"You look nice," Dante commented as I breezed through the back door.

"Listen, I took full advantage of not having to wear my uniform tonight," I said, smoothing my hands down the front of my black dress. It hugged my figure like a second skin, with sheer panels slashing in from the sides to show off just a little bit of my stomach. My hair was down for once, and Devyn had insisted that I curl it for the party. Since it wasn't something I often did, not something Vincent had ever seen, I decided to go for it. If for no other reason than to surprise him.

"I was being serious," he said, a grin on his face as he hefted a box of liquor in his arms. He jerked his head for me to follow up. "The is the last of the stock for their bar tonight. You're early, you can help me finish setting up."

We trooped out into that main part of the club. Anthony and Ember were behind the main bar, and they both waved at me as we walked through. Scurrying in front of him, I held the door open onto the main floor for Dante. He gave me a look of gratitude before heading off to the far left of the club. Past the seating that adorned this side of the room, there was a hallway that led back to the private rooms. For the most part, they were rented out for things like birthdays, bachelor and bachelorette parties, and business parties. And now, apparently, gang networking.

Although I guess that could technically be classified as a business party.

I let out a derisive snort at my own thoughts, and Dante glanced over his shoulder at me. When he raised an eyebrow in question, I just shook my head at him and continued to follow him back to the very end of the hall. Holding the door open for him again, I let my eyes adjust to the darkness of the room before moving in as well. The room Lucas had chosen was one of the biggest, with a private bar and dancefloor, as well as table seating. Trying not to roll my eyes, I kicked the door shut behind me and made my way to the bar.

With Devyn and I both working the party, I was guessing it would be a sinch. We had worked parties together for as long as I could remember, and they were more often than not some of our best nights. Even if there was a lot on the line tonight, I was still going to be glad to get to watch the guys let loose. They all deserved it.

Within the hour, Devyn had made her grand appearance. A smile tugged at my lips when I noticed what she was wearing.

"Did you tell me to wear this dress just so we would match?" I asked as she sidled up next to me.

"Maybe."

"Yeah, okay." The dress she was wearing was damn near identical to the one I had on. The one that she had selected out of the three options I had sent her earlier in the day.

Her red painted lips pulled back in an almost feral grin. "I figured you lucked out with the bangers, maybe I could too."

Dante dropped his head back and gazed at the ceiling. "Give me strength," he grumbled, shooting Devyn a cross look as he finished counting the money for our drawer.

Before Devyn could pop off at him, the door to the hall opened. Four men ambled in, but it was only the one bringing up the rear that I cared about in that moment.

My breath caught for just a moment. Then the relief swept through me, and I knew I was beaming.

I hadn't seen Vincent in days. And to see him up and walking without so much as a wince, it was like a weight I hadn't noticed was lifted off my chest. The fact that he looked utterly devastating in his black button down and slacks wasn't doing anything to help my racing heart.

Those forest eyes met mine, and it was like tunnel vision hit. I couldn't hear or see anything else. I'm not sure which one of us moved first, but it only took a few steps for us to meet in the middle. My arms slipped around his waist, and he gathered me into him. One hand slipped into my hair to cradle the back of my head, and the other constricted around the small of my back. I could feel the steady beat of his heart underneath my cheek, and my eyes fell closed. His chest rumbled with a soft laugh as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

"I missed you too, princess."

"Are you feeling up to this?" I asked, pulling back enough to meet his eyes again.

"Brandon gave me the green light. He wouldn't have let me out of bed if he thought it was going to affect my recovery." His eyes rolled as a smile twitched at the edges of his lips. "It's been a fight to keep what went down under wraps. If I wasn't here tonight, it would raise too many questions. It could make me look weak, and that's the last thing we need right now."

"Fair point," I muttered, scowling. I brushed my fingers over where the injury should be. I could feel one small bandage, but that was it.

"I'm okay, Juliette," he assured me, tipping my chin up so he could meet my eyes again. "I promise."

"Jules," Dante called, a lazy drawl to his voice. It broke me out of the bubble I had placed myself in with a jolt. Still fully enveloped in Vincent's arms, I glanced over my shoulder at my boss. He made a sweeping gesture towards the bar, indicating I should probably get to work.

"Duty calls," I said, twisting back to face him.

He grinned, his entire face lighting up with the movement. "Don't let anyone here tonight give you a hard time."

"Do I ever?" I asked, brows arching.

"No," he responded, leaning down until his lips brushed the shell of my ear. "It's one of the reasons I fell in love with you."

My entire body flushed, but I knew the crimson decided to settle in my cheeks. Vincent's eyes tracked it with hunger shining in them.

"You're lucky I love you, too. Asshole," I muttered. I went to turn away, trying to extract myself from his grip. But I didn't make it a step before he was hauling me back to him. With a gentle grip on my chin, he slanted his lips over mine. In an instant, all of my ire was gone. I melted into him, content to let reality slip away.

But only for a moment.

Someone cleared their throat next to us. When I pulled away enough to glare at Lucas, he just smirked at me. It was ten times more infuriating than the puppy-dog grin he normally gave me. I opened my mouth, but he stopped me with raised hands. "I know, I know," he said. "Twenty-seven, right?"

"I hate all of you."

"It's not nice to lie, sugar."

I swatted at him before spinning on my heel and heading over to Devyn and Dante. Devyn had a coy smile on her face as she polished a glass, and Dante looked like he was fighting the urge to laugh. With pursed lips, I decided to ignore them. With more force than I probably should have used, I knocked my hip against Devyn's as I walked past. She cursed, dropping the glass that she had been polishing.

Dante heaved a sigh at the same time the glass shattered against the floor.

"The broom is in the back," he said.

Devyn's glare was acidic. I stuck my tongue out at her for good measure before heading into the back closet Dante had indicated to clean up the mess I had made. If this was any indication of how our night was going to go, it couldn't be over fast enough.

* * * * *

"Can you grab another bottle of tequila from the front?" I called to Devyn a few hours later. I had just poured the last of what we had with us, but from the way the people attending were guzzling it down my reprieve would more than likely be short lived. "And anything else we need."

"You sure you'll be okay?" she asked.

Glancing around the bar to see that everyone was taken care of for the time being, I nodded at her. She gave me a thumbs up before maneuvering her way out from behind the bar. As she headed towards the door to the main part of the club, she snagged Brandon's arm and tugged him behind her. He shot me a bewildered look, and I gave him a smile of encouragement. If she was planning on fully restocking what we had used so far, she would probably need the extra set of hands.

A flash of blonde hair caught in my periphery. When I turned, I wasn't surprised to find Lucas leaning against the bar, his chin propped on his hand. His eyes were a little glassy, and he gave me that damned puppy-dog smile. "What do you want?" I asked, trying and failing to keep the amusement out of my voice.

"Just wanted to see how you two were doing. Making sure no one is giving you any trouble."

"We're fine, Lucas. Stop hovering."

And hovering he had been. Besides Vincent, one of the guys had been within ten feet of the bar all night. Having been around them so much, I knew exactly what they were doing. It wasn't like they were being sneaky about it. For once, I didn't fight it. I knew how tense it must make all of them to have me here, amidst the men and women that ran their part of the city. And I also knew why Vincent had been keeping his distance. Even if it killed me to be in the same room with him and not be able to be with him, I understood it. Tonight was all about finding out where allegiances lied. Especially after what had happened last weekend. The last thing that we needed was for Vincent's enemies to figure out he finally had a pressure point.

While I was fairly certain I could handle myself in most situations, when it came to what someone would do to me to get a rise out of Vincent, I wasn't so sure.

So, I had stayed behind the bar and acted as professional as I could. For the most part, I acted as if I didn't know any of them outside of being regular patrons of the bar. But the drunker the boys got, the more they were forgetting that they weren't supposed to know me.

Case in point: the golden retriever posted up at my bar.

"Seriously," I told him, whipping my towel at him. He winced when it caught him in the shoulder. "Get out of here before you start drawing attention."

"They'll just think I'm hitting on you," he said, leaning closer with a playful glint in his hazel eyes.

"I know someone who would throttle you for even suggesting such a thing."

"He'll get over it."

"Get over what?" a new voice inserted.

"Nothing," Lucas and I chorused, snapping our attention to Vincent. His eyes were narrowed on his second in command, but there was laughter dancing around the edges of his mouth.

"Can I get you anything?" I cut in, batting my lashes at him with faux innocence.

He bought it about as much as I expected him to. "If you could just top this off instead of flirting with my men, that'd be appreciated."

My blood heated. There was a darkness in his voice, the same one I had grown addicted to. I knew he wasn't fazed by whatever 'flirting' I had been doing with Lucas. It was all for show. Just big, bad Vincent Monroe putting the bartender in her place. With a tremendous amount of restraint, I kept myself from letting my eyes roll. Instead, my gaze met his. I could see the softness that he reserved just for me reflected back for a moment. Letting my lips tip up in a smile, I nodded at him. He attention switched to scanning the room when I turned to grab the bottle of scotch.

With the bottle in hand, I moved back in front of him. Something in the far corner of the room seemed to have taken up all of his focus. In the seconds it had taken me to return, the Vincent I loved had been masked behind the ruthless gang leader once again. But when I went to take his glass from him, he caught my wrist with his opposite hand. In one swift tug, he had me stretched across the bar and his lips at my ear.

"I need you out of here, now."

"Okay," I breathed, backing up enough to pour the drink before placing it back in front of him. "What happened?"

Lucas perked up at our shift in demeanor. It seemed as if I blinked, and he was stone-cold sober. Had the drunkenness all been an act?

"There's someone here," Vincent said. Whoever it was, his eyes tracked their movement. "Someone I thought was dead."

"Who is it?"

"Later," he said, voice murderously soft as he glanced back at me. "I don't want you anywhere near him. Get home. I'll be there as soon as I can, and I'll explain everything."

"I'll tell Dante," I said, taking the money he handed me. When I turned to cash him out, I let my own eyes take in the room. It was fit to bursting with people, and the lights had been dimmed to almost nonexistent once the guests arrived. Most of the light came from the pulsing neons above the small dance floor. Whoever it was that Vincent was seeing, I couldn't make them out. There wasn't anyone that seemed overly suspicious to me, but I was also significantly shorter than half of the people in the room. Once I had the change in hand, I spun back to Vincent with the same placating grin I gave to all my customers. "Your change, sir."

His eyes sparkled. Even with whatever was going on, at least I could still amuse him. When he took the change from me, he let his hand linger on mine. He entwined our fingers for half a heartbeat, giving me a reassuring squeeze before he stepped away from the bar. Lucas stepped up to his side and clapped him on the shoulder. Together, they melted into the mass of people and headed in the direction Vincent had been staring.

Devyn and Brandon reappeared moments later. Sure enough, Brandon's arms were laden with bottles of liquor. If I wasn't wound so tightly, I might have found it funny how easily he let Devyn boss him around.

"What's wrong?" she asked, stopping in front of me as she set down the two bottles she had carried.

"I have to go," I said, keeping my voice low as I busied myself with washing a few glasses. "Brandon, find Lucas and Vincent."

Brandon's spine stiffened as he took in the look on my face. "How bad is it?" he asked, worry lighting in his eyes.

"Someone's here," I explained, nodding in the direction the boys had headed. "They might need you. Send Arkin over here. He hasn't been hovering as much as you and Lucas. If they've got Vincent's hackles up enough to ask me to leave, I don't want Devyn alone."

There was something to be said about the fact that he didn't question me. With a nod, he finished placing the bottles on the bar and headed off to find the others. Maybe there was some merit to them being 'my men' now too.

"Are you okay?" Devyn asked, coming up beside me.

"For right now," I said. "Are you going to be okay if I leave?"

She arched her brow at me. "These men won't let anything happen to me." Her lips quirked up at the corners as she gave me a sly smile. "They'd have to answer to you."

Laughing softly, I pulled her in for a quick hug before making my way out from behind the bar. In an effort to make it look like I had a reason to leave, I took a rack of extra glasses we hadn't ended up using with me. Making a point to not look for any of the men, I left the pulsing music of the party behind. The main part of Tuxedo was just as crowded as the back room, and I had to maneuver myself around close-packed bodies more times than I cared to count on my way to the bar. As I approached, Anthony spotted me and hustled to swing the door separating the bar from the floor open.

"Do you need help?" he asked, already making to take the rack from me.

"I'm good," I said, giving him a broad grin. "How's everything going tonight?"

"Good. It's not like working with you, but Ember's catching on quick."

My eyes strayed to the girl in question. As if she felt our attention, she glanced over her shoulder at us. Her gaze caught mine and she gave me a small wave. Since I couldn't wave back, I shot her a smile and a nod. She had fit in as if she had always been there, and if Anthony was singing her praises, she had to be good.

But I had more important things to worry about than our newest trainee.

"Dante in the back?"

"Yeah, he was muttering in his office about whatever party you're working just a bit ago."

"Thank you."

Ignoring the question in his eyes, I pushed through the doors into the kitchen. The door to Dante's office was wide open, light spilling out into the dim hall in the back. The glasses clinked together as I set the rack down. Dante must have heard me, because he was in the doorway before I had even crossed the kitchen.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Not sure," I admitted. I grabbed my purse and clocked out. "Vincent said someone was here. Whoever it is, he demanded I head home."

"Shit." Dante sighed, letting his head fall back against the doorjamb. "Wait here."

Curious, I did as he asked. For once.

He headed out behind the bar. From where I stood, I could just make out him talking to Anthony through the window in the swinging door. They exchanged few words, and then Dante was back through the door and breezing past me.

"Well, let's go," he said.

"Go where?" I asked, scurrying to keep up with him as we made our way out the back door.

"I'm taking you home. Heaven knows what your boyfriend would do to me if he knew I let you walk."

Sighing, I followed him to his car. I was also steadfastly ignoring the way my heart skipped over the mundane term. Boyfriend. Was that what he was? My eyes rolled at my own thoughts as I climbed into the passenger seat. Whatever label we decided to put on it, it all meant the same thing. He was mine, just as I was his.

And I wasn't going to let anything threaten that.

_________________________________________________________

Alright guys, I'm warning you now. Updates might slow down just a little from here on out. We have officially caught up to where I am writing wise. I'm going to try to continue to upload each week, because that means I'll finish the story in a decent amount of time. Thank you all so much for all of the support - from both my new and old readers. Without you, I probably would've given up on writing a long time ago. A

As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you think. What's going on in that head of yours?

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Erin