by Dia Cole
“What?” Max jerked his bald head up so fast his jowls shook.
“We might need to call an ambulance.” I waited for Max to make an obscene joke, but instead a panicked expression crossed his face.
“You said his veins were black?”
I nodded.
Donna let out a gasp. “The news reporter said to watch out for people with dark veins. Some folks are having bad reactions to the canine flu vaccine. They’re getting sick and…” she lowered her voice, “turning into cannibals.”
I gave her an incredulous look. “What?”
“See for yourself.” She waved at the television hanging above a tower of colorful liquor bottles.
On the screen a flustered news reporter was babbling. “Reports of violent behavior in some of the recently vaccinated are coming in from all across the country.”
The program cut to a clip of dazed-looking people in hospital gowns attacking a young man on the street. The jerky footage must’ve been taken on someone’s cell phone. Whoever was holding the phone kept repeating, “Holy shit,” over and over while the crowd literally tore the screaming man to pieces.
My stomach churned as I watched the deranged crowd gulp down handfuls of the man’s flesh. “That’s horrible. I can’t believe they showed that on television.”
Donna shook her head. “It’s not just happening here. It’s happening all over the world. They rushed the flu vaccine to market without doing the proper tests and now it’s turning people into monsters. Oh, God. And just an hour ago I was cursing the fact that they didn’t have the vaccine available for Gavin.” She let out a sob at the mention of her son who’d died of the flu earlier in the year.
“Don’t cry, muffin,” Max said in a gruff voice. He slung one beefy arm around Donna’s thin shoulder and gave me a hard look. “Get that sick guy out of here. Now.” He used his don’t-argue-with-me voice.
That tone hadn’t worked on me since I’d been ten. “But Max—”
He interrupted me. “I’ll call him a cab. You get him in it. We’re closing early tonight. Donna, go get Sly up. I’ll tell Mr. Diaz and his men that they need to leave.” He looked over at the dark-haired men in back and shuddered. “Let’s hope they don’t kill me,” he muttered under his breath as he headed over to their table.
I’d take the sick professor over throwing deadly gang members out of the club any day. As I turned to walk back to the VIP area, Donna called my name softly.
I spun around to see that the older woman wore an anxious expression on her face.
She smoothed an invisible wrinkle from her short black skirt. “Honey, I’m sorry but Max and I won’t be able to make your Christmas Eve dinner.”
“Oh,” I said, trying not to let my disappointment show. You and everyone else. “That’s too bad.”
“We’re sorry to miss it, it’s just that with everything going on…” She waved weakly at the television set. “And it’s our first Christmas without Gavin.” Her voice hitched.
“I understand.” I reached over and hugged her. I missed that kid something fierce. Pushing the memory of the mischievous little boy out of my mind before I started tearing up too, I looked over at Justin. “You and Sam are still coming, right?”
The big guy shook his head. “Sorry, sweetheart. Sam just wants to do a family thing this year.” He gave me an apologetic smile.
Family thing. Right. “Well, more turkey for me,” I said, hiding my misery with a smile. “Have a good night.”
Donna and Justin waved as I headed back toward the professor. My chest tightened. Bad enough that the anniversary of my mother’s death was Christmas Eve. Now I’d have to endure it alone.
The wail of country music faded as I moved past the stage and through the long, deserted hallway. I stopped at the closed velvet curtain to the room where I’d left the professor. A low moaning sound came from inside. “Dr. Sullivan?” I reached out to pull open the curtain and hesitated. I’d never realized how far from the main club this area was. What if the professor is sick like the people on TV? What if he attacks me?
2
Havana
A large hand clamped down on my shoulder.
A shriek lodged in my throat as I spun around and came face-to-face with two tall, muscular men.
The shorter man, if you could call a man over six feet short, offered me a dazzling, panty-dropping smile. “Sorry to startle you, love.”
The man’s sexy English accent paired with tousled blond hair and ocean-blue eyes had me returning his smile and flipping back my hair. “No harm, no foul. How can I help you?”
The other man stepped forward. His six-foot-four height put me at eye level with the black eye patch over his right eye. The patch combined with his five o’clock shadow and collar-length hair gave him a definite bad-boy vibe that made my blood hum.
“We’re here for you,” tall dark and handsome said in a deep voice.
Holy hotness. I’ll stay after hours for these guys. I licked my lips feeling my hormones wake for the first time in months. “If you want to step into a room—” I gestured to the open rooms down the hall “—I’ll be right there.”
Tall dark and handsome frowned. “You misunderstand. Havana, you need to come with us right now.”
The sound of my real name had me staring at the two men in shocked silence for half a second. “Do I know you?” Have I danced for them before? No. I'd definitely remember men this good-looking.
The clean-shaven blond, who looked like a GQ model, shook his head. He wore khakis and a blue polo shirt under his jacket, which matched the stunning hue of his eyes perfectly. “I’m Mason Wheeler and he’s Gabriel Perez.”
I looked over at the dark-haired man whose black clothing and golden complexion almost made me mistake him for one of the Calaveras. But there was no way I would’ve missed his eye patch and smoldering good looks among the gang members.
Why are they here for me? There was only one plausible explanation. “Are you guys cops?”
The two men exchanged a look.
Fucking A. And I didn’t think my night could get any worse. My stomach sank and my mind raced as I tried to think of a reason the cops would want to talk to me. “Is this about the Strip Club Killer?” My throat tightened as I remembered how close I’d come to joining his victims.
“No,” Gabriel said.
Okay. Then what? “Look, I pay my taxes.” Maybe I didn’t always report every tip, but enough.
Mason’s sinfully full lips quirked up. “This isn’t about your taxes.”
Damn, these were the sexiest cops I’d ever seen. I almost wanted them to arrest me. Maybe this is about the internet stuff? I folded my arms over my chest. “Last time I checked being a cam girl wasn’t illegal and—”
Gabriel cleared his throat interrupting me. “Enough. We’re running out of time.” He stepped forward and stared into my eyes. “Ms. James, come with us now.” His voice rang with a strange tone.
Rubbing my temple where my head suddenly ached, I said, “Don’t I have a right to an attorney and a phone call?”
Gabriel’s mouth fell open as if I’d shocked him.
“Mistress Robin,” the professor wheezed from the VIP room. “I think I need to see a doctor.”
Gabriel stepped by me, slid open the curtain, and cursed. “It’s one of the infected.”
I peered around his muscular shoulder and found the professor slumped on the floor with his shirt in his lap. There were even more dark veins running across his chest. “Can you get your shirt on, Dr. Sullivan?” I asked with a calmness I didn’t feel. “Max is calling you a cab. You can take it straight to the hospital. We can call an ambulance if you want…”
“No. A cab is fine. Thank you.” The professor slowly pulled on his shirt with shaking hands. In that moment, he looked old and frail.
Feeling sorry for the man, I reached into the top of my boot and pulled out his money. “You can have this back since we didn’t—”
“Move away from
him,” Gabriel said, grabbing my arm. “He’s infected with the virus.”
“The virus?” I echoed. Is he talking about the canine flu?
“Keep the money,” the professor said with a wan smile. “It can be a holiday advance. I’ll come back and collect my…punishment when I’m feeling better.”
“Thank you,” I replied, not knowing what else to say.
Gabriel tugged my elbow. “Come on. This way.” He pulled me toward the main part of the club.
I caught a whiff of his scent—smoke and leather. The dark masculine smell made my insides tighten.
Mason fell into step beside us. “We’re parked out front.”
Sandwiched between the two hot men, my knees weakened. Maybe I can ask them to handcuff me? I quickly bitch slapped my libido. Get a grip, Vana. It figured the first men I’d be attracted to since my breakup with Nathan would be cops wanting to question me.
We’d almost passed the side stairs to the dressing room when I remembered my things. I stopped short, dragging Gabriel back a step. “I need to change.” No way was I going to walk into a police station in my dance outfit. Besides, I didn’t want to leave the rest of my money here where it could grow legs and walk out of my locker before my next shift.
Mason let go of my arm. “Okay.”
Gabriel frowned. “We don’t have time—”
“Couldn’t we spare her a minute?” Mason asked, interrupting the taller man.
I beamed at the blond, deciding I liked him more than his gruff partner.
Gabriel gritted his teeth and nodded. “Just one minute.”
Relieved, I rushed up the stairs. When the men tried to follow me, I held out my hand to stop them. “You can’t come back here.” Max was the only guy allowed in the dressing room and it was only because he barreled his way in like a bull whenever he felt like it.
“Hurry,” Gabriel ordered, looking down at his watch.
Wondering what crawled up his butt and died, I headed backstage and made a beeline for the empty dressing room.
It wasn’t much, just a row of vanity mirrors and a bank of lockers. I went straight to my locker and pulled out the duffel bag that held my purse, makeup, toiletries, spare dance outfits, the wad of ones I’d milked out of the professor earlier in the night, and most important, the bottle of pain pills my back would soon be begging for. I quickly chewed the pills and dry swallowed down their bitter taste.
After throwing a skintight black dress over my skimpy dance outfit, I shrugged into my long charcoal wool jacket. My aching feet pleaded with me to ditch my boots, but I’d neglected to bring other shoes.
My cell rang as I was closing my locker door. I answered it to the shriek of my roommate, Sydney.
“I can’t believe you talked me into this, Vana!”
“What?” I drew a blank for a moment before remembering she was covering a private party for me. “Are you at that bachelor’s party?”
“I’m hiding in a freaking stranger’s closet wearing nothing but a thong and some pasties.”
I couldn’t help laughing. “There are worse ways of making two hundred bucks.”
“You know how I hate dark, cramped spaces. I owe you big-time for this."
“Yeah, like twenty percent,” I reminded her. Thinking of how little I’d made tonight, I sighed. Serves me right for ditching that job in favor of Max’s request to work late tonight. Family before work, I would’ve reminded myself if he and Donna hadn’t just bowed out of the one event I asked them to attend all year.
“It smells like mothballs in here,” Sydney said, returning my focus to our phone call. “This has to be the worst night ever.”
“At least you don’t have two cops waiting to take you down to the station.”
She gasped. “What? Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Crap, girl. Are you in trouble? Do you need me to blow this gig? I could—”
“No, you stay in that closet,” I said with a tight laugh. “You need the money. We need the money. Besides, they aren’t arresting me.” At least right now. I looked down at my bag, unzipped it, and reluctantly put the pain pills back in my locker. Back pain or no back pain, I couldn’t afford to get busted with illegal meds. “And they’re the hottest cops you’ve ever seen.”
“Hot enough to make you forget about that asshole Nathan?”
Not this again. I rolled my eyes already anticipating the lecture.
Syd took a deep breath. “I know he was rich as Midas and gorgeous as hell, but Nathan was also a cheating son of a bitch. It’s been three months since you two broke up. Time to get back in the saddle.”
“Right,” I said, agreeing to end the conversation. There was no point in me trying to explain heartbreak to someone who’d never been in love.
“You need to promise me you’ll give the next guy who goes after you a chance.”
“And what if the next guy is Phil?”
She laughed. “Okay, obviously not our pervy neighbor. But you know what I mean.”
Knowing she could be as tenacious as a Gila monster when she set her mind to something, I sighed. “I promise. Look, I’ve got to go, but I’ll text you when I figure out what’s going on.”
“Okay. I’m heading right to the airport for my red-eye after this, but I’ll call you as soon as I land.”
“Have a safe flight,” I said feeling a stab of envy that she had parents and siblings to share the holidays with. It seemed everyone had a family, but me.
Jade walked through the dressing room door just as I hung up the phone. “Heading out?” she asked with a sniff. Her heavily kohled eyes swam with tears.
Now, she’s definitely having a worse night than us. “Are you okay?” I didn’t know much about the green-haired woman other than she’d started last night.
She pressed her trembling lips together and shook her head.
Damn. I’d been there before. Setting down my bag, I walked over to her side and put my hand on her shoulder. “It’s not always like this you know. There are good nights and bad nights.” Just more bad nights lately. “Things will pick up after the holidays.” I hope.
Her expression crumbled. “I didn’t make jack tonight.”
Anxiety ate at me as I glanced at the empty doorway. I’d already made the cops wait far longer than a minute. Torn between the need to comfort the girl and the need not to piss off the officers who might hold my fate in their hands, I chewed my lower lip.
Jade let out a loud sob.
Screw it. The cops can wait. I led Jade to the nearest swivel chair. She sat, her chest heaving. “I’m sorry. I’m such a mess.” She swiped a hand across her face, smearing her makeup. “I never thought it’d come to this. Me taking off my clothes for money. And when I finally get desperate enough to do it, I don’t make a fucking cent.” Tears trekked down her face. She was an ugly-crier, something that made me like her even more.
“It’ll be okay,” I said squeezing her shoulder. Desperation drove a lot of girls to dancing. Me included.
Jade let out a heavy sigh. “I thought for sure I’d make some good money. I’m so broke I can’t even pay the sitter.”
“You have kids?” I asked, grabbing a tissue from the counter and handing it to her.
She gave me a watery smile. “Payton just turned two.”
My chest tightened. I was a sucker for little ones. Forbidding me from seeing Mira had to be one of the cruelest things Nathan could have done after breaking up with me.
I gave Jade a once-over. She was pretty in that girl-next-door kind of way. With the right makeup and outfit she’d kill it. “Look, how about I give you some pointers tomorrow night?”
Her raccoon eyes widened as she studied my face. “Seriously?”
“Until then, take this.” I fished out two twenties and gave them to her.
Her eyes widened and then narrowed. “For real?” Like most of us, she’d probably been kicked around by life to the point she had a hard time believing that anyone would do so
mething nice for no reason.
“Yeah, consider it a welcome-to-the-club present. I was new once too, and I barely made anything my first night,” I said, lying. “I’m Havana, by the way.” I held out my hand to her.
She shook it. “Melody.”
“Nice to meet you, Melody. Now don’t waste any more tears on this shithole. Go home and enjoy your baby.”
She smiled for the first time. “I will.”
I walked back over to my bag and slung the strap over my shoulder. As I walked through the doorway, I stopped and said, “Hey, if you and Payton aren’t doing anything Christmas Eve you’re welcome to come to my place. I cook a mean turkey with all the sides.”
She blinked up at me. “Thanks, but we’re going to my sister’s.”
Of course. It was destined to be me and me alone this Christmas. “Well, I'd better not keep those cops waiting any longer. See you tomorrow assuming they don't throw me in jail.”
She blinked. “You mean the pirate-looking guy and the hot blond that came in a little while ago?”
“Yeah.”
“They aren’t cops.”
I whirled around. “What do you mean?”
She dabbed her eye with the tissue. “My stepdad was a sergeant with SVPD before he died. If there is one thing I know, it’s law enforcement and those guys aren’t it. Not by a long shot.”
My stomach dropped to the floor as I looked toward the side stairs. If Mason and Gabriel weren’t cops, who were they? And what did they want with me?
DID YOU ENJOY THIS PREVIEW OF CLAIMING HER MATES: BOOK ONE?
You can find it available here.
Please don’t forget to leave a review if you enjoyed this work!
Thank you for reading!
