by Claire Adams
My animosity toward her coming along had died down a bit and I actually thought she could help with the investigation. Well, that was if she stayed out of my way and listened to me. Otherwise, she was going to get herself into some pretty deep water with Stephano. I suspected he was already a little curious as to who the man was that she had brought home from the club, and if I showed up at the club again, he was likely to get pretty involved in her life. We had to devise a plan that would work well for the both of us and still allow us to gather the information we needed.
Chase had left me with a ton of cash to help with the operation and I could find plenty of ways to get people to talk even without it. My field experience with the Special Forces Army team had left me with highly honed fighting skills. My concern wasn’t any type of hand-to-hand combat, it was a gunshot to the head when I wasn’t paying attention.
Unfortunately, having Roxanne around did make it much harder for me to pay attention. She was tough and savvy, though, and I liked that. If she hadn’t been so damn tough, I would never have agreed to let her help out on the search for Ana. It wouldn’t have mattered how much money Chase was throwing at me, I wouldn’t have allowed it.
“I think I should go to work tonight and see if any of the other women know where Ana might be at. It will be too hard to find her if we have to search around at all of his different locations.”
“I agree. But I can’t let you go alone. What if he feels like something is up? He’s not going to let you leave. It’s too dangerous.”
“Believe it or not, I can actually take care of myself.”
“When a gun is pointed toward your head?”
“Oh, don’t be a jackass. You know what I mean.”
“I do. I also know what men like Stephano are capable of and I don’t trust anyone alone with him. We will need to make a story and a plan for me to be in the club.”
“You could be an admirer, I guess. But you’re going to have to look different.”
“What’s wrong with the way I look?”
I knew what she meant, though, it wasn’t likely that a well put together guy with lots of money would frequent a strip club in search of a woman. I needed to look more desperate. I needed to look like Roxanne was my dream girl and I couldn’t get her.
“I just mean that we need to dork you up a little bit before it will make sense for you to be in there searching for me.”
“I agree.”
“There’s a problem, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Your muscles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dork with biceps like yours,” Roxanne said with a sweet smile on her face.
It was nice to see her smile. I didn’t think I had seen her smile at all since she and I had first met. She was a serious woman, and I respected that. She had a tough life and it wasn’t something I understood at all. I could tell that her life was based around a lot of difficult people and probably a lot of hurt. I wasn’t prepared to ask her more about it or support any woman and her emotions – it just wasn’t something I was equipped to deal with.
My life was simple, I liked it that way. I liked to keep to myself, and I wasn’t about to complicate my life with anything that I couldn’t control. I had learned a long time ago that women were not something I could control.
“I can’t make my muscles go away.” I laughed.
“Maybe we could get you some glasses, buy you a different type of outfit?”
“Sure, we can give it a try.”
“Do you have any idea what you would like me to say to the other women as I look for Ana? I don’t want to be too obvious about it.”
She had a good point. If Roxanne started asking around about Ana, people were going to get the wrong idea. They would worry that Roxanne was doing something different than she normally did.
“How long has it been since Ana was at the club?”
“A couple weeks.”
“Maybe instead of being concerned about her, you could say that you are pissed and you think she stole something from you. People tend to be less suspicious of anger than they are of concern.”
“That’s pretty messed up.”
“It’s human nature, though. People are angry more than they are helpful.”
“Wow, that says a lot about us as humans.”
It was true, though. People did get angry more often than they were helpful. As a general rule, people liked to think the worse of others much more than they thought about the good in people. Even as I worked on other investigation cases, I never went into a location and said I was looking for a friend. It was a telltale sign that I was not the person's friend.
How often did your friends actually come and look for you? Not very often at all. In comparison, if you owe someone money, they always came looking for you. There was no hiding from them. Same with if you had done something to piss someone off. It was inevitable that they would come looking for you.
“I agree, it isn’t always the best of our character traits, but we aren’t here to change the human race. Our job is to blend in as much as possible and figure out where Ana is.”
“You should order a private dance again,” Roxanne said.
I thought I saw a smile form at the corner of her mouth. She wanted to be alone with me in a private room and she wanted to dance for me. I would be more than happy to comply with her. The feeling of her breasts in my hands was a definite perk of the job.
“I’m fine with that.”
“Not that I want to do it. It would just give us a good opportunity to talk and review the information I have.”
“Sure, I totally get it.”
She just wanted to dance for me. After having her hand on my body the night before, I wasn’t about to turn away her offer. It was a logical way for us to communicate without everyone suspecting that we were talking about anything other than the dance.
“So, I’ll go into work a little early. I can talk with the other dancers and see what’s going on. But I don’t have a phone anymore, so I will have to just see you when you get there.”
“Yes, we don’t want to be seen arriving together or talking at all. Things will have to be totally professional between us.”
As we finished our breakfast, I had a renewed respect for Roxanne. She didn’t seem scared at all and, in fact, she was very focused on finding Ana and doing things the best way she could. Not many women would be willing to get involved, even with the kind of money that Roxanne had been offered.
It was nice that she listened to me, as well. I knew what I was doing and I didn’t need anyone trying to tell me what to do or not paying attention when I told them how things needed to happen. She started to earn my respect with how she was handling things so far. I wasn’t willing to say it was an entirely good thing to have her working with me, but at least it wasn’t horrible anymore.
“All right, the big question is how are we going to get Ana out from wherever she is?”
“Oh, I don’t know any of that yet. Let’s do one thing at a time.”
“Too much thinking wears you out?” Roxanne said with a laugh.
Oh, she’s wicked. She knew that the idea of me being worn out by thinking about a plan would piss me off, but what she didn’t know was that I was an expert at controlling my emotions. No one could get me worked up. That was something I had learned from my Special Forces training: be in control at all times.
“I prefer not to plan until I know what I’m planning for. We have no idea where she is or the kind of security that might be around there. For now, let’s concentrate on getting through today and getting the information we need to move forward.”
I could tell my even tone and lack of anger threw her off. It was fun to surprise people and I liked to see that look in their eyes. No one was going to get a rise out of me, especially not a woman.
“Whatever. I’ll do it your way if it will make you happy,” Roxanne said as she looked devilishly at me.
“Yes, it will make me happy.”
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We finished breakfast and didn’t talk about the job for the rest of the afternoon. Instead, we moved to talking about the weather and other non-issue type of topics. It was safer to leave the conversation alone and not get Roxanne too worked up before our evening of work.
***
I waited for at least an hour after Roxanne’s shift started before I headed into the club. I didn’t want to do anything that would put her at risk or make it look like we knew each other any more than a normal client relationship. I was prepared to be the John that Roxanne took home if anyone asked. I was also loaded down with plenty of cash.
I couldn’t decide if it would be best to focus on Roxanne during the night or to make it look like I had moved on to a different woman. I weighed both possible options in my head as I walked into the club.
Roxanne probably had plenty of super fans who came only to see her, and I didn’t think it would seem too outrageous if I were one of those fans. But I could also see the benefit of being the type of guy who didn’t care about any one individual and wanted a new woman each night. It seemed like a good idea to take the spotlight off of Roxanne, so I decided to pay attention to other girls throughout the evening.
My only regret about my decision was that Roxanne and I hadn’t really talked about that part of the plan earlier in the day. I hoped it wouldn’t be too much of a shock to her when she saw me flirting and spending time with the other girls.
I managed to find a table near the back of the room and away from the bright lights of the stage. I was much more comfortable in the back than I had been so close to the front. When the waitress introduced herself, I started in on the persona I wanted to project for the evening.
“Hey darlin’, what can I get you?” she asked me.
“You, because you look delicious,” I said as I maintained eye contact.
It was a balance of being confident, cocky, and charming. I had plenty of practice over the years to fall back on for experience.
“You can’t have me, but I can get you a drink if that will curb the sting of my rejection.”
I laughed out loud at her wit. She was certainly a feisty one. With her blonde hair pulled back and glasses on, I could tell she wanted to project a feeling of intelligence to the men she served. My guess was that she was a student at the local university and had found the financial benefit of working in a strip club far outweighed the negative aspects. I did find it interesting that she was only a waitress because her body was built to strip. She had huge breasts and a tiny waist, with a booty that I just wanted to slap as she turned around.
“I’ll take vodka on the rocks,” I said before she walked away.
The stage had become dark and the announcer came on to introduce the next act. The anticipation of the crowd was incredible and everyone seemed even more excited than they had been when “Roxy” had come onto the stage the first time I was there.
“You know her. You love her. You want to bang her until she screams. Welcome to the stage, Ms. Ally!”
The crowd got on their feet as they cheered for her to come to the stage. It was a cute little blonde who stood barely five feet tall. Her breasts were enhanced to an unusually large size and her tiny waist and hips made her look irregularly proportioned. She certainly wasn’t the type of girl I normally would go after. Not that I had been chasing after any women lately. In the last few weeks, I had been busy researching the Ana case.
Her dance focused on her breasts and that seemed to keep the whole audience happy. As she shook them, she would sometimes let the guys put their faces between them and she would squeeze their heads. It seemed like an unusual sexual fetish, but who was I to judge.
When her set finished and my waitress brought me my drink, I knew it was time to move my plan forward. I couldn’t just rely on Roxanne to get the answers for everything. If it were possible for me to get my own answers, that would be ideal.
“Get her over here to see me,” I said to the waitress after Ms. Ally left the stage.
I handed my waitress a hundred-dollar bill to ensure she would get the lovely Ms. Ally to my table right away. Even if the waitress thought I was the scum of the earth, $100 was an easy way to change her mind.
Sure enough, less than two minutes passed before Ms. Ally was straddling the chair next to me and stroking my arm as we talked. It was delightful to have a woman so interested in my every word, even if she was pretending. I could pretend, too, though. I had been an investigator for a very long time, and there were many skills I liked to use.
On the stage, I heard them announce Roxy, and it took everything I had inside of me not to look up at her. I only lasted about a minute before I had to see what she was doing for her dance that night. Roxanne had the perfect figure with sensual curves and a toned tight ass. I found myself looking up at her several times throughout my conversation with Ms. Ally.
“Do you want to go to the back rooms?” Ms. Ally asked me.
“I’d love to,” I said as I handed her a stack of cash.
She didn’t stop to count it, but I saw her glance at it to ensure it was all hundreds before she led me to the back room. As we passed the stage, I briefly glanced up and saw a death stare coming from Roxanne. If a look could kill a guy, the one she gave me was certain to knock me over dead.
Ms. Ally brought me to a back room and proceeded to dance and move in her seductive practiced dance. Every move she made seemed so rehearsed and not at all similar to my time in the room with Roxanne. At the end of the dance, Ms. Ally pressed her large breasts around my face and held me tight into her. I obliged her and shook my head in delight at the fullness of her chest.
“Did you know a girl named Ana?” I asked as we finished up and were saying our goodbyes.
“Not really. She danced here for a night before Stephano decided he wanted to keep her for himself. I think she moved in with him and everything.”
“Oh, that’s cool. I just wanted to see her dance again if she was around.”
“You come back anytime and you can see me dance.”
“So, she has a boyfriend?”
“Sort of. My boss, Stephano, usually picks girls who he wants to keep at his house and she was one of them. Lucky for her, I guess. He’s over on that rich island downtown. I hear he spoils them with lots of money and they usually move on and start new lives. None of them ever end up back here.”
“So, there is no way I could see her? He doesn’t let her dance?”
“Not unless you want to go to his house on Star Island,” she said as she laughed and left the room.
My gut got itself tied in a knot at her words. Star Island was impossible to get to without passing through security. The wealthy elite lived there and with only one road from the mainland, it was nearly impossible to sneak on the island undetected.
As we walked out of the private rooms, Ms. Ally took off into the crowd to find herself the next victim of the night. I looked up and saw Roxanne as she approached me quickly. Her eyes said that she was not happy, and for a brief moment, I just wanted to turn and run the other way.
Chapter Six
ROXANNE
Did Jackson seriously come to the club to flirt with other dancers or was he trying to find Ana? As I took the stage, I saw him flirting with Ally and it disgusted me. Her fake ass tits and ass were nothing that any of the men should fawn over. But I especially didn’t think a guy like Jackson would be into a girl like that.
I couldn’t concentrate on my dance because every time I looked over at Jackson, he was staring into the eyes of Ally, or actually, staring into her breasts. Then he had the nerve to just get up in the middle of my set and walk with her to the private rooms.
There was no way Ally had any information on Ana and I really couldn’t see what other possible reason Jackson would have to spend time with her. I risked my life coming back to the club and Jackson didn’t give a damn. He was more interested in having some slut shake her ass in his face than he was about actually finding Ana. I had to
wonder if his brother Chase had asked me to help with the case just to make sure Jackson stayed on course.
When I finished my dance, I made my way through the audience and was totally willing to break into Jackson’s room and interrupt his lap dance. Who did he think he was? We were supposed to be working together to find Ana.
Some people didn’t have very good work ethics. I knew how to work hard and had spent most of my life working my ass off. I didn’t care what Jackson’s explanation was, there was no reason for him to be in that room with Ally.
Ally was one of those girls who looked as fake as could be and everything she said was fake, as well. She didn’t know up from down half of the time, so it baffled me beyond words to see that Jackson had chosen her to go into the back room with. There was no useful information that could have come from that conversation. Men were disgusting, though, and I could only assume he was going to make up some reasoning why the girl with the biggest breasts in the club was the one he needed to talk to.
I had spent the first hour of my night socializing with women I hated in an effort to find out where Ana could be. I had made a big story up about her stealing my money and I hated the idea of purposely lying. Ana was a good person, and even if it was for a good cause, I didn’t like making her look bad in front of people.
Luckily, one of my friends had remembered seeing Ana at Stephano’s house during a party a few days before. She said Ana looked all drugged out and Stephano wouldn’t let her leave his side. It was a good lead, and I needed to find Jackson to tell him about it. At least one of us had actually been working that night.
As angry as I was with Jackson, it wasn’t going to prevent me from doing the job that I was there to do. I was getting paid a quarter of a million dollars for my work and I was going to do a damn good job. Maybe I looked like just a stripper to Jackson, but I knew how to work hard and I didn’t take handouts from anyone. I was going to make sure Chase got his money’s worth as I helped to find Ana.