98

Ava nervously looked at herself in the full-length mirror. The white pantsuit she had on was beautiful. The neckline was plunging almost down to her belly button; the back was bare with two lace panels going down each side, and the pants war split down the front of each leg with a sheer layer of fabric showing. Making it look halfway between a pantsuit and a dress. She truly loved it. Her problem was trying to decide if it showed her slight baby bump, or if it looked like her normal curves. 

“I love this on you, easy access,” Caine told her as he walked up from behind, encircled her with his arms and stuck a hand underneath the front part. Ava smiled but tried to batt his hand away. 

“Can you tell I’m pregnant?” she asked. 

“No, angel. If it did, I wouldn’t have let you wear it. I still might not. There is a whole lot of skin showing,” he huffed. 

“Put your cave man back into storage, honey. You need me to look good for tonight,” she pointed out. 

“True. I just don’t see why you can’t do it in a burlap sack or something.” She laughed. It was just what she needed to ease some of her nerves. 

“I love you,” she told him and he smiled and kissed her. 

“I love you too. Are you ready to do this?” he asked. 

“Sure,” she agreed, and she saw him put on his determined scowl and he put his hand on her bare lower back and guided her out of their room. They walked down the stairs and met up with Jax. Linda wouldn’t be joining them, as her official status in the organisation was new, and she had a standing in the medical field to consider. They tried to limit her exposure to the practical parts of running things. Ava, on the other hand, had no issues being Zane’s woman in any part of his life. Her work in Gabriel’s and her company already had strong ties to Zane’s organisation and Zane had figured that Ava would be safer if people knew she was his wife. No one dared cross him, not after what happened to Johnson and his organisation. Ava had become used to the official meeting between the different mafia families. The only thing Zane had never asked of her again was acting as his pet. The dynamic of their relationship was one thing; Zane was dominant and Ava was submissive, but she knew Zane would rather watch his organisation bur to the ground than for them to play the part of master and pet again. He helped her into the car and got in after her. Jax got in from the other sida and she was sandwiched between the men. 

“Do we know why they had asked for the meeting?” Ava asked, feeling a little foolish for not asking the question sooner.

“No, they gave some vague reason of wanting to discuss shipping routs,” Jax huffed. 

“You will stay by my side. If something happens to me, you will stay by Jax side,” Zane began.

“I know, I know. And if something happens to him, I’ll stay by one of our men’s side,” she said, nodding her head. They had gone through this every time she joined him.

“It’s important, angel,” he told her.

“I know, Zane. I will do as we have decided.” She got a quick kiss on the forehead from him.

“And no flirting,” he added.

“Both brothers are somewhat of ladies’ men,” Jax offered. 

“Well, the two of you should know how to spot them since you used two be two of the biggest,” Ava calmly said with a smile. 

“Reformed,” Jax pointed out.

“And happily married,” Zane added. 

“Such a coincidence, so am I,” Ava told him, wiggling her ring finger where her two rings glistened. 

“Don’t forget it,” Zane growled and tugged on the pendent on her collar. Ava smiled. Her collar was more significant to her than her engagement or wedding ring. The rings stood for the official union of their life, the legal part. But the collar had been the commitment between the two of them that she would always be his. 

“I won’t,” she promised as they pulled up to the club. She was happy Zane hadn’t asked Ryder to drive at a snail's pace. Zane and Jax got out and Zane helped Ava out of the car. With her in the middle, they walked inside, right past the long queue of people hoping to get into the club. As soon as they entered the club, Mario, the manager, walked up to them.

“Mr and Mrs Velky, Jax,” he greeted them. “The brothers and their guards are up in a VIP room,” he informed them. 

“We’ll head up to my office, send them up in twenty minutes,” Zane told him.

“Thank you, Mario,” Ava added as they started to walk away. He smiled at her. Before they got to the stairs, two blond men with three bodyguards walked up to them. Ryder appeared in front of the men and blocked their way forward. 

“Mr Velky, I was under understanding we had a meeting?” one of the blond men said, looking at Ryder. The two men were twins, and they looked almost identical. Ava felt the eyes of every woman in the club, focusing on the groups facing off. Both sides had sexy men who looked to come straight from a wet dream. As one of them was Ava’s man, she was more than aware of the attention. 

“We do, in an hour,” Zane pointed out.

“True,” the other blond man admitted. “The myth about this place had ous curios, and we decided to get here early. I see the myth is true. There are angels walking amongst mortals in this place,” he added, looking at Ava with an appreciative look. Ava looked back at him with uninterested eyes. He might be a blond hunk of yum, but she had Zane. Other men were like beautiful silk flowers when you have the real living plant to enjoy. They could never compare. 

“My wife do frequent the club regularly as she is an owner,” Zane agreed. The thumb of the hand he had on her bare back gently rubbed against her skin. 

“I can understand why you settled down,” the first twin said, giving Ava the same look his brother had. Ava saw the smirk on Zane’s face. She knew he was balancing on the edge of enjoying the fact other men coveted what was his and being furious they were ogling her. She sighed heavily.

“Are we done? Have you had a close enough look? I thought we were here for business, but if we are here to look at each other’s assets, I’m going to need you to start stripping to give me something to look at,” Ava told them. The men fell silent as both Zane and Jax chuckled. 

“I’ll strip for you when we get home, angel. Let’s head to the office and our guests can join us when they pick their jaws up from the floor,” Zane told her. H picked up her hand and placed a kiss on it before putting it in the crook of his arm and led her toward the stairs. 

“Brilliant. Did you see how you got them off balance in two seconds?” Jax happily whispered as they walked. Zane grinned. 

“I always forget how useful you are,” he told Ava.

“It’s because you let your protectiveness control you, honey,” she pointed out. 

“Don’t we all,” Jax sighed as they walked into the office. The twins and their bodyguards weren’t far behind. Zane walked Ava to their places behind the desk. A second desk chair had been placed next to Zane’s. Usually, Ava preferred to spend her time on the comfy couch when she spent time in the club office. But today they needed to be more official, so she took her seat in the extra office chair as Zane sat next to her. Jax leaned relaxed against the window behind her shoulder and Ryder walked over to the private bar and poured drinks for them. He handed them out to everyone. 

“Your rum and coke, Mrs A,” he told her. 

“Thank you, Ryder,” she said. 

“Don’t got a taste for the good stuff?” one of the twins asked as he sipped his scotch. Ava gave him a sweet smile as she sipped her coke, without rum. 

“I don’t need to prove my manliness by burning my tastebuds off, as we all know I’m not a man,” she told him. 

“I can attest to that,” Zane said, picking up her free hand and kissed it. 

“We don’t doubt it and I think we have learned not to underestimate her,” the other brother said, eyeing Ava with more caution. It made Ava feel confident.