Kyle Sanders, one of my best friends and computer tech for the company, came over with his grey eyes wide with a gleeful smirk. “Out of the office for the day? That doesn’t sound like our CEO. What gives, man?”
Heath Richards, my child hood best friend and owner of multiple body shops in the tri-state area, joined us tilting his head to the side. “You have someone on your mind,” he says in his deep leveled tone.
I couldn't help but run my fingers through my hair and over my chin as flashes of Nina rushed through my imagination. Memories replayed like a broken record, and I never wanted them to stop.
“I met somebody,” I told them with a nonchalant shrug.
“And you didn’t think to bring them to your celebration after spending the entire day with them?” Chelsea’s expression told me she found that hard to believe. “Was it Poppy? I saw the way she looked at you.”
I sighed with a shake of my head. “Poppy would leave me for dead and rob me blind if she could. She just didn’t want to sell me her company, but it’s the best offer they’re going to get.”
“You really want her client list, don’t you?” Kyle chuckled.
“It’s the only thing of value Tipping Point has. If their employees were worth their weight, they wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with. We’ll bring in their clients, evaluate their assets and portfolios, and take it from there. Whoever we can grow, we’ll keep and whoever’s dead in the water, we’ll stick them in a fund and pass the fund off to whoever wants the management fees.”
My brother raised an eyebrow, “I know you said something important. I understood all the words you said but together as a statement, you lost me. Enough about work and business and mutual funds. It’s your fucking birthday! I have the next few days off. Let’s fucking party!”
Chapter 5
Nina
The line outside of The Velvet Black was wrapped around the block as the car service I ordered pulled up to the lounge. I didn’t feel like leaving my house, but when Morgan and Dylan insisted I meet them tonight, I knew it was non-negotiable. I threw on a little black dress that molded to my curves like glue with a pair of six-inch stilettos I’d worn once and met them at the lounge.
I sashayed toward the door, where a collective cloud of groans and people sucking their teeth engulfed me. Blue, the world’s largest bouncer, sat on a stool outside the door with his beefy arms folded across his chest. He eyed me up and down while shaking his head.
A slick grin spread across his face, “You always fine as fuck, Nina.”
I smiled, “Thank you, Blue. How’s your night goin’?”
“Boring,” he sighed. “Just the way I like it. Don’t go jinxing me, either. Next thing you know, I gotta knock a motherfucka out and then I’m in the precinct all night telling stories and filling out paperwork.”
I raised my hands with a smirk. “I wish you a continued boring evening. Where’s Dylan?”
He held his finger up as he pushed a button on his earpiece before he spoke into it. A few seconds later, he turned to me, “Balcony suite G with Morgan.”
He moved out of the way to let me inside, much to the disappointment of everyone standing there waiting to get in. I heard Blue shouting to the crowd, “Shut the fuck up before I clear this whole spot out. Y’all can go home!”
Inside Velvet Black was a small dance floor with big velvet couches lining the area, a bar lining the entire left side of the room. The DJ and entertainment took up the rear and the right middle side were bar top tables.
Tonight was a simple DJ playing some early 90s hip hop. Bodies swayed back and forth to the beat while I pushed through the crowd, making my way toward the staircase. There was a long hallway behind the DJ that led to the bathrooms and a back exit. The staircase was at the end of the hallway.
An eerie feeling settled over me. Even with the music blasting, my heart pounded against my chest. The sound of my racing pulse engulfed me. My skin crawled like there were a thousand bugs scaling my body and I couldn't shake them off. I pushed the thought out of my mind, convinced that a shot of any kind of alcohol would make the feeling go away.
I looked over my shoulder in time to see a figure move out of my line of sight, but I promised myself I was imagining things. Imagining things because it could have been a zombie, a serial killer, or just someone looking for the bathroom. When I felt cold fingertips grip my shoulder, I yelped and turned around to see my girlfriends, Dylan and Morgan, standing there.
“Girl!” Dylan clasped her chest, “What the hell is wrong with you?! You get lost or something? Blue said you were on your way up like ten minutes ago!”
Dylan Hall stood about an inch shorter than me, but she was thick with hips and curves for days! She kept her hair in a bob and dyed platinum blonde, which only enhanced her light brown eyes. She owned the Velvet Black and wasn’t a woman to be toyed with. The amount of worry in her eyes told me I needed to explain what had me so jittery.
“I swear I feel like someone’s following me, but it’s probably my imagination,” I told her with my heart still pounding against my eardrum.
Dylan sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes, “Ain’t nothin’ gonna happen to my girl in my spot!”
Morgan grabbed my hand and pulled me behind her while Dylan charged toward the end of the hall from the direction I just came. She pulled out a walkie talkie from her cleavage and yelled into it over the booming music, “Get me one, eight, and six to do a sweep of the corridor and DJ booth. Tell Blue to stay on the door.”
Dylan walked into the men’s room before she came out with a smile on her face. “Nobody in there, Nina. Come on and let’s get a drink in you.”
I followed my friends into the corner suite area, bass boomed against the window. People danced and swayed while Dylan poured me a drink. A small table sat in the center of the space with a bucket of ice and Dylan’s favorite vodka.
