Read Online Taken by the Beast (The Conduit Series Book 1) by Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley
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commands from some man who didn’t even know how to work a damned ice machine.
Yes, there were things going on here. Things I didn’t know about, and things that I
did
. There were reasons for me to stay in this town. Dalton, for one, and for two, well … Abram.
Ugh
.
I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall beside the symbol door, tilting my head back. I was here for Lulu. That’s why I came in the first place, even if most days it felt more like she was helping me. But I promised I would be here when she had her baby, and if for no other reason, that was why I would stay. I certainly wasn’t going to run away just because some asshole told me I should.
I moved back to the club’s main area, deflating as I surveyed the mess. Dalton aside, this club had been the only bright spot in my last few weeks. Fixing this dive up—making it a place people wanted to be—filled me with a sense of purpose that I hadn’t felt since Mom died.
That’s when I knew what I would do. Instead of
telling
Abram what I was thinking, I would
show
him. I would fix this entire place up and let him see for himself that I was stronger than whatever dangers he feared for on my behalf. He might have been ready to throw in the towel, but I wasn’t. We would worry about the rest later—add security, do a night of free admission to show this place wasn’t a murder barn … whatever necessary, we would do it. But Milan-be-damned, this club wouldn’t be left for dead.
Mom didn’t raise a quitter and, soon enough, Abram would know that, too.
Chapter 8
It took three phone calls and all of forty-five minutes to get help putting The Castle back together. I would have liked to give myself a huge pat on the back for proving myself to be a competent and effective manager (if that was even what I was anymore), but the truth was, for all the upper crust snootiness New Haven had garnered in the last decade, work was still few and far between—which meant the lowly middle class couldn’t turn away employment opportunities. Even if those opportunities happened to be at a murder scene.
I couldn’t, of course, actually do any of the refurbishments until the police tape officially came down. And since that wasn’t happening for a day or two, I had plenty of time to load up on supplies. Unfortunately, the only décor store I could find that didn’t have the word ‘Barn’ in the title was a good fifty miles away, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me.
It was that want for supplies—or, more precisely, the hunt for the perfect replacement tables—which had me on the road that night.
I should have gone earlier, but Lulu had woken up short of breath and, as the designated freeloading best friend, rushing her to the emergency room fell under my jurisdiction. It was just gas (thank God), but when you’re that preggers, they apparently have to run three dozen tests no matter what brings you to the hospital.
By the time I got her back home, fed, and safely in bed with Jack snoring in the next room, the sun had already set.
I thought about putting the trip off until tomorrow. I even thought about asking Dalton to come with me. It could be a date, of sorts. But I was behind schedule, and if I was going to be serious about this, then I needed to get a move on, and Dalton would have been … distracting.
I cut onto the main road, my mind firing off one stressing thought after the next. Things were supposed to be simpler here. This was supposed to be the place I could chill out and start over after my mother’s death.
But here I was, dating one man, thinking about another, and strutting down a runway surrounded by an ever-growing audience of dead bodies that looked unnervingly like me.
Why was I doing this? I never wanted to run a nightclub, and I sure as hell didn’t see myself settling down in New Haven.
I pressed harder on the gas pedal, accelerating as though I was already making a run for it from that miserable town. But there
Yes, there were things going on here. Things I didn’t know about, and things that I
did
. There were reasons for me to stay in this town. Dalton, for one, and for two, well … Abram.
Ugh
.
I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall beside the symbol door, tilting my head back. I was here for Lulu. That’s why I came in the first place, even if most days it felt more like she was helping me. But I promised I would be here when she had her baby, and if for no other reason, that was why I would stay. I certainly wasn’t going to run away just because some asshole told me I should.
I moved back to the club’s main area, deflating as I surveyed the mess. Dalton aside, this club had been the only bright spot in my last few weeks. Fixing this dive up—making it a place people wanted to be—filled me with a sense of purpose that I hadn’t felt since Mom died.
That’s when I knew what I would do. Instead of
telling
Abram what I was thinking, I would
show
him. I would fix this entire place up and let him see for himself that I was stronger than whatever dangers he feared for on my behalf. He might have been ready to throw in the towel, but I wasn’t. We would worry about the rest later—add security, do a night of free admission to show this place wasn’t a murder barn … whatever necessary, we would do it. But Milan-be-damned, this club wouldn’t be left for dead.
Mom didn’t raise a quitter and, soon enough, Abram would know that, too.
Chapter 8
It took three phone calls and all of forty-five minutes to get help putting The Castle back together. I would have liked to give myself a huge pat on the back for proving myself to be a competent and effective manager (if that was even what I was anymore), but the truth was, for all the upper crust snootiness New Haven had garnered in the last decade, work was still few and far between—which meant the lowly middle class couldn’t turn away employment opportunities. Even if those opportunities happened to be at a murder scene.
I couldn’t, of course, actually do any of the refurbishments until the police tape officially came down. And since that wasn’t happening for a day or two, I had plenty of time to load up on supplies. Unfortunately, the only décor store I could find that didn’t have the word ‘Barn’ in the title was a good fifty miles away, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me.
It was that want for supplies—or, more precisely, the hunt for the perfect replacement tables—which had me on the road that night.
I should have gone earlier, but Lulu had woken up short of breath and, as the designated freeloading best friend, rushing her to the emergency room fell under my jurisdiction. It was just gas (thank God), but when you’re that preggers, they apparently have to run three dozen tests no matter what brings you to the hospital.
By the time I got her back home, fed, and safely in bed with Jack snoring in the next room, the sun had already set.
I thought about putting the trip off until tomorrow. I even thought about asking Dalton to come with me. It could be a date, of sorts. But I was behind schedule, and if I was going to be serious about this, then I needed to get a move on, and Dalton would have been … distracting.
I cut onto the main road, my mind firing off one stressing thought after the next. Things were supposed to be simpler here. This was supposed to be the place I could chill out and start over after my mother’s death.
But here I was, dating one man, thinking about another, and strutting down a runway surrounded by an ever-growing audience of dead bodies that looked unnervingly like me.
Why was I doing this? I never wanted to run a nightclub, and I sure as hell didn’t see myself settling down in New Haven.
I pressed harder on the gas pedal, accelerating as though I was already making a run for it from that miserable town. But there
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