I scraped up the last of my warm cobbler, then pushed my bowl away. “Well then, I guess it’s time to pay Roslyn a friendly visit.”

Finn grinned. He and Roslyn had been special friends for years. That is, they often met for dinner, drinks, and a night of hot, sweaty sex when they weren’t seeing other people. Sometimes, even if they were.

“Oh, goodie,” Finn drawled. “A field trip.”

24

24

It was a little after one when we pulled into the parking lot of Northern Aggression, which was located in Northtown, as befitted its name. By eight o’clock tonight, high-end cars of all makes and models would fill the lot, and a long line of eager men and women would be waiting to get inside and satisfy their desperate desires.

But on this cold November afternoon, the nightclub looked like some anonymous warehouse. A big, gray, metal box you’d find in any one of Ashland’s industrial parks—except for the enormous rune over the door. A neon light shaped like a heart with an arrow through it perched above the entrance to the nightclub, marking it as something out of the ordinary. The pierced heart was Roslyn Phillips’s personal rune and the symbol for her club. From previous visits, I knew the sign would flash red, then yellow, then orange when it was turned on. But right now, it was just a hunk of metal and glass hovering above the door.

“The place looks deserted. You’re sure Roslyn’s here?”

I asked. “I thought she stayed home during the day and watched her niece, Catherine.”

Finn shrugged. “Not today. She said she was here looking over the books since it was getting close to the end of the month. She’s expecting us.”

“Marvelous,” I murmured.

We got out of the car and headed toward the entrance.

The front door was locked, so Finn rapped on it. His knuckles made a hollow, ringing sound on the reinforced steel door. A few seconds later, something clanged, like a security bar being thrown back, and the door rattled open. Xavier, the nightclub’s head bouncer, stuck his head outside. The giant looked even larger, wider, and stronger in the weak afternoon sun than he had at the Pork Pit when he’d arrested Jake McAllister a couple of nights ago.

His dark eyes flicked over Finn, then me, then moved back to Finn.

Finn knew exactly what was expected. He smiled and stretched out his hand. Xavier shook it and palmed the offered C-note with surprising grace for someone with hands as big as a melon.

The giant grinned. “Always a pleasure to see you, Finn. Come on in.”

Finn and I stepped inside, and Xavier shut and locked the door behind us.