Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
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The club is packed like usual. I’ve got my section plus half of Nicki’s. She had to go home because she was sick. If I’m being honest with myself, I’m not feeling all that well either. I’m just so tired. My body exhausted.
It’s been three days since Tyson fired Bethany, and I’ve overheard him talking on his phone about how hectic it’s been here. With her gone and another sick, they’re all having to pick up the slack.
I’ve been here for an hour and haven’t had a chance to breathe. I’m ordering some drinks from Beau, sweating my ass off in the packed club.
“Lake?” I hear my name being called out.
“Yeah?” I turn to see a blonde who I don’t know standing behind me. “Can I get you something?” I ask, wondering if she’s sitting at one of my tables.
“There’s a woman in the bathroom asking for you.” She points back at the hallway toward the women’s restroom.
I frown but leave my tray and turn to follow her. We make our way to the women’s restroom, and I open the door to see a familiar face standing in front of one of the sinks. “Bethany?” I ask, going over to her. “Are you okay?” My hands go to her arms. Her brown eyes meet mine, and she’s got a black eye along with a cut lip. “Jesus, what happened to you?”
“I need to speak to Tyson.” She crosses her arms over her chest, running her hands up and down her arms nervously.
“He’s not here,” I tell her, and she begins to cry. “What’s going on?”
“I messed up.” She bows her head, and her shoulders start to shake.
“What did you do, Bethany?” If she knows she did something wrong, then it must be bad.
“I’m … I’m sorry,” she cries, burying her face in her hands.
“How about we call him?” I offer. “You can talk to him, okay?”
“He won’t talk to me.” She sniffs.
“We’ll call from my cell. It’s in my locker. Come on.” I grab her hand, not letting her say no, and pull her out of the restroom into the flashing lights and pounding bass. We make our way down the hallway to the locker room, and we step inside. I open my locker and pull out my cell. “Here.” I pull up his contact, press call, and hold it out to her.
She sniffs a few times, trying to calm her breathing. Putting it to her ear, she shakes her head and hands it back.
I put it to mine. “You’ve reached Tyson. Leave a message.”
Beep.
“Hey.” I turn my back to her and take a few steps away to put some distance between us and lower my voice. “Don’t be mad, but I came to Blackout tonight to help while you’re out and I don’t know what’s going on, but Bethany is here and wants to talk to you. We’re calling from my cell, but I’m going to put it back in my locker, so when you call back, call the club. I’ll have her sit at the bar and wait. She’s crying and very upset.” I hang up and turn to face her.
“I told you he won’t talk to me.” She rubs the tears underneath her eyes.
“He’ll call back. Come sit at the bar while you wait to talk to him.”
“Lake?” She pulls me to a stop.
“Yeah?” I ask, looking at her.
“I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done.”
“It’s okay,” I tell her.
“No, it’s not. I wasn’t nice to you.” Her watery eyes drop to the floor. “I just … I just couldn’t tell him no.”
“My father?” I ask, trying to be supportive but also needing to know who the hell she’s talking about.
She shakes her head, wrapping her arms around herself, and I know she’s lying. She’s not going to tell me anything because she wants my husband.
“Who, Bethany?” I growl, getting irritated. Maybe she’s just trying to piss me off and doesn’t really want to talk to Tyson at all. “What did he want?”
The door opens and Starla enters. She runs to the trash can and begins to throw up. Once she’s done, she wipes her mouth with her hand. “Something is going around.”
“Come on,” I tell Bethany, pulling her out, and we push our way to the bar.
I know I’ve got everything out of her that I’m going to get. Tyson will have to get the rest. Thankfully, a nice man offers her his seat, and I tell her to stay right there while I add more tables to my section to help Starla.
FORTY-NINE
TYSON
We’ve just gotten out of town when I hear my cell going off and alerting me of a message. I see I had a missed call from Lake a while ago. I must have had bad service. We’re out in the middle of nowhere. I hit call to listen to her voicemail.
“Hey.” Her sweet voice fills my ear. “Don’t be mad but I came to Blackout tonight to help while you’re out and I don’t know what’s going on, but Bethany is here and wants to talk to you. We’re calling from my cell. I’m going to put it back in my locker. When you call back, call the club. I’m going to have her sit at the bar and wait for your call. She’s crying and very upset.”
“What the fuck?” Ending the call, I immediately dial Blackout and wait for someone to pick up. It rings until it stops. I dial it again. Finally, on the fourth ring, someone answers.
“Blackout,” Beau calls out into the phone.
I want to demand why the fuck my wife is there but he’s not going to know, so I get to the point. “Hey, Lake called me. Said that Bethany wanted to talk to me,” I say.
“Yeah, she’s at the bar. One sec. I’ll get her.”
“Ty-son,” her broken voice says moments later.
I refrain from rolling my eyes. Bethany isn’t my favorite person right now. “What do you want, Beth? And why are you at Blackout?” If she wanted to call me, she could have called me from her own cell. I’m not sure I’d answer, but she could have left a voicemail herself instead of using my wife. Bethany isn’t stupid. She knows how to use people to her advantage, no matter how well she’s able to play the victim.
“I’m sorry.” She begins to cry.
I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “I’ll be back at Blackout in a couple of hours. Stay at the bar, and I’ll come get you.” I left Alex and Jenks behind to keep an eye on the place, so I’ll have them add babysitting her to their duties. “We can talk in my office, okay?”
“Tyson?” Colton hollers at me, and I nod at him to give me a second.
“Bethany?” I bark out, not having time for this right now.
“It’ll be too late,” she whispers, sending a chill down my spine.
“What’ll be too late?” I demand.
Click.
“Bethany?” I shout out at the silence. Pulling my cell from my ear, I look at Colton. “I’ve got to go.”
“What’s wrong?” he calls out, he and Finn already heading toward me.
“Stay here. Get it done,” I order, and then I jump back into my car, starting it up. I squeal the tires heading back into town, praying that this is one of those times she’s just being dramatic.
I dial Alex’s cell, and he answers immediately. “What’s up, boss?” The sound of the music coming from the club makes it hard to hear him.