WIth a Twist: (The Club #9) by M. Stratton, The Club Book Series Page A

massaging.
    She looked up at me briefly, her eyes filled with tears and then she looked back down. “Embarrassed.”
    “It’s not your fault.”
    “Doesn’t matter.”
    “Yes, it does. I don’t know if it is going to make anything better, but he’s done something like this before. His mind is twisted.”
    Starr shrugged and winced.
    “Here, let me help.” I started massaging the other arm. “We’ll get through this.”
    We both jumped when a scream came from the other room.
    “Tally,” I asked in a loud voice.
    “Oh, everything’s fine here, don’t mind the scumball’s screams. They’ll get weaker the longer I’m in here.” She hollered back to me.
    I turned back to Starr. “Do you want to move to another room? You don’t have to hear this.”
    She shook her head. “It might be wrong of me, but I want to hear him suffer.” Again, her eyes flitted to me and then away. “You say he did something like this before?”
    “Yes.”
    “Is she… did she live?”
    “Yes, she did.”
    Starr took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “That’s good.”
    We fell into silence and listened to Tally.
    “Do you understand how pissed off I am?”
    “Fuck you, whore,” Ricky spat.
    “That’s Mistress Whore to you.” We heard a thud and he screamed again. “You were my employee.” Thud. Scream. “I trusted you.” Smack. Scream. “You dared to do this in my club.” Slap. Scream. “Have you not been paying attention? I take this place very seriously.”
    I had no idea what she did this time, because there was no sound except a pain filled scream like I had never heard before.
    “Hurts, doesn’t it,” she barked. “You picked the wrong place to get caught.”
    As more screams filled the air, I looked down at Starr, who had tears falling down her face. “I can shut the door.” I started to get up, but her hand on my arm stopped me.
    “No. That’s not why I’m crying.”
    “Tell me. I want to help.”
    “I’m crying because you are here with me, taking care of me, and Tally is in there making sure he won’t hurt anyone else. I’m crying because I survived.”
    “That you did.” A voice said from the doorway.
    “Jet,” Starr whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
    “Stop.” He walked over to stand by the side of the bed and looked down on her. “You are our employee, we are the ones who failed you.” He looked at me and raised an eyebrow, hearing Ricky’s screams coming from the bathroom. “I told you to wait for me.”
    “I don’t know Tally very well, but have you ever told her to wait?”
    A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. “Fair point.”
    He turned and walked away toward the bathroom. The next sound we heard was a gunshot. We both jumped and looked at each other with wide eyes.
    “Damnit Jet, why did you do that?” Tally asked.
    “We really don’t have time for you to play.” His calm voice drifted to us.
    “There’s always time to play if you do it right.”
    We could hear his sigh from where we were laying and the silence that followed.
    “Fine. You do whatever it is you need to do about him and I’ll clean up. I’ll also see if I can shift the rooms around. I don’t want anyone in this one until we can make sure there is nothing left of this asshole in here. We’re also going to need a couple of bartenders for tonight.”
    “I’m sure we could find someone to fill in. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to have the suits more visible.”
    “I’ll work on it.”
    Jet walked out of the bathroom and looked at both of us. I knew this was going to be a defining moment for us.
    “No one will ever know.” I said to him. I wanted him to know that I fully understood the rules and I was fine with everything that happened today. If it ever came down to the safety of someone I love and having to kill someone to ensure they’d always be safe, I’d make the same choice over and over.
     

Chapter Seventeen
    Starr
    One Year Later
     
    My hands shook as I attempted to secure