Kiss of Venom

  Stuart gave himself another sexy smirk in the mirror. Richie rolled his eyes. I would too, if I was saddled with an arrogant schmuck like that.

  “If you’re done thinking about how cute you are, we have work to do,” Richie finally growled. “So let’s get on with it.”

  Stuart opened his mouth, but he took one look at the other man’s narrowed eyes and swallowed whatever he’d been about to say. “Sure, Richie. No problem. I’m done. After you.”

  The giant held out his hand in a placating gesture. Richie glared at him a second longer before opening the door and stepping out of the bathroom. Stuart gave himself one more appraising glance in the mirror before hurrying after the other man.

  I waited a few seconds to make sure that they weren’t coming back, then opened the stall door and followed them.

  4

  Back out in the main part of the club, the two men ambled over to one of the tables close to the dance floor and turned their chairs so that they could see Gin, still sitting with Bria at the Ice bar.

  I kept one eye on them as I hurried back over to Phillip’s and my booth. While I’d been gone, our waitress had returned and was now leaning over with her elbows propped on the table, giving Phillip a bird’s-eye view of all she had to offer, including the plump assets that were practically spilling out of the top of her black leather bustier.

  I stepped up beside Sierra, but neither one of them even glanced in my direction. So I reached into my back pocket, pulled out my wallet, and put a hundred on the table.

  “Sorry, but my friend and I have to go. That should cover our drinks.”

  “Go?” Phillip murmured, his eyes still fixed on Sierra’s cleavage. “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see. Now, come on.”

  Phillip kept ogling the waitress, so I reached down, grabbed his jacket sleeve, and pulled him onto his feet. I didn’t have Phillip’s natural strength, since he probably had some giant and dwarven blood in his veins, but I wasn’t a lightweight either. In fact, ever since I’d broken up with Gin, I’d spent more time working in my forge than ever before, and I’d grown stronger, physically, at least, as I tried to clear my head and figure out some way to make things right between Gin and me. It hadn’t worked, though. Nothing had.

  Sierra realized that I was serious about leaving and taking Phillip with me. She smoothly palmed the hundred, flashed me a smile, and sashayed away, already on to the next table to ply her wares.

  “Hey!” Phillip said, jerking away from me and smoothing down his jacket. “You could have just asked nicely. There’s no need to get physical.”

  I arched an eyebrow at him. “This from a man who enjoys personally throwing people off his riverboat instead of letting his giant guards do it for him?”

  Phillip grinned. “Do you not know how much fun that is? All you have to do is flip them over the side of the railing, listen to them scream, then wait for the splash. A few manage to go in feet first, but most of them do some sort of awkward, flailing belly flop, which only makes it that much more painful and the splash that much bigger. Splat. You can hear the sound all the way up to the top deck. I’m telling you, it’s awesome to watch. Besides, I don’t throw everybody off the riverboat. That would be bad for business. I only do it when people cheat. Or drink too much. Or fight with the staff. Or act like idiots. Or annoy me. Or—”

  He would have kept ticking off more supposed infractions on his fingers if I hadn’t shaken my head.

  “Follow me,” I said.

  I started to walk away, but Phillip didn’t move. Instead, he gave me a pointed look.

  “What are you?” I growled. “Twelve?”

  He responded by crossing his arms over his chest and rocking back on his heels.

  I sighed, remembering exactly how stubborn he could be. “Fine. Please. Please follow me, your royal highness.”

  After a moment, Phillip grinned and uncrossed his arms. “See? Asking nicely doesn’t hurt so much, now, does it? And I kind of like that whole royal highness thing. Yeah, I could definitely get used to you calling me that.”

  I snorted and walked away, but I must have asked him nicely enough, because Phillip trailed along beside me as best he could, given the crowd.

  I scanned the crush of people, looking for Roslyn. I figured that since I was going to have a talk—and likely something much more violent—with two of her customers, I should give her a heads-up first. It was the polite thing to do. Besides, she’d want to know about the threat to Gin too, since the two of them were such close friends.

  I didn’t see Roslyn, but I spotted someone else I knew, a muscular giant with ebony skin and a shaved head that gleamed underneath the flashing lights. Xavier, the club’s head bouncer and Roslyn’s significant other. Suddenly, I had an idea of how to take care of Stuart and Richie with no one, especially Gin, being the wiser.

  I veered in Xavier’s direction. It took me a few minutes to sidestep through the crowd over to where he was standing by the entrance to the VIP section, but I made it, even if Phillip didn’t.

  My friend had gotten happily waylaid on the dance floor and was enthusiastically bumping and grinding his way past first one woman, then another. He’d get here eventually, though. I could always count on Phillip to be there for me when I really needed him, despite how horribly I’d failed him all those years ago by believing Salina over him. But I pushed that thought away. Now wasn’t the time to think about what a mess I’d made of everything. Now was the time to act and to make sure that Gin stayed safe for the rest of the night.

  “Xavier, what’s up?” I asked.

  He grinned, and we shook hands. Xavier had a firm, strong grip, even for a giant.

  “Not much,” he drawled, scanning the crowd for any signs of trouble. “Just another night of dancing, drinking, and debauchery.”

  Once he was satisfied that no one was going to kick up an immediate ruckus, he looked at me. He hesitated, his dark eyes meeting mine. “You know that Gin’s here tonight, right?”

  “Yeah. I saw her.”

  He didn’t say anything else, and neither did I. Unlike Phillip, Xavier knew when not to push something.

  “Is there something that I can do for you, Owen?” Xavier asked.

  I jerked my head toward the tables that ringed the dance floor. “See that giant and dwarf sitting together?”

  Stuart and Richie were at the same table as before, a couple of beers in front of them now. Richie still had his eyes fixed on Gin, watching her laugh and talk with Bria at the bar. Every once in a while, he would take a sip of his beer, and then he’d go right back to staring at Gin. That left Stuart free to ogle all of the waitresses as they walked by. He even gave a couple of them winks, as if he wasn’t planning to coldly strangle a woman to death the second she left the club. A real charmer, that guy.

  “What about them?” Xavier asked.

  “Do you know them?”

  He shrugged his massive shoulders. “I haven’t seen the dwarf before, but Stuart’s a regular. He’s always coming in and sweet-talking every pretty thing who gets within spitting distance of him. He thinks he’s more of a player than he really is, though, and when his game doesn’t work on a lady, he tends to take it personally. He’s been in his share of fights, with men and women alike, and I’ve warned him about harassing folks.”

  “Can you give me ten minutes, then throw them both out of the club?”

  “Sure,” Xavier said, cracking his knuckles. “I told Stuart not to show his face here for at least a month. That was three days ago. I was planning to let him order a couple more beers, so Roslyn could make a little money off him, before I showed him the door. Any particular reason you’ve taken a dislike to those guys?”

  “I heard them talking in the bathroom. They’re here for Gin.”

  Xavier’s face tightened, and he nodded. In addition to working as a bo
uncer, Xavier was Bria’s partner on the police force. He knew all about Gin’s troubles with the underworld bosses.

  “Consider it done,” Xavier growled. “You want me to come outside and help you with them?”

  “Nah,” I said. “That’s what Phillip is for.”

  Xavier looked past me and grinned. “Have you told him that?”

  I glanced over my shoulder. Phillip had apparently given up trying to get free of the dance floor. He was now engaged in a very close, very slow, very suggestive dance with not one but two women. He whirled first one way, then another, trying to dazzle them both at the same time with his slick moves and cheesy smile.

  “He’s going to throw out his back, jerking around like that,” I muttered.

  Xavier chuckled. “Oh, I don’t know. I think that Phillip could give Finn a run for his money when it comes to hamming it up with the ladies.”

  I sighed and shook my head. “Better make that fifteen minutes.”

  Xavier chuckled again.

  * * *

  I wormed my way through the crowd, trying to get to Phillip, but I kept getting cut off as people gyrated right into the middle of my path. I’d been on the dance floor for two minutes and hadn’t gone more than twenty feet. And Phillip, of course, was now smack dab in the center.

  I’d just taken another step forward when a hand touched my shoulder and sidled higher, caressing my cheek. Before I knew it, Sierra, our waitress, had her arms wrapped around my neck and her body plastered against mine. I put my hands on her waist, out of instinct more than anything else.

  Sierra took that as an invitation to wiggle even closer to me. “It’s about time you got out here on the dance floor, handsome.”

  “Sorry,” I replied. “But I’m not staying. I only came to get my friend over there.”

  “Now, why would you want to go and interrupt him having a good time?” She grinned, showing me her small white fangs again. “Especially since we could be having an even better time by ourselves. Alone. Somewhere more . . . private.”

  I dropped my hands from her waist and started to step around her, but she kept her arms around my neck and moved in that direction, blocking me.

  “Are you sure there’s nothing else that I can get you tonight, handsome?” Her voice was low, husky, and filled with all sorts of promises.

  “I’m sure,” I said in a firm tone. “But thank you for asking.”

  She shrugged. “Well, it was worth a shot.”

  She didn’t seem offended, but for some reason, I still felt the need to explain myself. Maybe because I’d done such a lousy job of it to everyone else lately.

  “Listen,” I said. “You’re gorgeous, sexy, and charming. We both know that, and you can have your pick of any guy in this place.”

  “Just not you.”

  I shook my head. “I’m already spoken for. You see, there’s this woman I lo—”

  She waved her hand, cutting me off. “Oh, I know, sugar. You keep staring at Gin Blanco like you’re on a desert island and she’s the last bottle of water around. News flash, buddy. You do not want to mess with her. She will cut out your heart and show it to you before you die.”

  Well, that was one of the more colorful rumors that I’d heard about the Spider’s prowess, and it wasn’t that far from being true. I’d seen her fillet more than her share of bad guys—and she’d done the same to me without even realizing it.

  “She’s already cut out my heart,” I quipped. “And I was happy to let her do it.”

  Sierra frowned, like she thought I was just drunk and spouting nonsense. Maybe I was, thinking about how Gin held my heart in the palm of her hand. Either way, I gently unwound Sierra’s other arm from around my neck.

  “Thanks for the dance, but I really have to go.”

  “If you change your mind . . .” Her voice trailed off suggestively.

  “I won’t.”

  After a moment, she shrugged. “Your loss, sugar.”

  She pressed a soft kiss to my cheek, her vanilla perfume tickling my nose. She gave me one more sly, flirty smile before she danced away to the next man.

  I watched her glide away for a moment before glancing back over at the bar. Instead of talking to each other or shooing away the peacocks, Gin and Bria were both watching me. From the angry, pinched set of Bria’s mouth, she’d seen the whole scene with Sierra—and so had Gin. Her face was completely blank, but her fingers slowly curled around her drink, as if she wanted to smash the glass against something—my face, most likely.

  I grimaced. Once again, I’d upset Gin without even trying, just like I had when I’d brought Jillian Delancey to the Briartop art museum a few weeks ago. It had been a total fluke, Jillian being in town and wanting to see the exhibit of Mab’s things. Since I’d had an extra ticket, I’d figured it wouldn’t hurt to bring her along with Eva and me.

  I just hadn’t realized that night would cost Jillian her life.

  That hadn’t been my fault, any more than it had been Gin’s. No, the blame for Jillian’s death rested on the dead shoulders of Clementine Barker, along with Jonah McAllister, who was regrettably still very much alive. But I couldn’t help but feel guilty all the same. Not only because Jillian was dead but because when I’d seen Gin at the gala, I’d forgotten all about Jillian, even though the two of them had been wearing the same dress. And then, when Clementine had thrown a body into the middle of the crowd, crowing about how she and her men had finally killed the Spider, I’d been so shocked, so horrified, so convinced that it was Gin, that I hadn’t even realized that Jillian wasn’t in the rotunda with the rest of the hostages. Once again, I’d failed a friend.

  Oh, I knew that I couldn’t have done anything to save Jillian, that she’d been killed before Clementine and her giants had taken everyone prisoner, but I still felt the weight of her death—and Salina’s too. They were dead, and I wasn’t, and I wasn’t sure how to move forward from that cold, inescapable fact.

  Someone bumped into me, snapping me out of my thoughts. Gin was still staring at me. I hesitated, then waved at her. I pointed toward Phillip and then at the front doors of the club, as if I was getting him and we were leaving and going home for the night.

  We were going home—eventually. I just had a little problem to take care of first. Two of them, actually.

  After a moment, Gin returned my wave, before swiveling around on her seat and facing the Ice bar. Bria glared at me a few more seconds before doing the same.

  I sighed, knowing that I’d screwed up again without even meaning to. But there was nothing I could do about it, so I waded over to where Phillip was still boogying the night away. Now his two dance partners were practically draped over him, one on each arm, and the grin on his face told me exactly how much he was enjoying their attention.

  I waved my hand, catching his eye, and jerked my thumb toward the doors. Phillip started to protest, but he must have seen the tension in my face, because he smoothly kissed one woman’s hand, then the other, before murmuring some excuses and regretfully leaving them behind.

  He followed me to the edge of the dance floor. I risked a glance over my shoulder. Gin was still sitting at the bar, her back was to me, and she was chatting with Bria again.

  “You know, you could always go over there and buy her a drink,” Phillip murmured. “I thought that things had gotten a little better between the two of you after the Briartop heist.”

  “They are better,” I said. “I just don’t know how to get them back to where they were, to where we were before . . .”

  “Before Salina.”

  I shrugged. Phillip knew the rest of the whole sad, twisted story as well as I did.

  “You should make some grand romantic gesture,” he said in a confident, knowing tone. “Women love that. Flowers, candy, jewelry.”

  I didn’t tell him that I’d already done that—sort
of—by giving Gin the rune necklaces that had belonged to her mother and her older sister. The snowflake and ivy-vine pendants had been among Mab’s things at the Briartop museum. Mab had murdered Gin’s family when Gin was thirteen and had kept the necklaces as some sort of sick trophy.

  I’d noticed Gin staring at the necklaces and had realized what they were before Clementine and her men had taken everyone hostage. After the crisis was over, I’d found the rune pendants stuffed into a garbage bag with some of the other jewels that the giants had taken off the partygoers. It had taken me a couple of days and a lot of hard work to clean up the runes and make the silverstone shine again, but it had been more than worth it to see the look of amazement and wonder on Gin’s face when I’d given the necklaces back to her at the Pork Pit—

  “Flowers, candy, jewelry,” Phillip repeated in a firm voice. “Those three things have gotten me out of more sticky situations than any gun ever has.”

  I shook my head. “That’s because you’re so utterly charming that you convince every woman who crosses your path that she’s going to be Mrs. Phillip Kincaid. Naturally, they get upset when that doesn’t happen.”

  For a moment, his face grew somber. “There’s only one woman who’s going to be Mrs. Phillip Kincaid.”

  I knew that he was talking about Eva. I could see it in his eyes, but I made myself snort, as though I didn’t care one way or the other about the burgeoning relationship between the two of them. “If she wants you.”

  “Oh, she’ll want me,” Phillip said with a confident grin. “Everyone does.”

  “Now you sound like Stuart.”

  “Who is Stuart?” he asked, a puzzled look on his face.

  “I’ll tell you all about him and his friend Richie—outside,” I said. “Now, come on. We have some peacocks to deal with.”

  5

  Phillip and I left the bump and grind of the dance floor behind and stepped outside. I breathed in, enjoying the freshness of the summer night air after all of the smoke and sweat inside the club.