Ward's Castle

HENDRIX

“Where’s your father?”I ask Mari when I reach her table. I’ve been looking for her all afternoon—ever since Jessup called to say that the two disappeared inside Mari’s fortress of an apartment and hadn’t come out.

Mari is dolled up in a slinky green dress and surrounded by a half dozen men that look like they just rolled out of an arms convention with their dark suits and slicked-back hair. I’m wearing jeans and a button-down shirt. The bouncer hesitated in letting me in, but a sizeable donation had him unclipping the velvet rope for me.

Mari holds a finger to her mouth and then makes a shooing motion to the table. “I’ve got some business to discuss with Drix, boys, so go along.”

They all get up like the obedient lapdogs they are and make room for me. A couple shoot me a dirty gaze, but I couldn’t care less. Mari is free to swim in men. I want to know where Lila is, but I don’t want Mari to know I’m having her followed.

“Your dad isn’t coming, is he?” I ask. I should’ve known that this was a ruse to get me to meet up with Mari, but Colin suggested I make nice because the deal is so sweet. Hopefully this means that Lila is on her way home.

“A girl might get hurt feelings if all you do is bring up her daddy whenever you get together.” Mari pushes out her lower lip in a gesture that I presume she thinks is attractive but only looks childish. I’m not in to that kind of play like other men.

“You put yourself in this position, Mari.” I start to leave when she snags me by the arm.

“Wait. I have something important to show you.”

“I’m not interested.” I pry her fingers loose.

“It’s about Lila.”

My girl’s name on Mari’s lips stops me in my tracks. I spin around and pretend to eye her with suspicion. “How do you know Lila?”

“I know a lot of important things. Come and sit down next to me.” She pats the empty booth space.

“Tell me,” I demand. What game is she playing now?

“Not until you start being nicer.” She looks pointedly at the spot next to her hand.

I exhale in frustration. One of the things I can’t stand about Mari is the games she plays. I’m too old for that shit, and frankly, at twenty-five, so is she. “I doubt that you know anything about Lila. You must’ve overhead me talking about her and decided to use that in some weird-ass scheme you’ve cooked up, but I’m not interested.”

“I know you were intimate with her.”

I don’t know if I am able to keep all the surprise off my face, but I try. I school my features into as bland of an expression as possible. “You’d be better off keeping her name out of your mouth.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me how I know? I heard it directly from Lila. She confides in me. She said she was repulsed by your behavior and could not believe you came on to her like you did. She called you old, a predator. If she was a few months younger, she could’ve called the police on you. I talked her out of it. You can thank me later with some sparkly. Anyway, she wanted to meet people her own age.”

My blood is cold and so is my tone. “So you brought her to a bar?”

“Are you saying she’s too young for this place?” Mari smirks. “Too young to drink but not too young for your bed.”

Mari’s words are hitting the bullseye with every syllable. Too young. Too young. Too young. It doesn’t matter that eighteen for Lila was nearly a year ago and that nineteen is just around the corner.

“She’s an adult. She makes her own decisions,” I say, but the words sound hollow when I speak them.

“Exactly, and if you look out the privacy glass to the dance floor, you can see she’s made the decision to move on from you.”

This time when Mari beckons, I don’t resist. I can’t. I place a hand on the edge of the table and peer through the dark glass. The dance floor is full, but I can easily make out Lila in the corner, standing under one of the few well-lit spaces. Her figure is doused in something blue and slinky and sparkly. Her hands are above her head, and her body is swaying from side to side. My eyes fall to her waist where I see a man’s hand curved around the indent. My cold blood boils.

“Wait! Where are you going?” shouts Mari.

I’m at the VIP door before I realize I’ve moved. “To get my ward.” I pause and turn. “If you ever speak to me or Lila again, I’ll ruin you. Your name will be disgraced. There will not be an establishment that you deem worthwhile that will allow you entry. Your name will be stricken from every society invite list from here to Dubai. Tell your father the deal is off. I’d rather do business with the devil.”

“You don’t mean that!” she cries.

I don’t bother to wait to hear more of her tantrum. Lila needs saving. She may not realize it, but she does. Mari’s obscenities and then pleas follow me down the stairs. The bouncer raises his eyebrows when I vault over the velvet rope. I slice my way through the crowd until I reach Lila.

She tips her head to the side, and her bleary eyes attempt to focus on me. “D-d-drix?” she stammers out. I’m too pissed to even enjoy the fact that she’s finally called me Drix.

Damn Mari to hell for drugging Lila. Interested in men her age, my ass. In this state, Lila could be interested in a fucking rock. I clock the man that has his hand on her in the jaw before he can get a word out. The man stumbles back, hand held to his jaw.

“If I find out you drugged her, you’ll be sitting in an orange jumpsuit for the next five years.”

I pick Lila up in my arms and carry her out of the bar. When I pass the bouncer to the VIP room, I say, “You have the owner call Hendrix Mason first thing in the morning or this entire place will be seeing the ass end of a lawsuit.”

“Drix?” Lila mumbles. “I don’t feel so good.”

“I know, baby.”

“I think I’m going to be si—” Lila vomits onto the floor of the bar’s entrance. Someone curses and jumps out of the way. Lila begins to cry. Mari will be punished for this. Everyone will…including me.