about that whole Vaughn thing. He was just a fling for both of us. What’s the big deal?”
“Except he wasn’t just a fling. I loved him, and he loved me.” And despite the betrayal twisting my gut seeing Selena standing here, I knew in my heart that he still did. Vaughn risked his life, taking out his father when bowing down would have been simpler. Safer.
“Is that what he told you?” Selena mocked. “Well, if he did, why did he fool around with me?” When I didn’t respond, her smugness grew. “If it’s any consolation, I did you a favor. Besides, we’ll never stop being family. Meanwhile, Vaughn is old news. Let’s just put him behind us and be sisters again. I hear I’m an auntie now.”
I allowed my gaze to soften and the tension to leave my body. Seeing this, Selena stepped forward, ready to hug me. Quicker than I’d ever moved before, I grabbed Selena by her hideous pink wig and used my hold to slam the side of her head into the locker. “Stay away from me, stay away from Vaughn, and if you even think about going near my son, I’ll fucking kill you.”
Letting her go, Selena crumpled to the floor. Ripping open my locker, I paid her no mind as she crawled away. Only when I heard the outer door slam did I rest my head against the shelf inside my locker. She was probably off to tell Neil what I’d done, which meant I’d be fired before the end of the night. Neil had made his rule about fighting clear.
The regret I should have felt never came.
Hurting Selena had been worth it, but my lack of remorse was mostly because I no longer cared if I lost this job. I couldn’t stop replaying the sheer devastation in Vaughn’s eyes when he walked away last night.
FOR MOST OF THE NIGHT, I kept Tyra in my sights, following her around the floor as she offered lap dance after lap dance. The entire time, I sat there watching her like a chump. One punch and I would have ended them all and her employment here, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. A part of me welcomed this torture, felt like I deserved it, and the other knew there was nothing I could do. I could haul her ass out of there, but she’d only be back the next night. So instead, I made sure I was present for each shift. My friends were racking up all the favors I owed them for giving up their nights to babysit, but I didn’t give a shit about that. I couldn’t leave Tyra unprotected. I didn’t trust the jerkoffs that worked here anymore than the patrons. Neil’s treatment of Tyra that night a week ago had proved my paranoia. So here I sat, using the hours I spent torturing myself to think of a way to gain Tyra’s trust. I already knew I had her heart.
I’d just finished waving off another hopeful dancer when I caught sight of a familiar face. Not familiar in the sense of the similar features the sisters shared, but familiar because that face literally haunted my fucking dreams. I’d hoped she had gone back to wherever she’d come from, but her threat to stick around hadn’t been a bluff, after all.
“Fancy seeing you here,” Selena greeted as she took a seat next to me uninvited. She then wasted no time pushing out her chest. There was nothing more annoying than a girl who assumed being hot made her irresistible. I had x-ray fucking vision and could see right through that coquettish smile, right down to her black heart.
“What the fuck are you still doing in my town? I thought I made myself clear.”
“Technically, this isn’t your town,” she retorted with a bash of her lashes. “And I have more right to be in The Suite of Dreams than you do.” It was then I noticed that she had little to nothing on, just heels, a thong, and some pasties. I didn’t allow myself to get too caught up in the details.
Selena worked here? Why hadn’t Tyra told me?
To be fair, we’d barely spoken two words since the night she rode me in the back seat of her car. It was safe to say that she fucked me versus the other way around. It was partly the reason I was sitting here crying into the whiskey I’d conned out of a waitress.
“I’m guessing my