Paradox (Unearthly Paradox Series Book 1)

Chapter 26

"Ah, no, I'm not calling him. You can wait like every other person here." He pointed at the line.

I cringed as I thought about what I was going to have to say. I was totally into commitment, but the G-word made me squirm. "I'm his girlfriend, and I really think he'll be okay seeing me."

The girls snickered. "Yeah, you wish, honey," one of them said.

The bouncer crossed his arms. "If you're his girlfriend, then why don't you just call him?"

Groaning, I threw my head back in frustration. "He's not answering."

When I looked at the bouncer again, he was completely fixated on my pendant. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise." He unclasped the rope and stood to the side.

So the branding was useful after all. If I'd known that would work, I would have flashed it like a badge from the start.

The girls gave me dirty looks as I walked past them. I smiled to let them know there were no hard feelings. Yeah, right. That was just my bitchy side coming out to play.

The bouncer called to the cashier, "She's right to go on through."

As I entered the club, my heart fluttered with the beat of the music resonating through my body. Sweaty people were packed like sardines on the dance floor. I didn't see any beers or cocktails, only water bottles. Those people were there for drugs.

Standing against the wall, I scanned the room. I spotted a window above the bar that looked pretty fitting for the owner's office. A set of stairs to the far right seemed promising.

Making my way through the drug-fuelled bodies, I headed that way. At the top of the stairs, I entered a long room with scattered sofas. A bar at the opposite end had about half a dozen people milling around it. I looked around for a door to the room I'd seen from below, but there wasn't one.

Walking up to the bar, I hoped I wasn't going to have to go through the same thing as I did downstairs with the bouncer. As I got closer I realised that the bartender was the same girl who had come to my house to see Jett and been shut down. Then I remembered that she hadn't seen me that day, but the girlfriend card probably wouldn't go over very well with her.

"What can I get you?" the bartender asked once she'd finished serving the group before me.

I made sure my hair wasn't covering my pendant. "Um, I need to speak with Jett for a moment. Do you know where he is?"

She looked me up and down, her eyes stopping on my necklace. She sucked in a slow breath, then a smirk spread across her face that I wasn't sure I liked. She motioned toward a waist-high swinging door that led into the bar area. "Sure. Come this way."

I went around and pushed through it then followed her through another door behind the bar. We entered a short hallway.

She pointed at the door at the opposite end. "That's his office in there."

Her evil smirk only grew bigger as she turned around and walked off.

The closer I got to the door, the more my stomach churned. I was worried what she was so eager for me to see. Memories of my last boyfriend crept to the forefront of my mind. He had cheated on me, and I wondered if I would walk in on Jett doing some girl.

I knew I wouldn't find out by standing in the hallway. I thought about knocking, but then I remembered all those times Jett had come into my room without an invitation. I opened the door and saw a bullet enter a man's forehead just as I heard a muffled pop. He dropped to the floor, blood oozing from the hole in his skull. I slowly shook my head, not wanting to believe who had pulled the trigger.