so I went with the flow.
Fuck it.
After checking on River, I returned downstairs just as the doorbell rang. Jamie whistled when he saw me, winking and blowing me a kiss.
“Just get the damn door,” I snapped.
Laughing, he obliged. “What the—aww, come on!” he whined when he saw Bee standing there next to Four and Lou.
Bee smirked as she shouldered past him, stepping into the house.
Four eyed us before crossing her arms. “You guys wouldn’t happen to be going to a strip club, would you?”
“No.” We’d all spoken at once.
“Where’s River?” she asked with a shake of her head.
“He’s in the nursery. He should be good for another hour or two.” I then launched into a full list of instructions. Wren, Jamie, and Ever practically had to pull me out of the house after I spent ten minutes giving the girls the rundown with no sign of being done.
“Jesus, you’re not going to war,” Jamie muttered after they successfully got me into his Jeep. My stomach was in knots over leaving River for the first time since coming home.
“I know that.”
“So, where’s Tyra working anyway?”
“I don’t know.” And I didn’t. I forced myself to delete the tracking app after she practically pushed me into another girl’s arms. She had it in her head that there might be someone more forgiving, someone out there better for me than her. I shook my head.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Jamie continued to interrogate. “She didn’t tell you?”
“I asked, but no, she wouldn’t tell me. She only mentioned that it was a club.”
“What kind of club?” Wren inquired.
I shrugged. “Don’t know.”
Everyone in the Jeep fell silent, and I knew they were all trying to figure out what the hell had gotten into me. I wondered the same. The drive wasn’t long. Despite the distance from the beach house, it took about thirty minutes with Jamie’s wild driving. I looked around the parking lot as Jamie pulled up to valet and saw nothing but foreign and luxury cars. The red Jeep Sahara stood out like a sore thumb despite Jamie being worth billions. Jamie whooped and pounded the roof of his car before hopping out. He practically ran over to where two bouncers and some short, bespectacled guy stood with a clipboard near the entrance.
Wren, Ever, and I exchanged a look. Anyone who knew Jamie well knew to be suspicious when he was excited.
The club was huge, and I could tell from the outside and even with the blinding bright lights of a neon sign that it had more than one level.
“Mr. Buchanan, what an honor,” Mr. Clipboard greeted. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen you. We certainly missed your enthusiasm for our girls.”
Ever looked over at his cousin—the two not being blood-related after all didn’t change the fact that they were family. “You ‘heard,’ huh? Been here much?”
“A few times,” Jamie muttered. He avoided our gazes while sticking his hands in his pockets.
“Up until a year ago, we saw Mr. Buchanan almost every weekend! He really had a thing for our leggy blondes.”
“Can it, Dan, and stop calling me Mr. Buchanan.”
“Right away, Mr. Buchanan.” Dan reached out, shaking my hand, then Ever’s and Wren’s. “I’m Dan.”
Once the introductions were made, Dan nodded to the bouncer on his left. He had muscles that put mine to shame, not that I ever aspired to be that big. It wasn’t like I needed them now anyway. Even if by some miracle USC did take me back, I could never move across the country and leave River. The bouncer gripped a gold knob and pushed open one of the tall, royal-blue doors.
It was dark inside, but Jamie seemed to know exactly where he was going as he led us up a flight of stairs with dim lighting built along the side. Once we reached the landing, my gaze traveled the spacious floor. The crowd was thick considering the late Friday night, and almost every one of the tufted gold ottomans that could easily seat six was filled.
There was a bar, but Wren, having turned twenty-one last August, was the only one old enough to drink—not that he would. Even with Fox dead and Royal promising not to retaliate, he remained wary of the world. The bouncers hadn’t even checked him for the gun I knew was tucked inside his suit jacket.
Strategically positioned to form a triangle were three round stages, each with a girl dancing around a pole. Extending from the back of the club was