The thought I’d been avoiding since Kade had shown up last night was suddenly front and center in my mind. He could’ve died. I didn’t know who had shot him, or if Kade had killed that person. What if the bullet had been farther to the left? What if the next time it was? Kade could be taken from me in an instant, and I might not even know.
Just like Blane, if he returned to the battlefield.
I rested my head against Kade’s chest. I could hear the strong sound of his heart beating. Squeezing my eyes shut, I sent up a prayer of thanks, as well as a plea for strength. Kade was temptation. Blane would never forgive me, or Kade, if anything happened between us.
Kade would find his happily ever after. He had to. It just couldn’t be with me.
“I have to go,” I said, my voice strained.
Squirming to get out of his grip caused a muffled groan from Kade, his hips pressing up against me. I wasn’t proud of the thoughts that flashed through my head at the feel of his arousal—wanton images of what I could do to him if I slid just a little lower…
I scrambled frantically now and Kade released me. Stumbling to my feet, I couldn’t meet his eyes, couldn’t look at him sprawled on my couch with desire in his eyes and a raging hard-on.
“I’ll be back later,” I babbled, grabbing my purse and shoving my feet into the first pair of shoes I found. “The place is called Xtreme and I start tonight. Don’t forget to take your medicine, and would you mind feeding Tigger?”
I didn’t wait for an answer, but hurried out the door and into my SUV, not breathing properly until I was driving down the road.
I cursed myself six ways from Sunday for the things I’d contemplated—all involving myself and Kade in various states of undress—no matter how briefly I’d thought them. I couldn’t be that girl, wouldn’t be that girl who falls in love with two brothers. I loved Blane and cared about Kade. A lot. That was all. He was like… like a brother to me, too. Yes, that was it. That’s why my feelings were so strong for him.
The little voice in the back of my head reminded me that fraternal feelings usually didn’t include a mad desire to unzip his pants and…
I groaned in dismay, smacking myself in the head with my palm to dislodge the image. While I wanted to help Kade recover from his wound, a part of me fervently hoped he wouldn’t be there when I got home tonight.
I arrived at Xtreme at the appointed time and hurried inside, pulling my hair back into a ponytail as I walked. No one likes a hair in their drink, even if their attention is focused on the naked women onstage.
Inside was darker than outside, despite the gloom and rain, and it took a minute for my eyes to adjust. When they did, I saw Jack behind the bar. He waved me over.
“Fill out this form,” he said, handing me a clipboard with a single sheet of paper attached. “You’ll be paid minimum wage, but the tips you get are yours to keep.” He eyed my clothes with raised eyebrows. “You might consider dressing more for the clientele. There are some items in back you can borrow, if you want.”
“Okay, thanks,” I said.
In short order, he’d shown me where things were kept, the stockroom, and his method for running the bar. None of it was anything unfamiliar, and I relaxed slightly. Bartending was something I could do very well.
“The girls like a drink before we open,” Jack said. “Penny likes a sloe gin fizz, Holly drinks bourbon on the rocks, Crystal always has a cosmo, and Lucy prefers white wine.” He made the drinks as he talked, setting them on a tray, which he handed to me. “They’re back in the dressing room.”
I headed that way, wondering what the women would be like. I’d never met a stripper before. High-priced escorts, yes, but not an actual stripper. I was both nervous and curious.
I knocked on the dressing-room door, decorated with peeling white paint and a faded blue star, but no one responded. I could hear music and chattering, so I eased open the door.
Four women, all in various states of undress, lounged in the small room. It was crowded to overflowing with clothes racks full of costumes in assorted colors, and several vanities with brightly lit mirrors and small padded stools. Piles of shoes were under furniture or randomly scattered around. Every kind of makeup—some I didn’t recognize—covered the tops of the vanities, along with hairbrushes, curling irons, and various bottles of sprays.
Their chatter abruptly stopped when I stepped inside. A brassy blonde with legs a mile long and lips a brightly painted red asked, “Who are you?”
I forced a nervous smile. “I’m Kathleen. The new bartender. Jack sent me with your drinks.”
“Well, hello, Kathleen-the-new-bartender,” a redhead piped up. Shorter than the blonde, she was round in all the right places. “I’m Holly,” she said with a friendly smile.
I smiled back, trying to keep from staring. She wore only a thong, pasties, and fishnet thigh-highs.
“When’d Mike hire you?” asked the blonde, with the same belligerence she’d displayed with her first question.
“Mike? I don’t know Mike,” I said. “Jack hired me.”
“Well, Jack’s got shit for brains if he thinks a chick servin’ booze lookin’ like a nun’s gonna help us out any,” the blonde retorted. Reaching for the tray I’d set down, she picked up the cosmo.
Ah. That must be Crystal.
“Give her a chance,” said a woman with hazel eyes and dyed-black hair. She seemed to have more steel in her spine than her appearance let on. “You’re always so negative.” She turned to me. “You seem real nice, honey,” she said kindly, taking the gin fizz.
Penny.
Which left Lucy. She was young, perhaps my age or a shade younger, with ash-blonde hair and a guarded expression.
“You must be Lucy,” I said, handing her the glass of wine. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” she said with a tight smile before looking away.
Thinking this would be a good time to see if any of them might know anything about Amanda Webber, I said, “I went to school with Amanda Webber, but I lost touch the last few months. I don’t suppose any of you know where she went?”
The room grew silent when I spoke Amanda’s name, and I glanced curiously around. Everyone looked a little frightened—except Crystal, who studied me with suspicion, and Lucy, who looked downright terrified.
“Fifteen minutes!”
I turned my head toward the door, where the shout had come from.
“That’s just Mike,” explained Holly with a wave of her hand. “As if we don’t know by now what time the show starts.”
Her comment seemed to have unfrozen everyone, who continued on as though I hadn’t said a word about Amanda.
The door opened behind me, and a man shoved his bald head inside. I thought it was odd, but the women didn’t seem to think anything amiss. When his dark eyes landed on me, he opened the door fully and stepped inside.
“You the new bartender?” he barked at me.
I jumped. The man was at least a foot taller than me and outweighed me twice over. The only hair on his head was a thick handlebar mustache. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt, and a heavy gold chain around his tattooed neck.
“Well? Are ya?” he said, even more loudly.
I jerked my head in a nod.
“Mike, stop it, you’re scaring the poor girl,” Penny admonished.
“What’s your name?” he asked, ignoring her.
“K-Kathleen,” I stammered, taking a small step back.
“Well, K-Kathleen,” he mocked, “change your clothes. I’m running a strip joint, and unless you’re going to show some fuckin’ skin, get out.”
“Mike, go on, I’ll take care of her,” Penny said, shooing him away. He grumbled but did as she said, slamming the door behind him.
“Don’t worry about Mike,” she said. “He’s a little rough around the edges, but he’s a businessman at heart.”
I certainly hoped I’d have no opportunity to be the center of Mike’s attention again. He co
uld crush me into a fine powder, and probably enjoy doing it.
Penny eyed me critically, then dug into one of the clothes racks behind her. After some rummaging, she pulled out a scrap of red fabric.
“Here,” she said, pushing it into my arms. “Wear this top instead.”
“This is a top?” I asked, bemused. I couldn’t even figure out what it covered, let alone how, there was so little to it.
“Let me help you,” she said. “Take off your shirt.”
Dubious, I just looked at her. She rolled her eyes, cocked an eyebrow, and waited. No one was paying the slightest attention to us, so I quickly shed my turtleneck. In a moment, she had the top on me, and I could see how it was supposed to fit.
An extremely low-cut—like nearly to my waist—halter top, it wrapped around me, leaving my arms and back bare. With a quick flick of her fingers, Penny had undone my bra and slipped it off.
“Now, with a few well-placed pieces of double-sided tape”—she strategically fastened the fabric to my skin with said adhesive—“you’ll be set.” Putting her hands on my shoulders, she turned me to face the mirror.
I usually avoided red, but the deep crimson of the shirt brought out the red in my hair and set off my fair skin. Seeing the curves of my breasts on display brought a blush to my cheeks, but I knew it could be worse. At least I got to keep on my own jeans.
“Add some lipstick,” Penny said, doing just that with a red that matched my shirt, “and give your hair the just-fucked look…” She pulled out my ponytail, sprayed some hair spray, then tousled my hair with her fingers. “And ta-da! You’re a knockout.”
I examined myself in the mirror, and I had to admit she had an eye for this sort of thing. “Thanks, Penny,” I said sincerely. “Hope this helps my tips tonight.”
“I’m sure it will, honey.” Her smile was warm and I found that I liked her. “You’d better go,” she said, waving me out the door. “Mike doesn’t like it if his workers don’t seem ready when the doors open.”
“Okay, thanks again,” I said, retreating out the door. “Nice to meet all of you,” I called over my shoulder.
I thought I heard a couple of them reply, and I’d definitely seen Crystal’s eyes narrow as I left. She had to know something about Amanda. Her reaction was too telling. As was Lucy’s. I’d have to get each of them alone and try to get them to tell me what they knew.
Jack did a double take when I reappeared, his eyes lingering longer than they should have on my breasts. “Looks like the ladies fixed you up,” he observed.
“Yeah. Penny is nice.”
The doors opened then and people began to trickle in, mostly men, but occasionally couples as well. I got my share of leers and suggestive remarks, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t dealt with before.
The women took the stage one by one to raucous cheers and catcalls that became louder as the evening wore on. The place definitely had a different feel to it than The Drop. The air was thick with carnality, and the way some of the men eyed me as I served their drinks made my skin crawl. The tips were good, but I felt I earned every nickel. I knew I’d be asking Jack to walk me to my car after my shift.
During Holly’s dance, a couple of the guys who’d had too much to drink got carried away, and one of them climbed up on stage with her. Before I could even make out what was happening, a bouncer had grabbed the guy by the collar and was hauling him to the door nearest to me.
Hurrying out from behind the bar, I opened the door for the bouncer. He tossed the guy out like he was nothing but a sack of potatoes, which was impressive because the heckler hadn’t been a small guy.
“Nice job,” I said to the bouncer. I had to tip my head back since he was quite a bit taller than me.
The dim light fell across his face, and I froze.
“Strawbs?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“What the hell are you doing here?” Chance asked.
“I work here,” I replied. “For now.”
“You…” he sputtered.
With a quick glance around, he grabbed my arm none too gently and yanked me through the doorway. Once we were outside, he dragged me away from the door and into the shadows at the side of the building. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Chance gritted out. “I thought you worked at a law firm.”
“I do,” I snapped, rubbing my abused arm. “I’m here on assignment. What’s your excuse?” It was a cold night and I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself to try and cover as much of my exposed skin as I could.
Chance scrubbed a hand over his face. “Jesus,” he breathed. He glared at me for a moment. “Well, your assignment is over, as of now. I want you to get in your car, go home, and don’t come back.”
I stared at him in surprise, my mouth gaping, before surprise gave way to anger. “I will not,” I retorted. “I’m here to find out what happened to two women, and I’m not going to drop that just because you say so.”
“Oh yes, you are,” he said, his voice hard.
I didn’t reply, my eyes narrowing as I lifted my chin and glared at him. The darkness of the lot was broken every few moments by the headlights of a passing car, the glare illuminating Chance’s implacable face.
The next thing I knew, Chance had wrapped an arm around my waist, picking me up bodily like I weighed nothing. “Where’d you park?” he asked.
I struggled in his grip, my face heating in humiliation. “Let me go!” I yelled, ineffectually squirming and beating my fists against any part of him I could reach. He didn’t even break his stride. “I said, let me go!”
“Hey buddy, why don’t you pick on somebody your own size.”
The words were a sibilant hiss in the dark, and in the moment it took me to recognize the voice that had spoken them, Chance grunted and dropped me to the concrete.
I ignored the pain in my hands and knees, which had caught the brunt of my fall, and launched myself to my feet, panic twisting in my stomach.
Chance was on the receiving end of an ass-kicking, though he valiantly landed a few hits to the black shape moving in the darkness. I knew that shape, had seen the lethal grace bring more than one man to his knees… and his grave.
Chance dropped to his knees, and terror shot through me.
“No!” I cried, running toward him. “Kade, stop!” I’d seen Kade kill with an ease that now made my blood ice in fear as I watched him move in close to Chance.
“No!”
I threw myself between them, shielding Chance with my body, the hard pavement and gravel scraping my already sore knees through the denim. My arms wrapped around Chance’s heaving torso, my body braced for Kade’s assault. When nothing happened, I turned my head.
Kade stood inches away, looking at me wrapped around Chance, wearing an inscrutable expression, his own breath coming in quick pants that clouded in the frigid air. Lines of pain creased his face, and I wondered what it had cost him to fight as he had while wounded.
A groan escaped from Chance, and I quickly turned my attention back to him. Blood was dripping from his nose and there was a gash by his eye. Sweat was slick and shining on his forehead. Fury filled me and I rounded on Kade.
“How could you do that?” I yelled at him. “What were you going to do, Kade? Kill him?”
“The thought crossed my mind,” Kade replied dryly, which only infuriated me more.
“You have so much blood on your hands, I don’t know how you sleep at night,” I hissed. “I didn’t need your help, if you even want to call it that, and I don’t want it.”
My hands shook with the force of my anger and fear, fear that I could’ve lost Chance in the blink of an eye and a twist of Kade’s hands. “Go away, Kade, and leave me alone.”
Kade’s face was unfathomable in the dark.
Our eyes remained locked until Chance let out a hiss of pain as he tried to get to his feet. I helped him up the best I could, guilt knifing through me at what Kade had done. When I glanced back around to where Kade had stood, he had disa
ppeared without a sound. A sliver of regret for my harsh words whispered through my mind, but I looked at Chance and shoved it away.
“Are you all right?” I asked tentatively.
Chance painfully made his way to the building and leaned back against it. Fishing a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, he didn’t answer until he’d lit one and taken a long drag.
“Tell me that wasn’t Kade Dennon,” he said flatly.
I looked at him with surprise. “You know him?”
Chance snorted and took another drag at his cigarette, blowing it out before answering me. “I know of him. What I want to know, is how the fuck do you know him?”
“I… met him a few months ago,” I stammered, taken aback that Chance knew who Kade was.
“And it was just a happy coincidence he was here tonight?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. He must have followed me.”
Chance froze, the cigarette halfway to his mouth. “Next you’re going to tell me he’s your boyfriend.”
My face heated. “Of course not,” I denied. “We’re just… friends… sort of. And he’s my boss.” I frowned.
Minor technicality, that. Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled at him. I chewed my lip in consternation.
“Your boss?” Chance’s eyebrows rose. “At the law firm?”
“He… knows the owner,” I said evasively, not wanting to divulge the relationship between Blane and Kade. “Blane Kirk.”
Chance let out a huff of laughter that was devoid of humor. “That’s fucking fantastic.” He dropped his cigarette and ground it out under the toe of his boot. “You’re friends with an assassin and you work for the most powerful, twisted lawyer in town. That’s just un-fucking-believable.”
My eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what you’ve heard,” I said stiffly, “but Blane Kirk is a good man and an amazing attorney. He fought for this country, and I don’t appreciate you bad-mouthing him.”
Turning Point (The Kathleen Turner Series) Page 14