The woman Dorlan had greeted turned and began walking with him, away from the building. Their heads were close and a breeze pushed part of her hair over her face, but Max still recognized her. David Digman’s campaign manager. The same David Digman who was running for re-election to City Council. And the same David Digman who had received a donation from an organization that may have been set up by Gary Burns.
To quote a character from a book he and Tensley had spent a teenage summer reading out loud to each other on a blanket spread over a field of summer grass … curiouser and curiouser.
Or maybe more appropriate, to quote Detective Max Hunter … holy shit.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Tuesday must not be a big day for ogling naked women, Tensley decided as she wiped down the bar for the twentieth time that night. Better not be many more nights like this, when business and tips were practically nonexistent, or she’d never make enough money to get out of this place.
Only one possible upside to this little customer activity — Gary wasn’t around. She hadn’t seen him all night, which might give her an opportunity to make another run at his office.
She set the cloth down behind the counter and watched as the red-headed woman she’d talked to a few nights ago stepped onto the stage, in full Fiery Farrina costume. Tonight she carried a long black whip to accentuate the black leather and lace costume that made her pale skin glow in the blue spotlight. Her black boots had heels at least eight inches high.
The music pulsated as she moved forward on the stage, one long leg at a time, beckoning an invitation to the two lone men in the audience, each sprawled at a table of his own, drink in hand.
Fiery Farrina, aka Sarah, lifted her whip.
One man straightened; the other leaned forward. On the downbeat of the music, Sarah snapped the whip, causing both the men and Tensley to jump. She continued dancing to the music, wrapping her legs around a pole and teasing off the skimpy piece of leather that covered her breasts — all while never missing a downbeat and corresponding crack of the whip.
The two men were mesmerized. Tensley was fascinated. How did the woman manage to do so many things at once, while making every one of them look effortless? If Tensley were to try cracking a whip like that, she’d probably manage to snap one of her own fingers off.
Nothing like a dangling appendage to turn on a man. Tensley snorted at the thought and then put her hand to her mouth to cover for it, not that anyone could have heard over the pounding music.
Keeping one hand on the bar for balance, she began shadowing Sarah’s steps. One leg forward, then curling it around a virtual pole and doing a half spin. Wrist up and a crack of the whip in time to the music. And another crack of the whip. Not that hard.
A full spin and she did it again. Kind of fun. She pictured Max’s face, watching her on the stage, Tensley in full control — the take-charge woman she’d always wanted to be. Instead of the lovesick teenager she’d slipped back into as soon as he’d landed in her bed.
How pathetic. She’d been the only one to feel anything that night. As far as Max Hunter was concerned, she was a diversion. A game of woulda, coulda, didn’t.
Tensley dropped her chin, staring at the linoleum floor beneath the padded mat. She needed a new checklist. A short one. Get the dirt on Gary. Give it to Max. Get the hell outta here.
And if she never learned her lesson, then she never did. She was the only person she could rely on to change things. Even her best friend had let her down, putting her in a position where Madame Claire could wreak havoc on her life, without Tensley even realizing it.
Tensley raised her head, looking around Gary’s Gorgeous Grecians with a new resolve. Even if she screwed things up trying to get out of this place, they couldn’t get much worse than they already were.
Just ask her mother.
She spied Milo lumbering in her direction. “Hey!” she called over the sound of the two patrons clapping for Fiery Farrina. “I’m taking a break.”
The big man frowned. “Who’s going to watch the bar?”
“Who’s drinking right now?” Tensley gestured at the men. “They’ve been nursing those beers for half an hour.”
Milo twisted his mouth, clearly not happy. “Fine. Ten minutes.”
“Twenty.”
“Fifteen.” He sounded injured by the negotiation.
“Great. Twenty, then.” She gave him a quick smile that wasn’t one. “Thanks.”
“Damn, Lila. What am I going to say if Gary comes in?”
“Is he supposed to?”
“Hell if I know.”
“Then don’t worry about it.” Tensley bolted from behind the bar and toward the back of the club before Milo could say anything more. She nearly slipped in liquid pooled on the floor. Someone’s stale beer. Great. “Hey, Milo,” she called. “Get someone to clean this up?” She pointed at the floor and then made sure she disappeared behind the curtain separating the employee area before he could say that it would be her cleaning it up.
She had enough trouble getting the smell of this place out of her clothes; she was pretty sure the combination of sweat, alcohol and lust was seeping out of her hair follicles now. No matter how hard she scrubbed in the shower, she could still smell it.
Once inside the dressing room, she sank into a chair, resting her head against its back and closing her eyes. Too bad she hadn’t brought a drink with her. She could use one.
“Smoke?”
Tensley opened her eyes. Sarah, still in costume, had dropped into the chair next to her and was holding out a cigarette.
“No. But thanks.” Tensley straightened.
“K.” Sarah lit the cigarette and snapped the lighter shut. She took a long drag and blew out the smoke.
“The routine with the whip,” Tensley ventured, “was really good. How long did it take you to learn to do that?”
“Thanks.” Sarah inhaled again and blew the smoke out. “I grew up on a farm. Been playing with ropes and whips since I was a kid.”
“I’d probably slice my arm off if I tried something like that.”
Sarah flashed a smile. “You probably would.” She crossed her legs and turned away.
After a few minutes of silence, Tensley ventured, “You’re a long way from the farm.”
“Yeah, well.” A half-laugh. “You get knocked up at sixteen, get thrown out of your house, that’s what happens.” She tipped her head, thinking. “I used to compete in team roping. Was pretty damn good at it, too. Maybe I should change my costume. Use a rope instead of a whip in my act.” She exhaled a stream of white smoke. “What do you think?”
“I like it. Tie up the guys in the audience until they cough up more tips.”
“No shit. Cheap sons of bitches.” The woman’s mouth, carefully lined in red lipstick, made an “o” when she exhaled.
“Tough way to make a living.” Tensley made it a statement, but meant it as a question.
“Only because, most of the time, it’s too much money to leave.”
“Right,” Tensley was quick to agree. “Especially when you have a child, I’m guessing.”
Sarah didn’t answer.
“How old is your … ” She took her best guess. “Daughter?”
The other woman’s expression softened. “Eight already. I can’t believe it.”
Tensley did a rapid calculation. If she’d become pregnant at sixteen, Sarah was only twenty-three or twenty-four. Her cautious eyes and the set of her jaw made her seem older. “Do you ever wish she could grow up on a farm, like you did?”
Sarah eyed her.
“I mean — ” Tensley struggled. “I don’t know much about farm life.” Actually, I don’t know anything about farm life. “But it seems like it would be a nice way to, you know, grow up. Quiet. Peaceful. Safe,” she finished lamely.
Sarah reached for an ashtray and stubbed out her cigarette. “I don’t want Halley within fifty miles of a farm. Or a rodeo. Cowboys are dangerous.”
“I think
they’re pretty cute. Great butts. You know, especially when they wear those … .” She gestured at her legs, unable to think of the word.”
“Chaps,” Sarah supplied.
“That’s it.”
“Try a ripped cowboy wearing only his hat and a pair of tight, worn-in jeans.”
Tensley pictured him. “I’d go for that.”
“Yeah, me too. It’s how I ended up pregnant at sixteen.”
The chair next to them scraped against the floor. Tensley turned to see Terrible Tawny sit down, in full makeup, but dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with “#1 Bitch” written in green letters across it. Tawny shot her gaze toward Sarah. “Seriously. A cowboy?”
Sarah didn’t say anything, just lifted her shoulder.
Something about the movement created a spark of sympathy in Tensley. “Are you still with him?” she asked.
Sarah gave another one of those half-laughs. “That’s a good one.” She paused. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t remember me. Wish I didn’t remember him.” She looked at the clock on the wall. “Gotta get dressed and out of here. Then I have to count up my tips and figure out if I have enough to pay for my kid’s music lessons this month.” She rose from her seat. As she passed by Tawny, she dropped her voice to add a question. “Do you know if I’m gonna get any extra time tomorrow?”
“Yeah, you will,” the other woman answered. “Get that babysitter to stay.”
Sarah hesitated, then nodded.
“Sarah,” Tensley called.
The woman looked back over her shoulder.
“Would you be willing to teach me how to work a rope sometime?”
Sarah frowned. “Only need one cowgirl act.”
“Oh. I wasn’t thinking of it for the act. I just think it looks like fun. I didn’t grow up on a farm. I grew up on a … city.”
Sarah drew her fiery brows together in a perplexed frown. “Yeah, sure.”
“Great. Thanks.” A little too much enthusiasm. She tried a correction. “You know, because it just would be good to know.”
Now Tawny was the one with the perplexed frown. “Girl, how do you get through life?” she wanted to know.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tensley lied. But it was only this life she had trouble with. Mostly.
After Sarah had gone, Tensley asked Tawny, “How do you get extra time?” She didn’t want to, God knows, she didn’t want to. But it could help her get Max what he needed and help her save enough money to get out from under this place.
Just in case Madame Claire wasn’t right about everything reversing.
Not going there.
Tawny shook her head. “That’s not for you.”
“How do you know?”
“You ask too many questions.”
“If it means more money, I won’t ask questions.”
Tawny’s laugh was short, hard. “Like that’s gonna happen. Ever.”
“You said yourself that I’m behind in my … ” What was it? Oh. “ … house rent.”
The other woman got up and went to her locker. She paused, hand gripping the lock, and turned to Tensley. “You don’t want to make money that way.”
Tensley sat up straighter. “Why not?”
“Told you. Can’t go ten seconds without asking stupid questions.” Tawny jerked the lock open and slammed the door against its neighbor.
Tensley flinched at the sound of metal on metal and leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes. If Tawny thought she asked too many questions now, she hadn’t seen anything yet. Getting the answers to those questions was the only thing that was going to get her out of here.
• • •
“You went to see your mother,” Kate repeated. “Why?”
“Not only did I go see her, I spread a rumor around the company that she’s dying.”
Kate’s chin dropped. “You did not. Be serious.”
“Oh yes, I did.” Tensley ran a hand through her hair. “Probably not the smartest thing I ever did, but I had a reason.”
“What reason could you possibly have to — ?” Words seemed to fail her best friend. “That woman will take you apart.”
“Oh, don’t worry. She already did that. And she hadn’t even heard about the rumor yet.” Much as she tried to keep it away, hurt wobbled through her voice.
Kate curled a piece of paper between her fingers. “That sucks. I’m sorry.”
“Nothing I can do about it now.”
The paper crumpled into a ball in Kate’s fist. “The woman is evil.”
“So I hear.”
Her best friend looked at her long and hard. “You know, Max tried to see you after the whole thing with Rhonda. To explain.”
Max. Tensley’s stomach did a somersault. She picked up her own piece of paper, folding it first one way and then the other. “What does that have to do with my mother?”
“She sent Leo after him.”
Tensley shuddered. Leo had been a sharp-toothed, muscular Rottweiler her mother insisted on getting when her daughter entered high school. Tensley had been scared to death of him. The dog had even slept in a military-ready position. “Leo would have made sure Max didn’t get anywhere near me.” Against her will, a spot in her heart warmed at the thought that he’d tried.
“Exactly. Max ended up in the emergency room.”
Tensley froze. “What?”
“That dog bit him in the face.”
The scar. She’d seen it that first night, when he’d driven her home from the club. She knew it hadn’t been there before. She’d known and loved every inch of that man, and then some, in high school. “Along his jaw,” she said.
Kate nodded. “It healed, but still. She didn’t even call for help.”
“I can’t believe it.” The problem was that she could. “I worked with my mother. Things weren’t great, but we got along okay.”
Stinky padded into the kitchen, followed by Blinky.
“Are you sure about that?” Kate asked.
Better not to answer. “At least I don’t have to feel bad about what I did today.”
“Just wait until she finds out how many people are already planning her funeral.”
Tensley shook her head. “That won’t be so bad. It’s what she’ll do when she finds out how many people are planning for after her funeral.” For the fifth or fiftieth time in her life, beginning when she was a kid glued to the TV, she wondered why Elyse Keaton couldn’t have been her mother instead. Strong, but compassionate. Driven, but still liked her kids.
And now that she thought about it, Tensley decided she would really like life to come with a pre-recorded laugh track.
For all those times when you just couldn’t make it happen on your own.
• • •
When Tensley arrived at the club, Sarah was sitting at a table in the dancers’ dressing room, a scowl on her face as she stared at a thick brochure.
“What’s wrong?”
Sarah didn’t answer. She pulled her red hair back with both hands, her eyes never leaving the piece in front of her.
Tensley leaned down and carefully picked up one end of the brochure. It was a catalog from the community college.
“Hey, leave it alone,” the other woman was quick to say, grabbing the catalog away and tossing it in the trash. “I was bored. Needed something to look at.”
“Are you thinking about going to school?”
“Nah, they asked me to teach a class,” Sarah replied, sarcasm coating her words. “How to take off your clothes like you mean it. One-oh-one.”
Tensley narrowed her eyes. “It’s not as though you wouldn’t have something to teach them. You’re a self-employed business person.”
Pink stained Sarah’s cheeks as she looked away. “Yeah, right.”
“This is like any other business. There’s profit and loss. How much is your time worth? What expenses do you have? How do you make sure there are more nights when tips are good than there are nights with cheap sons of bitches?”<
br />
The other woman turned back, slowly raising her eyes to meet Tensley’s. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. After a moment, she said, “I haven’t — you know. Thought of it like that.”
“Maybe you should.”
Silence. Then Sarah shook her head. “I’m a stripper. I don’t know shit about business or I wouldn’t be here. I’d be running a company or something.”
“You are running a company. Your own.”
Sarah pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. “If I knew how to figure that stuff out, I would have done it a long time ago. Besides, all I’d find out is that Gary’s the one making all the money. And I’m the one stuck here because I can’t do anything else.”
Tensley leaned forward in her chair. This could be it. The way she could help someone. Her ticket back home. Sarah had a problem that needed solving. Could there be a lesson in there somewhere for Tensley? God, she hoped so. She really, really hoped so.
“Listen to me,” she said to Sarah, trying hard to keep the excitement from exploding out of her. “I hated business classes when I first started taking them. There was no way I was going to stay with that major. Where’s the romance in a bunch of calculations? But it was the only way my mother was going to pay for college, so I stuck with it and it hasn’t been that bad. I’ve even used it sometimes. Like now. I can help you figure out how much you’re making. And how you can make more.”
“Right.” Sarah snorted and looked away, then back. “You’re not serious.”
“Oh, you have no idea how serious I am.” Get ready, Gary. Tensley Tanner-Starbrook’s business degree was finally going to get put to good use.
CHAPTER TWENTY
True to his word, the next time Max arranged for the two of them to meet, it was at Sol’s diner. A public place. The front door squeaked when Tensley pushed it open and a rush of warm air followed her inside, ruffling her hair.
She wasn’t sure about this. Not at all sure about this. But at least she was moving on to Plan B.
Plan B did not include Max Hunter.
Her bravado lasted until she saw him sitting at a table facing the door, in a navy T-shirt that stretched across the broad muscles of his chest and upper arms, his black hair tousled carelessly across his forehead and curling at the nape of his neck, blue eyes framed by dark brows and a day’s growth of whiskers.
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