Black Sheep

  Part of me wanted to pull out my phone and text Nicole that I was about to go to a strip club, but I didn’t think she was the jealous type. Not to mention, I wasn’t even sure what we were. I just knew I didn’t want anyone else, and I hoped she felt the same.

  The flashing sign lit our way to the entrance, and I could hear the music beating through the door before they even opened it. I was the last to go inside, but once I did, I paid my cover cost and followed the guys through another door.

  My eyes bounced around the room from table to table until I spotted a corner booth toward the back.

  “What about back there?” I said, pointing toward the empty booth.

  “Why the hell would we want to be away from the action?” Nate yelled over the music. “We’re front row, boys!”

  Sighing, I followed as they found two tables close to the stage and pushed them together.

  “Does Stacey know you’re here?” I asked.

  A few months back, she’d come to the garage yelling because she’d caught him texting some other girl. Odds were she had no idea he was at a strip club looking at naked tits with his brother.

  He laughed. “Hell no, man. She’d shit. She thinks we’re at Cosmos, the bar on Folly Beach.”

  I nodded.

  When the waitress came to our table, I ordered a beer. I was already ready to go, but the more the girls danced on the stage, shaking their asses in our faces and peeling their clothes off, the more uncomfortable I became.

  How would I feel if Nicole was out at a male strip club and some guy was waving his cock in her face?

  I took a bigger swig from my beer, trying to finish it as fast as possible.

  The guys were already yelling at the girls and waving dollar bills above their heads. If this was just the beginning of the night, then I sure as hell didn’t want to be here at the end.

  The guys kept putting money in front of Lance, and the girls, seeing we were out celebrating his last night of freedom, made sure to give him plenty of attention.

  He sat back in his chair with a big smile on his face as one of the girls gave him a lap dance. The guys chanted for him, but I just took another swig, finishing my beer so I could get the hell out of there.

  Finally, nothing but foam remained in the bottom of my bottle. I stood, and Nate turned my way.

  “One beer,” I mouthed as I shrugged.

  “You’re going to miss out, man!”

  Chuckling, I tossed a five on the table in front of Lance.

  “Congrats, man,” I said loudly over the music.

  But before he could respond, the stripper was in his lap once again, pulling her bra down and flashing her nipples right in his face.

  Definitely not my scene.

  “I’ll see you Monday, man. Try not to get too shitfaced!” I yelled over the music to Nate.

  “Yeah, okay. See you Monday!”

  I turned away from the table and started toward the door, and that was when I saw her.

  Nicole.

  She was holding a tray of shots and making her way across the room in a pair of skimpy shorts and a low-cut top. Her ass cheeks were hanging from the shorts and her cleavage was overflowing out of her top.

  She bumped her hip against another waitress to the beat of the music as she scooted past her, and they both laughed.

  I could hardly believe my eyes.

  For weeks, she’d told me she was working at a restaurant downtown, but she’d lied to me. She was working at a strip club.

  She lied.

  My perfect girl.

  My light.

  Yet she’d been dishonest with me.

  I closed my eyes and breathed deep, the pain cutting through me so quickly it felt as if I’d been burned by lightning.

  When I opened my eyes, she was standing next to a table full of men and handing out shots. The more she leaned over the table, the more her ass came out of her shorts.

  It was too much.

  I could feel myself breaking and losing touch with reality.

  Not only had she hurt me by lying to me, but it was also killing me to watch as other men drooled all over her, their eyes taking in every piece of her exposed flesh as she worked without a care in the world.

  Then a thought hit me.

  Was she a dancer here, as well?

  My stomach soured, the beer I’d just drank rushing up my throat and threatening a comeback.

  I couldn’t imagine my girl on stage stripping naked for other men.

  I knew she loved dancing, but this wasn’t the way.

  One of the guys at her table reached out and grabbed her ass, prompting her to smack his fingers away with a coy smile. She’d handled the situation, but anger rushed through me, making my cheeks hot and my body quake.

  My best bet was to walk out and deal with it later once I had a chance to calm down. I didn’t want to say or do anything I’d regret later. Especially when it came to Nicole, but then the guy reached out again and grabbed her ass, pulling her into his lap.

  I snapped.

  My blood boiled as I stomped across the room toward the table she was working. My hip bumped into a table as I passed, knocking over a few drinks.

  “What the fuck, man!” a guy yelled.

  But I didn’t pay him any attention.

  I had my eye on Nicole and the fucker who obviously didn’t know what no meant. She struggled in his hold, her smile melting from her face as he put his filthy hands all over her.

  Then she looked up and saw me headed her way.

  “Tyson, no!” she called out, holding her hands out to stop me.

  But it was too late.

  I was already seeing red.

  Pulling her from his arms, I moved her to the side. The guy looked up at me with a big drunken grin.

  “Hey, man, I was just fucking around,” he slurred, holding his hands up palms out.

  I didn’t hold back. Instead, I pulled my fist back and knocked him out cold in his chair.

  His buddies jumped me, and I fought back. The music stopped, and I heard a ton of commotion around me, but I continued to fight anyone who tried to stop me, feeling better and better each time my fist made contact.

  Two large bouncers took me down with their knees on my back. From the floor, I looked up to see Nicole standing above me with tears in her eyes. Even then, pinned to the floor, the adrenaline pumping through my veins caused me to continue to fight to get loose.

  Anger had taken root in my core, blasting me with irrational insanity. I was so out of it, in fact, that I didn’t even realize I’d been handcuffed until the police were lifting me from the floor and I was being ushered out of the club and toward a police car.

  THIRTY-ONE

  Nicole

  I SHOULDN’T HAVE, but I bailed Tyson out of jail. It was money I didn’t really have to spend, but I couldn’t let him rot in behind bars—even if he deserved it for tearing up the club.

  The moment I made eye contact with him at Knockers, and I saw him coming our way, I knew things were about to get messy. I’d seen Tyson lose it on a few guys in high school. Then there was the time in front of the store after Thanksgiving, but I’d never seen him as out of it as he was when he was fighting the guys at the club.

  It was as if he didn’t hear anything or feel anything. He just kept going, his fists flying as he fought four men at once. He was losing, but he was going down swinging.

  I was relieved when the bouncers, Steven and Ross, threw him to the ground and pinned him. If he was down, I didn’t have to worry about him hurting anyone or getting himself hurt.

  Things moved quickly after that. The police were there handcuffing him, and he was being tossed in the back of a police cruiser. I was mad at him for making a scene at my job, but I felt terrible seeing him being arrested. There was nothing I could do, though. No matter how badly I wanted to save him.

  So there we were, driving home at two in the morning without talking to each other.

  Finally, he was the fir
st to speak.

  “You lied to me,” he muttered, as he gazed out of the passenger’s side window.

  He hadn’t looked at me since I picked him up, and in a way, it made me mad. Sure, I was working at a strip club. Sure, I’d lied to him about it. But I was doing what I had to do.

  Why didn’t he understand that?

  “I’m sorry I lied to you, but I needed a job, Tyson. It was the only job I could get.”

  He huffed and shook his head. “At a strip club, Nicole? Really?”

  I gripped the wheel, trying to keep my anger in check.

  “Yes, Tyson, at a strip club. It pays well, and I have bills to pay.”

  “You’re worth so much more than that place,” he whispered to the window.

  “There’s nothing wrong with working there,” I argued.

  Finally, he looked over at me, his jaw tight, and his eyes dark and angry. “Then why did you have to lie about it?”

  He had me there, but instead of responding, I turned back toward the road and kept my mouth shut.

  His car was towed once he was arrested, but I didn’t have the money to pick it up. Plus, it was late, which meant I’d have to take him to get his car in the morning.

  When we pulled into the driveway, he said nothing as he got out and went inside. I hated the way he was treating me, but we were both in the wrong.

  I shouldn’t have lied, and he shouldn’t have lost it and gotten into a bar fight.

  Closing the front door behind me, I went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. It had been a long night at the club, but thankfully, once I admitted to Jim that Tyson was kind of my boyfriend, he let me leave early to take care of things.

  The house was quiet. Brian was in bed asleep, and Tyson went straight to his room upstairs all pissed off and brooding. Once I made sure everything was off and locked downstairs, I went to my room and got something to sleep in before going to the bathroom.

  Standing in the shower, I let the hot water wash over me, cleaning away the smell of sweat, alcohol, and cigarettes. My muscles ached from working and running around the club all night. Since I wasn’t going to dance class three to four times a week, my body wasn’t used to the movements anymore.

  I was tired and aching, and because Tyson had come into the club and gotten into a bar fight, I was mad. I was upset with him, and I was angry with myself. The entire situation was a mess, and there wasn’t much I could do about it.

  I just knew I hated that he was upset with me. I didn’t like it when we argued. This was our first official fight, but I already knew I was going to have a terrible time getting to sleep since he wasn’t going to be in my bed with me.

  Still, I had too much pride to go to his door and make up. I had too much pride to ask him to come to my room.

  Men!

  Couldn’t live with them and definitely, couldn’t live without them.

  Shutting off the water, I dried my body and pulled a T-shirt over my head.

  When I left the bathroom, I paused by his door for a second with thoughts of maybe knocking and talking things out, but it was late, and we both needed time to settle. So instead, I went to my room and crawled into bed.

  Sleep never came.

  I lay there thinking over the night and wondering what the following day would bring. Things were going to be tense, and while I understood he didn’t like me working at Knockers, I couldn’t afford to quit. Not to mention, he didn’t really have a right to tell me to quit.

  My bedroom door squeaked, and I sat up quickly with a gasp.

  Tyson stood in the doorway, his wide, naked shoulders taking up the entire space. Every time he came into my room, he made it feel smaller—it was the same with my bed.

  “I’m sorry I scared you,” he whispered before he stepped completely into the room and shut the door quietly behind him.

  “It’s okay. Is something wrong?” I asked.

  Yes.

  Something was definitely wrong.

  Hopefully, he wanted to talk about it and wasn’t going to be a typical man.

  Stepping across the room, he sat on the edge of my bed.

  “I’m sorry about tonight,” he mumbled, reaching out and touching my arm. “Seeing that guy with his hands all over you made me crazy, and I just … I lost it.”

  Moving closer to him, I put my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly.

  “I know, and I’m sorry I lied, but I knew how you’d react. Tyson, I needed a job, and I couldn’t afford to keep waiting around. When they offered me the waitressing position, I had to take it. Plus, the money’s great.”

  “But you’re selling yourself, Nicole. You’re so much better than that.”

  I grinned at him and looked up into his soft eyes. “I’m not, apparently, and honestly, the girls who work there are just doing what they can to take care of their kids. I have to take care of Brian. It’s kind of the same.”

  He shook his head and sighed.

  “I’m not stripping, Tyson. No one but you sees me naked, and no one else will,” I assured him.

  Pulling away from me, he cupped my chin and ran his thumb along my cheek.

  “Let me take care of you and Brian. I’ll get a third job—whatever I need to do.”

  Turning my face into his palm, I kissed the calloused skin. “No. I can do this. I’ve applied at Anna’s School of Dance. Until I hear back from Anna, this waitressing thing will have to do.”

  “I can give you money, Nicole. I’ve already been paying a few of the bills around the house as it is. I don’t want you working there. I can’t handle it. I swear I’ll go crazy knowing you’re there, and men are looking at you or touching you.”

  I pulled away, his words striking a fire in my stomach.

  “Wait,” I said, pushing his hand away from me. “What do you mean you’ve been paying bills around here?”

  I’d thought I was doing it all on my own. I was struggling, but I felt confident knowing I was taking care of business.

  Finding out Tyson had been behind the scenes helping me made me feel less confident about being able to take care of Brian and myself.

  “It’s nothing.” He shrugged. “Sometimes, when I come over, I take a bill or two off the counter and pay it. You never seemed to notice, so I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

  I leaped from the bed, the springs of the mattress creaking.

  “It’s something, Tyson. It’s a big something,” I yelled.

  Paying my bills behind my back angered me more than his fighting at the club.

  How had I missed that some of the bills were missing?

  Maybe I wasn’t as responsible as I thought.

  Maybe I couldn’t take care of Brian and myself, and Tyson had always been right to worry.

  “Shhh,” he tried to quiet me. “You’re going to wake Brian up.”

  “I don’t care! I’m done with this, Tyson. You have to stop. I’m not a child. I can work where I want to work, and I’m allowed to fail. Stop paying the bills and let me take care of myself.”

  He moved toward me, but I pushed him away.

  “I’m serious. For years, you’ve been trying to protect me. For years, you’ve had me put on some kind of pedestal. Well, newsflash. I’m not perfect. I screw up, and I’m probably going to screw up again. But let me learn from my mistakes. Let me make mistakes without feeling like a total failure.”

  “You’re not a failure. I don’t think …”

  “Stop!” I cut him off. “Just stop. I can’t do this. I’m not doing this.”

  His shoulders went stiff, and his jaw tightened, making the muscle pop in his cheek. “What are you saying?”

  Running my fingers through my hair, I tugged at the ends and sighed. I was angry, and I was afraid I was going to say something I didn’t mean. That was the last thing I needed.

  What I needed was a break—just a small one.

  I was sleepy.

  I was exhausted.

  And I was a little heartbroken.<
br />
  Here I was, thinking I was doing awesome and taking care of everything—making my parents proud—when the entire time, I hadn’t been doing anything alone.

  “I think you should leave,” I whispered. “I think we need a little bit of space.”

  I could hardly believe the words I was saying. I’d been chasing Tyson for years, and finally, I had him. But he was so intense—so demanding—and in many ways controlling. I couldn’t have that. I had to let him know right then and there that his controlling wasn’t something I was willing to put up with.

  His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open a bit.

  “You’re not serious.”

  I nodded, feeling tears sting the back of my eyes. “I am. I just need some time.”

  “Nicole,” he whispered, his shoulders dropping in defeat.

  He moved toward me again, and again, I stopped him.

  “Please, Tyson, just go. We’ll talk about this later, but right now, I’m tired.”

  He stood, staring down at me with his nostrils flaring and his eyes full of dread. I thought for a second he wouldn’t listen—that he’d try to pull me into his arms and make things better then and there. But he didn’t.

  Instead, he marched by me, opened my bedroom door, walked out, and shut the door quietly behind him.

  I heard his bedroom door open, and then I heard it close.

  It wasn’t until his door was closed that the tears sprang from my eyes.

  Things were so perfect.

  And then … they weren’t.

  I DIDN’T FALL asleep until well after dawn. And even then, it was only for two hours. After getting dressed, I slipped from my room quietly, trying not to wake Brian and Tyson, and I went downstairs.

  Coffee wasn’t my usual, but I needed it this morning. So I put on a pot and made myself a piece of toast. I was buttering my toast when Brian came into the kitchen yawning and making himself a bowl of cereal.

  “Good morning,” I said happily before biting into my breakfast.

  He looked at me with angry eyes and shook his head.

  “Good for you maybe. You’re not the one who was up all night listening to your sister arguing with her boyfriend.”

  My mouth popped open, and I choked on my toast.