Come a Little Closer (Kadia Club Nights Book 1) Page 7

  “Where are you going?”

  “The Bahamas.”

  “I’m so jealous,” Keesha said. “I’ve always dreamed about going there one day. The beaches look incredible.”

  “If you ever get the chance to go, you absolutely should.”

  “I know you probably don’t need to be told, but try to keep your hair out of the water while you’re there, Carol,” Keesha said. “I’d hate for your fresh blonde to turn green or something.”

  Carol laughed. “And that’s what flashy silk head scarves are for.”

  “Absolutely. We’ll see you on the twenty-fourth?”

  “See you then. Thank you Keesha.”

  Keesha ended the call and finished scrawling the appointment information into her book. Once that was done, she spun around in her chair, crossed one leg over the other, and looked expectantly up at Ricky while she tapped the end of her bright blue pen on her bare knee.

  She hadn’t known the boss was coming in today. Had she known Ricky would be there when she was getting dressed this morning, she would have chosen a different outfit. She’d already caught him checking her out eight times this morning, and he hadn’t even shown up at opening hours. He’d only been there for an hour.

  Keesha’s outfit wasn’t overtly sexy, but it showed off her long strong legs. She was wearing a pair of black leather shorts and a leopard-print shirt tucked into them. Her hair was down and softly tousled, enhancing her natural wavy curls. She wished instead that she’d worn her hair up and opted for jeans instead of the shorts.

  “How’ve you been, Keesha?” Ricky asked.

  “Good. You?”

  “Good. Very good. But I realized you and I haven’t had much time to catch up recently and you know how I like to stay up to date with my employees. Do you have time to grab a drink after work tonight? I’d love to, you know, chat about stuff.” Ricky wore a smirk that made her want to slap it right off his smug face.

  “Tonight isn’t good for me,” Keesha said smoothly. “I don’t have a sitter for Beth and I promised her some quality mother-daughter time.”

  Ricky looked more than a little put out. His shoulders slumped. “I guess I can’t compete with that, can I?”

  “No, you can’t.”

  “Well, another time, I guess.” Ricky pushed off the back wall and moved to walk back out to the salon. He paused before going around the corner. His eyes started at the toe of her black pumps and slid up her calves, thighs, hips, and waist. His gaze lingered on her tits even though her shirt was high cut before flicking back up to her face. He smiled. “You look good today, by the way.”

  Barf.

  She wondered how much money she could take out of his slimy little hands if he came to see her at Kadia.

  Thousands, she thought as she plastered a fake smile on her lips. “I know.”

  She’d be damned if she was going to thank him for hitting on her at work.

  Ricky disappeared around the corner and she heard him start laughing and joking with the other stylists and their clients. He knew how to work a room, and even though he was a creep toward her, the other stylists seemed to love him. He’d never put moves on them like he did with Keesha. The stylists were what brought the money in and Ricky wasn’t dumb enough to risk making one of them uncomfortable enough that they’d quit.

  They were the reason he was able to buy his fancy Mercedes at the start of the year.

  Keesha spun back to face her computer and put everything that Ricky had touched back to where it was. She heard someone clear their throat over her shoulder.

  “That was painful to watch,” Lilah said.

  Keesha chuckled as she got to her feet. “Tell me about it. I think I need a shower.”

  Lilah laughed as Keesha turned. She had her purse on one shoulder and a cup of water in her hand. “I was about to head down the block to that sushi place for lunch. Rachel said she can answer phones for you if you want to join me? She’s doing a full head of bleach so her client will be processing for a little while. She’ll be able to stay on top of reception.”

  Keesha’s stomach grumbled in response.

  “I’ll take that as a yes?” Lilah teased.

  “Definitely. Just let me grab my purse.”

  “Nonsense. My treat.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I want to. Come on, bitch. Let’s go.”

  Keesha followed Lilah out of the salon. She wasn’t the sort of woman who was easy to say no to. And Keesha never really wanted to say no to Lilah. She was too quick, clever, and beautiful, and Keesha had wanted to be her friend from the first moment they met.

  The pair of them walked down the sidewalk to the row of retail spaces down the block beneath a thirty-story apartment complex with realty signs posted on windows. Keesha found herself gazing longingly at the pictures of the suites, dreaming about what it might be like to lead a life like that. She could see herself waking with the sun, brewing a pot of coffee, and standing on her balcony looking over the stirring city in the hours before Beth woke up.

  Lilah opened the door to the sushi restaurant and Keesha went in first. They were greeted by a young, cheerful Japanese girl. She was the daughter of the owners, a husband and wife who’d opened the business twenty years ago at the original location before the old building was bought out and turned into the high-rise apartments. Keesha was delighted when they reopened in the new and improved space after the four-year project ended.

  They had the best food and even better service.

  The girl, Aiko, wore her long black hair in a tight knot at the back of her head. A pink flower clip held it in place and Keesha admired it as they followed her to a table in a private booth with wooden benches lined in emerald cushions. Keesha sat on a cushion across from Lilah, who set her bag and water down.

  Aiko handed them menus. “Would you like your usual edamame to start?”

  “Yes please,” Keesha and Lilah said in unison.

  Aiko promised to be right back and slipped away to the kitchens.

  As soon as they were alone, Lilah leaned forward and rested her elbows on the tables. Her wrists were full of gold bangles that jingled when she moved. Keesha could only imagine how loud it sounded to her clients when she was cutting their hair. “You should tell Ricky to go kick rocks, you know?”

  Keesha smiled. “It’s not that easy. He’d fire me. And I need this job.”

  “All the girls know he harasses you, Keesha. We’d have your back.”

  Keesha shrug. “Believe me. I’ve dealt with much worse than the likes of Ricky.” But they pay me well enough that it’s easy to overlook.

  “That doesn’t make it okay.”

  Keesha waved her hand, dismissing the subject. “Ricky isn’t worth our time or breath. He writes my checks and that’s all he’s good for. This job is just to hold me over for now. Besides, I don’t want to think about shitty men more than I have to. Not when we’re out for some girl time.”

  Keesha needed this. She hadn’t realized it but her well was running pretty empty. She was stressed about not being home enough with Beth. She missed her daughter dearly, and even though she could rationalize that what she was doing and how much time she was spending out of the house was for her daughter, it still hurt. She felt bad for burdening her brother and her mother with so many babysitting hours. She felt like she took advantage of them both—especially her mother, who did most if not all the cooking lately.

  And then there was the shit storm that was Kadia and Marcus.

  “Boy trouble?” Lilah asked as she rested her chin on her knuckles. Today, her nails were a beautiful lilac color. Her ring fingers were painted an accent chrome gold that matched her bracelets.

  “You could say that again.”

  “Ooh, sounds juicy. Tell me. Who is he?”

  Good fucking question.

  “He’s someone I have history with,” Keesha admitted. She had to tread carefully. She didn’t want to let slip that she worked at Kadia just in
case word got back to Ricky. She trusted Lilah but she didn’t want to put her in a position where she might have to lie to colleagues or friends. “Recently, we’ve started something back up but it was a mistake. We had crazy sex a few weeks ago. Like, crazy. And then he went off and told me he didn’t want me around for my own good.”

  Lilah’s eyebrows inched upward. “Oh? Is he dangerous?”

  Yes. “Kind of.”

  Lilah smirked. “Keesha, I knew you and I were even more alike. There is nothing better than a bad boy.”

  Marcus was more than a bad boy.

  He was a bad man.

  “There’s been a lot of tension between us lately,” Keesha said. “One minute, we can’t keep our hands off each other, and the next, we’re butting heads and fighting over shit that doesn’t matter. He’s controlling. And he has a temper. But so do I. And that used to work really well for us. Now it just feels like everything is always on fire.”

  Lilah bit her bottom lip. “He sounds juicy.”

  Keesha chuckled. “He is.”

  Aiko returned to their table with a small serving of edamame. She set it down and asked if either of them knew what they wanted to order. Keesha opted for tempura yam rolls while Lilah ordered something Keesha couldn’t pronounce. Aiko bustled off back to the kitchens and the two women picked at the food in front of them.

  “I keep getting torn between wanting to be with him and knowing he’s the exact type of man I should stay away from,” Keesha said as she licked salt from her fingers. “I have a daughter. I’ve spent the last two years trying to make smarter choices than I did in my past, and now here I am, falling for a guy who I know full well has a bad past. I should be running the other way.”

  “But you aren’t.”

  “No, I’m not. I keep gravitating to him. I seek him out. I bite and I kick and I fight but all I want is for him to touch me.”

  Lilah pumped her eyebrows. “You’re a naughty girl, aren’t you?”

  Keesha giggled and shook her head. “Stop it.”

  “I’m right.”

  “Maybe.”

  Lilah leaned back in her bench seat, done with the edamame. “You two used to know each other well?”

  “Really well,” Keesha admitted. “We were an item when I was young. Just nineteen. He was a bit older and he was a safe place for me. But even then, he was into bad stuff. And he left that for even worse stuff. He left me too. I sat around waiting for him and he never came back for me. Part of me wanted to hate him for it, but deep down, I knew he was made for a bigger life than what we had in New Orleans. I guess I just hoped he might take me with him.”

  “It sounds to me like this is more than just an old fling.”

  Keesha shrugged. “I don’t know what it is.”

  All Keesha knew was that it was driving her crazy.

  “Well, you can’t help who you fall for, can you?” Lilah asked.

  “No, but it’s just so intense. And unstable. And unpredictable.”

  “Sounds better than boring,” Lilah said. “Are you the kind of girl who wants the white picket fence and the husband who wears a suit and tie to his job in marketing, or are you the kind of girl who wants a guy with a couple scars and bit of edge?”

  If only that was all Marcus had, a bit of edge. But he was so much more than that. He was the edge. All of him was sharp corners and dangerous shadows. He was more than trouble.

  But that didn’t stop Keesha from wanting all of him for herself.

  11

  Marcus

  Marcus and Cole moved through the crowded first floor of Kadia on Thursday night. The evening was well underway. Dancers had taken to their stages and poles, and the servers were racing a mile a minute to get drinks into greedy hands. Dean, the bartender, tossed two martini shakers in the air as his boss passed him by, spun on the spot, and caught both shakers effortlessly before giving them a good final shake and dramatically pouring the concoction into two iced glasses.

  Marcus would have to tell him not to do too much flair shit. It wasn’t his taste, and it didn’t fit the vibe at Kadia either. The performers were the dancers. The main event was the sex. Zandra was the icing on the cake. He could keep his fancy bartending skills out of it.

  Marcus shouldered past the crowd near the bathrooms and slid down the narrow hallway to the emergency exit that spilled out into the side alley. Cole was right on his heels, and when Marcus pushed out into the rain, he gave the door an extra shove for his security guard to follow him out.

  The door swung closed, revealing another man standing on the other side. He had a cigarette pinched between his lips and the hood of his weather-protective jacket up to protect him from the rain. On the right arm beneath the shoulder in white capital letters, it read “KADIA.”

  Vance pushed his hood back and nodded at the men while simultaneously flicking ash from the end of his smoke. “Boys.”

  The newest security guard took his fair share of smoke breaks. Marcus had noticed but hadn’t gotten around to saying anything yet. He wasn’t sure if he’d bother. Everyone had a crutch, and Vance’s was cigarettes, an addiction that had probably only been made worse by his time in prison.

  Poor bastard.

  He’d been put behind bars for a crime he didn’t even commit. Marcus didn’t have all the details and he wouldn’t ask. Vance’s history was none of his damn business. All Marcus knew was the stone-cold fact that Vance had gone to prison to protect someone else, which meant he wasn’t a snitch or a coward.

  Marcus liked to see a man like that with the club’s name on his arm.

  “How’s the night been?” Marcus asked. “Any riff raff?”

  Vance shook his head. “No, it’s been pretty smooth sailing. A couple guys got themselves kicked out after taking too much Zandra. Hillary put a note on their file at the front door. Next time they try to get in and scan their IDs, they’ll be flagged. No more sex drug for those horny fuckers.”

  Marcus chuckled.

  “Some bitches can’t hold their composure under that shit,” Cole muttered.

  Vance eyed the other guard as he took a drag. “You ever tried it?”

  Cole slid his hands into his pockets and bunched his shoulders up against the rain. It didn’t do him much good. His blond hair had turned brown now that it was all wet. “No, and I don’t intend to. I prefer to be in control of all my functions, not at the mercy of my cock.”

  Marcus snorted.

  Vance arched an eyebrow. “That’s the kind of shit a man who needs to get laid says. Maybe you should reconsider. You know, there are a handful of dancers in there that have been making googly eyes at you for weeks. Stay late one night. Pop a quarter of a pill. Indulge their wildest fantasies about—”

  “No thanks,” Cole said coolly.

  Vance shrugged and tossed his cigarette into a puddle near his feet. The ember snuffed out upon contact and the cigarette floated in the shallow dark water. “Suit yourself. You boys need some privacy out here, I assume?”

  Marcus nodded. “Stand inside the door and make sure nobody comes out, will you? I only need five minutes.”

  “You’re not going to beat the shit out of poor Cole, are you, boss?”

  Cole shot Vance a dark look. “It’s business.”

  Vance shouldered between the pair of them and put a hand on the door before glancing at Marcus. “Maybe you could beat that smug attitude out of him. All it would take is a—”

  Cole leaned around and jerked the door open. Vance stepped inside, laughing at the ex-cop’s expense. His barking laughter was silenced as soon as the door closed and Cole grumbled under his breath about how much he didn’t like the new guy.

  “He’s good at his job,” Marcus said.

  “Doesn’t mean I have to like him.”

  “Fair enough.” Marcus pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket and began scrolling through numbers.

  Cole, still acting like a broody little kid, leaned up against the side wall of Kadia. He placed the s
ole of his right boot against the wall and bowed his head, his gaze lingering on the floating cigarette. “How did you get Cooper’s number anyway?” he asked.

  Marcus hid his smirk. “When you’ve been in the game as long as me, you make connections. And you collect favors. The real talent is learning what tasks require cashing in those favors and which ones don’t.”

  “I assume where Cooper is concerned, it’s always worth cashing in?”

  “You got it.” Marcus’s thumb paused over the contact Slimy Motherfucker. He clicked on it but didn’t select the green dial button. There was a lot that could still go wrong, and initializing contact with a guy like Cooper was basically like opening the keep doors to a castle and letting the enemy ride in on horseback to take whatever the fuck they pleased.

  Was Marcus about to pop a hole in Dimitri Demarco’s syndicate? Or was this a necessary evil to the end goal?

  Don’t get cold feet now, you pussy.

  Marcus dialed and lifted the phone to his ear.

  Cole didn’t move from the wall, but his gaze lifted from the puddle to Marcus, who he studied from beneath his hooded brow. His lips were pursed in a fine line, and drops of rainwater dripped from the tip of his nose.

  A smooth, taunting voice filled the other end. “Why is Demarco’s most ruthless thug calling me on my personal line?”

  Marcus’s gut turned over. Cooper had already revealed something. He had Marcus’s phone number in his phone. He knew who he was.

  Not a good sign.

  “I have business to discuss with you,” Marcus said.

  “Business?” Cooper drawled.

  Cole tilted his head to the left, uncertain.

  Marcus turned his back on Cole and paced into the middle of the alley. “You heard me. Business.”

  Adam Cooper’s chuckle filled the line. “Last I saw you, you were kicking me out of your club all over some redheaded bitch. I’m not interested.”

  “Even if it gets you the upper hand over the Castalettas and Demarcos? And their allies?”