When I'm with You (Hope Town #3)(25)

I see Shane the second he starts to climb the stairs to my office, where I’ve been observing the insanity while I cooled off some.

“Fucking madhouse,” he rumbles with a smile on his face.

“We did it,” I tell him, not looking away from the packed floor below us. Even the areas that hold the tall tables and beyond are packed with bodies undulating with the pounding bass flowing through the speakers. The house DJ, Thorn, changes the song to another fast-paced tune and throws one arm up and down with the beat. The bodies surrounding his staged-off area begin to move together a little closer. You can tell without being down there that things are getting heated, which isn’t a surprise since each bar has been passing drinks in rapid speed.

“We didn’t do shit, brother. This is all you.”

I move to deny his claim, but a flash of color by the entryway into the madness stills the words before they could even leave my lips. I squint my eyes and try to see through the dim lights and smoky air, but the vision was gone so quick I’m almost positive it was just a trick of the lights.

“Did you see the crowd during the bar dances?” Shane asks, moving to my side and watching the floor.

“Insanity.” I laugh, and it had been. Complete insanity. The second the DJ had dropped the bass and cranked up the volume, our boys had sprung into action. The patrons didn’t know what to think at first. All drink orders had been stalled, and instantly, they had their heavily booted feet up on the glossy wood. They pulled back their drinks and the surface was cleared for them. Even I could appreciate the show knowing that it was my brainchild that had held the masses captive and hypnotized as the guys moved like whatever was in front of them was a naked woman ready and willing to be f*cked … hard.

“I think they’re starting to anticipate them now. Every time we inch closer to the top of another hour, drinks start being pulled off the bar before Thorn even has a chance to drop the beat.”

I nod. “You going to get out there tonight?” I ask him.

“No clue. Are you?”

I turn my back to the crowd beyond my window and lean back against the glass. “Depends, my friend. If the mood strikes, maybe. Not sure I see anyone worth getting up there and shaking my ass for anyway.”

Shane laughs, dropping his hand heavy on my back. “Yeah, something tells me that motivation isn’t going to be an issue for you,” he oddly says and walks back to the doorway. “Let’s go join the party, brother.”

The second he opens the heavy steel door, the music thumps and pounds through the once silent space. A familiar rush of adrenaline fills my body as we both stalk down the stairs together and into the overheated floor. I see, but ignore, the females around us as they turn and attempt to gain our attention. I continue through the pulsing bodies that litter the massive open space and walk toward the bar.

“Yo, Nate,” Dent yells over the music, and when I turn my head toward him, he slides a shot down the sleek wooden surface.

My hand shoots out and grabs the glass right when I hear Logan yell, “Bottoms up.” Without thought, I bring the liquor to my lips. The burn travels down my throat, and when I settle the shot glass back on the bar, Travis is already there with the bottle of tequila in his hand, refilling it instantly.

I ignore the chick to my right and turn to look around the room. The small smile that had been playing on my lips drops when I see the woman dancing just a few feet in front of me.

“What the f*ck,” I mumble, dropping the once again empty glass down and stalking forward.

I look around when I lose her in the crowd, but continue to stomp through the crowd to the other side of the club where the other dance floor is moving like one giant wave to the music.

I see her again and instantly fume.

“You want to tell me what the f*ck you’re doing here,” I rumble low in my throat when my head dips down until my mouth is right next to her ear and grab her by her forearm.

The thin arm is pulled from my grasp when she turns around. I stand back and cross my arms over my chest and wait for her to talk.

“What is your problem,” she yells over the music.

“My problem?” I yell at her and bend down so that I don’t have to scream over the noise. “My problem, dear sister, is that you’re in my club dressed like … that,” I tell her and point my finger at her dress. “Does your husband know you’re here?”

She narrows her eyes and stops dancing to stand up on her toes and get in my f*cking face.

“He sure does and I’ll have you know that he will be here later.”

I drop my head back and look up at the ceiling. I should have known they wouldn’t stay away. It’s not that I don’t want them here, I do, but not if I have to look out for her while he’s not here.

“Plus, we’re celebrating,” she yells before dropping down on her impossibly tall heels and dancing again.

“Celebrating what?”

Her smile goes all wonky and shit. She looks downright f*cking evil.

“Ember’s birthday, big brother,” she tells me with a pat against my chest before spinning around and vanishing through the thick crowd.

Ember’s birthday.

And then it hits me.

Ember’s twenty-first birthday.

Fucking shit.

And if I know my sister and her gang of misfits, she’s up to something a lot bigger than just celebrating. Of all the places they could have ended up tonight, they picked my f*cking club knowing damn well that things between Ember and me are one giant mess. Dani isn’t stupid, and since she was the first person I ran into after my chat with Locke the other night, she knows exactly what’s going on between us.