What's Your Poison

23 - Anytime. Anywhere.

Jade

Iron jerked his head at me as he strode through the bar. I didn't hesitate, tossing down the dirty glasses I was stacking on the bar. His wide strides had me rushing after him and I was wide-eyed by the time I met him in his office.

"Prez?" I hovered in the door and he waved an impatient hand at me.

"Sit." A man of few words, but this one sunk deep in my stomach. He settled into his chair with a beleaguered sigh, carding his hand through his salt and pepper hair.

"Is there something wrong?" I found it hard to get the words through my strangled throat. Since they had decimated Savage Sons, I had felt a lightness I'd forgotten. But right now there was tension hijacking every thought. I worried at my lip, replaying my performance at the bar and wondering if it had been satisfactory.

"You've been running our bar for a while now. How do you think you've done?" One thick eyebrow inched up in challenge. My tongue was thick and unwieldy as I sought to find the answers I wanted.

"G-good. Right? I love working at the bar." I let myself be honest, even though my chest ached. It had been the first time in my life I'd found the feeling of success on my own. Not through pleasing a man with my body. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but my heart needed something new. Something I'd clawed through on my own. I'd made this bar my own. Iron let out a deep sigh and some of the brightness in his eyes dimmed.

"You've done amazing things. And the club is lucky to have you on board." My heart sank at his stilted words. I think he thought he was being complimentary, but Iron was never good with flowery words.

"But you're done with me?" My shoulders drooped, and I swallowed the bitter aftertaste that hit the back of my throat. Iron reared back, his eyebrows slamming together.

"No. No. Shit Jade." He stuttered, losing his cool for once. I stared at him with a shuddering sigh. This was the first place that felt like home to me and now I had to move on? Say goodbye to all the club girls who were like family to me? I don't know why it hurt so much, I should have expected it. But the idea of packing up my things, never being behind the dark wood bar again, had my stomach turning. My eyes widened slightly. Did he want me to become a club girl again?

I considered it for a brief, electric moment. But I couldn't go back to that life. Untethered after fleeing my dad, it had given me a sense of control. I found confidence in my body, pleasure and power in a small way. There was strength in commanding the hungry gaze of bikers. They could snap me in two, but responded to the crook of my finger.

Mission flashed into my mind, the imaginary puff of his hot breath on the back of my neck. Would he be the one waving me over? Settling me on his muscular thigh and taking what he'd been chasing me for? A tingle went through my body, heat building between my legs.

"I don't think I could be a club girl anymore." I admitted, and Iron's face twisted up even more.

"Look, I'm getting this out all wrong. Coral is ready to come back and as an old lady she gets priority." He waved his hand as I stiffened. "But this place is getting crowded, and I've wanted to expand for a while. So Sleepless Knights have invested in another bar, you know Hanks? We've been working on getting it finished. I want you to manage it. Think you can handle it?" He scrubbed his hand over his face. My stomach flipped, twisted and launched in the air at his words.

"There's an apartment at the top of the bar and you're welcome to move in there."

I rounded his desk and threw my arms around Iron's neck with a squeal. He batted me off with a growl.