Nazai stood above me with that annoying, cocky, crooked grin he often wore on his face. He was still in the same suit he’d worn to the party. It was unsettling how arrogant he was. It would be better if he was ugly, but Nazai was far from that. He was extremely attractive and always well put together.
When I logged onto social media today, for the first time in ages, I went to his Instagram and saw it was flooded with women gushing and lusting over him. He didn’t have much on it, mainly a couple of selfies and pictures with his brothers. Those pictures got double the comments with women wishing they could land one of the brothers. Both his personal and business pages had thousands of followers.
Yesterday I hadn’t expected his reaction when it came to his car or fish tank. I was still seething about the gun situation and wanted to get a reaction out of him and show him I wasn’t a pushover. Blowing thousands of dollars on whatever wasn’t enough. Feeling that water rush against my face and the towel blocking my airwaves caused a fear I hadn’t felt in a long time to come crashing into me. I was furious, but I also felt a rush I hadn’t felt before either. It was confusing to me.
“What do you want? I was busy!” I squinted at him, sitting up on the bed.
“You were sleeping,” he noted.
“I wasn’t sleeping! I was meditating and you interrupted me…again.” He stared at me curiously, as if he couldn’t understand what I meant. It caused me to roll my eyes and grab my phone, pausing the playlist.
“What do you want, Nazai?”
“Get dressed. We’re going to my club tonight.”
My brows bunched and my mouth turned upside down. “Pass. Can I have my headphones?” I held my hand out.
“There is no passing. We need to make an appearance at my club. My brothers and River are meeting us there. Get dressed. Put something tempting on that snatches people’s eyes but doesn’t give away too much. If you don’t have anything like that, I had my stylist get you something.” He nodded at the dress that wasn’t on my bed when I’d first lay down. Another unsettling thing was my awareness when it came to Nazai. Normally I was very aware of my surroundings. It was critical with what I did, but with him I never seemed to be able to detect him.
“I don’t like clubs and I’m not leaving my brother.”
“Your brother will be fine. I called the lady who used to watch me and my siblings to come keep an eye on him.”
“No.” I shut him down. “I’m not leaving my brother with some stranger I don’t know.”
“Mrs. Rosebud has been in my family since I was a kid. She’s more than qualified to watch him. He’ll be in good hands.”
A standoff happened between us, neither willing to back down. “Why do I have to go? You can just go by yourself.” I had never been to The District nightclub but I’d heard about it, of course. It was always packed with people, both it and Euphoria, the strip club attached.
He tossed the headphones on the bed. “I’ve announced you as my fiancée, now we need to sell it. You’re gonna be my wife and we need to show you stand by your husband.”
I rolled my eyes, feeling a headache rise. “Now hurry up, we’re leaving in two hours.” He turned to leave. I turned to look at my phone; it was eight o clock. I wanted to fight him and stand on not going, but eventually I sucked it up. Leaving my brother alone with a stranger still made me uneasy, but I was going to go against my better judgment and trust Nazai’s word. I would talk with Carson before I left to make sure he was okay though.
____
The music was loud, lights flashed, and people talked loudly, having a good time around us. A woman dressed in nothing but a skimpy thong was on stage getting a bunch of bills thrown at her. The District was packed and when we got here the line was wrapped around the corner. When customers first stepped inside, there was a small area where they could either go into the nightclub or go up the stairs that led to Euphoria.
The first hour we were at The District, we were downstairs in the nightclub. Nazai had a private section close to the entrance for him and close friends only. Eventually, we headed upstairs to the strip club. It was a little less chaotic up here than downstairs. Again, we were in the owner’s section, as he called it. His brothers, along with River, all seemed to be having a good time. Lucas and River had been making it rain since they’d gotten here. Emmet had been sitting back nursing a drink, observing his surroundings and Ezra had left to get a private dance in one of the back rooms.
“This must not be your scene.” I jumped when River sat next to me. Nazai had gone to the bar to handle some matter they needed him for. A few girls were in the section entertaining.
“It’s not,” I told him, sipping my drink. I didn’t know what it was but it was fruity and good.
Where we were gave us a full view of the rest of the club. “Me and Nazai been best friends our whole lives. You’re the first woman I’ve seen give him a run for his money though,” he mentioned.
This time I turned to face River. He was an attractive man—smooth chocolate skin, bulky frame, five o’ clock shadow that highlighted his chin.
“Do you have a point?”
He smirked. “Nah, just making an observation.”
I ran my eyes over him. “You’re considered his enforcer, right? The one that takes care of issues?”
His face straightened. “I’m his head of security, yeah.”
I tilted my head. “Mhm. For both businesses?”
River eyed me curiously but I made sure to give nothing away. Since I would be marrying into the Tavarez family, I wanted to play a part in the business, but it hadn’t come up yet. If I had to guess, River was the one who carried out the killings when they were needed. So I figured he was who I should talk to.
