side of the building was in desperate need of attention. While I didn’t see any noticeable gaps in the brick, it certainly looked busted up, shat on by birds, and painted all over by randos. Not the cool kind by street artists either. The “J Wuz Here” kind written in hastily scribbled, splotchy paint.

Someone must have purchased it to restore it, so the question was, were we partying in some random business? Or was the building owned by someone else related to whoever was throwing the party?

“Wow,” I said as we walked in.

The insidemost definitelydid not match the outside.

The walls inside were solid white brick. At first, I thought someone had painted it, but I was wrong. Whoever purchased the building had ripped out and had entirely redone the inside brick, swapping out the standard red with white. I couldn’t even imagine how pricy that must have been, but it looked far better than simply painting it ever would have since it had the varying shades of white and light grey. It gave the inside a rustic feel, but it was classy.

The floors were beautiful. Light-colored, wide-plank,realhardwood, sealed and shined to perfection. It went perfectly with the white walls.

The ceiling was pine shiplap the same color as the floor with simple black metal lighting hanging every few feet. It was brightly lit, but the color of the bulbs gave the giant room a warm feel.

To the left was a bar that was no less than twenty feet long. It was partially enclosed on the sides and had its own ceiling that was several feet shorter than the cathedral ceilings. The recessed lighting over the bar was blue, and gave the area a fun, welcoming vibe. On top of the little roof there were speakers hanging from the shiplap ceiling above, and around the edges of the room were more hanging every few feet. More recessed speakers were dotted between the lighting all throughout the room.

In the far back was a large stage, and a band played a cover of a song I didn’t recognize. I liked the beat of it, though, so I couldn’t complain.

“Isn’t this awesome?” Luna said. “This is Miley Littrell’s place.”

“Who’s that?” I yelled out over the music. It sounded better in here than some concerts I’d been to. The sound system must have cost a fortune.

“Her dad’s the lead singer of Cannibal Underground. He bought this place to entertain when he’s in town. He lets her do whatever she wants with it as long as she hires a cleanup crew after and no one trashes anything,” Luna answered.

“I don’t think I’ve met her yet,” I said, still looking around. Guitars and other instruments hung all over the walls. It was obvious a rockstar owned the place, but beneath the décor, it was much classier than that. “The shit hanging all over screams rockstar while everything else screams anniversary party for the governor.”

Justin laughed. “Yeah, it’ll be used for that, too. He plans to use this as a party venue. Wedding receptions, graduation parties, shit like that. This will be his business as well as a party house. There are game rooms upstairs, photo booths, a bowling alley, and he’s supposed to put more shit up there. It’s insane.”

My eyes lit up. “A bowling alley? That’s awesome! I love bowling!”

“You weirdo,” Luna said with amusement. “Are you like fifty? I’m sorry to tell you, old lady, but it’s not finished yet. Just the arcade room and pool room.”

“Way to suck the wind out of my sails,” I said. “Is Miley in your dorm?”

Luna quirked an eyebrow, a sarcastic expression blooming on her face. “As a matter of fact…no. She’s in theotherdorm. Whitley. You know… with the small rooms they have to share? Where there is a single bathroom on each floor for all the girls on that floor to share? Yeah.”

My eyes widened a bit, understanding why she had such an attitude about it. “You said the living arrangements were based on income, right?”

She still wore the same expression. “Yep. See now why it’s all fucked? They’ve gone platinum how many times, and not evenhecould get her into a better dorm? It’s horse shit. The whole system. Miley’s good people, though. You’ll like her.”

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