Tough Guy: A Hero Club Novel

by Jamie K. Schmidt

  “I'll do what I can.”

  I tried to act normal. Grier was waiting in the men's room until we officially opened and then he was going to take a seat up front. He probably was going to hire Miranda for a few lap dances while I made the deal with Leonidas.

  Sitting down at my desk, I opened the drawer and took out the album that my uncle had kept about me. Every time I made the papers or was mentioned in a magazine, he had cut it out and put it in here. There were pictures of us too. Me on my first night on the security team. He and I with our arms around the burlesque dancers.

  That made me think of Jackie. She was probably still in the air or about to land in Carson City. Her lunch date was going to be about as much fun as mine. I wished I could have gone with her. She had woken up nervous and freaking out about meeting Parker and verbally sparring with Lisa.

  I smiled at how I had relaxed her a bit. My cock throbbed as I thought about how hot and wet she’d felt when I fucked her up against the window while she looked out over the Strip. I was looking forward to doing it again tonight. And for the rest of the nights of the next week. I hadn't given up the idea of convincing her to stay, but when she was so wrapped up in knots about Lisa, I didn't want to add to her stress.

  While I was checking all the stations and making sure the bar was fully stocked with clean glasses and enough booze, I ran into Paulie in the kitchen. He looked like someone had beaten the shit out of him.

  “What happened to you?” I asked.

  “I got into a car accident.” He turned away from me to unload plates from the dishwasher to the prep station.

  I looked closer. “Before or after you took a beating? Don't bullshit me. I know what it looks like when you get worked over.”

  “I don't want to talk about it.”

  “Too bad. When you didn't show up for work, guess what I found in your locker?”

  He shrugged. “I don't know.”

  “Don’t you? Is that why you got knocked around?”

  “I don't know what you're talking about, man.”

  Liu was trying to get my attention from the walk-in, so I let Paulie off the hook. I hoped Leonidas was a little more talkative. Of course Grier thought Paulie had been set up, so maybe the gun and the baggies had been planted there after Paulie left.

  “What?” I said, aggravated, leaning against the big refrigerator door.

  “You're not going to believe this shit,” he said, handing me a tray of meats and cheese. “That asshole Zeke wants his job back.”

  That was interesting. “What do you think?”

  “He was good when he was here. I don't like that he took off without notice, but we could use people we don't have to train. And you took back Paulie, so why not Zeke?”

  “I think Zeke might be running his own business out of the club. Escorts,” I said at Liu's look. I wasn't going to tell him about Dee's newest profession because it wasn't his business. But I didn't want Zeke leading away any of the dancers to Pahrump.

  “His sister is a good worker,” Liu said. “I'd bet she'd keep an eye on him.”

  “If you want him, he's yours. Don't let him know that I suspect he's up to no good. If he's clean, no problem. If he's messing around, I want to catch him in the act.”

  “Deal.”

  A few more rounds with security, the DJ, and of course the girls, and we were ready to open. Some clubs were twenty-four hours, but I closed my doors at four a.m. and opened them back up at noon. I only needed about six hours of sleep a night. I had been doing this every day for two years. I was getting sick of the inside of the club. If Jackie did stay in Las Vegas, maybe I'd ask Highway if he wanted to be promoted to manager and we'd split up the shifts. Maybe I'd do it even if Jackie went home.

  I signaled for the DJ to start playing and three dancers sauntered into place on each of the small U-shaped stages.

  “Open the doors,” I said to the doorman. I was pleased that there had been a small line. At the end of the line were Leonidas and his lieutenants.

  “You got the money?” he asked when he got to where I was standing in the middle of the club.

  “You've got the information?”

  Leonidas nodded.

  “You want to do this out here or in my office?”

  “We might want some privacy for this conversation.”

  I shrugged as if it didn't matter and led them back to my office. I saw Grier and Miranda getting up from their usual table. He followed her into the VIP room just as I reached my office. The goons sat on the couch and Leonidas perched a hip on my desk. He glanced at Uncle Johnny’s album and I inwardly cursed. I couldn't believe I’d left it out.

  “That you as a kid?”

  “Me and my uncle.” I tossed him the five thousand dollars. It was rolled up and secured with a rubber band.

  He lobbed it to one of his lieutenants on the couch to count it.

  “You've been waiting a long time for this,” he said.

  “It better be accurate information.”

  “It is. You've been staring at them for the last two years.” He jerked his thumb behind him. “Konner and Dieter from the pawn shop across the street had it in for your uncle for years. Surely, you remember that?”

  “I remember that there was no love lost between them, but murder and arson? I don't buy it. The cops didn’t either when they questioned them back then.”

  “Konner and Dieter are mob connected. They're not big fish, but they know people who are. While you were hustling drunks and laying socialites in Mykonos, Johnny was struggling financially.”

  My jaw clenched. I hadn't known it at the time, but after the fire I had been stuck with settling his estate. He had been a few months from bankruptcy when he died.

  “Your uncle went to Konner and Dieter and said he wanted to cash in on the club’s insurance policy. He hired them to burn it down.”

  I was shaking my head in denial. But in my gut, it sounded right.

  “He was getting old and getting sick of the club. He wasn't bringing in the crowd that he had been in the seventies and eighties. He wanted a lump sum to move to Florida and live the good life. He even had a girl picked out to take with him.” Leonidas handed me a photograph. For a second, I expected to see one of the burlesque dancers I knew from the old days. Instead I saw a younger version of Dee's mother. “Her name is Eleanor Brandon. But she went by the stage name Brandy.”

  “What the fuck?” I said. Brandy hadn’t been around while I had been there. And Dee’s mom hadn’t mentioned that she had known my uncle.

  “You can confirm my story with her. Her number is on the back of the picture. Anyway, at the last minute, your uncle got cold feet. Dieter and Konner were annoyed, but they were willing to stop it—as long as they got a cut of the insurance money.”

  “If there was no fire, there would be no money.”

  “Exactly. Your uncle didn't have it and he wasn't willing to go on a payment plan. They threatened Brandy. So he decided to take matters in his own hands, or at least that's what Dieter and Konner's story is going to be. Johnny tried to burn his own bar down and got caught in the blaze.”

  “That didn't happen.”

  “No, it didn't. Brandy convinced him to let Dieter and Konner go with the original plan. Your uncle reluctantly agreed. Meanwhile, Dieter and Konner made Brandy a better offer than Florida. High-priced escort who could hand select her clients and keep fifty percent. Brandy was no fool. She'd rather have her own money and retire after a few years than be Johnny Dalton's arm candy in Florida. Johnny got so mad that he went after Dieter and Konner. They killed him and left his body in the club.”

  “Why would Brandy confirm this with me?”

  “Because Dieter and Konner recently convinced her daughter to follow in her mother's footsteps and she's pissed. She wants revenge.”

  That was news to me. I thought it had been Zeke that started Dee on being an escort. I kept my mouth shut because it was possible that Zeke was working with Dieter and Konner.
Or they got wind of Dee's new job in Pahrump and decided to make her a nicer offer.

  “How do you know all this?” I asked Leonidas, who was looking very pleased with himself.

  “It's my business to know what happens in my territory. It's a business that would be very lucrative to you. I could keep tabs on all your staff. I knew all of this before you even had a clue. You had a line cook who decided to become a prostitute.” Leonidas counted off on his fingers. “Then there's your dishwasher who couldn't pay his loan shark on time, so he tried to run, but got caught and punished with a very generous warning.” He leaned in toward me. “I'd start looking for another dishwasher soon. If he misses another payment . . .” Leonidas drew a finger across his throat. “Let's see, what else? Oh, yes, your dancers. You fired one who was supplementing her income, but then you asked her to come back. Does your girlfriend know about that? Speaking of the lovely La Vie Bohème, did you know she went straight from your bed this morning and got on a plane to Carson City? She's looking for a burlesque job. You should have let her keep dancing in the club.”

  I forced my fists to unclench when he mentioned Jackie. He was wrong about the second part so that meant all he knew was where she was and that she had auditioned somewhere. But he didn't know it had been at the Odyssey casino. I was glad for his overconfidence, but I hated that Jackie was on this douchebag's radar. I decided to play him a bit and see what else I could find out from. “That would be a valuable service, but aren't Konner and Dieter your clients? Are you going to roll over on me to an interested party one day?”

  “That depends on you. Konner and Dieter are chafing at the money I charge because you're not paying me. They threatened to get some of their mob boys to muscle me and mine around like you did a few years ago. You're bad for business, Miles. I'm hoping by this show of faith, I can convince you that it's safer all around to pay me ten grand a month.”

  “I told you, I can't be profitable and pay you.”

  “We could work something out,” he said. “Ginny is very eager to be a major part of your business and mine.”

  “Ginny is a fine dancer.”

  “And a good salesgirl too.”

  “What are you saying?” I needed him to spell it out.

  “I'm saying either you let Ginny sell my drugs out of your club or I'm going to kidnap your girl and send her down to a group of friends of mine in Egypt, who'd pay nicely for a blond stripper slave girl. You'll never see La Vie Bohème again. Do we have an understanding?”

  I slammed his face into my desk as soon as he finished speaking, putting all my weight into making sure that smarmy smile hit solid oak with extreme prejudice. “Red alert,” I said into my Bluetooth as I banged his head a few more times, making sure that his nose was spaghetti.

  The goons tried to come at me, but I was behind the desk and their boss's body was stretched across it. I was pretty sure Leonidas was unconscious and missing a few teeth. “Put those knives down or you're going to be using them as suppositories,” I snarled.

  My security team rushed in with nine millimeters. Highway was going to be pissed he’d missed all the action. “Call the cops,” I said. “These pieces of shit attacked me.”

  “That's bullshit,” one of the goons said.

  “Tell it to the judge.”

  Jackie Mitchell

  This had to be the world's most awkward chicken salad sandwich. Half of it nearly landed in my lap after my sister informed me she was now vegan. Parker was easily twice her age. He was a good-looking man with silver hair. Lisa had gushed to me in the bathroom that he was her silver fox. He seemed like a decent enough guy, though. The age difference gave me pause, but I was trying to keep an open mind.

  “Have you ever thought of being a private detective?” Parker joked. Lisa linked her fingers through his and laughed.

  She looked happier than I'd ever seen her.

  “No, I don't have the patience. Look, Parker, I'm sure Lisa has told you about our mother.”

  “In detail.”

  “It's all true,” I said. “Just in case you think she was exaggerating. But that being said, she is a mother and she’s very worried about her youngest daughter. Do you have children?”

  “I have fraternal twins. They just started UCLA this year. My ex lives out in California, so they were able to get in-state tuition. It helped a great deal, but college is very expensive.”

  “Is that why you asked Lisa to help you get funding for the show?”

  “You don't have to answer that,” Lisa said, squeezing his hand tighter. “I told her it was none of her business.”

  “She's your sister and she's worried I'm taking advantage of you. Would you rather explain it to her or to your mother?”

  Lisa grimaced.

  “I'm not accusing you of anything,” I said. “I just want to understand. Lisa was in a bad way after her surgery. When she left for Las Vegas, I was glad she was getting a change of scene. But then she stopped answering phone calls and we got increasingly worried.”

  “And your mother sent you down here to save her from herself.”

  “Yeah,” I admitted.

  “Like you've done so many times before.”

  “Not that many,” Lisa said mulishly.

  “What would ease your mind?” Parker asked.

  I was trying to figure out how to phrase my questions. They all sounded like I was prying into Lisa's personal affairs and none of what I wanted to know was any of my business.

  “Just spit it out.” Lisa rolled her eyes.

  “How much is Lisa's salary?”

  “She doesn't get one. She gets a percentage of the house,” Parker said calmly.

  I winced. “What percentage?”

  “Fifty-fifty because she is also the coproducer.”

  “Is that in writing?” I asked Lisa.

  “Yes,” she groaned at me.

  “May I see the contract?”

  “No.”

  “Darling, what harm could that do?” Parker said, kissing the back of her hand.

  “I don't know where my copy is,” she admitted.

  Before I could go nuclear, Parker said, “I can e-mail it to you later today. My attorneys drew it up so that it was a fair contract.”

  I was leaning toward believing him. “If everything is on the up-and-up, all you need to do is call Mom and tell her you’re producing your own show in Carson City. She'll be thrilled. After that, just answer her calls once in a while and everything will be back to normal.”

  Lisa snorted. “I don't want to call her until the show is successful. I don't want her to build it up in her mind just to have me fail again.”

  Now it was my turn to snort. “When have you ever failed? You're the golden child.”

  “Yeah, I'm so golden that if I don't talk to my mother once a week, she thinks I've hurt myself or been led astray by con artists. Unlike you. She trusts you with everything.”

  I blinked at her in shock before staring back down at my chicken salad. There were walnuts and cut up red grapes in it. I couldn't decide if it was delicious or weird. Why not both? That was easier to think about than the fact that Lisa seemed to be resentful of my relationship with our mother.

  “Why didn't you want me to come to opening night?” That had been bothering me all last night—well the noncheesecake and Miles portion of the night.

  “I was afraid I was going to bomb. I was a terrible exotic dancer. I watched the prostitutes at the brothel for tips about being sexy and I couldn't figure that out either. My leg can't support me like it used to. I created a routine where I didn't have to put stress on my knee. I didn't know if it would work or if I'd make a fool out of myself.”

  “I told her it was brilliant, but she didn't believe me,” Parker said.

  “You wouldn't like it, Jackie,” Lisa said. “It's sexy, flirty and a little dirty.” She blushed.

  “Chance liked it,” I said. He had texted me this morning. The bachelor party was already back in Vegas. We were
going to meet at Dalton's later.

  “How did you meet Chance Bateman?” Lisa leaned in eagerly.

  “He paid me a hundred dollars to give him a lap dance.” I went back to my chicken salad and enjoyed Lisa's expression. “But that was just one night. I'm dating Miles Carvello.”

  “Miles?” Lisa said with a numb expression.

  “He's the owner of Dalton's,” I explained to Parker, who was looking between us in confusion.

  “When did you two meet?” Lisa's confusion was the perfect payback.

  “Monday.” Had it only been one week?

  “You started dating him this week?” she screeched.

  “And I auditioned for a stage show at the Odyssey casino. I went on my second callback yesterday. That's why I wasn't here on opening night, not that you invited me. Chance was doing me a favor by taking my place and coming to talk to you.”

  “Who are you?” Lisa gawked at me.

  “I'm Las Vegas Jackie.” I reached across the table. “Nice to meet you.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Miles Carvello

  Grier was pissed off at me. I suppose I could have handled it better.

  “If he wants to file assault charges on you, you’re guilty as hell.”

  I shrugged. “Let him. His rep will be in tatters for being a little snitch bitch who can’t take a punch.”

  “That was more than a punch. You broke a few bones.”

  “You heard what he said. And now you’ve got a line on a sex trafficking setup.”

  “I’m working on it.”

  We were sharing a bottle of Johnny Walker blue label in my office. My feet were on my desk and I raised my glass. “To Uncle Johnny.”

  Grier, on the couch, saluted me with his glass. “Don’t you make a fucking move on Dieter and Konner next door. Those assholes are all mine.”

  “When are you going to pick them up?”

  “I’m going to pay a visit to that Brandy woman and get a statement. They’ll get taken in for questioning as soon as I can push the paperwork through.”