Page 24 of Jealous God
Elodie
The nightclub where Dionysus Rising were set to appear was packed before I got there, the queue stretching around the block. Normally I would have paused and wondered if I should join the end of the line, but not tonight. I was in a foul mood; waiting for hours to get to my employers would only make it worse.
The meeting with Legacy hadn’t gone to plan, but then again, I really hadn’t expected it to. I had heard enough from the guys who worked security and knew he had left his promising career and gone back. Fucking gone back to the life we both promised we would leave far, far behind us. It wasn’t even that I was angry at him for his decision. But I was pissed that I’d had to hear it from the others and not from him.
Didn’t I deserve to hear that particular news from the horse’s mouth, so to speak?
The dinner we had together had been strained. And I hated that just as much as I hated the thought that he was back with the Sons. We so rarely got to spend time together, and though I was partly to blame for that, he sure as hell didn’t make it easy.
Hell, he seemed to do everything in his power to make it as awkward as possible. Like making his feelings known about me working for Dionysus Rising. Or how close he had been told I was getting to Jax. Yes, Legacy was my older brother, and he was protective over me. When it suited him anyway. But that didn’t give him the right to butt into my life. Which I had told him, loudly. Of course, my unshakable big brother had just levelled his eyes on me and reminded me that it went both ways. If he wasn’t allowed an opinion on my life, I couldn’t have one on his either.
He was an asshole when he was right. Which was most of the time.
And then after the dinner reunion from hell, I hadn’t been able to get a cab anywhere, which meant I was later than I should have been.
“Hey, you can’t just walk in there.” The burly doorman’s hand curled around my arm, dragging me backwards as I tried to walk through the darkened doorway and down the stairs to where Dionysus Rising would be waiting for me.
“I...” I tried to yank my arm free and failed. “I work with the band.”
He carried on looking at me blankly.
“The band…Dionysus Rising.” I said it slowly, just in case he didn’t know who I was talking about.
“I know who is in there, but like hell do you work with them. A groupie maybe, but you’re not getting at them in here, especially looking like that.” He motioned with his spare hand at my tied back hair and skin-tight jeans. I hadn’t had time to go back to the hotel and change into the dress I had picked out ready. “We are a classy joint. We have a dress code.”
I let my eyes wander down the street to the women who were waiting to get in. The dress code seemed kind of skanky, not classy, in my opinion. “Classy?” I echoed before I could help myself, and his hand around my arm tightened.
“Yeah, classy, I mean we could come to some sort of arrangement but…”
I ignored him, peering around his bear-like frame. I caught sight of someone I knew. Calling his name loudly, I tried again to wrench my arm away. Chance didn’t even turn around. The music must have drowned out my words.
“You blow me and...”
A pit opened in my stomach. It wasn’t the first time I had been propositioned by door staff, but I was hyper aware that I was in a strange country with no one around me. “No.”
“The fuck did you just say to her?”
The man gripping my bicep whirled around, and I let out a sigh of relief. Jax was there, Chance hovering at his shoulder. Obviously, the big biker bodyguard had heard me call his name after all and gone to get someone this dickhead would listen to.
“I… She said she…” The big dude stammered, his face going white. He had at least a hundred pounds on Jax and could probably pummel him into the ground in a full on fight, but Jax held all the power, anyway.
“Did I just hear you ask her to blow you?” Jax’s voice was silky smooth, quiet but dangerous.
“I… She said…”
“Don’t care what she said, I care what you fucking said. Elodie is with me.” He reached out a hand, and I took it gratefully, letting him pull me towards him and out of the street. Even when I was next to him, he didn’t let go of my hand. “You disrespect any female in my presence again and I’ll make sure you lose your job. Come on, Elodie, the guys have been waiting for you.”
I let him lead me forward, Chance bringing up the rear.
“Jax?” I yanked back on his hand when I nearly stumbled. “You’re going too fast. I can’t keep up.” He was pretty much dragging me down the stairs after him.
On the edge of the dance floor, he paused. “You’re late.”
“I know, I couldn’t get a cab.”
He turned sharply, trapping our locked hands between our bodies.
“Why did you say I was with you instead of with the band?” I asked.
