I nod and breathe deep, trying to settle the panic. I turn to leave the room, needing fresh air, but something on the floor by the bed catches my eye.
Quickly, I move there and bend down, picking up a matchbox, and I recognize the name immediately, Afterglow. The club is one of four sex clubs in the city, and would be right up there with something my brother would be into. “Maybe this will help us,” I say to Gabe, offering the matchbox. “Maybe someone there will know who Evan’s been hanging out with lately.”
Gabe takes the matchbox and frowns down at it. “You’re right, it’s a lead we can’t overlook.” When he lifts his head again, his eyes are curious, probing mine. “Have you not read the tabloids lately?”
The question is so odd, I gape at him. “No, why would I?”
There’s a tightness in his eyes that I’m not used to seeing. It’s not unsureness, but more like cautiousness. “You haven’t heard or seen anything about me in them?”
I shake my head. “I told you, I don’t read the tabloids.” His skin is going sheet white before my eyes. “Jesus, Gabe, what’s wrong?”
He shuts his eyes, pain rippling across his features. “I thought you outed me, and you didn’t know a damn thing about anything, did you?”
I place my hand on his arm, feel him tremble. “Okay, seriously, what’s wrong?”
He reopens his eyes and guilt lives in their depths. “That sex club, McKenna, it’s mine.”
Chapter 6
Gabe
Bumper to bumper traffic isn’t unusual on a Saturday night in the downtown core of San Francisco, but it made the drive to Afterglow slow. Far slower than I intended considering McKenna’s sitting next to me, her eyes glued on her cellphone.
Regardless that I’m less than pleased with her reading material, my gaze falls to her arm where a Band-Aid rests over the crease where Ryder’s team drew blood from her. There’s nothing about any of this that I like, and the silence is killing me, making my car feel small and lacking in air. “Is it really necessary to read those articles?” I ask.
“Oh, yeah.” She grins. “Totally necessary.” Her finger scrolls down the glass as she reads that damn article in Gotcha! outing me as Afterglow’s owner. The same article that had stolen the last strands of my control.
Stuck behind the wheel of my Audi, I bite the inside of my cheek and tap my finger staring out into the sea of lights. We’re only a few blocks away from the club, but I’m as impatient to get there as I am to stay away. I never intended to show McKenna this world; I’m not sure what she’ll think.
She finally exhales deeply, obviously done reading the article. “How did I not know this about you?” she asks.
I give her a quick look, trying to gauge her mood, and fail miserably. She’s locked her emotions up tight. “You didn’t know about it because no one except a few trusted people knew this about me.” I pause then snort. “Until the media got ahold of it, of course.”
“I see,” she says, nibbling her lip, watching me closely.
The air in the car feels thick and dry, and I shift against my seat as she suddenly begins to chuckle.
“And there’s that laughter again.” I sigh.
“I’m sorry,” she says, failing at fighting her grin. “I never would have thought you were kinky. I mean, alpha? For sure, but kinky . . .” She smirks. “I can’t picture you in leather chaps.”
“Leather chaps?” I slam on the brakes to glare at her, causing a horn to blare behind us. “I do not wear leather chaps.”
“Totally kidding,” she says and winks. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”
Not amused in the least, I glance in the rearview mirror, watching the man behind the wheel shake his fist at me. “Consider it lightened,” I tell her, driving forward.
“You know,” she adds, voice soft, “you can relax about all this. I see you over there all tense, looking about ready to jump out of your skin. But this is fine. I don’t care at all that you own this club. In fact, I’d say I’m intrigued by the idea.”
I glance sideways, finding her cheeks flushed, a telling sign she’s more interested than offended. The cars in front of me begin moving faster, but for this second, I focus on her torso, watching her breathe, seeing her chest rise and fall quickly.
Excited, hmmm?
“You should go,” she says, pointing to the front window.
I take note of the heat in her eyes before I put my attention back on the road, quickly getting the car up to third gear. Silence falls between us again, until we’re a block away from the club, and I can’t stand the quiet. “What’s on your mind?” I ask her.
“I’m wondering what your mother thinks about you owning this club.”