it later.”
Well.
That sounds like a perfect way to finish the evening.
I smirk over my shoulder at him and then I step into the service elevator as it opens.
There aren’t any buttons, only a panel to scan your card.
“If this isn’t the creepiest fucking place you’ve ever taken me, Queenie. Are you sure you’re not dragging me down to the depths of hell?”
I shouldn’t be flirting, we’re heading down to the bar area which will be full to the brim of all of the biggest criminal players in the country’s capital. There’ll be people staying here from every corner of the world, all of them coming together to visit the famous murder-hotel that will cater to their every whim.
I take a deep breath before the doors open and then murmur quietly, “Does it matter where I’m taking you? You’ll come with me, right?”
I don’t need the squeeze of his hand in mine to know I’m right, he’s with me no matter what. As much as I fucking loathe the Jackal and what he did to us, at least we have each other now.
There’s a small ping sound and then the doors open.
The bar is teeming with people.
There isn’t a set dress code down here, so it’s a melting pot of evil. Bikers, suits, and gangsters, they all sit around together with drinks in their hands in a basement bar that might as well be a bomb shelter.
It’s been years since I was last here and honestly, I didn’t think I’d be here without Lips or Illi. The information that comes out of this place is renowned because of the strict ‘no violence’ ruling. There’s never been a assassination down here in the thirty years that Oakridge has been operating.
Probably because of the play rooms.
Why bother getting kicked out of the club, or taken out of existence entirely, for killing here when there are purpose built murder rooms for reseravation? You don’t even have to clean up after yourself, everything is covered in the fees here.
It was Senior’s favorite holiday location.
So much so that he had one of the rooms here fitted out to his specific tastes and requirements, and I was sure to have that room destroyed the second Senior was wheeled into the morgue. It was much easier to sleep knowing that, slowly but surely, I would wipe any remnants of that man’s existence from this Earth.
The only things left will be Ash and I.
I won’t rest until I’m sure of that.
Aodhan finally looks more comfortable now that we’re back in disreputable company. He leans down to murmur into my ear, “Fuck. There’s a few of the bikers from your wall in here. All of them are Demons, they don’t know you’re looking for them, do they?”
I turn into his chest, my head tilted back so we look like besotted lovers and not scheming criminals. “They’re unaware. I’m not here for them tonight anyway. If you can catch anything they’re talking about though, that would be helpful.”
He nods and drops a kiss onto my lips, softly enough that my lipstick doesn’t smudge.
He’s too perfect for me sometimes.
I don’t deserve it.
I walk in slowly, looking for the real reason we’re here and finding her at the bar with a cocktail in her hands, the all-black pantsuit she’s in looking amazing on her curves.
I’m almost jealous.
Charlotte meets my eyes from across the room and jerks her head at me. I wouldn’t take that sort of summoning from anyone normally, but she’s been too good at taking care of my business for me to split hairs right now.
The moment we get to her, she leans in close to my ear to murmur, “He’s already here, I was about to go deal with the whole situation without you.”
Aodhan shifts so his body is covering us both a little better as I reply, “There’s limits to how fast I can get across the country. Which room are they in? I need him out of here now.”
She smiles and leads the way, cutting through the room like she owns the place because, well, she does. Every person who frequents the bar knows it too, moving out of her way like her ass is on fire and they don’t want to get burned.
Nothing better than a woman getting the respect she deserves, her hands dripping with the blood she shed to get it.
“A bullet in the head or an interrogation?”
I glance over my shoulder at Aodhan but he’s focused entirely on protecting me from any wandering hands.