Page 15 of A Corruption Dark & Deadly

Chapter 4

This wasthe last place Annie wanted to be. The Red Door was a nightclub with a strict dress code – dresses for females, business casual for men – which meant no jeans. Annie didn’t care. If her brother wanted her to meet him here last minute about something important, she was not about to go out of her way in order to dress up.

One thing Annie had to respect about Jericho is he always invested in parking. Even though she had to validate her parking ticket or pay some obscene fine, at least she didn’t have to worry about parking. She parked relatively close to the two-story nightclub and pulled her trench coat over her plaid shirt and jeans, grabbed her umbrella, and proceeded to head to the club entrance attached to the structure.

There was already a long line, even at nine thirty. Annie didn’t care. She wasn’t about to wait. She walked up to the bouncer, ignoring the occupants of said line groaning and other derogatory sounds.

“My brother, Bruce Brennan, wanted to meet with me about something?” she asked, tossing her head to the side. She tried to make her voice come out polite but it was getting harder and harder to do so.

“You have to wait in line, just like everyone else,” the bouncer told her, his arms crossed over his chest, causing big bulges of muscle to pop up.

Jesus, they’re bigger than my boobs, Annie thought to herself.

Despite their complete size difference, Annie narrowed her eyes. “There is no way I’m waiting to go into a club just to meet my brother who’s an employee,” she told him. “Considering it’s going to rain any second, can’t I just go in to meet him?”

“You ain’t even dressed correctly,” he said, nodding his bald head to Annie’s jeans and high tops. “You can’t come in.”

Annie clenched her jaw and reached into her pocket to pull out her cell phone. Fucking Bruce. Couldn’t he have given these bouncers a head’s up that she was coming to meet with him? She really didn’t want to meet out in the rain, even though she had her umbrella in her other hand and her jacket was waterproof. She just didn’t like when her shoes got wet and her hair constantly frizzed when exposed to moisture. She clicked on his contact, deciding she would have to take care of this herself.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll call him and he’ll bring me in himself.”

“You ain’t coming in,” the bouncer responded. “I don’t care who brings you in.”

“I don’t think you mean that,” a voice said behind Annie.

She whipped around and nearly ran smack into Jericho’s broad chest. His penetrating gaze was fixed on the bouncer and while there was no tension in his face, that gaze was angry, an emerald green. The bouncer tensed, meeting his boss’s eye without flinching but looking reprimanded even though Jericho hadn’t even raised his voice.

Jericho perked his brow. “Do you?” he pushed, waiting for a response.

“No, sir,” the man said, his voice less aggressive and more quiet.

“Good.” He turned to look at Annie and gave her a smile. “Ms. Brennan. So good to see you. I would never question your presence here, but is there anything I can assist you with? Besides entrance, of course.”

“Um, no,” she said slowly. She glanced over at the bouncer and felt her stomach start to churn with guilt. “He was just doing his job. He-“

“Are you defending his treatment of you?” Jericho asked. There was no judgment in his tone, just curiosity.

“He was just doing his job,” she repeated. “I didn’t even know I could go in or, I mean, I don’t know the rules and what’s acceptable and what’s not.”

Jericho smiled that heart-racing smile, tilting his head to the side at such an angle, it reminded her of a cat. “Are you nervous, Ms. Brennan?” he asked with that smile.

Annie wasn’t sure how to respond. If she said no, he would know she was lying and perhaps continue to not take her seriously. Which could be an advantage. On the other, if she said yes, she would be verbalizing her fear of him and he could use that to his advantage. It was clear no matter what that she was nervous; what she needed to decide if it was worth actually admitting it. What would that mean to him? How would he treat her? She didn’t particularly care one way or the other but she did care about how it would affect her standing with the house. She had a meeting with her friend next week regarding the legality of it all, but for now, she thought the best thing she could do was bite her tongue and be nice.

“You babble when you’re nervous, don’t you?” he asked, raising his brow. “It’s adorable.”

Adorable. She never expected that word to come out of his mouth. She hadn’t thought it was in his vocabulary. But somehow, the word fit their situation so she didn’t come up with a rebuttal.

“What do you have to be nervous about?” he continued, grabbing his left arm with his right arm and furrowing his brow. It was as though his focus was completely on her. He didn’t notice all of his patrons in a long line. He didn’t notice the grey clouds, threatening to spill rain at any moment. His only consideration was her.

“Look,” she said. “I came down here to meet with my brother. I don’t know why he wanted me to meet him but he did. So that’s what I was doing.”

“Until Boll told you that you couldn’t come in, correct?”

Annie opened her mouth to defend the bouncer again but stopped. She already said what she needed to say and didn’t want to sound like a broken record.

Jericho nodded his head once, as though her silence was answer enough. She turned back to look at both bouncers and that amused sparkle that was always in his eye whenever she saw him had vanished.

“She can come here no matter what she’s wearing,” he told them. His voice was still silky but it was much more curt and no-nonsense. “She can come before opening or after. You let her in. You do not charge her. If there’s a problem, you call me immediately. Do you understand?” Both bouncers nodded. Jericho turned his head so he looked at Annie once more. There it was again, that sparkle. “Let me walk you in and show you around. Then, I’ll take you to your brother. How does that sound?”