Chapter 22: Carmine

Becca's POV

5 hours later, Nathan and I pull up in front of a club with music blaring out of it and a long line of sweaty bodies standing in line and looking all giddy to get in but Nathan and I casually walk up to the bouncer who waves us in without a second glance.

"what do you think?" Nathan shouts into my ear as we become completely immersed in the bass blasting out of the speakers.

"seems a little bit redundant don't you think. I mean what kind of idiot names his club carmine and then uses carmine lights?" I reply as Ryan and Isaac make their way over to us

"where's prince charming running off to?" Isaac asks as I turn around to find Nathan gone

"I have no idea. All I did was give him my opinion on the club" I say and from the devilish grins on their faces, I can immediately tell that something's up

"guys this couldn't by any chance be his club right?" I ask as dread soon starts to fill my heart

"Don't sweat it, Becca, if he calls off the engagement you can always get married to a more handsome person," Isaac says smugly so I decide to squash his balls in the worst way possible

"You're right," I say with a look of glee on my face which makes him smirk right up until I turn right around, and in the mass of sweaty gyrating bodies I kneel and look up at Ryan "Will you marry me you big, beautiful teddy bear," I say to Ryan and as expected he immediately looks around frightened as hell but its too late because up in one of what I'm thinking is a VIP booth Nathan looks down at us and the minute Ryan's eyes meet his, the giant guy starts shaking in his boots.

"oh shit" Ryan mutters under his breath as the glass in Nathan's hand is crushed and the look on his face is purely monstrous.

"We better head up there," Isaac says as he visibly gulps at the sight of the pure rage portrayed on Nathan's face.

I lead the way as we are ushered up by a large burly bouncer but as we reach the door I decide to go in alone to prevent the deaths of two of my friends because even I know that I've pushed him over the tipping point.

I open the door to find Nathan in front of a first aid box bandaging his hand. "hey babe," I mutter out as he caries a stern look on his face.

"you know we were just joking down there right?" I say to him as I approach him slowly.

"you have absolutely nothing to be worried about," I say to him as I cradle his hands in mine and look at him with a reassuring smile which he doesn't return but I still take over and rearrange his messy work and start to properly clean and dress the wound.

"where did you learn to do that?" he asks as he finally breaks the silence which causes a little smile to break out on my face

"I had a lot of injuries growing up, I fought a lot and eventually my grandmom decided that I should be the one to stitch up my own wounds," I say as I tighten the wrapping.

"I totally don't see why" he jokes sarcastically with a smirk and he's paid for his troubles when I dig my knuckle into the deepest cut on his hand which he totally deserved.

just then I hear the sound of machine gunfire and my hand immediately moves to the scalpel in the first aid kit as I throw it at the source of the sound which just happens to be the speaker in the corner of the room.

"I swear I told him not to play anything with gun sounds in it," Nathan says as he looks at me apologetically.

"it's alright" I reply as I try to calm my heartbeat and he tries to offer some support by holding my hands. "wait how did you know?" I ask after I finally manage to get my heartbeat under control.

"it wasn't that hard. The first time you tried to shoot me I thought your hands were shaking out of our emotion but after you winced when I shot those two guards I put two and two together and knew immediately that although you know how to shoot you prefer not to cause you have a problem with guns" he says calmly as his thumbs gently caress the back of my hands.

"look who's becoming a little Sherlock Holmes. I hope you don't expect me to stroke your ego now do you?" I reply hoping that he catches my drift and changes the topic cause honestly, I don't want to have to talk about why I hate guns.

"Trust me, honey, there's nothing little about me, and yes I do expect you to stroke my massive throbbing ego," he says as he leans in and captures my lips and honestly seeing as this might be the only time we get to be alone together I really don't mind stroking his ego.

I straddle him on the sofa as we start to claw at each other's clothes but as usual, the universe acts against me as just then someone bursts in.

"Boss we have a situation with the DJ," he says as he looks away so that we can rearrange ourselves.

"Handle it yourself," Nathan says authoritatively as he tries to unzip my gown again.

"But boss he took some stuff in the toilet and he's fucking wasted" the messenger emphasizes with urgency

"babe, go handle it," I say reassuringly as I place a kiss on his perfect lips which are now in a sad pout "I'll be alright. I'll just go down there and dance for some time" I say as I make a move to go but he grabs my hand and spins me back into his lap before placing a long kiss on my lips "No dancing with any of those shitfaced guys down there alright?" he says to which I nod kiss drunk.

I go down and dance for a while until I notice that Isaac and Ryan have been blocking every guy who tries to approach me, which is very mature of Nathan, who has also been monitoring me from his perch in the sky.

"I'm guessing twiddle dee and twiddle dum over there work for the creepy stalker in the rafters?" a voice suddenly says into my ear and I turn to find a really gorgeous lady looking right at me with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"yeah they actually do" I reply but that doesn't seem to phase her at all cause she grabs my hand and timing it correctly we make a beeline for the little ladies room.

"what was that for?" I ask with a chuckle as I imagine how much Ryan and Isaac are going to freak out when they can no longer find me.

"well, I'm very sure you wanted creepy stalker down there on the dancefloor with you and there are only two things that ever motivate men quickly; jealousy and worry. I'm guessing the latter is the quicker one for your man" she says matter-of-factly as she touches up her makeup in the mirror.

"that actually makes a lot of sense," I say before leaving the door and heading for the sink while she heads into one of the stalls.

I bend over to wash my hands and as I come up my eyes catch a glint of metal from the corner of my eyes and I dip my head back down as my right leg comes up and twisting my whole body I use a backheel kick to relieve my new friend of her pistol.

"I really thought this would be too easy but I'm delighted that you can fight. makes killing you even sweeter" she says as we face each other and without wasting time she dives right in with a series of kicks which I block before leaping back and out of her striking range. 'thanks for the pointlessly spacious bathrooms babe' I think to myself as I appreciate the space to maneuver and retreat so I can plan my moves.

"did I kick you that hard?" she says as she pulls me out of my thoughts "you can blame it on the Kegels. I've got mad thigh strength," she says with a creepy smile on her face before jumping right back in with her kicks which I continue to block and then her hand comes out of nowhere with a blade clutched in her fist and I move back to avoid it but the marble of the sink digging into my back blocks my escape route and her blade continues approaching my neck but just then the door bursts open and Nathan walks in causing her to instead place her blade up against my neck as she holds me in front of her body like a meat shield.

"drop it, Serena, this is between me and you. there's no need to involve her" Nathan says as he tries to aim his gun at the psycho behind me who he apparently knows.

"that's where you have it wrong Nathaniel. all members of the family have to be present for a family meeting. and besides, I am allowed to meet my replacement again, aren't I? or do you forbid it, husband?" she says as once again I'm left thinking 'what the actual fu....'