The Grand Pact (The Grand Men #1)(35)

I find a movie and cosy up on the sofa.





Elliot





“What can I get for you, gents?”

I lean into the bar and reel off my order to the petite brunette on the opposite side. She busies herself making our drinks, and I turn my eyes on the club.

“Let It Go” by Armonize pumps through the speakers as men continue to fill the downstairs bar. The Nightingale is a gentleman’s club and the only place in the city Charlie will come to pick up women, and I have to hand it to him. It’s a sound setup.

A safe one for the likes of him.

“Busy tonight,” I remark, losing my train of thought when a woman strolls past us in a slinky piece of nothing. I twist my head and pop a brow at Charlie.

He grins back at me. “Honestly, I’m surprised you were up for it.”

“When am I not up for it?” I throw back in confusion.

He doesn’t answer me right away, choosing to take the drink from the bartender and take a leisurely sip.

I wait.

“Have you heard from Lucy yet?”

My gaze tightens on him accusingly. When his lip curls and he smirks into his glass, I know he’s fucking with me. “Fuck off, Aldridge.”

“I like the way you think.” Charlie clinks his glass with mine and starts to stroll off towards the second floor.

He looks over his shoulder at me as the security guard opens the gate. “You going up tonight?” he asks, tipping his chin towards the most private area in the club. It’s where the women will be entertaining before they go downstairs later tonight.

I push past him. “Luce and I are friends. Nothing more and nothing less.”

He shakes his head as he levels with me, walking up the steps beside me. “I only asked if you’d heard from her, mate. You were pretty worked up at dinner on Friday.”

I look around the second floor, feeling eyes settle on us as we cross the room and ease into one of the empty booths. My leg bounces under the table as I down my drink.

“I had Harriet at mine after the meal.”

Charlie meets my eyes but doesn’t say anything. Mentally, I know he’s already dissecting everything I’ve already said. No doubt he knew I had something on my mind. “Lucy ended up messaging me late evening, and I let Harriet suck me off while texting her back.”

He watches me, nodding after a solid beat of silence. “And she’s settling in okay?”

I snicker and look at my drink, spinning the glass on the table between my fingers. “I fucked around with her before that. At the meal on the evening of Nina’s showcase. We’ve never...” I shake my head as if it will tell him the rest.

“I get it.” He sits forward, bracing his forearms on his knees. “You and Luce have always been a paradox; doing too much just by doing nothing.”

“That’s just it, though. We both want it this way. We’ve got it right, and I don’t want that to change.”

“But it doesn’t feel like something you can control?”

I turn my head to look at him fully.

“No,” I disagree, shaking my head as realisation kicks in. “It doesn’t feel like something I want to control.”

He nods. “And instead of telling Luce this, you come here with me, pick up some random woman, and fuck her until that control’s a little quieter?”

“You’re turning into your fucking therapist,” I tell him, deadpan.

He laughs at that and tips his head back. “As long as someone’s getting my money’s worth—”

“Charlie!”

We both turn towards the woman approaching us.

“Amber,” Charlie drawls out, eyeing me as she positions herself between the two of us.

“You’ve not been in for weeks,” she complains, sounding genuinely concerned.

“I’ve been busy.” I watch as Charlie’s eyes appreciate the pretty blonde, and then her hand as it slips into his. She leans forward to whisper in his ear, and I look away, signalling to the waitress for another drink.

In my peripheral, I see Amber get up and walk away.

I twist around, pinning Charlie with a frown, but he just nods his head in the direction Amber slipped off in. My eyes seek her out, and I spot her speaking to a group of girls.

When she returns, she isn’t alone.

“Hello, Mr Montgomery.” Olivia, one of the women I’m well acquainted with at the club, steps forward, smoothing a hand over her long blonde ponytail as her lips drag up and out at the sides.

“Miss Vessen.” I tip my chin at her in greeting, and she takes a step forward. Closer. “You wear that coy smile of yours convincingly well.” I lean in and whisper in her ear, “But you and me both know how dirty those lips can really get.”

Her head tips to the side. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I snigger and glance at my friend. He’s sat with Amber, a challenging glint in his eye. He knows exactly what he’s doing. Maybe more so than the little vixen stood at my feet.

Charlie doesn’t think I’ll hook up?

“Do you want a drink, Liv?” I ask, slyly cocking my head towards the private rooms at the back of the club.

The waitress appears at Olivia’s back, and she turns slightly to catch her wrist. “Could you take it to room four, please, Bec?”