The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy 2)

As he passed me, his phone buzzed. He checked it before showing me the screen, saying at the same time, “Sit tight. Your man is on the way.”

The text was from Kash.

Heading there now. Bailey okay?

Matt paused, his back turned to me now as he sent a response. Then he shoved his phone back into his pocket. He gave me a last wink over his shoulder, grabbed his drink, and turned to head down the stairs connecting our booth with the rest of the club.

“Francis! What the hell, man?” That was from Guy, his hands lifted in the air, but with a smirk on his face.

Matt just grinned. “You know where I’m going.” He motioned to me with his drink. “Watch my sister for me. Her man’s on the way.”

Guy’s eyes darted to me. His smirk never lessened, and he lifted his head up in response. “You know it.”

Chester and Tony had both stopped whatever they were doing with their girls. I still wasn’t looking at Tony, but I saw Chester lift his head up and glance over his shoulder at Tony before he looked at me.

He didn’t say a word. Tony either.

Tony did come back to the table, and to my side. “Can I slide in?” There was no girl behind him. She was heading down the stairs, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and straightening her shirt.

My stomach rolled over in nausea, but whatever.

I stood up and stepped to the side.

Tony didn’t say a word, only slid inside the booth and moved so he was closer to the girl next to Guy. There was a good distance between him and me. Two people could’ve sat there. Still felt too close to Tony. Guy seemed decent, but I’d seen enough from Chester and Tony. My guard would always be up around them, a fact they both seemed to know, because neither gave me a greeting when they showed. They just came up, nodded to Matt, and did their thing. Guy came up later, a wider smile and an actual greeting for everyone.

No girls. No Fleur, Victoria, or their third friend. Those girls were different than the ones flirting / making out / doing other explicit acts, like the girl who had just scampered away and the two remaining at the table. I was still new to their scene, but I knew that much. These girls were used for one thing: entertainment. Whether it was for flirting or blowing, the girls were used and then told to run off. Once they were done with the girls, the girls had to take off or the guys got nasty.

I’d witnessed it. It hadn’t been fun to watch.

But girls like Fleur, Victoria, and their other friend, they were different. They had connections to these guys. Families. Their parents were colleagues, helped each other with charity benefits. They were money. The discarded girls weren’t, and so these girls didn’t do much to me. There might’ve been a nasty look, but once they were told who I was, they shut up immediately. In this realm, being Matt Francis’s sister lent me protection in that way.

Also being Kashton Colello’s girlfriend skyrocketed me above them, too, but I wasn’t like Victoria or Fleur. I didn’t look at these girls with disdain, just a fair amount of discomfort, because who gives a blowjob next to a booth?

That was a new level of awkward for anyone.

But these girls didn’t know that I was the one who might be nice to them. They simply did not talk to me. It’d been like that the first night and every night since.

So, with Matt gone, I sat back in the booth and prepared to wait in silence until Kash showed up. Guy was the only one who might say something to me, but he was firmly distracted by his girl. Her hand had disappeared under the table, and the motion made it clear what she was doing.

Tony was still smirking.

Chester also was nodding, and as I sat there and watched, he took his girl’s hand and moved it beneath the table, too. She had to maneuver to one side of his lap so she could do what he wanted, but a second later, yep. Pretty obvious.

I was sitting at the sexual acts table.

Kash couldn’t get here fast enough.

It was ten minutes later. Ten minutes where I sat in silence, listening to the music, sipping on my rum and Coke, and studiously ignoring the guys, when a shift in the club happened.

Everyone felt it.

A buzz swept through the club, making everyone pay attention, whether they realized it or not. They instinctively knew someone more powerful, someone more dangerous, someone they should fear was in their midst. It was a feeling in their gut, and whether they acknowledged it or not, they were affected by it. Conversations quieted. People began looking around.