A Time for Hope (Lexi, #3)(11)
“Nick, this is my friend Lexi.” Taylah made the introduction and confirmed what I already had guessed, “Nick is the owner of this club.”
“Lexi?” The way he said my name was odd, almost as if he was questioning me. I took the hand he offered and shook it to be polite.
“Nick.” I wasn’t going to be rattled by some guy in a nicely cut suit, even if this was his club.
“You look familiar to me,” he gently stroked his goatee as if trying to place me.
“I doubt it.” I smiled easily though I hoped my cover hadn’t been blown. “I’m no one you would know.”
“I disagree.” He stated simply as his eyes darted to the security guard approaching, “Excuse me ladies, I have some business to attend to. Please avail yourself of the bar, my staff will see that you are well taken care of.” With a curt nod he excused himself and left.
“Please tell me he wasn’t one of your f*ck-buddies?” Taylah whispered nervously in my ear.
“No, I would have remembered him. Maybe he’s seen me with Alex?” I tried to reason though he didn’t seem to be the type of guy that read People magazine or watch Entertainment Tonight.
“He’s intriguing though. Who is he?”
“Hmmmm good question. Don’t know much about him. Nick Cass hired me to inject some life into this place but made it pretty clear he wasn’t up for my game of twenty questions. I even googled him! All that turned up was that he was a club owner in New York, which I already knew. He has a couple of clubs around town but other than that, I couldn’t even find a residential address. His businesses check out, there is no way I would have agreed to work with him if he was shady, so he is either boring as bat shit or he’s gone to a lot of trouble to hide who he is.” Taylah’s need to know was legendary, I was positive the lack of information was more than an upset for her.
DarNell eyed us curiously from a distance. He was keeping his side of the bargain and had expanded the circumference of “protection” even though he didn’t seem pleased.
Taylah frowned, “Well either way, he’s not the kind of guy to run to the press so even if he knows who you are, I’d say we’re fairly safe.”
Despite being a club owner Nick didn’t seem like the type of guy who liked the limelight. I knew of clubs who had relationships with photographers, they traded information for kickbacks on exclusive picture deals but this place did not look like one of them. Nick didn’t seem like a person who did favours, it was more likely the other way around.
We made our way through the crowd to the large ornate bar. It, like the rest of the club, was overly opulent and incredibly well stocked. Bottles of spirits lined the floor-to-ceiling mirrored shelves. Strategically placed wooden ladders could be rolled across to access the highest shelves. The ridiculous selection on offer would be able to quench even the most obscure liquid craving.
Taylah leaned across the bar and ordered our drinks. The bartender promptly returned with two shot glasses and a bottle of Belvedere Vodka.
“Shots?” I stared at the glasses as the bartender poured. I thought Tay was ordering cocktails or maybe Champagne. Taylah rarely did shots and for me, it had been a while. It seemed Taylah had some serious plans for this evening.
“Yeah, well I promised you a good night and I can’t see that happening with a couple of Appletinis. Though I have to tell you, you can probably drink me under the table so be gentle with me.” Taylah laughed as we clicked our shot glasses before downing the first one.
The vodka was smooth but warm as it travelled down my throat. It didn’t have the harshness of tequila but was no less potent. My skin tingled from the injection of alcohol into my system. It had been a while between drinks.
Taylah pulled out her credit card and handed it to the bartender, “We’re going to need to a few more rounds. I think it will be easier if we start a tab.” The bartender shook his head as his thick Chicago accent burst from his mouth, “You’re money’s no good here. Boss’s orders.” He tipped his head to where Nick was standing over the other side of the room as he continued to pour us another shot.
“Well that could be dangerous,” Taylah put her credit card back in her purse. “Your boss hasn’t seen my girl here drink. He might want to rethink that.” She gestured to me as I downed my second shot.
The warmth spread through my body and it felt nice. A smile crept across my lips as I slammed my shot glass on the bar. I felt the sweat bead underneath the heaviness of my wig.
“She’s tiny!” The bartender laughed in disbelief, “Hey Kyle, come check this out.” He called to another bartender mixing cocktails in a Boston Shaker.
“Hey Sweetheart,” Kyle smiled as his eyes fell over the curves of my (newly-enhanced) breasts. He had no idea who I was. “Ben here not taking care of you?”
“Ben seems to have not noticed my glass is empty.” I tapped my glass on the bar. Taylah screwed up her face as she took her second shot.
“Seems like short-stuff over here thinks she might be drinking the boss out of his profits.” Ben folded his arms across his chest, ignoring the thirsty people vying for his attention.
“Haven’t you boys ever heard? It’s not the size that’s important it’s what you do with it?” I smirked, the shots of Belvedere were already giving me a slight buzz.