Page 74 of Evil Villain (The Royal Court)

“We’re here to see T.C.,” I said. “Tell him that Nico sent us.”

The guard eyed me for a minute, but then turned around and walked all the way down to the booth at the far end of the line, and slid the curtain aside. He poked his head in and stood that way for a few minutes, then he turned around and came back down. He unlatched the velvet rope and motioned us through.

“All the way down,” he said. “Last one.”

I led the way down the row of private booths and stopped at the last one. Another security guard took over and slid the curtain aside from the inside when he got there. We walked past the security guard and into a deceptively large room. It had a set of seats encircling the walls, and a couple of tables were in the middle, topped with food and booze.

One man was sitting in the center of the couches, opposite the curtain, arms crossed and glaring at us. He had tanned skin, a clean goatee, and wore a suit. “Well now,” he said as we walked in. “Nico thinks I do work with babies now. Seems you all came in search of information.”

“You helped Connor Loche recently,” Nathan took over, stepping up to stand at my side. “You helped him secure a warehouse in North Postings.”

T.C. looked around at some of his guys, seemingly a little flabbergasted at the gall eleven barely-adults had entered his space with. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. I don’t typically give information away for free.”

“What would you charge Garrett?” I said. “I would assume I’d get the son discount.”

T.C. leaned forward a little. “What’s your name?”

“Deon,” I said. “Keane.”

“Well hell!” T.C. said, his entire demeanor shifting. “You didn’t say you were Venom’s kid, get in here!” He motioned to the couches. “Sit. Do you want drinks? Food?”

“We’re good, thanks. We just need to know about Connor.”

T.C. looked around at his men, then nodded towards the door. They all filed out. The only one who remained on the side of the booth we were on was the security guard who let us in. T.C. was working on a beer and lifted it to take a sip. “Yeah. I’ve been helping him out. It’s been a bitch working with him too. He comes in here every other week asking for a new warehouse space to hole up in. When the show is over and he’s ready to pack up, he pays my men to clean house. Even tear down walls.”

“Yeah, we saw one of those places,” Cherri said.

“You’ve seen him recently?” Nathan said.

“Yeah. Last place he asked me for, he came in about a week ago for it.”

“So he should still be there,” I said.

“Yeah. I’ll give you the address, so you can go out there and take care of things yourself. Leave me out of it,” T.C. said. “Just make sure you tell Venom I helped you out.”

“I’ll let him know right away,” I said. “Thanks.”

“Wow,” Colette whispered from next to me. “Deon just went and found adifferentdad with pull.”

Still, Nathan pulled out his wallet and took out a wad of cash. “Consider it a tip and to make sure this information doesn’t get back to Connor.”

He threw it to T.C., who caught it and nodded at Nathan and tossed a piece of paper back at him. I assumed that was the address. “Your secret is safe with me.” Then he looked us over. “Well, did you need anything else?”

“Not unless there’s more you think we need to know,” I said.

“One last thing,” T.C. said. “Part of the deal with Connor was always security. He has the place bugged to high hell. If you’re planning on showing up at the doorstep, he’ll know you’re coming before you even get through the door, and you’ll be dead before you get past the doormat.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Nathan said. “We’ve got it covered.”

T.C. held up his hands. “Well, here I thought you were just a bunch of angry toddlers. Well, good luck, kids.”

We stood up and left the booth, passing T.C.’s cohorts outside the curtain. They walked back in as we walked out. Once we were beyond the rope that divided us from the booths, we all looked at one another.

“I’m kind of sad that it went so well,” Colette said. “I wanted some action.”

“Well, going after Connor won’t be that easy,” I said. “Be careful what you wish for.”

“That’s it for work, right?” Avery said. “Because Ihaveto hit that dance floor.”

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