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

So I looked like I was three sheets to the wind but was not, while Tamara actually was and didn’t look it, not one bit.

I was thinking the heels were the main reason I wasn’t drinking as heavily as the rest of them, but they weren’t noticing. When we showed up, Torie’s eyes got big, taking in Connor, who said he’d stay for another shift. So it was Scott, Connor, Grand, and Row. I just met Grand and Row that night. I met Connor previously. He was the guard Kash pulled from Calhoun so in my mind, Connor was epic.

Tamara saw the guys and said, “Cool! We got four sober cabs standing right here. Babes, we can drink!”

We started with wine at the apartment. Coupled this already with dancing.

Went to a pub, had beer. Coupled that with dancing, too.

We were now in the biker bar, and you guessed it—we drank and danced.

It was around midnight when Tamara had an idea. “Hey! We should check out that new place. Octavo.”

Torie loved that idea. So did Melissa.

Connor and Scott, not so much.

I knew Scott better, so he shot me a look and I remembered Kash’s warning.

“Uh. What about Naveah? We can end the night there.”

“Girl! No way.” Tamara was shaking her head, and she pointed at Torie—or where she thought Torie was. Torie was on the south side of the table. Tamara pointed to the north side of the table, where Melissa was bouncing and beaming. Tamara thought Melissa was Torie. Neither Melissa nor Torie realized this. And Tamara kept on, “She works there already so much. We go there and she’ll be roped into working. I know it.”

Melissa was nodding. “Let’s go.”

“We know you.”

That came from someone not in our group.

The guys both stiffened.

That was my first clue.

Then a louder, “Talking to you.”

I turned around.

A couple girls were there. Biker girls, or what I assumed were biker girls, since they were in leather corsets and skintight jeans like mine. Their hair was done up and they had a solid layer of makeup on, too, heavier than Torie and Tamara. They weren’t too far from me, but the second time they spoke, Connor was there, an arm out so they couldn’t come closer.

They turned hostile eyes on him. “We just want to talk.”

“We want to know why a stuck-up bitch like her is here.” Both she and the other one turned on me at once, as if it was rehearsed. “Why you here? This is our place. These are our guys.”

Torie heard that. So did Tamara. And both were pushing their way around the table to me.

“You back off, honey.” That was from Torie. She liked using endearments when she drank, or so I’d learned that night. “We come here too, and she ain’t like that. She’s not after your men.”

“She has two guards here.”

Tamara snorted. “You’re dumb, too. She has four! Just the other two are by the door.”

Oh. That did not go over well.

The first one got red in the face.

The second just launched. Claws out, a howl, and she was over Connor’s arms, almost reaching me. Her hand grabbed my hair before Connor had her up in his arms. He turned, saw her hold, and had her hand out of my hair in the next blink of an eye. As he moved her away, Scott waded in and Grand and Row were there.

Scott moved the other “friend” along with the one Connor was carrying.

Row and Grand were ushering us out of the biker bar.

As we went, I caught sight of the other customers. Most were grinning, enjoying the show. Others didn’t give two hoots. A few guys were watching us leave, eyes locked on me as if they knew I had no business being there.

A weird sensation started in my belly. It was growing as we moved outside.

In another world, one where I never knew Peter Francis was my father, I would’ve enjoyed going to that bar. I would’ve enjoyed cutting loose as I saw a few other Hawking students doing.

Maybe in another life I could’ve been one of those students, there to have fun without four guards and without two locals recognizing me and starting a scene so I’d have to leave. Not that person.

But I am Peter Francis’s daughter, and now we were outside and being hustled to the SUV and my chest was burning because I knew I’d never be that girl again.

That was done.

I could never not be Peter’s daughter. I could never not be Kash’s girlfriend.

Life being anonymous, pushing to fight my way up, claw my way up, was done.

Connor and Scott came out, unmarred and unscarred, and climbed in.

Scott turned around, took in everyone, and paused on me. He decided for us.

“Take her to Naveah.”



* * *



Tamara didn’t need to worry about Torie wanting to work.

As soon as we got to Naveah, Torie let out a loud whoop, grabbed whoever’s hand was closest, and surged past the lines. She wasn’t done when we got inside. She kept going, all the way straight to the VIP booth. Following behind Tamara, because Torie had grabbed Melissa’s hand, I slowed, seeing who was already there.

Tony. Chester. Guy. And Fleur and Cedar.

Guy saw Torie and lit up. Chester saw Melissa and turned carnal.

Tony saw Tamara and dark interest sparked.

The girls saw me, and both of their lips curled up in disdain. Well. Too fucking bad.

Guy was already out of the booth, with his arm around Torie’s shoulders, by the time I got there. She was doing the introductions. When she got to Fleur and Cedar, both looked Melissa up and down, picked up their purses, and slid out of the booth.