StriporTreat

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StriporTreat Page 7

by Jana Mercy


  Lots of people made that wrong assumption. Had her aunt’s comment been intentional, fishing for more information about Sophia’s background and what she might suspect?

  “I don’t exactly do people’s taxes,” she admitted. “Mainly I investigate corporate fraud.”

  “Like that company a few years back? En-something-or-other?” Aunt Genevieve’s eyes quickly averted. She plucked a white fuzz ball from the knobby blanket. “Sounds dangerous.”

  “It could be if I uncovered some major criminal network. The last case team I worked on uncovered tens of millions of dollars owed in back taxes.”

  “That’s a lot of money.”

  “Yes, it is. But most of the cases I’ve dealt with have been more mom-and-pop kinds of tax problems. If I transfer to a big city, I’m more likely to be involved with the bigger cases that make the news headlines.”

  Aunt Genevieve looked paler than when Sophia arrived. “Maybe you’ll decide to stay here. I could always use extra help with the club.”

  “Maybe.” But she doubted it. And definitely not as an employee of Heavenly Hunks. Not that she made that much but she really didn’t think her aunt could afford to put her on the payroll. Gray agreeing to do Strip or Treat had solved the Strip or Treat bash problem but to make the club financially solvent was still a long battle ahead. For now, she could focus on figuring out what was sucking the funds from her aunt’s accounts and hope it wasn’t her aunt.

  “Just out of curiosity, what did your parents have to say about you coming here? I’m betting they weren’t happy.”

  Livid was a more apt description. “That woman is nothing but trouble,” her mother warned over and over.

  “No, they weren’t happy but they’ll get over it.”

  Maybe.

  “I really am glad you came. It means so much.” Aunt Genevieve’s voice broke and Sophia’s gaze shot to her face.

  What happened between her parents and Aunt Genevieve to cause so much tension between them? Sophia started to ask but Aunt Genevieve rushed on before she could.

  “Tell me what’s really going on between you and my hunky bartender.” Her aunt’s demand slurred very little, leaving Sophia no choice but to answer.

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?” Aunt Genevieve’s lips curved.

  “Well, maybe something.”

  “Maybe?”

  Sophia smiled. “Maybe.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Aunt Genevieve sighed with wistful longing. “I bet that one has never been accused of being boring. Especially not in bed. Have fun with him while you’re at the club. I imagine you’d find the experience liberating. If I were twenty years younger, I’d bed him myself. Heck, ten years and I’d give it a shot.”

  Sophia coughed to cover her gasp.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, smiling at her aunt’s feisty look. “But if I recall correctly you also warned me to be careful around him. That he was dark and dangerous.”

  “Sophia, darling. Sexy men are always dark and dangerous. A woman should be cautious when playing with something hot. Gray is fire.”

  She didn’t comment.

  “Sleep with him. Enjoy the thrill of a bad boy’s touch. Just no matter what you do, don’t fall in love with him or you’ll get burned.”

  * * * * *

  Nathaniel Fleming sat at his desk, as he generally did at least six mornings a week and read over a financial statement on one of the businesses he owned more than a generous amount of stock in.

  His assets had gone up by several million in just the last couple of weeks. Fleming, Inc. was one of the wealthiest conglomerates in the nation. Within the next five years, his company would top the world’s industrial market.

  Thus far, his adult life had gone exactly according to plan. Well, almost.

  He planned to marry within the next year. To start a family. To have a son to give his name to. A daughter to wrap him around her finger. A family with a rich heritage and a future full of promise. The future he could provide but his heritage wasn’t one he cared to pass on to his children. He’d searched Atlanta’s finest debutantes for a fitting bloodline and narrowed the choice to one woman.

  Sophia Walker. She was perfect. Well, okay, the sex had only been mediocre but he was more interested in Sophia the wife, the mother, the keeper of his castle so to speak. Everything had been going according to schedule until she gave back his ring.

  Was he still not good enough for someone raised on Old Alabama Road?

  Hell, his property was one of the largest estates on the exclusive stretch of real estate. Just because he practically grew up in the projects didn’t mean he hadn’t risen above his humble upbringing.

  No, Sophia wasn’t the type to judge him based upon where he came from. Not even based on the size of his wallet. Her parents, yes. Sophia, no. After meeting the young IRS investigator at a charity function, he chose her for her bloodline, intelligence, heart and beauty.

  Nate slid his desk drawer open and pulled the engagement ring from the envelope he’d stuck it inside on the day Sophia returned the jewel. The sparkling diamond mocked him.

  He’d worked damned hard putting all the pieces together to have the ideal life. Hell, he’d made a lot of sacrifices along the way to stay on that path to the top. But it had been worth it. He was wealthy enough he could do anything he wanted, have almost anything he wanted.

  He wanted the perfect family life to go with his perfect business life.

  Why had Sophia changed her mind? He knew breaking off the engagement wasn’t her parents’ doing. Eliza Walker called him daily begging him to overlook her daughter’s momentary lapse. The woman’s squawking was enough to make him have a momentary lapse or two. Still, she’d raised a wonderful daughter in Sophia and would make an excellent, if overprotective, grandmother for their children.

  He’d let Sophia get this wild hair out of her system. Hopefully, she’d come to her senses soon enough and he could move on to the next phase of his life. One that included fatherhood along with his business success.

  “Mr. Fleming?” His personal secretary’s voice sounded over his phone’s intercom system.

  “Yes, Martha?” he answered, sliding the ring back into the envelope. She wouldn’t interrupt unless something important had come up.

  “Miss Walker is on line three.”

  Finally. But why hadn’t Sophia called on his cell phone? Or was she trying to keep distance between them?

  “Thanks, Martha.” He pushed a button on the elaborate phone on his desk. “Sophia?”

  “Nate.” She sounded breathless and maybe a little guilty. Had she called to say she’d changed her mind?

  “How’s your aunt?”

  “Some better every day.”

  “You’ll be coming home soon?”

  A short silence came over the phone line. Short but telling.

  “I’m not sure I’ll decide to come back to Atlanta. At least, not permanently.”

  That might put a kink in his plans.

  “You want to live in Nashville?” Hell, he didn’t see why he couldn’t run Fleming, Inc. from anywhere in the world. There were benefits to owning the company. Living wherever he wanted was one of them.

  “I doubt I’ll stay here. I’m thinking of going to Chicago, or maybe New York. If I can’t get a job transfer maybe I’ll go to work for one of the big brokering firms.”

  “I thought we decided you wouldn’t work after we married.” Not to mention she loved her job with the IRS. He couldn’t believe she’d give it up for anything other than to raise their children. What changed?

  Another pause. “Uhm, Nate, we’re not getting married.”

  He took a deep breath. “I take it you’ve not changed your mind about giving back my ring?”

  “Returning that ring was the best thing I could’ve done for both of us. Someday, you’ll see I’m right.”

  “I doubt that.” Sophia fit the bill perfectly for his checklist of the qualities
he wanted in a wife. He’d never met another like her and it was unlikely he ever would.

  “You don’t love me.”

  No, he didn’t but what did that have to do with anything? He’d be a good and faithful husband, provide her with everything she might possibly need, more. Love? Ha, love only broke people’s hearts and left them prostrate to face the world around them. He knew. He’d watched the fickle emotion’s effect on his old man when his mother took off for greener pastures.

  “You want love?” He didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm from his voice.

  “A marriage should have love, Nate. That’s something the two of us don’t feel for each other. At least, not the kind I’m talking about.”

  “Which is?”

  “It’s not the brotherly love I feel for you.”

  A brother. She loved him like a brother. Why didn’t that make him feel any better? Truth be told, he might say he cared for her like a sister. If he had a sister, which as far as he knew he didn’t. Who knew what other children his mother had birthed then abandoned?

  “Why are you calling, Sophia?” he snapped.

  “I wanted you to know I was okay.”

  He took a moment to digest that. The woman dumps him, tells him she loves him like a brother and calls to let him know she was okay? “Are you in trouble?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Sophia, I know you too well. Tell me what’s going on. Has something happened?”

  “No.” She didn’t sound certain. “Well, not really.”

  She was in trouble. “Explain.”

  She hesitated, then said, “It’s the club.”

  “The strip club?” He couldn’t believe a classy lady like Sophia was running a strip club for her aunt. Crazy aunt, if Eliza was to be believed.

  “Yes, Heavenly Hunks. But it’s nothing I can’t handle. I shouldn’t have even mentioned it. I didn’t mean to.”

  “But you did.”

  She sighed and Nate felt her frustration.

  “I really need to deal with this on my own.”

  That he could respect. One of the many things he respected about her. “If that’s what you want, fine but if I can help, all you have to do is ask.”

  “I know.” She took a deep breath. “What I really need is a friend to just listen.”

  A friend. Since when had Atlanta’s most eligible bachelor become friend material to the woman he wanted to marry? No matter what Sophia said they did share a bond. Maybe it was just one of friendship but what better foundation for marriage?

  “Okay. Shoot.”

  Sophia launched into an explanation, talking almost faster than he could follow. “The club is always packed and yet, if my calculations are right,” she took a deep breath and the silence stole over the phone line, “the place is almost bankrupt.”

  “Bankrupt? Maybe your aunt just can’t run a business.”

  “The club’s been here for over thirty years, Nate. I don’t think it would’ve lasted so many years if she couldn’t run a business. Do you?”

  “Possibly not.” Still, stranger things had happened. Maybe Sophia’s aunt had been lucky enough to hire a great manager who’d kept things afloat until recently. Who knew? “What kind of problems have you spotted?”

  She hesitated. “This is confidential, right?”

  Annoyed she felt the need to ask, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “You know better than to ask me that question.”

  “Yes, I do.” She agreed. “I’m sorry. It’s just with everything that’s happened I guess I needed to hear it out loud.” She took another deep breath. “There are invoices being paid to companies, employees being paid big bucks, who as far as I can tell, don’t exist.”

  Nate whistled. “You’re sure?”

  “I’ve asked a couple of the long-timers and they’ve never heard of any of the guys I mentioned who, according to the books, receive a check every two weeks along with the rest of the club’s employees.”

  “Sounds suspicious.”

  “It’s hard to tell, because when I say books, I literally mean books. My aunt hasn’t updated any of her records to a computer system. There’s not even a computer in the entire building as far as I know.”

  “You think someone’s trying to cover something?”

  “Maybe.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Nothing. Like I said, I’ll handle this.”

  “Let me get this straight, you’re launching an investigation on your aunt’s club?”

  “There’s no need for anything formal, yet.” Her pitch was a full octave higher than normal. “I imagine there’s a logical explanation for the discrepancies. The accounting system is archaic. I’m probably just missing something.”

  Not likely.

  “You’re an intelligent woman, Sophia. Trust your instincts. Don’t let the fact this woman is family blind you to the reality that she may be a criminal. She’s not worth risking your job and reputation.”

  “Uhm, Nate.” He could hear the vacillation in her voice. “I really appreciate you.”

  “Sure. What are ex-fiancés for?”

  “Nate.” He could picture her in deep thought with her eyes closed and her lower lip between her teeth. “Despite the way all this sounds, I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time,” she continued. “I want you to find happiness too.”

  “I’m happy. I’m one of the most successful men in this country.”

  “Of course.”

  Nate didn’t miss the irony in her soft answer. “I’d be happier if you came home and said ‘I do’.”

  “I doubt that,” she denied, spoke a few more minutes of lighter conversation, then they said their goodbyes.

  Nate fingered Sophia’s engagement ring through the white packet for a few moments before sliding the envelope back into his desk drawer.

  Damn it, he was happy.

  * * * * *

  “The first thing we’ve got to do is decide what your costume is going to be.” Elvis walked around Gray, inspecting him with a critical eye. “You’ve got the goods to pull off just about anything. Any fantasies? Cowboy? Policeman? Vampire? Indian? Scottish warrior?”

  How about none of the above? Gray sighed, feeling like a fool for standing on a strip club stage while a sixty-year-old Elvis impersonator inspected his “goods”. Thankfully the club was closed and the morning cleaning crew had finished a few hours ago. At least there were no witnesses to his humiliation.

  “Any suggestions?” Something with a mask so he could hide his face sounded about perfect.

  “There are ten hired performers that night in addition to the amateur competition. You’re the big boy, so to speak.” Elvis winked. “Last year, Ken was a pirate ghost. Actually covered his body with powdered sugar and let women strip off the stuff any way they liked.”

  “That’s out.” No way was he letting grandmas lick him or whatever it was stud-boy let the women do to clean off the sugar.

  “Come to think of it, the year before he was a vampire so that one’s out too.” Elvis mused, scratching his dyed black pompadour. “If I remember right, he went around sucking on women’s necks that night.”

  Just as well vampires were out, Gray didn’t plan to suck on anyone’s neck except Sophia’s. He’d like a long nibble of that particular delicacy. “How long did Ken work at the club?”

  Maybe he could get some useful info from this session and curtail his actual on-stage Halloween performance.

  “Several years.” Elvis shook off his heavy studded white jacket and dropped it onto a nearby table.

  “Madame G must have liked him to give him lead stripper.” Come on, Elvis. Give me something I can use.

  “Despite his flaws, the ladies love him.”

  “His flaws?” Gray asked, trying not to look overly interested.

  “He pulled a pretty penny from the ladies but just couldn’t be happy with it. If only—” Elvis sighed. “Ignore me. Just the ramblings of an old fool.” />
  Don’t clam up on me now.

  “Sophia said Barnes gave her a hard time. That she called the police even.” Gray would like to punch the guy’s lights out, would if their paths crossed again but he played it cool. “Is that your take on how things went?”

  “Ken’s moody like that. Certainly not used to women turning him down.” Elvis winked at Gray. “Of course, he should have known better than to move in on your turf.”

  “My turf?” he asked cautiously.

  “Sophia.” Elvis’ expression turned leery, suspicious. His chest puffed like a prize fighting rooster. “You’re serious about the gal, aren’t you? ’Cause she’s Madame G’s flesh and blood and I’d have to bust you up if you hurt her kinfolk.”

  Gray wanted to laugh at the man’s warning. Not that Elvis wasn’t in great shape for his age but few men in their prime would be able to “bust him up”. And he’d yet to meet one who had. Although Sophia was single-handedly doing a bang up job.

  Still, being connected with Sophia apparently made him more acceptable in the older stripper’s eyes. Never in the two months Gray worked at the club had Elvis opened up. Not about anything. He’d been right. Getting involved with Sophia was the smartest move he could make to crack this case.

  A cold sweat coated his skin. If he didn’t know better he’d swear guilt pervaded his senses. But he knew better. She’d gone into this with her eyes wide open. He hadn’t made her any grand promises. Just the here and now. She was a means to an end. The end being solving his case. That was his story and he was sticking to it. They hadn’t even done much more than kiss since Lawrence interrupted.

  He wouldn’t consider the voice inside him warning he was a fool. A voice he usually trusted implicitly but would ignore this once.

  “My relationship with Sophia is private,” he told Elvis.

  The older man snarled his upper lip in true Elvis fashion. “Just make sure you don’t be cruel to a heart that’s true. She’s all Madame G has.”

  “Warning noted.” Gray eyed the elderly King impersonator with more than a little respect. He liked Elvis. Not that he wouldn’t bust his ass if he were in on the drug ring, he would without batting an eyelash. “Now, teach me what I need to know so I can pull this off without embarrassing myself, Sophia and Madame G.”

 

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