Fury flared in his eyes, and I could practically smell the desire to snap back at me. But his better sense won out, and his lips tightened, holding his insults at bay.
Smart boy.
"For your information, tonight was a one-time lapse in judgment after a shitty day, and it won't happen again. Once you're an employee of Copper Wolf Enterprises, you'll barely even see me again, let alone... anything more. I don't screw my staff. Not ever." I was firm on that rule. My position of power was strong, but even the strongest of leaders had been toppled after trusting the wrong person. Just ask my father, buried with my blade in his back.
Lucas's brow dipped with a frown. "I won't ever see you again?"
I shrugged. "I'm moving on soon to work on one of my new clubs; Zed will run this one until he appoints a manager. I’ll still come in occasionally to meet with business colleagues, but I certainly won't be here in any capacity as your boss, if that's what you're concerned about. I won't leverage my position to abuse yours."
His lips tightened, like that assurance had just angered him further.
I sighed, out of ideas. "Right, well. You're an adult, Lucas; you can make your own choices. Take the job or don't. But you won't get a better offer, and you damn well know it." I pulled a standard dancer contract from my filing cabinet and slapped it down on the desk in front of him. "Read it over. If you want the job, fill it in with your details and sign it. Simple as that. Zed will be back in ten minutes to see what you've decided."
I stood up from my desk and headed for the door, then turned to look at him over my shoulder. "A colleague always tells me: Make smart choices. I feel like you need that advice right now."
Lucas looked up at me, one brow raised. "What if I want to take the night to think on this? Can I sign it tomorrow?"
I gave another shrug. "If that's what you want."
A wicked smile crossed his lips. "So, if I'm not your employee until tomorrow... does that offer to go back to your place still stand?"
Surprise jolted through me. He still wanted to fuck, even knowing who I was? Or because of who I was? Ugh, this was the whole problem with my notoriety; it was impossible to know who was interested in me, Hayden, and not me, Hades. So I just used men and cast them aside before feelings could get involved.
Biting back a smile, I shook my head. "Sorry, that offer dissolved the second Zed outed me." I nodded to the contract. "Make smart choices, Lucas."
Leaving my office, I found Zed waiting in the hallway. He arched a brow at me, but I ignored him and made my way back downstairs to the bar. I needed more alcohol to numb all my bad decisions of the night.
"You know that's a fake name, don't you?" Zed asked as he followed me. "Lucas Wilder. Total fabrication."
I snorted a laugh, slid onto a barstool, and patted the one beside me for Zed to sit down. "Of course it is," I replied. "Just like Aphrodite up there." I smiled and waved to the beautiful blonde working the stage in a glittery G-string and a pair of devil wings.
Zed huffed but picked up the drink our bartender placed in front of him. "Was he a decent fuck at least? He's pretty enough to work upstairs."
I choked on my martini. Fuck. Why did the idea of Lucas whoring in my VIP rooms turn my stomach so much? It wasn't like I was ever revisiting that avenue, and he'd make bank with that massive dick of his.
"Front of house only, Zed," I growled. "Don't fucking test me."
My second just gave me a wry smile. "Yes, sir. You're the boss."
I rolled my eyes and took another sip of my drink. "Damn right." Not that Zed ever offered me the same fearful respect as everyone else. Not when we were alone, anyway. We'd known each other too long, and he knew I'd let him get away with almost anything, including calling me sir in that teasing way of his. No one else ever knew he was mocking me; they just assumed it was what I wanted to be addressed as. It’d caught on way too effectively, too.
Apparently executing a brutal, bloodthirsty massacre and personally slitting my father’s throat hadn't done shit to change the teasing dynamic between my best friend and me.
Well, not drastically, anyway. Zed and I were a long way from the close friends we used to be. He held a certain level of caution around me now, knowing how easily I killed. Everyone did.
Neither of us spoke for a few moments, then Zed ran his fingertip around the rim of his glass. "So. Cass, huh?"
I cringed. "Shut up." Of course he wasn’t going to let that embarrassing blunder be swept under the rug.
Zed's lips tilted in a teasing smile. "I just never picked him as your type. He's old and a gang leader."
I gave him a glare. "He's not old. He’s only eleven years older than me—eight years older than you—and in case you forgot, I'm also a gang leader."
"Well, yeah. Exactly my point. You start fucking Cass and the Reapers are going to start getting too big for their boots, you know? We've got a good balance going with the Reapers and the Wraiths." The don't fuck it up was implied.
Those two gangs had owned Shadow Grove for two generations, and normally having my Timberwolves moving in on their town would be cause for an all-out gang war. Luckily for me, I owned all their asses. The Timberwolves held a tight strangle hold over all money laundering across three states. Without keeping favor with me and mine, they’d have a shitty time trying to clean their dirty money.
Obviously, I knew it wasn’t smart to rock the boat now that we’d established a balance in power. But I also couldn't help the fact that I'd been fantasizing about licking Cass all over for way too damn long.
"Besides," Zed continued, clearly not finished berating my stupidity just yet, "he's so foul tempered all the damn time. In five years I don't think I've seen him smile once."
I had, though. Once. The first time I met him, when he didn't know who I was. He'd checked out my tits and smiled. Then I'd introduced myself as Hades and that was that.
"He looks like he'd be crazy rough in bed," I murmured, then cringed when I realized it hadn't stayed inside my own head.
This time it was Zed's turn to choke on his drink. "What?" he asked, blinking at me like I'd grown an extra head.
"What?" I shrugged. "I don't judge you for your kinks." Like how he loved fucking women in wildly public places where they could easily be seen. And were.
Zed just stared, then shook his head in disbelief and sipped his drink. "I never picked you for a sub, Hades. You legitimately ooze big dick energy worse than any gangster I've met. I can't imagine you giving up control in any situation."
I sighed. "Sometimes, Zed, I get tired. Sometimes I need a break from being me." I paused then added. "Doesn't make me a sub, though. Only makes me want Cass to throw me around his bedroom."
Zed grinned, saying nothing back.
"What happened to your pretty, young blonde of the week anyway?" I asked him, turning the tables. "Anastasia, right?"
He glared back at me. "Annika."
"Same thing," I teased. Of course I knew her name; I knew all of their names. But it annoyed Zed to no end when I pretended otherwise, so I kept doing it. "So? You're usually out with her at this time of night, aren't you? How come you're still here?"