That would not do.
So I had a plan. And I was ready to instigate said plan when I pulled up to Klutch in the early afternoon.
Karson met me at the door. Whether he had cameras mounted on the outside of the club, or he was tracking my phone, I wasn’t sure. At that moment, I didn’t give a fuck. I had one goal, and it had nothing to do with my boyfriend.
Yes, I was calling him my boyfriend now. He had my name tattooed on him, for fuck’s sake. Though boyfriend seemed much too small and juvenile of a word for Karson. For what we had. But I didn’t have time for semantics at that time.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, eyes flickering up and down my body as if he was searching for something.
Wounds. He was checking for wounds of some kind. Since he knew I wouldn’t just turn up at his place of work. He could’ve been torturing an enemy or something. Not that he shied away from me knowing the realities of his work, but knowing and seeing were two different things. He was scared of me running away from him because of the reality of his work. I knew it. He didn’t tell me. He didn’t need to. We were at that place where we just knew things about each other based on looks, on tones, on the way he held me late at night after coming home with blood on his shirt.
I wasn’t sure whether he didn’t think I could handle it or if he didn’t want me to handle it, it didn’t matter. He was afraid. I needed to figure out a way to reassure him that nothing was pushing me away. Something flickered in my mind, but I quickly pushed it away.
This was not the time.
“I’m here to see your boss,” I informed him, slipping past him to stride into the club.
It looked odd during the day. Unnatural. All the lights on, the dance floor empty, some bar staff unpacking bottles. My eyes focused on the glass high above the dance floor.
Jay’s office.
Karson’s snatched my arm, grip tight. “You are not going in there, darlin’.”
I looked from where his hand was gripping my upper arm to his glacial eyes. “You want to remove me, bodily?” I asked, threat in my tone. “Because you use your hands on me in that way and we’re done.” I meant it. Every fucking word.
His grip remained a steel band around my bicep a few seconds longer before he finally let go.
“Good choice,” I muttered, turning on my heel and stomping toward the narrow hallway I knew led to Jay’s office.
Karson followed me.
Obviously.
He didn’t speak to me until I was standing in front of the elevator. He stood in front of me, blocking my path.
I glared at him. “Get out of my way, Karson,” I demanded through gritted teeth.
He didn’t move.
“Wren, I know you think you have good intentions, but fucking with Jay right now is not a good idea.”
I folded my arms across my chest.
“Well, you know what they say about the road to hell,” I retorted, staring at the doors. “I would go to hell and back for my friend. And I’m sure Jay is very scary and dangerously unpredictable but I’ve dealt with worse than him.”
It was on that the doors opened and I stormed in, turning to face Karson who made it look like he intended on riding the elevator with me.
I held up my hand, and even though it wouldn’t work in actually blocking his way, he stopped anyway. Presumably because of the look on my face.
“I’m not going to be in an enclosed space with you right now,” I snapped.
Karson’s eyes flared, and I watched him battle with the decision to go with his alpha male instincts and get in the elevator no matter what I said, or respect my wishes.
Normally, I was all about an alpha male fight with him because even when I lost, I won. But this was different. He was aware of that because he knew me. Because he’d agreed that he wasn’t going to try to control me.
So he let the doors close.
I did not sigh in relief. I was too keyed up.