She frowns. “I know what sin is. The Christian idea of bad behavior, yes?”
“Yeah, but the name of the club is Sin.” Chance rumbles another laugh. “It’s a well-named place. Basically, it’s an exclusive nightclub. Word of mouth only, meaning the only way to even know we exist is if you know someone who’s been in. It’s pretty much anything goes.” He eyes me, then leans closer to Anj, slinging an arm across the back behind her. “You’ll understand more when you start in the booth, but when I say anything goes, I meananything, babe. And that’s just in Sin, the two main floors off the club. There’s another lower level called Hel, and that’s invite-only, a paid membership area.” He eyes her. “Inez will break it all down for you in training.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Anj, honey, what he’s saying is you’re gonna see…a lot of shit you’re probably not ready for, to be honest. People are naked, having sex, doing all sorts of shit. Right in the club. Down in Hel, it’s even more anything goes. Gonna be quite an eye-opening education for you, that’s for damn sure.”
She looks at me with wide eyes. “People have sexual intercourse…in the club? In public?”
“Right on the dance floor,” I acknowledge.
“Am I meant to stop it? Or, tell you to stop it?”
I shake my head. “Long as it’s consensual, no. Basically, your job is gonna be to watch for fights breaking out and for women gettin’ harassed. Other than that, long as they’re not causing trouble for other people, anything goes in Sin. We look the other way. Rules are no fighting, and no means no. That’s it.”
She swallows hard. “I am not certain at all I am ready for this.”
Myka laughs. “Honey, you aren’t, trust me. I know I wasn’t.”
“You work here, too?”
Myka nods. “I’m a bartender.”
“Before you came here, were you…” she struggles with her question. “How do I say it?”
Myka smiles gently. “I was very sheltered. Very conservative Christian. No sex before marriage, no drinking, no rock music, no associating with anyone who wasn’t from our church. I wasn’t even allowed to date—I had tocourt. Like, chaperoned dates. So when I showed up here, it was the shock of a lifetime.” She giggles. “I haven’t been here very long, and I still get shocked silly, sometimes.”
Anjalee laughs. “If being sheltered and controlled was a competition, I believe I would win. I was not even allowed to leave my home without permission and guards.”
“Guards?” Myka asks, eyes wide.
“Oh yes. My father is very, very wealthy. I had guards. More to control me than to protect me, however.”
Chance catches my attention and jerks his head in an indication that he wants to talk. I bend over Anjalee and kiss her mouth softly, briefly. “Myka is good people, baby, in case you haven’t felt it. You can trust her. You can talk to her. She’ll get you.”
Myka’s eyes are on me. “Kane? Are we…are we okay?” Her hand goes to my shoulder, a touch of sisterly affection. “The way you left, it felt like you were upset with me.”
I catch her hand on my shoulder, squeeze it. “Yeah, darlin’, we’re good. It’s...it’s a story, but it wasn’t you, it was me.”
Anjalee leans her chin on my arm, gazes up at me. “It is very difficult for him to speak of it,” she says.
“Anj,” I murmur.
She looks at me. “It causes you pain, my darling. Would it not be easier if I told the story for you?”
I shrug. “I suppose.”
She turns back to Myka. “You very strongly resemble his fiancée, who died in an automobile wreck.”
Myka gasps, hand to her mouth. “Kane, oh god honey, I’m sorry.”
I frown at Anjalee. “Baby, you’re not givin’ ‘em the truth.” I feel the others around, listening, even the brothers. “Wasn’t just a wreck. And she wasn’t just some girl.” I rub my face. “Okay, I guess we’re doin’ this now. Broken fuckin’ home, right? That whole shit. Middle of nowhere, Montana. Dad beat me and my mom. I ran. Ended up at a ranch, the owner took me in. Gave me a job, a home, and a life. Cared for me like a son. His wife died before I showed up, so he was a single father to his daughter. Me and her, when we hit sixteen or so, started seein’ each other. I got bucked by a horse I had no fuckin’ business being on, got hooked on Oxy, and when I kicked Oxy, I started drinkin’ to control the pain. Drove drunk, got in a wreck, and killed her. I walked away without a scratch. Ran off, joined the Army, ended up in the Rangers and never went back.” I blow out a breath, the hard part done. “Anj dragged the story outta me. I’d never spoken a word of this to anyone, not fuckin’ anyone, not even in my squad. But Anj, knew her a matter of days, and she got it outta me. Basically forced me back to Montana, to face Luke, to face what I did.”
Myka frowns at this. “Forced you?”
I nod. “Ballsy move. I was all she had, her only ride, her only way of…shit, of anything unless she wanted to go back to her asshole fuckin’ father. Risked it all, risked me leavin’ her ass, or whatever, in order to force me to man up to the shit I’ve been runnin’ from for fuckin’ years.”
Myka looks at Anjalee with something like awe in her eyes. “Wow…that’s—wow.”
Anjalee shrugs uncomfortably. “It was obvious he was not…not fully himself. He was not all the way alive, do you know what I mean? The horrible things in his past, he refused to speak of them, to think of them, refused to go back to see Luke. It was…hehadto. I had to make him, somehow. So, I did.”
