The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy #2) - Tijan by Tijan

Me. Liam. Hoda. We weren’t.

I hadn’t figured out why yet, but I would. It was a mission of mine.

Erik was supposed to come inside with me tomorrow, so I’d see their reaction to him. I wasn’t sure if I wanted Hoda’s ice to continue or not. I still hadn’t said anything to her about Holden Mansour, but she was here. I texted Torie and she looked at the schedule and texted back it was an affirmative. Holden Mansour was scheduled for an eight-to-two a.m. shift in the security room.

I’d only been in Naveah for thirty minutes, so I hadn’t had time to even look, but it was during her slotted time.

“Aw, fuck.” Guy slid farther down in the booth, his gaze locked on the crowd beneath us.

I looked, and “Aw, fuck” was right.

“Fucking hell.” From Matt. He took his drink, slammed it back, and held up the emptied glass. The VIP server rushed over. “Keep those coming, and can we bar those girls from coming up here?”

Bar?

I turned surprised eyes on my brother, until I saw them, too. I’d missed them before.

Victoria, Fleur, and their friend, whose name I recently found out was Cedar Barlow—which, though I’d never share it with those girls, I thought was a cool name. They were making their way up here. Victoria was wearing a slinky cream-colored dress, Fleur had on red, and Cedar was wearing a black one. As they maneuvered up the stairs, I dipped to the shoes, because though I was normally not a shoe girl, I could hear my inner Chrissy Hayes wanting to know.

All of them were wearing the heels with the red bottoms. No surprise there. What was surprising, though, was that all three of them had no jewelry on, but each had some faux fur wrapped around their shoulders. I guess that was their accessory.

Victoria took the lead, a pinched look on her face as she stood in front of the table. Her hair was good. She’d lightened it again, so the red looked like sun streaks of orange. “Guy. Matthew.” She didn’t look at me, her hand going to one hip and a little purse falling down to rest on its chain over her wrist. “Is Kashton coming tonight?”

Fleur and Cedar were looking at me, fully at me. They were doing it for their girl, and both held calculating looks in their slightly narrowed gazes.

Matt’s tone was cold. “How would I know?” His hand, the one right next to my shoulder, gestured to me. “Why don’t you ask the one who would know?”

Victoria’s mouth flattened, and she visibly grimaced before sighing, turning her gaze my way. “Hi there, Becky. I didn’t see you.”

Becky. I rolled my eyes.

I wasn’t going to respond to that.

Cedar moved forward. “She asked you a question.”

I wasn’t going to respond to that, either.

Instead, I picked up my drink and turned to my brother. “Did the music get louder in here? Did you guys say something?”

Matt pressed his lips together, stifling a laugh.

Not Guy. Guy was okay with expressing he was loving watching this showdown. His eyes were twinkling.

Matt shrugged, raising his voice. “Maybe. It’s starting to grind on the ears.”

“Exactly.” I matched him, raising my voice. “Or maybe it’s my allergies kicking up. I’m starting to get a headache.”

“Jesus Christ,” Victoria hissed. “Bailey. I’m talking to you.”

I turned to her now and grinned. “Oh, hey. When’d you get here?”

Fleur’s head was turned toward the floor. Her shoulders were shaking, but Victoria and Cedar couldn’t see her.

Cedar threw her hand in the air. “Seriously? You’re going to play that game?” Her lips were tight. “With us?”

Leaning forward and resting my arms on the table, I said to Victoria, “You usually travel with two others. Where are your friends tonight? You’re going alone?”

Her eyes threatened to bug out.

I heard Fleur snort, her hand raising quick to her mouth, and she turned away.

Cedar’s mouth was hanging open at me. “Are you seriou—”

I was done playing. My eyes cut to hers. “Use a sentence that doesn’t have the word serious in it. Do it. I challenge you. Grow your vocabulary. It helps fight off dementia.”

Cedar looked ready to scream at me, but her mouth stayed shut.

I was impressed. I thought for sure she’d blast me, but her gaze kept going from Victoria to me and I clued in. She couldn’t make a move without Victoria’s approval. She couldn’t engage me in a confrontation. Her leader wasn’t allowing it.

Why? That made no sense.

And to prove my theory, Victoria smiled at me, her tone magically softer. “Bailey. I need to talk to Kashton about something. He’s not been returning my calls and I was hoping he’d be here tonight.” She glanced to Matt. “Or find out when he will be here.”

Kash was freezing her out. Interesting.

Matt’s eyes just slid to mine. He only had one eyebrow up now, and I read that look he gave me. He was letting me handle this.

My phone buzzed at that moment. Torie.

Bathroom.

Okay then.

Sliding out of the booth, I said to Victoria, “You want him, you probably should consider the reason he’s not getting back to you.” Her mouth opened and I beat her to it. “And no, I’m not going to ask him about you.” I nodded to Matt. “Be back. Bathroom.”