She nearly whimpered. “No touching from me. Got it.”
“I touch a lot, Sammie.” I trailed my fingers down her arm. “Is that okay?”
“More than.”
I straightened and circled her chair. “The typical rules are you pay for one song. Since this is your first time, I’m going to throw in another and really enjoy myself. How’s that?”
She took out her wallet and handed it to me. “Just take it all.”
I grinned at her eagerness and dropped her wallet on the couch with the shot glass. “I don’t want to leave you broke, Sammie. How would you come back and see me?”
I walked over to the curtain and caught Jacob’s eye. In charge of music, he knew what I liked to dance to. As soon as he nodded at me, the first few beats of bass came through the room and I turned back to face Sammie. I was going to make her first time the best time, if I could help it.
I left the room fifteen minutes later, feeling like the sexiest woman on the face of the earth. Sammie had been dazzled and amazed, and quite quick to admit it. I wasn’t in the business for the compliments, but they didn’t hurt. I glanced back at the red room before heading into the back and found Sammie staring after me with her hand over her heart. She grinned at me and I laughed before going through the door.
Getting changed quickly into something a little more covering, I hurried back out to the bar and took over my section. Almost faster than I could handle, my section filled up and I was slinging drinks out. Another plus of being an old pro. The clients knew me and knew that I knew what I was doing. They were more than happy to wait an extra minute or two to get through the crowd to get a drink from me.
I raked in the tips and ended up leaving for home that night with well over a thousand dollars. I left the money in the leather bag I carried and hid it in an air vent in my house until I could run it to the bank on Monday.
I lived in a part of the city that wasn’t the best. It definitely wasn’t the worst, but no one was surprised when houses got robbed or people were mugged. It’d only taken me once to learn my lesson. After my house got broken into and I lost close to four thousand that I’d left out, I didn’t make that kind of mistake again. I’d been broken into since, but the fuckers had only gotten pocket change.
I had plans of my own. I wasn’t trying to fund some asshole’s criminal lifestyle. I didn’t want to be a stripper for the rest of my life, and unfortunately, there was no retirement plan for us at The View.
A banging noise rang out from outside my house and I pulled the thin curtains aside to see my neighbor, Maude, hitting the side of my house with her cane, from her house. That’s how close our houses were.
I lifted the window and gave her a look. “Maude. It’s three in the morning. Why are you awake?”
She lifted bushy eyebrows at me. Her mouth turned down and a waterfall of wrinkles decorated her tanned face. “You know I can’t sleep when you’re out working.”
“I work late every night of the week, almost, Maude. You never have trouble any other night.”
“I worry about you.”
“What do you want, Maude?”
“Why do you always assume I want something?” She pulled a cigarette from who knows where and lit it. “I’m just an old lady, Cookie.”
I rolled my eyes. She tried to get money from me at least twice a week. She wasn’t as old as she looked. She’d been hooked on drugs for years, though, and involved in a pretty serious car accident that had left her with a limp and a cane. Both of those things made her old-lady bullshit easier for some people to believe.
“Maude, I’m closing the window. I need to get to bed.”
“Fine. I need fifty dollars. My check was short this month.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have money for you, Maude. Plus, I already heard from Ellen. She said you spent your money on some sort of glass jar.”
“You never give me anything. You’re a stingy bitch—you know that?” Her scowl was prominent as she waved her cane at me. “I shouldn’t help you out as much as I do.”
I laughed and started lowering my window. “Let me know when you start helping me out, Maude. See you later. Get to bed.”
I closed the window, even as she was shouting at me. That was the thing with Maude. She had no use for anyone if they weren’t giving her money, but because she was so high all the time, she couldn’t remember who gave her money or not. She started out each interaction nice, just in case.
She hit my wall a few more times, but I ignored her. She’d wear herself out before she could actually annoy me.
I sat down at my kitchen table and kicked the phone book under the short leg more to the center so it stopped wobbling. My lone chair creaked, but I powered through. I had math to do.
Pulling the tiny notebook out of my purse, I added the night’s loot to the subtotal. I was getting closer to my dream. Snapping the notebook shut, I put it back in my purse and shoved my purse into the stove. I never cooked anything in the rusted-out hunk of metal, so my purse was safe there.
My own bar. I was closer than ever to being able to buy a place. I’d be my own boss and keep my clothes on for a change. Life was going to get better. I was almost there.
Chapter 3
Vince
Shit, I felt like death. I stepped out of my truck and shut the door a little too loudly. My head rang and I winced hard at the feeling of a drill cutting into my skull. My brain felt like it was being mixed up in a blender, but Lauren had called bright and early about meeting a new client. The team was spread thin, so there was no such thing as calling out with a hangover. Even if that hangover was the worst one I’d felt in years.
Lauren was standing by her car, looking in the side-view mirror at herself. Her eyes cut to me and her mouth fell open. Standing up straight, she waved her hands around and shook her head. “Nope. You can get back in that truck and go to the office. What the hell happened to your face? How are we supposed to make people feel safe when you look like that?”
I touched my eye. “Is it really that bad?”
“Yeah! It’s really that bad! Jesus Christ, Vince.” She ran her hand through her ponytail and exhaled loudly. “Okay. It’s fine. You look like you got your face punched in by a giant, but it’s fine.”
“You should see the other guy.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s not funny. You’re not funny. We have enough going on with Mercer right now that that kind of humor will make me rip your head off and toss it into a fucking lake, Vince. I’m not kidding. I’m one more joke away from killing you. You want me to kill you? Is that something you’re interested in?”
I twisted my lips in an attempt to hide my smirk from her. I didn’t want to piss her off. Not really. “Chill out, Lauren. It’s fine. I’ll explain the bruises and it’ll be no big deal.”
She scowled at me for a few seconds more and then nodded. “Fine. Come on. I don’t want to be late.”
I was opening my mouth to tease her again when the sound of an approaching truck grabbed my attention. I glanced back to see Mercer’s truck turning the corner and coming closer. Behind the wheel, he looked tense and unhappy, but when he got out and moved over to stand with us, he worked his face into something more relaxed.
“What are you doing here? We talked about this, Mercer.” Lauren glanced at the house behind us and swore. “Here they come. Fucking great. Mercer, I’m going to add killing you to my list. Shit, you’re all a mess.”
I looked down at my shoes and grinned to myself as Lauren turned on her charm and greeted the young woman and older man with a bright smile and kind words.
“Hi! You must be Jade. I’m Lauren and these are two of the men who make up Black Dog Security. Mercer and Vince.”
I looked back up at the pretty woman and grinned at her when she winced at my face. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
“What happened?” Her soft voice was barely over a whisper. As soon as she asked the question, she covered her mouth and took a step bac
k, into the man behind her. “Sorry.”
My blood turned heated when I realized she was scared of me. Someone had done a number on her. She’d obviously been taught to not ask questions. “It’s okay, Jade. I was working on my truck and the hood slammed on me. It’s really not as exciting as it looks. Kind of embarrassing, actually. I’m thinking I should tell people it was a shark attack.”
She smiled and looked a little more at ease. “Definitely a shark attack.”
Mercer stepped forward and shook her hand. When her eyes moved down to his prosthetic leg, he shrugged. “Shark attack?”
Jade actually laughed and stood up a little taller. “Come in. We can sit at the dining-room table to talk about everything, I guess.”
Lauren hooked her arm around the woman’s elbow and beamed at her. “That sounds great. I love your hair, by the way. Do you get it done by someone in town?”
I tuned them out as I scanned the outside of the house and neighborhood before going in and doing the same to the inside. Mercer did the same. It was in our nature to assess the danger of a situation immediately.
We entered Jade’s small house. The front door opened into a little foyer that split off into the open kitchen and living room on one side and the dining room on the other. It was a nice house, a bit old, but nice. It was clear that the place had been cleaned to within an inch of its life. The smell of Lysol still hung in the air.
The older man stood back and held out his hand to me. “George Marshall. I’m Jade’s uncle. I’m the one who told her that she needed you guys.”
I shook his hand and nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
Mercer stepped closer and shook the man’s hand. “Thanks for calling us.”
“Thanks for coming. I’m so worried about Jade. That ex of hers is something else. I don’t feel safe leaving her here alone, but I work out of town a lot. I can’t keep an eye on her the way I need to.”
Jade cleared her throat from the entryway to the dining room. “Can I get either of you something to drink? Water? Tea?”
Mercer and I both shook our heads and then we were all at the table, staring at Jade, who wrung her hands in front of her and made a whole lot of effort to not make eye contact with any of us.
Lauren reached over and put her hand on top of Jade’s. “Hey, it’s okay. We just want to help in any way that we can. You tell us what’s been going on and we’ll work out something that fits for you.”
“I can’t afford this. Uncle George, I don’t know what you were thinking.” She pushed her hair away from her face with shaking hands and sighed. “I can’t afford anything. When Jamie left, he took everything I had with him. It’s only now that he’s spent it all that he’s coming back around.”
George huffed. “I was thinking that I’d pay to keep my only niece safe. I know you want to be independent and everything, but you need help.”
“How about we talk about what’s happened so far before we get into the money side of things?” Lauren smiled peacefully at both George and Jade. “Can you tell us what’s happened that makes George think you need security?”
Jade chewed on her bottom lip and sighed. “Sure.”
After a few drawn-out seconds of silence, I cleared my throat. “How did it start?”
“It started when she let that loser move in so soon after meeting him. He was a bottom feeder from the start.” George grunted. “Sorriest excuse for a man I’ve ever met.”
“Uncle George!” Jade’s cheeks were burning red and she’d started picking at the skin around her nails. “It wasn’t like that.”
Lauren sent a pointed look to me and Mercer. “Why don’t you two walk around with George and get an idea of the layout of the property? See what we’d need if Jade decides to hire us on.”
George started to protest, but Mercer stood up and clapped the man on the shoulder. Mercer’s dark, brooding face didn’t leave much room for argument. I just smiled and followed the two of them as they left the room and went back outside.
“She’s not going to tell everything to Lauren. She’s scared, but she doesn’t realize how serious this all is. She doesn’t see Jamie as the monster that he is.”
I spotted a scorched stretch of earth as we made our way around to the back of the property. “Then you tell us. We can share notes with Lauren back at the office.”
George nodded and stopped in front of the burnt land. He nudged the edge of it with his dress shoe and scowled. “He did this. He dragged Jade’s books out here and burned them all.”
“Her books?”
“She loves to read. If she could stay inside and read all day, every day, she would. She had books everywhere. From floor to ceiling, from wall to wall. She finds them everywhere. If we’re out and pass a yard sale, she makes me stop to see if there are books. Doesn’t even matter what they’re about.” He knelt in front of the spot and grabbed a handful of the ash. “This is all that’s left of her whole collection.”
“He burned her books?” I made a face. “Are you sure he’s dangerous and not just a petulant asshole?”
He stood back up and dusted his hands off against each other. “He poured gasoline on her the same night and tried to drag her back here. The only reason he stopped was because she screamed so loud that her neighbor heard and came running over.”
Mercer scowled at the ground and shook his head. “Why isn’t he in jail?”
“He swore that Jade must’ve poured gas on herself. He didn’t do it. He’d only burned the books to get back at her. He would never hurt her. It’s all bullshit. The judge believed everything he said, though. He got fined for the books, but that’s it.”
My teeth ground against each other as I glanced over at Mercer. What kind of system were we working with when that abusive asshole got to get away without anything more than a slap on the wrist, but Mercer was being charged with murder?
As if he was reading my mind, Mercer looked up at me and the ice in his gaze was chilling. He rolled his neck. “Tell us more.”
George continued to walk around the property and tell us everything while Mercer and I listened and took it all in. It was enough to convince me that Jade needed help. When we got back inside, Lauren had the same look on her face.
It wasn’t much of a conversation after that. Jade was overwhelmed by George into believing that she needed us and that he’d pay for everything. While Jade went to the kitchen to take cinnamon rolls out of the oven, we talked with George about what the house needed and how much it would cost. He didn’t blink at the price. Before Jade got back with the rolls, we’d already agreed and he’d set up a time to stop by the office and sign the contract. We were scheduled to start working the next day.
On the way out, Lauren looked at Mercer and then at me. “She’s in trouble.”
Mercer pulled his keys out of his pocket and grunted at her. “Yeah, she is. I’ve got to get over to let Tucker off duty.”
Lauren’s eyes turned heated. “I thought you were going to take a backseat with the firm?”
“Why? So I can sit around and wait to go to prison?”
“No; because you’re currently being investigated and charged with murder. It’s not exactly the best look for the firm.” She huffed and snapped her head around to me. “I’m not being mean. We’ve had this same conversation about a thousand times. I’ve lost all patience for the talks of him needing rest and to get some peace.”
“No, it’s not bitchy at all for you to tell me I’m an embarrassment to the firm and shouldn’t be around the place I fucking started.” Mercer was clearly gearing up for a heated argument.
I wasn’t in the place to play moderator for them, though. They could fight in their own time, on their own. A client’s yard wasn’t the place. “Hey. You two. Go back to wherever you need to be. We should get out of Jade’s yard before they think they need security against us.”
They both silently agreed to finish the argument later and got in their separate vehicles. I followed them out and stopped by m
y favorite coffee shop on the way to the office. I had a feeling I was going to need lots of caffeine to handle my day.
Chapter 4
Vince
Mercer and Lauren had fought all day long about his role with the firm. He wanted to be hands-on and stay busy. She was worried about him, so she claimed that it didn’t look good to have him working right now, with the charges against him and all.
Everyone but Mercer knew it was because she was crazy about him. She was terrified that he was going to get hurt. Or have more ridiculous charges lodged against him. I’d never seen her so tense or freaked out. Every time she took a call when she couldn’t see Mercer in her direct line of sight, it was like she was taking the call. It wasn’t like she hadn’t taken one of those calls before. Her brother, Luke, had been one of those calls.
The fighting was draining on everyone, though. Most of the guys got to escape it; they had reasons to go home as soon as they could. Every one of them, except myself and Mercer, had found significant others. While they all fled to their girlfriends, Mercer and I just sat together and stared at the wall with the schedule on it.
The picnic table we sat on was uncomfortable after a while, but we just kept sitting there, frozen in place after a day of hectic energy draining us.
I didn’t want to fade away in the night like that, though. There was no going slowly into the night for me. I needed more; I needed excitement and something to keep my mind going.
Glancing over at Mercer, I saw that he was wincing and rubbing his knee. “How about we go to a bar and get some whiskey for that ache?”
He looked like he was going to turn me down, but then he saw Lauren coming out of the offices, glaring at him. “You know what? Whiskey would do me some good.”
I grinned. “That’s what I like to hear, brother. Come on. I’ll drive.”
“This doesn’t mean I’m joining the get-fucked-up-and-take-a-woman-home club that you like so much.” He winced even more as we yelled goodbye to Lauren and walked out the back door.
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