She nods. “Yeah, he went to sleep right away. I think all this new environment stuff is still wearing him out.”
I nod because that makes sense. It’s been very, very strange having a kid in the house, but I don’t hate it. It’s just taking some getting used to. If it were any other kid but this one, one that means something to River, I probably wouldn’t like it at all, but as it is, we’re all settling into a new normal.
Knox fucking loves the little guy, entertaining him in ways that would probably have PTA moms freaking out. Ash gets along with him too, showing him card tricks that make the little boy’s eyes light up with wonder. Even Priest, who’s usually the stiffest and most reserved of the four of us, softens around Cody.
It’s not something any of us expected, but we’re making it work because it matters to River.
“Let me just change really quick, and then I’ll be ready to go,” River says.
She hops off the couch and runs upstairs to change out of the t-shirt and sweats she’s been lounging around in, and the two of us get in the car and head toward the club, leaving the others to keep an eye on Cody.
“Do you keep everything separate at Sin and Salvation?” she asks as we drive over. “Like, all the legit stuff stays on one side and everything else has its own side?”
“We try to,” I tell her. “There’s some crossover, just because sometimes we need money from one side to cover something on the other, but it’s better when it can all be separate.”
“In case someone gets too nosy?”
“Exactly. That way everything on our club’s books is legit, and if anybody ever digs into our business, they can trace all the money back to whatever legal source it came from. No questions, no doubt.”
She nods thoughtfully at that. “That has to make you pretty popular with people who want to use your services for the not legal stuff, right? Since there’s less chance you’ll get busted.”
I smile because she’s clearly excited about being more involved with everything, and she has good instincts where this kind of shit is concerned.
“Basically, yeah. We have a good reputation, and no one’s ever tried to call us out for shady practices or anything. It’s pretty safe to trust us to smuggle or launder or whatever else people need. There’s always something in this city.”
River nods again, and I know she understands that fact better than most. She’s had to rub elbows with or fight off a lot of the people who keep the criminal underground of Detroit alive and well.
We talk about some of the different things the other Kings and I have done on the more illegal side of our business, and I explain the different connections we’ve made because of it. Events like the one at Alec Beckham’s mansion are always good for networking and getting our name out there, and I tease her that one day it would be nice to go to one of those events and not end up in the middle of a shit storm.
She laughs, shaking her head. “Maybe the next one will be business as usual now that we’ve taken out the trash.”
“We can hope,” I tell her with a low chuckle. “I have ideas and plans for the future, and we’ll need people who can help us get there. Having that money from Julian will help us expand our empire.”
“Is that what you want?” she asks. “An empire?”
“We want to be major players,” I tell her with a shrug. “We want to have a solid foundation. So that if anyone wants to fuck with us, they’ll think twice because we’re not just a handful of thugs or something. We’re woven into both the legit community and the underground in ways that they can’t tackle without bringing shit down on them. That means stretching out our influence and trying to make moves that bring in more money and more power. We need powerful friends and people who owe us favors. And we need to have our hands in more avenues than the ones we’re in now.”
River nods, taking that all in. “That sounds like a good idea. And a great way to use the money.”
I glance over at her. “I’m glad you think so. I was thinking about opening a second club. It would give us more legit business and also another establishment that we could smuggle things through and use as a cover for other shit.”
She seems enthusiastic about that, drumming her painted nails against the center console as she tilts her head. “What made you decide on a club as a front in the first place?”
“I like the atmosphere,” I admit. “The way people can come and just move to the music and let everything else go for a little while.”
“Hm.” She scrunches up her nose. “You know, that’s not the answer I thought you’d give, but I like it.”
She grins at me, and I can’t stop my lips from curving up at one side. I’ve let River see my demons, just like she’s let me see hers. I guess there’s no harm in letting her see the other sides of myself I usually keep hidden.
We get to the club after another few minutes, and when I lead River inside, it’s packed as usual.
People are dancing and drinking, and the bass of the song blasting through the speakers thumps and thrums through the whole place like a pulse.
Usually, I head right to the back when I get here, ready to dive into a night’s worth of business and paperwork and whatever else is waiting for me.
I go to usher River back to the office, but she puts a hand on my arm, stopping me.
“Wait,” she says, grinning as she half shouts over the music. “Dance with me.”
“What?”
She pulls me to the dance floor, where there’s already a crush of people bumping and grinding and having a good time.
“Dance with me,” she says again, pressing her body against mine so that her tits rub against my chest.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I just... danced in this club. I’ve been too busy running the damn place, taking everything seriously and watching out for my family. It hasn’t left a lot of time for anything else.
I can feel the bartender, who knows me pretty well by this point, staring in surprise as I give in and pull River even closer to me, moving to the music.
It’s definitely not something the old me would have done, but I’m not that person anymore.
Because of the woman in my arms.
River laughs, a free, delighted sound, and starts moving her body to the beat. The song changes to a slower one, and something flashes in her eyes as her movements change with it. She works her hips, swaying with the beat, looking so damn sexy I can’t help but pull her against me so I can move with her.
It’s so easy to get lost in this. In the music and the way her body gyrates against mine.
She moves so freely, like she doesn’t have a care in the world right now other than grinding against me. It’s so far from how she looked before, either when she was tightly wound and angry at everything and everyone or when she was blank and numb right after her sister’s death.