by Sam Crescent
“Water it is then.”
“I’ll take a water.” She smiled at Ben as he put her drink in front of her.
“I heard about your brother.”
“Everyone has heard about my brother it would seem.”
“He’s a good man, and he did well. You should be proud.”
She took a sip of her drink and nodded. “I am proud. He’s still my brother, and I never want to see him get hurt. Fighting at venues like that, it’s dangerous, and he’s my brother. I’m sure you can understand my fear for him.”
“I get it, and I even understand it.”
Biting her lip, she looked toward the businessmen. When she’d first started working at the strip club, to rub her parents up the wrong way, she thought the businessmen would be the most civilized in places like this. They were not. They were the worst kind of pigs out there. “I’m surprised you let you bar open to them.”
Frank laughed. “Honey, there’s always different ways to deal with assholes like that. You see, honey, those men are paying double the going rate for all the drinks. You ever wonder why I don’t keep a display for the drinks and prices? I can charge whatever the fuck I want to.”
“I also heard a rumor that cops come here, but I’ve not seen anyone here.”
“You have, honey, believe me, you have. You’ve just not seen them. They’re not always dressed in proper uniform. When they want to fuck around with me, they come dressed in uniform.” Frank pulled out a cigarette, and she watched him spark up. She wasn’t interested in smoking, and she did her best to smile and ignore it. His club. His rules.
“Tell your brother when he next comes by he can have the night for free, drinks, girls, you name it.”
“I’ll be sure to let him know, and make sure I’m not here when he does. We’re related, but I don’t care to see him that up close and personal.” She wrinkled her nose and got to her feet. The businessmen table needed serving once again.
Frank let her go, and as she was collecting glasses from the table, the main doors opened, and a loud array of male hollers and whistles were heard throughout the small party. Turning toward the door, she froze as she watched the Denton boys with her brother come into the club.
Great! She didn’t catch sight of Landon, which she was pleased about. The last thing she wanted was to cause a problem by refusing to serve a minor. Denton or not, she was not breaking any laws, and especially knowing that cops frequented the club.
She finished grabbing the empty glasses, avoided spanker’s hands, and made her way toward the bar. At the same time, the large party took three tables, and they were not all Dentons either. Her brother was there, and she didn’t recognize the other guys. Frank walked toward their table, and she heard the crowd go wild.
“Ben, anything at this table, free, you got me,” Frank said, shouting for Ben to here.
“I got it.” He held his hand up in a wave, and turned back to her. “Wow, it must be your lucky night.”
“My lucky night?”
“You were asking about the Dentons.”
“No. You were talking, and I just made you keep on talking about them.” She gave him a wink. He finished her tray, and she left him alone to keep on serving. Before she had a chance to move away from the bar, she turned, and was stopped by a very large masculine chest.
Pausing, she glanced up to find Jacob stood in front of her.
“Hello,” she said.
That’s all you can think to say? Hello.
You don’t like him, remember?
Her mind was having one of those brain farts where she didn’t have a clue what to do.
“You work at a strip club. Riley told us you did, but I had to say, I didn’t believe him.”
She glanced toward her brother to see that he was a little drunk.
“What are you doing?”
Fear gripped her as she looked toward the one person she loved more than anything. She had a connection with Riley whereas she didn’t have with the rest of her family. Lou relied on him, cared for him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She never once thought that her brother was in danger, yet looking at Jacob, and then over at her brother, her stomach started to tighten. “Are you going to hurt him?”
Chapter Four
Jacob saw the fear in her eyes, and he looked toward Riley, not understanding what her problem was at first. Then, when he looked at it from an innocent’s pair of eyes, he understood.
“We’re not going to do anything to him.”
“Why are you here with Riley?”
“We decided to take him out, have a drink. Usually we all do it after a fight, but Landon is in trouble, and he’s staying at home.”
Lou laughed, but it wasn’t the natural kind. It was filled with hysteria. “Riley was at the gym tonight.”
“You work in a strip club?”
“As you can see.”
He did see. Her tits were pressed together and almost spilling out of the tight shirt. The pants she wore molded to her curves, and he had to give Frank credit, he knew how to dress a woman.
“You look very nice.” Staring at her all he wanted to do was take her in his arms, and as far away from this place as possible. Instead, he kept remembering his mother’s words. He had to work to earn her trust, her love. She didn’t feel this need that he did.
“Thanks. So, erm, you’re intending to party?” she asked, glancing over once again at her brother. She also bit her lip, and he wanted to bite that lip for her.
“We’re not going to hurt your brother. I have a lot of respect for him.”
“Considering he agreed to fight a kid?”
“My brother is not just any kid.” He was about to rest his hand on his hips but stopped when he remembered the gun strapped to his body. Jacob never went anywhere without being heavily armed. “We’re here to celebrate as we accept Riley into the fold.”
“The fold?”
“He’s going to be working with me as a partner.”
“What do you do?” she asked.
“Stuff.” He never talked about his business. His father was the head of the business, and he took orders from him, from their main business in the center of the city, a casino. It was so fucking cliché, but his father had a head for numbers, and with casinos, they could be built over the country, and even abroad. It’s an easy way to get the feds to look the other way while the real business went down. He did everything his father told him to. Yes, he hurt people, and he’d killed people for his family. Staring at Lou, he just knew she wasn’t ready to deal with that kind of shit. Then he had a horrible feeling. What if she was never ready to deal with that kind of stuff?
“Stuff?”
“I do a lot of stuff.”
“Okay, well my mother always told me not to ask too many questions, and I guess it’s one of those moments. I’ve got work to do.”
She pushed past him, making her way toward the table of businessmen. He didn’t like the way they looked at her.
“What can I get you?” Ben asked. “Do you want me to call the women out to party?”
Jacob returned his attention to the barman. He liked Ben, and this had been the place he and his brothers could let off steam. They all loved fucking, and the women at the strip club were always more than happy to give them what they wanted. If he wanted his dick sucked, all he had to do was pull it out, and suck away she would.
He gave the table order and made his way back to where his brothers were laughing and joking. Jacob took a seat beside Riley, and watched Lou as he did. The businessmen were screaming at the stripper on stage who was giving them all a show of her cunt and ass.
Lou avoided their groping hands, and Jacob gritted his teeth in the hope of keeping all of his senses. He was so damn angry, and he wanted to kill every motherfucker who tried to touch her.
“Your sister doesn’t like me,” he said.
Riley snorted. “She doesn’t like a lot of people. You know she’s only worki
ng here to piss our mother off.”
“Why?”
“Do you like my sister?”
The whole table had gone quiet.
“Why does she want to piss your mother off?”
Riley’s drunken expression changed, and Jacob was even surprised by the sudden change in the man. He’d been faking it, and Jacob developed a lot of respect for Riley. Unlike most of the Moores, Riley wasn’t out for everything he could get. “What do you want to do with my sister?”
“I want to fuck her!” Jacob leaned in close. “But before I fuck her, I want to take her out on a date.”
“You fucker!” Riley went to grab him, but Jacob’s brothers kept him down in his seat. He fought though, and the rest of his men formed a barricade around them. “You’re not coming near my sister.”
Jacob sighed. “Stop fighting. I’ve got no intention of ever hurting your sister. Have you heard the rumors about the Denton men?”
“What?”
“The Denton men, the legacy, and the shit around our women?”
“Some rumor that you only love once, and you’re possessive as fuck when it comes to your woman. Everyone has heard that fucking rumor. Your father doesn’t exactly hide how he fucking feels.”
Riley stopped straining, but Jacob didn’t call off his brothers. Abel and Oliver held Riley down, straining to keep the strong man seated. Jacob didn’t want to cause a fuss in front of Lou.
“It’s the truth, and your sister belongs to me.”
Several seconds passed, and confusion crossed Riley’s face before he finally relaxed. “Belongs to you?”
“Up until three days ago I had to say I didn’t believe the rumors about the family men of our line. Seeing Louisa, I knew she was meant for me.”
“You want to date my sister?” Riley asked.
“I want to date her. I want her to get used to me being around, and then I’m going to marry her.”
Riley shook his head. “I can’t help you with that shit. Is that why you came to see me? Why I made it to being your partner?”
“No. You earned being my partner all on your own. My father was already going to give you that shot. Tonight, I wanted to get a chance to find out more about your sister. Now, why is she working at a strip club?”
“I told you. She’s trying to piss our mother off. Lou isn’t like other women in this world, and she intends to stand on her own two feet. She’s not going to be pushed around, or ordered.”
“I have no intention of ordering her around.” Apart from in the bedroom, but he doubted Riley wanted to know about that.
“Mom tried to marry her off to some Italian guy who comes to the gym. He’s rich and gets his kicks out of betting on the underground fights. That’s why Lou changed jobs. Before this she was some receptionist at a law firm.” Riley stared at him, assessing. “If you hurt her, I’ll break your fucking neck.”
Jacob leaned in close. “From what I’ve been told, if I hurt her, I’ll be hurting myself.”
“You Dentons are creepy as fuck! Anyone ever told you that?”
“Probably,” he said, laughing. “You’re not the first one to think it.”
“And you’re not the first one to assume it either,” Abel said.
They all calmed down, and took a seat.
Riley glanced over to Lou, who was watching them.
“She’s a good woman,” Frank said. “I like her. I was going to try her out myself, but I think I’ll bow out of that one, and leave it to you.”
Jacob turned his attention back to Frank. “What the fuck?”
Frank held his hands up. “I’m a guy, and I love to fuck. She’s a pretty little thing, and she doesn’t even have a clue how damn beautiful she is. It makes a guy want to show her how special she is.”
“You keep her safe, but you keep your hands to yourself, do you hear me?”
“I won’t be poaching on your territory.” Frank held his hands up again. “Does she know what you’ve got planned for her?”
“Hey, guys,” Lou said, interrupting them. She held a tray of drinks, and there were too many there. “I’m really sorry, but can you guys grab what you need to? There’s a lot here.” Her body was tense as she held all the drinks, and he gritted his teeth looking over at the bar. Ben was too busy chatting up a blonde to even care. Jacob was going to have to have a word about that. He didn’t want his woman hurting. “Do I need to stick around to drive you home?” she asked.
“Nah, I’m good. I’m staying here and party.”
Lou looked a little disgusted. “I heard about the last party you had. If I’m still working with you take that, you know, to one of the rooms? The last thing I want to see is my brother in that kind of—yeah, I’m not even going to go there.”
She didn’t look embarrassed, and Riley laughed. “You’re still scared from the time I took Becky to my room, and you walked in.”
“You didn’t even put a sock or a condom on the door handle. That kind of stuff is not acceptable.”
“It was my bedroom.”
“I don’t care. It was my eyes that nearly went blind from seeing your naked ass and balls.” Lou shuddered. “I’ll leave you gentlemen to your drinks.”
“Speaking of our last party, where are the women?” Gideon asked.
Jacob sat back as Frank went to get the women. The last party he was part of, he’d shared two girls with Abel. Tonight, he wasn’t going to be looking at any other woman. Lou held his attention with the way her curvy ass leaned over the table. The businessmen were getting loud, and hollering all kinds of shit at the girl on stage. Their noise was starting to piss him off.
When Lou took them over a drink, he watched as she caught around the waist, and forced to sit down. Jacob didn’t take time to assess. He got out of his chair, and stormed over to the table. He listened to his brothers call his name. The one who had caught Lou rubbed his hand between her thighs, and tried to capture her mouth. Lou was trying to fight, but the way he held her, her arms were trapped.
Rage consumed him as they touched his woman.
“Let her go,” Jacob said. If he shot the bastard there was a risk he’d hit her.
The man looked up at him. “Go and find your own slut.”
Wrong answer.
Lou had frozen into place, and he grabbed his knife out of his pocket, throwing it at the man’s shoulder. He screamed, releasing Lou, and Jacob grabbed her, giving her to her brother, even though he didn’t want to.
“It’s time you learned some fucking respect,” Jacob said.
****
Sitting inside Frank’s office, Lou wrapped her arms around herself while Riley knelt in front of her.
“Are you with me, Lou?”
She nodded. For the past year she’d been working in the strip club and never once had she been treated like that. Her heart raced, and she felt so damn dirty. Tears filled her eyes and before she could stop them, they were falling. She was so damn scared, and she wasn’t used to the feeling. “I’m not okay.”
“Do you feel happy getting back at Mom?”
“What?” she asked. This was not the time for that kind of conversation. “You’re seriously going to ask me that.”
“Fuck, Lou, some bastard has just mauled you right in front of me, and before I could get to you, Jacob fucking Denton did.” Riley got to his feet, and to her shame she couldn’t hold the tears back.
She heard the masculine scream of pain, and she shuddered.
“Calm down, Riley. This wasn’t your sister’s fault,” Frank said.
“What about you? You let assholes like that inside your fucking club, touching my sister up?”
“Enough!” Lou said, screaming out. “What’s done is done.” She was shaking like mad, and Riley wasn’t helping her feel any better. “Please, just either calm down, or leave. I don’t need this right now.”
She’d never been touched in such a way unless she was actually asking for it.
Minutes passed, and finally Riley kn
elt in front of her. “Shit, honey, I’m so sorry. I just went a little crazy. What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing. Not to say horrible things like you did about Mom. Yeah, I work here to spite her, but I happen to also like working here, too. Most of the time I’m safe here. Frank, he’s a good boss. This is the first inciden—”
“Those fuckers are gone, and they’re not coming back.”
Lou turned to find Jacob in the doorway. He looked crazed, which only startled her even more.
Without another word, he walked in, moving Riley aside as he knelt in front of her. “Are you okay? Did that bastard hurt you?”
He made to reach out to her, but she spotted the blood on his hands and froze up. She hated the sight of blood.
Jacob paused, staring at his hands. “They won’t be hurting you again.”
She didn’t know what the hell to make of what he’d done for her. There was no doubt that he had hurt the guy who touched her.
“Do you have somewhere I can wash up?”
Frank opened another door showing a small bathroom.
“You can go out and enjoy your party,” Lou said. She didn’t want Riley to miss out on his fun.
“No, I’m not going to do that.”
“Why? Look, you were having fun, and I’m fine. You know me, and I don’t like to have an audience. I’ve already overreacted.”
“No.”
“Riley, honestly, I’m fine.” She smiled up at him, trying her best to appear strong.
“I think it’s best that Louisa takes the rest of the night off,” Frank said. “I’ll make sure she gets home.”
“No need. I’ll deal with her,” Jacob said. “I’ll make sure she gets home safely, and I know a diner that serves late. I’ll feed her as well.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“I wasn’t asking,” Jacob said.
She gritted her teeth, hating the way he was being bossy. The last thing she wanted was to spend time with him, but she also refused to spoil Riley’s night.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m more than sure. Go, have fun, and enjoy your night. I imagine you’re going to be like super busy soon.”
Riley stared at her for several seconds.