by Alison Mello
“The problem is he isn’t screwing with the club. His guys are. If we catch them in the act, they go to jail, not him.”
“I know, but I also know there’s more to that club than just stripping. He told the guys to only show me what I needed to see. He stressed the word needed. I’m just not sure what the more is.”
“It could be anything from drugs to prostitution, but you need to be careful. I don’t care about what he’s doing illegally in his own club. I care about him coming after you and our club. Don’t go fishing around for info on anything more.”
“Oh, I won’t. I have no desire to get mixed up with a guy like him.” I put my plate in the dishwasher and tell him I’m ready to go.
We pull up to the club in Stone’s truck. He parks off to the side, but not too far from the door. I grab my briefcase and take a deep breath before climbing out of the truck. When I get to the door, Benny is there. He opens it, letting me in. “Mr. Higgins is waiting for you.” He gives me a dirty grin as he escorts me through the club.
When we approach the table there are bagels, muffins, and pastries sitting there waiting for me along with coffee, but Mr. Higgins isn’t here. I turn to Benny to question him when Mr. Higgins approaches. He takes my hand and kisses it yet again, but this time I pull it away. “I’m sorry, but that is not appropriate. We are in a business relationship, let’s talk business.”
He snarls at me, and he painfully takes my hand one more time, pressing his lips to my knuckles and growls, “I’ll decide what’s appropriate, not you.” He takes a seat. “Sit down.” His voice is stern and demanding. Once I’m seated, I pull his folder from my bag. “Have something to eat.”
“No, thank you. I already ate.”
“Why would you eat when I told you I would have breakfast for you?”
“Because I’m on a very specific diet that doesn’t involve foods such as this.” I wave my hand over the food. “Plus you never asked if there were foods I couldn’t eat. What if I have a gluten allergy?”
“Fair enough, be sure to email me all of your likes and dislikes for future meetings.”
I shake my head ignoring him. “What did you want to discuss?” I question.
“Well, since you had my boys removed from Club Heat, they didn’t get to really check out the place to see how we compare. Therefore, I had no choice but to go with your ideas and to paint the back rooms. We’re closed until Thursday evening, and they will be done by then. Once I’m sure the paint is dry, I will work on furniture.”
“First, I didn’t have your boys removed. The club owner did. I’m not sure what makes you think he wants his competition roaming around his club. Second, I gave you ideas based on what I thought was best for your club. That’s what you hired me to do, and while I’m at it, let me just say this. Yes, you have a high priority over my clients because you are paying us good money to take care of your club. That doesn’t give you the right to rule me.” I can see he’s seething. I’m willing to bet there aren’t too many people who talk to Randall Higgins that way, but I’m pissed and I’ve had enough of his bullshit. “Now, do you want to see my idea for the party or do you want continue on with this banter?”
“I chose you,” he says with such anger. “I want you and only you in my club, so while you’re right, we need to move onto business, we will continue this conversation later. I want to hear what you have to say, and it better be good, because right now, I want to put you over my knee and smack that plump ass of yours until you can’t sit for a week.”
Fuck, this guy is such an asshole. Thank god Stone is sitting outside. I’ve already been in here for about ten minutes, so I need to get a move on or he’ll be busting through that door. I open my folder. “My idea is a masquerade party. Your girls will wear elegant masks such as these. You can pick whatever attire you want to match them, but when they strip they go down to the mask, but the mask never comes off. I’m willing to bet your choreographer can come up with some sexy, sly, vixen-like routine to go with it.”
“I’ll talk to her about it. As you know she’s only just started working with my girls, and I’ve hired a few new dancers to get them ready for this big party.”
“Good, have you come up with VIP pricing for the back rooms yet?”
“No, but I have some friends that are reaching out to some clients that used to be regulars here to let them know we’re making some changes and offer them special pricing for those rooms for that one night.”
“Fair enough, however I will still need pricing for the website. You’re going to want that to be a big part of the promo if you want high class clients knocking down your door.” I pause for a second. “Do you have a variety of women to offer them?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean different types such as Asian, African American, blondes, brunettes, skinny girls, curvy girls. Not all guys want a stick dancing in front of them.” I noticed the other night at Club Heat that the girls were all fairly thin. The only real variety was their hair and eye color. “Make this the place where you can secretly like a curvy woman and not be judged for it, or maybe they have a fantasy of being with an Asian woman. They can get that private room and the woman they fantasize over can shake their asses all night for them.”
“I like it, and because I like it, I’m going to go easy on you, but we have one more thing to discuss,” he says.
I look down at my watch. “My time is just about up, Mr. Higgins. As I’ve told you, I have other clients and I have more work to do for your party.”
“You will listen to me. I don’t take kindly to women telling me what they will and won’t do. You will be in this club when I request you to be. You will listen to me, and you will allow me to kiss your hand whenever I want to.” I begin to stand, not liking where this conversation is heading. “If you cannot abide by my rules, I will show you how private my back room can be.” He stands, grabbing me by the chin, forcing me to look at him. He’s disgusting and his breath smells of alcohol. I pull my face away from him, but he grabs my arm and pulls me toward him so I’m pressed against his nasty body. His grip is hard enough that I’ll have his hand print around my arm. I’m getting scared, but I only need to fight him off for a minute because my thirty minutes is just about up.
“Let me go.” I try for a stern voice but it betrays me. He smiles, knowing full well he’s scaring me.
***
Stone
“Fuck,” I scream to myself from inside my truck. It’s been twenty-five minutes and she still hasn’t come out yet. She has five more minutes and I barge the fuck in there. This has been the longest wait of my life. I set the timer on my phone the second she stepped out of my truck. She strutted in there trying to maintain her confidence, but I could tell she was struggling. She looked so strong in her slacks, button down shirt, and blazer, but when Benny opened the door, I saw her flinch ever so slightly. Benny may not have noticed because he was too busy looking down at her cleavage, a mistake he’ll pay for eventually. I rub my hands together. I’m on edge waiting to go into this place. I have no idea what is waiting for me on the other side of that door, but her time is up and I’m about to find out. I place my phone into my clip, tap my side feeling for my forty-five, and jump down from my truck. I’m going to play it cool until I need to be a dick.
I pound on the club door and Benny opens the door. “Sorry, man. We’re closed till Thursday this week.”
“Yeah, well, I’m here to pick up my girl, and I know she’s inside. If you’ll just let me in so I can get her, that would be cool.”
“Hey, you’re the dickhead from the club who kicked us all out.”
“And you’re the dickhead that was just checking out my girl’s cleavage.”
“She has a sweet rack.”
Fuck that. I swing back and punch the guy in the face. He’s stunned but comes back at me. I grab him, slamming my head into his face, breaking his nose before I kick him in the nuts, leaving him stunned on the floor. That’s when I hear Mir
anda scream. “Let me go.” I rush inside to see this fat fuck holding onto my girl’s arm and screaming in her face.
“Get the fuck off my girl.”
“Who the fuck are you?” The nasty bastard spits across the room.
“Her boyfriend. Get the fuck off of her, you piece of shit.” I slowly stroll toward him, lifting my shirt so he can see my forty-five.
“Big man carries a gun.”
“Big man just fucked up your goon without his gun. You want a piece or you want to lay off my girlfriend?” He pushes her away, sending her flying to the floor. I pick Miranda up off the floor. “Are you all right, baby?” She nods her head. “Here’s how this is going to go. You’re going to meet with my girl over the phone going forward, or you’ll lose her expertise and you will keep your boys the fuck out of my club, or you will have way bigger problems on your hands.”
“Don’t make threats you can’t keep,” he seethes. “You have no idea who you’re fucking with.”
I step even closer, showing him that I’m much taller and stronger than him. “You touch my girl one more time and I promise, you will see the threats I make and keep. Don’t fucking try me.” I wrap my arm around her and start toward the door.
“You’ll fucking pay for this, just you watch,” he yells from behind us. When we get to the door, Benny is still groaning in pain on the floor.
“You might want to get some ice for that,” I guide Miranda around him so we can get the fuck out of here.
When I get Miranda into the truck, I see she’s visibly shaking. “I’m so sorry, baby, I shouldn’t have allowed you to go in there alone.”
“Not your fault. I should have known better. This guy has been creepy from the beginning and now he seems to think I’m his to do with as he pleases because he chose me for this project. He said if I don’t show up to the club when he says, he’ll take me in the back and show me how private those rooms are.” She heaves.
Fuck, she’s going to be sick. “Hold on, baby. I want to get out of here, and then I’ll pull over somewhere.” As I’m pulling away, Benny appears at the door with her briefcase. He tosses it out the door like it’s a piece of trash. I slam on my brakes and jump out of the truck. The piece of shit runs back into the club like the pussy he is. I grab her briefcase and hand it to her. She quickly opens it to be sure everything is still there. She’s going through everything when I pull over on the side of the road. She looks at me, devastated.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her.
“He broke my company laptop.” She heaves again. Jumping from the truck, she bends over on the side of the road. I get out to hold her hair and comfort her as she empties the contents of her breakfast.
“You need to call your boss. I’m getting you security immediately.” She nods her head. I wrap her in my arms. “Come on, I’m taking you home.” I help her back into the truck and then climb in myself. “Tell your boss we’ll pay for the laptop, just to bill us for it.” I don’t want Miranda stressing over this. She nods her head again.
Pulling her phone from her purse, she dials her boss’s line, and as soon as she hears Tanya’s voice, she loses it. She starts telling her everything that happened and then tells her how she was so scared that she left her things behind and that they broke her laptop. I can hear Tanya trying to calm her down through the phone. She turns to me. “Can you take me by the office so I can drop off my laptop? Tanya is going to have our tech guys get all my work off of here and upload it to my new one.”
“Sure, baby. We’ll go there now.” I jump on the highway and head straight for her office.
She cuts the call and says, “Tanya wants to meet with us in her office.”
“About what?”
“I think she’s concerned we should cut ties with this guy. She doesn’t sound pleased.”
“I’m sure she’s not. One of her staff members could have been seriously hurt while working for her. I’m sure she’s concerned as a friend and an employer.”
When we pull up to her office building, I park toward the front of the lot. “Hold on one second, baby. I need to lock this up.” I pull my gun from its holster and lock it in the compartment I had installed under the seat specifically for when I want to carry but can’t take it in with me somewhere. Technically with my license I can carry it about anywhere, but I don’t want to freak her boss out.
“Okay, now we can go in.”
“I didn’t even know that was there,” she says, confused.
“That’s the point, beautiful. No one is supposed to know it’s there.” She gives me a small smile. I climb out of the truck and run to the other side to help her. She still looks pale. I’m hoping this doesn’t take long because I’d like to get home to start working on security.
I take her briefcase from her and we walk off together holding hands. When we get inside, she says, “I need to duck into the bathroom. I must be a mess. Everyone is staring at me.”
“Go, I’ll be right here.”
She comes out a few minutes later. She’s cleaned the makeup off of her face and pulled her hair back. “Come on.” She takes my hand and leading me through the building. When we get to her office space, Tanya is there. I can see the panic on her face. She’s worried about my girl, and from more than an employer standpoint.
“Let’s go talk in my office, but first let me see your laptop.” I pull it out from her bag and hand it over. We walk over to Lila’s desk and Tanya says, “Here’s Miranda’s laptop. George is coming to pick it up. Please see that he gets it.”
“Will do,” Lila says before going back to work.
We continue to follow Tanya to her office. When we walk through the door, she immediately closes it behind us. Her space is nice, but not overly big. I actually like it. It says she’s in charge without being extravagant. “Please have a seat.” She points to the chairs around her small conference table. “Can I get either of you something to drink?” Her voice is shaky and she’s nervous.
“Tanya, I’m fine,” Miranda finally says.
Tanya sighs and sits. “Thank god. I’ve known you and Katie since you came to me straight from college, and I’d feel horrible if something happened to you.” She shakes her head. “We are never taking on another club again.”
“Please calm down. I understand that you don’t want to take on any more, but I have to finish this one. He’s going to freak out if we back out on him.”
“What do we do?” she questions.
“We get Miranda a security team, just like we did for Katie,” I tell her. “I’ll get on it as soon as we get home. She won’t step foot into that club unless her security is allowed in with her.” I take Miranda’s hand. “I told Higgins the remainder of their meetings will take place over the phone. Let’s see how he takes to that.” I shrug, “Now that his buddy has a broken nose and may never be able to have kids, maybe he’ll back off and let her finish the job from here.”
“Do you really think it’ll be that easy?” Tanya asks.
“To be honest, no, I don’t, but we’ll see what happens.”
“Okay, just please keep her safe. I feel like this is my fault. My gut said no, but the business opportunity was screaming yes, take it.” She shakes her head. “And I’m sorry the business side won.”
“I will. Are you okay if I take her home?”
“Absolutely. Get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow with your new security team in tow. If you don’t have them set up by tomorrow, I don’t want you leaving your house,” Tanya says.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be on the phone as soon as we’re home and Cole and Slade will be by her side starting tomorrow morning.” Tanya nods. I pull Miranda up with me, then shake Tanya’s hand and we walk out of her office. I have to get home because I have work to do. That includes calling Logan to give a heads up about our new rival, Vixen.
Chapter 10
Miranda
The guards have been up my ass 24/7 since Tuesday evening. It’s been almost a week since my meeting w
ith Mr. Higgins and I haven’t heard a peep from him except via email, and he’s been a complete professional. I think his behavior is just a front, but I’m glad. At least I can try to relax a little bit. Now that I have my laptop back, I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the office, client visits, and working from home. It’s a bit harder to do my job with two big guys following me around. I tried to get Tanya to bill me for the laptop, but she wouldn’t hear of it because she feels like she put me in that predicament.
I’m working from home today because I didn’t sleep well last night, and we’re going to Logan’s for our usual Monday night dinners. Stone has been to the gym and has pretty much left me to myself to try to work, but I think part of it is because he’s on edge. I tried to ditch our security for the night since we’d be around friends, but it turned into a big argument. Don’t get me wrong, my team is great and they’re always keeping a professional distance, but being followed around all the time takes some getting used to and I’m not there yet.
“Did you get some work done?” Stone asks, catching me looking at my laptop but lost in thought.
“Huh? Oh yeah. I got a little done.”
“You were staring into space. What were you thinking about?”
I exhale a deep breath. “Everything. Trying to get used to being followed around, our argument, and work…it’s a lot all at once.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
“And to top it all off, I still have to finish moving my things into your apartment and figure out what to do with the stuff we don’t need. I don’t want to keep paying rent there when I’m living here.” I run my hands through my hair.
“I’ll help you take care of the apartment and get the remainder of your things moved in, but I don’t know how to help you get used to your security, because that’s not something I’ll let up on, baby. I love you too much. There’s no way I’m letting anyone come near you, but I’m here to help you with anything else.”