Avery (The Phoenix Club Girl Diaries #3) - Addison Jane Page 0,11

rich-kid home, their presence behind me forcing a lot of the kids to back away.

Avery paused for a second, her lips pressed together tightly, eyes meeting mine in a mixture of nerves and fear. She knew I’d never hurt her, but she’d broken rules tonight, and she knew there was going to be some kind of repercussions.

Just what? I hadn’t decided quite yet.

“Now, Avery.”

Myth stepped around me, walking to Avery and putting a hand to her back. She pushed back against him for a moment, her lips open just a breath. I raised my eyebrows, daring her to fucking say something, my dick straining at the thought of being able to redden her ass for it.

But apparently, she must have learned her lesson for today.

Avery finally pursed her lips, but narrowed her gaze, letting me know she was going to play along, but that she wasn’t fucking happy about it. The girl had grilled my ass on more than one occasion—she wasn’t afraid to let me know when she thought I was being a bastard—but she had enough respect to do it behind closed doors.

She was smart.

Because whether either of us liked it or not, she knew her role. And when it came to club matters, it wasn’t to have a fucking say. It was to do what she was told.

And she had made this a fucking club matter.

Which was why she was being removed.

We kept the girls separated from this shit as much as possible.

Partly for protection.

Partly because it meant they didn’t have to lie if someone came asking questions.

Deniability.

“Search the house,” I ordered, not taking my eyes off this Cooper kid as he scooted back into a corner of the room. “Make sure there are no more unconscious girls hidden anywhere.”

Crush, Repo, and our new recruit from Alabama, Mix, made quick work of the stairs, disappearing into the thinning crowd. It made me fucking sick that these little bastards would grow up to be future businessmen, lawyers, doctors, and work other high-profile positions. This was precisely the reason fuckers like that got away with hurting girls—because they had the power or the parents to pay people off.

So did we.

But we didn’t use it as an excuse to fucking rape and pillage.

These assholes were fucking predators.

And honestly, for the most part, the club kept their nose out of this kind of shit. It wasn’t in my best interest to piss off some rich kid and have his mommy and daddy decide to try and make me apologize.

Holly, she wasn’t a part of the club—in fact, recently, she’d been told to stay the fuck away.

Which meant this technically wasn’t our problem.

It shouldn’t have come to us, but goddamn Avery and her need to serve and protect this friend who had done nothing but cause problems. I was over it. I was done with her putting her ass on the line for Holly. I was done with Holly allowing her life to swirl down the fucking drain and not accepting the help she’d been offered before shit got to this fucking point.

And I was going to make it extremely fucking clear tonight, that this would be it.

“I’ll call the police,” fuckhead protested, suddenly finding some kind of balls hidden in his tight khakis. “So, it’s best if you get the hell out before I have you all fucking arrested.”

I took two steps forward, the strong façade cracking with every inch closer I got. He stumbled, two of his friends catching him, holding him up as he scrambled to find his footing. I reached out, snatching hold of his shirt in my hand and yanking him forward. “Call the police,” I dared him in a low growl. “Maybe they’ll save your fucking ass from getting the beat down I’m about to give you if my boys come back carrying even one doped-up fucking female...”

I let the threat hang.

Enjoying the pure look of horror and uncertainty in his eyes.

“I heard he also called Avery a whore at school the other day,” Auron announced, leaning against the banister at the bottom of the staircase, looking pretty fucking smug. A lot of the kids had cleared out at this point or made a run for it after hearing the word ‘cops.’

“Well, that’s what she is, isn’t she?”

“Not to you, she’s fucking not,” I growled, my free hand curling into a fist, so fucking ready to just plow it through this little fucker’s face. Hearing Avery called a whore was like a damn trigger. It stirred