Page 13 of Torment
Now somewhere around midnight, I’m back in my booth at the back of the club. I’ve been here for about an hour, and it doesn't seem as though she's caught on yet. She did notice Cole come in though, that fucker. Probably because he’s not been in here once since this place has opened. He’s always over inHades. Elias and I are the only ones she knows that come in here, so it threw her off. They talked for a minute and then he went and perched himself on the opposite side of the first floor.
The club is packed tonight, causing my heart to thrash against my rib cage. My jaw aches from clenching, and my hand trembles slightly as I stub out another cigarette on the table. My body is screaming at me from containing itself; my beast demanding to be let loose.
Chill…the fuck…out.
“Easy, killer. We’ve got eyes on her,” Jeremy chirps through the earpiece. Before I left the booth, he and Slater suggested we use them while we try to find the sick pricks responsible for the shit I saw earlier today. Typically, the five of us text each other or just call, and the rest of the guards use walkie talkies. Obviously, we have them too to keep in touch with them, but we want to do the best we can to keep this to ourselves. No need to alarm the rest of them just yet.
“You crawling out of your skin over there, psycho?” Cole: he really knows how to piss me the fuck off. My gaze leaves the bar, snapping in his general direction.
“Watch yourself, shit stick. You can go back to Hades.”
“Calm down, princess. Just trying to lighten the mood. I get it, nothing’s going to happen to her,” Cole says in a placating tone.
My glare leaves him, and I scan the crowd slowly as I go back to where Ashlynn stands behind the bar. She slings drinks across the top like she’s been doing it her whole life, and I can't help but be mesmerized by it. She spins a bottle in her right hand, flipping a glass in the other then places it on the bar. She pours a shot of whatever the hell, then slides it down the bar. The customer she aims it at fumbles, liquid sloshing over the top of the glass. Everyone nearby laughs, including her. She tosses her head back, her copper strands flowing with the motion.
That sound belongs to me.
Shoving my hands into my jacket pocket, I pull out another cigarette and light it up, then fist my other hand repeatedly. My nerves once again pulled taught like guitar strings wound too tightly, ready to snap at any given moment.
Suddenly, she and the other bartenders' heads snap towards the other end of the bar.
“Oh what the fuck,” Cole grumbles in the earpiece. My eyes dart in the direction everyone is focused on, and I watch as a glass bottle explodes over someone's head.
For the love of fuck.
A quick glance at the bar tells me Ashlynn took off in the direction of the chaos.
“Of…course she would,” I groan, dropping my cigarette and taking off in the same direction. Shoving through the drunk, sweaty crowd, the guitar strings snap one by one.
Making it across the floor in record time, I stop behind a group of people trying to break up the fight. Two men are pummeling the hell out of one another. Their faces are covered in blood. One of them is sporting a broken nose and a swollen shut left eye. No one is winning here, they’re just tiring themselves out.
Cole comes up on my right, and we both start to push through the crowd that’s surrounding these two morons. A girl that I’m assuming is with them, goes to grab one of their arms just as he pulls back his fist, elbowing her square in the nose. She screams and I force everyone out of the way.
The drunkard realizes what he’s just done, his eyes widening before he turns to the woman. All too late for him, I step in front of her and smile widely. I grab him by the neck and squeeze. Fisting his shirt with my free hand, I lift his body then slam him down on top of the bar. Glasses shatter underneath his weight, and he gasps as the air is knocked out of his lungs.
“Time for you to go,” I say, then yank him up and toss him to the floor. He scrambles to get to his feet, and I snatch him up by the back of his shirt before shoving him toward the exit.
Back where the fight started, Cole rounds up the group and starts to usher them out of the club. They try to fight him, and he throws a right hook to some poor bastard attempting to grab him. Dumb ass stumbles, and Cole grabs him by the collar of his shirt before he can fall.
“Where you going, prick? Stand up,” Cole shouts over the music, then drags him out.
The crowd settles around me, the few people left from the fight scatter onto the dance floor. I scan the bar once more. I’ve lost sight of her for too long. When I don’t immediately find her, my heart hammers loudly in my ears, drowning out everything else around me.
Was this a distraction that we fell for?
She emerges from the corner of my eye and walks back to her position. I feel the panic in my chest ease. My pulse slows and the last guitar string holds on by a thread. She settles back in place, going about taking drink orders as if nothing happened, and getting caught up. She makes what looks like a sex on the beach, judging by the ingredients, and slides it across the bar.
Bloodlustby Dayseeker blares through the speakers as I make my way toward her. I’ve had enough of this shit. Before I can reach her, she abandons ship again, walking in the opposite direction to the only exit behind the bar. My gaze never leaves her, watching how she effortlessly glides behind the other bartenders without interrupting their momentum. I follow behind her closely from this side as she makes a beeline for the bathroom.
Some idiot bumps into her and she raises her hands as she tries to take a step back. The man responsible swiftly turns and reaches his arm out to help her, though she doesn't need it. Hishand goes to her waist, and the final string violently snaps. I make it to them in three strides, just in time to hear the man profusely apologize but it’s too late.
“Karson…KARSON…son of a bitch,” Slater sighs into the earpiece, and I pluck it from my ear. Dropping it in front of me, I make sure to stomp the stupid thing. My fist hurtles at the guy's face and he drops almost immediately.
“What the fuck are you-,” Ashlynn’s question stops as I grab her and toss her over my shoulder. She shrieks and starts pounding her fists against my back.
“Put me down you fucking prick!”
Tightening my grip around her thighs, I stalk toward the exit. Fuck this place, fuck this night, and fuck these people.
