I dropped my gaze to the floor. She must have seen that as a sort of acceptance, not the anger I was really trying to hide.
“If you tell him about your brother and sister, I’m sure he’ll bring them here.”
“Stay away from his goons, Mercedes.”
“I try.”
I didn’t want to leave her there, but the world continues to revolve no matter how we mere humans feel about it. The MC called her name, alerting her that it was almost time for her last set of the night. She touched my arm and smiled at me before disappearing around the corner.
I could feel eyes on me from all corners of the room as I strutted through, pausing at my station only long enough to gather the expensive makeup Joss had bought for me that the other girls would steal if I left it sitting out. Then I headed for the back stairs, my heart in my throat as I considered the dozens of ways I could kill Xavier Damico with just a touch of my hand.
God bless the United States Army!
The goons were in the corridor outside his office like they always were, staring down at the main stage like a couple of kids outside the display window of the local candy store. Case, a tall blond guy who thought he was God’s gift to women, looked me up and down as I crossed the hallway toward Damico’s office.
“What are you doing up here, sweetheart?”
I ignored him, continuing on my way until he stepped into my path. He was twice my size, a foot taller and at least fifty pounds heavier, but I didn’t back down. I knew what I could do. I’d taken down insurgents bigger than him.
“Get out of my way.”
His eyebrows rose. “You think you’re the big bitch on campus? You’re not.”
“No. That would be your position.”
The others laughed, but he didn’t. He stared me down, danger bright in his eyes.
“You think you’re something so fucking special. But you’re not, darlin’. You’re a whore just like the rest of them, willing to do anything to get what you want.”
“No, I have my limits.” I raked my eyes over him. “And you are definitely on the other side of those limits, darlin’.”
The others began to laugh again. Case lifted his hand and was a breath from hitting me when Xavier Damico arrived and grabbed his wrist, whispering something harshly in his ear. Fury left bright spots high on Case’s cheeks, but he backed away, his eyes promising me he’d get me some other time.
Damico waved me into his office, walking a distance behind me as though he were making sure his men didn’t try anything else before he had me safely locked away.
“Do you have a death wish?” he demanded the moment we were both locked behind his office door.
“Can’t you control your goons?”
Rather than appearing angry, he looked amused. “You do realize you’re playing with fire out there, right? Those guys could tear you apart without breaking a sweat.”
“But they won’t because I’m part of what brings the crowds into this place.”
“Not overconfident are you?” He came close, his eyes moving slowly over me, a blush rising to my cheeks despite my determination not to let him get to me. “You’re not the only beautiful woman in this town.”
“But I’m the only one your customers are trying to drag off the stage.”
He paled slightly, his eyes again moving over me. But this time they settled on my ankle, on the faint bruises already forming there. “I’m sorry about that. That never should have happened.”
“No, it shouldn’t have.”
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
I inclined my head, but he’d already turned and headed around his desk, dismissing me like I was a child. I watched him for a second, then headed for his office door.
“You have a brother and sister in Columbia?”
I turned, more surprised than I should have been that he knew that. “I do.”
“And you heard that I could help you bring them here if you worked for me?”
I shrugged. “People talk.”
He tilted his head slightly. “I can help. But you have to do something for me.”
“What’s that? Entertain your VIPs? Spend a little time with Rahul and the others?”
His expression darkened. “Of course not! We run a proper business here.”
“Do you?”
His eyes narrowed as he regarded me again. “You’ve got to learn to watch that mouth. It’s going to get you into trouble.”
“Funny. I’ve actually gotten a lot of things I wanted by using this mouth.”
That got a reaction. His eyebrows rose slightly and he shifted in his seat, his eyes briefly resting on my mouth before moving to the top of his desk. I wanted to laugh aloud, amused by where his thoughts had clearly gone with that statement.
Typical man.
“Watch how you speak around my men. Don’t come upstairs unescorted anymore. Ali can bring you up whenever you need to see me, otherwise stay down in the dressing room around the other girls. Understand?”
“Yes, boss.”
“You work for me for a year, no excessive absences, no stupidity, and I’ll see what I can do about bringing your siblings here.”
“A year?”
His eyebrows rose. “Seems fair to me.”
Instinct told me to argue, but I fought the urge. The idea was to seem grateful, wasn’t it?
I turned to leave again, but he somehow managed to get around his desk and behind me in the time it took me to take those last two steps and turn the knob. He turned me, his grip hard on my upper hand.
“Don’t walk home alone anymore. Take one of the guys at the front door with you.”
“How do you know—“
“I make it my business to know everything about the people who work for me.”
I studied his face, imagining I could see the Wall Street broker in his intelligent eyes for a moment. How had he ended up here? Why had he come here?
He brushed a piece of hair away from my eyes, his touch surprisingly gentle.
“Be careful, Audra. You never know what dangers you might run into out there.”
He let me go then, a chill running down my spine.
Wasn’t he one of those dangers?
***
“I think he’s having me investigated.”
“Why do you think that?”
I shrugged, not even sure she could see me. She was sitting behind me at a table kitty corner to mine, her face probably hidden behind a menu just like mine was. I felt like I was in a bad spy movie, but with what I’d just revealed, it was probably best that we didn’t appear to be together. Too many people in this town probably knew what Joss Matthews looked like. A stripper from the wrong side of town having lunch with her would probably be big gossip, something I didn’t really want getting back to Xavier Damico.
“He knows things about me. He knew about my brother and sister, knew that I walk home at night. I think he’s checking up on me, making sure I’m not going to be trouble for him and his club.”
“That’s good. That means he’s ready to show his hand.”
“He sort of did. He offered to help bring my siblings here if I’d work for him for a year.”
“Perfect. Exactly what we wanted.”
“And now?”
“Hold tight. Keep your ear to the ground. We need as much information as possible.”
I set my menu down and lifted my water glass to my lips. “One of the girls told me that some of his goons expect certain favors. She suggested she slept with a couple of them in order to ensure the delivery of her little girl in two months.”
Joss was quiet for a long moment. “We’re going to have to put a camera on you. We have to have some of this on tape if we’re going to get anything done.”
“I told you, that would be risky. I only have so many places I can hide something like that on stage.”
“I know. I’ll get with our tech department, see if we can work something out.”
“In the meantime?”
“You’re doing a hell of a job, Audra. You’ve confirmed our source is accurate. Now we need to bring these assholes down.”
I felt her hand brush my shoulder as she walked out of the restaurant, and saw that she was dressed in a gorgeous black dress that my alter ego would have loved. Personally, I missed my sweats and t-shirts.
I ate my lunch slowly, enjoying the meal more than I probably should have. Working in the clubs again, I’d become conscious of my diet, so this steak was the best thing that my taste buds had encountered in a week. The baked potato with its thick butter and creamy sour cream… I was in heaven for the half-hour it took me to devour it.
I was still savoring the flavors when I walked into the club an hour later, somewhat comforted by the dark SUV down the street that Joss assured me contained a member of her team, some burly guy there for the express purpose of watching over me. That sense of comfort disappeared, however, when I stepped into the club and saw Xavier Damico shaking hands with one of the VIPs I’d seen in the club multiple times over the past few weeks. He glanced at me as I walked up to the bar, but his expression was unreadable.
“Afternoon, Ali.”
Ali smiled brightly when he saw me, immediately pouring a Coke for me. “How’s it going, Audra?”
“Pretty good. You?”
He shrugged a single shoulder. “Can’t complain.”
I dropped my bag and settled on a stool, smoothing the skirt of my simple purple dress over my thighs as I did. I could feel Xavier’s eyes on me, but I refused to look in his direction. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of thinking he had any power over me.
He didn’t need to know that all my dreams had been filled by his face last night.
I lifted the Coke to my lips, loving the sweetness. It was interesting the things you miss when you’re overseas, fighting terrorism. One of the things I’d missed the most was a simple Coke. Ever since I started the job, I loved to sit and enjoy the beverage before the craziness of the busy club. It reminded me of what I was there to do, of what I’d gone through to get to this place in my life. It reminded me that I was no longer that sixteen-year-old girl who was desperate enough to lie about her age in order to make a buck to put food on the plate every night.
My father took off when I was fourteen, leaving me, my ten-year-old sister, and my thirteen-year-old brother alone. We burned through what little help neighbors and teachers were willing to offer—adults who understood that giving us a little food was more help than calling social services would have been—in too short a time. One of us had to work and since my brother was more interested in running around with his punk friends, disappearing for days at a time, I knew it was up to me. And stripping was the quickest, easiest source of income I could find.
But I wasn’t that girl anymore. I wasn’t fighting an endless battle anymore. I thought I could save my family in the clubs, but my brother was lost before I even began and my sister followed, pregnant with her first baby at fourteen, angry and resentful, insisting the thirty-something guy who’d knocked her up was better for her than her own flesh and blood. They were lost to me long before the clubs, long before our father left. They gave up before they ever tried. But I didn’t.
The taste of this coke reminded me of that. It reminded me of long nights in Afghanistan, reminded me of all the hopes and dreams that opened up to me the moment I enlisted. It reminded me that I was still fighting, but now I was fighting for something with a foreseeable end, for those around me, for people who would appreciate my struggle.
It was no longer a losing battle.
“You realize that stuff’s not good for you, right?”
Xavier had moved to the bar, alone now. He lifted two fingers and Ali immediately poured him a healthy slug of whiskey. I set my glass on the bar and ran my finger over the rim as I watched.
“You have no idea.”
“Neither is red meat.”
I looked up sharply. Xavier was watching me, his eyes a pool of darkness I couldn’t read.
“Did you enjoy your lunch?”
Fear burst through me. Had they seen me talking to Joss? Did they hear what we discussed? Did they know I wasn’t who I said I was?
“You’re following me now?”
“Not me.” Xavier swallowed the contents of his glass in one gulp, pushing it toward Ali as he turned to leave. “Rahul. He’s developed an interest in you, probably because you slammed your knee into his crotch last week.” There was a touch of amusement in his voice when he said that, but his expression was deeply serious when he moved close to me, his breath warm on my skin as he said the last near my ear. “I’d watch out. He can be cruel in his revenge.”
Xavier disappeared around the corner of the bar, headed back upstairs. I caught Ali’s eye and he seemed uncomfortable, like he was afraid I’d ask a question he couldn’t answer.
I finished my coke and went back into the dressing room, a handful of girls already there, gossiping as they prepared costumes for the night. Silence spread as they spotted me, each of them staring at me with narrowed eyes, like they suspected me of something nefarious. I heard someone say something about Rahul before they saw me, something to the effect that he was out for blood. But that voice was silenced fairly quickly, too.
I ignored them, dropping my bag at my station and making my way to the back of the room where there was a ballet bar some of the girls used to stretch out before their performances. I slipped out of my heels and threw my foot onto the bar, tugging my skirt up around my hips as I worked out the knots that always seemed to settle deep in my muscles during the day. I was halfway through a set of five when I was once again aware of eyes falling over me.
“Interesting workout clothes.”
I stiffened at the sound of that voice. I knew it even though I’d only heard it a handful of times. But I didn’t stop what I was doing. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
“Fuck, you’re gorgeous!”
He came close to me, his hands moving over my hips. I immediately dropped my foot and moved out of his reach, bending to snatch up my shoes. He grabbed me again, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me roughly against his chest.
“I don’t think you understand how things work around here, mi amore,” he hissed close to my ear. “I am a god and you are my goddess when—and only when—I so chose.”
“You’re my manager. I go on stage when you tell me to. Nothing more,” I hissed back, trying not to make a scene.
“No, baby…” His lips grazed hotly over the skin beside my ear. “I could have you deported with one phone call.”
“Try it.”
He laughed rather than growing angry, as I’d expected. His lips were against my jaw again. I jerked my head to one side, but that just made him chuckle again. He grabbed my chin with one hand, holding it with fingers that felt like a vise. His lips grazed the side of my face, the tip of his tongue slipping out as he stole a taste of me. I shuddered, disgusted by his touch.
“I want you,” he whispered against my ear. “And I will have you, willingly or not.”
“I’m not your whore.”
“You are tonight.”
He let me go then, walking off with another chuckle.
Every inch of skin on my body crawled. I wanted to curl up into a ball, to hide from him, from what he’d promised. But the other girls were watching me, some with expressions that clearly stated that I deserved what I got. For that reason, I kept my head up as I walked calmly to my station and began to prepare for the night.
It was all I could do.
Chapter 8
Xander
I stood at the one-way mirror and watched her dance. If it weren’t for the slow shedding of clothing, I could almost believe I was watching a performance on a stage in New York. She was graceful in a way that went beyond talent, her movements fluid and even, her passion inspiring. It was the same routine I’d seen her do twice a night for a week now, but i
t seemed different every time. Like now, like the way she rolled her hips, her shoulders, the way she looked up as though seeking my eyes through the opaque glass…it was breathtaking.
It was no wonder Rahul was obsessed with her. Hell, I was obsessed with her. But I couldn’t let him get too close.
I never wanted this place, never wanted anything to do with what I knew went on here. When my father’s will revealed that he’d left the place to me, I was prepared to sell on the spot. It was bullshit! He knew how I felt about his business. But he drew me in just the same.
It was a joke, really. I owned the place, but it wasn’t mine. Not really. It still belonged to Mahoney and his people. It was still part of a syndicate that had so many fingers in so many pies no one could possibly unravel it all.
I was a simple man with simple needs. I didn’t want this.
When I watched her dance, I could almost forget all this madness for a while. She was beyond beautiful. Audra Moreno. When she looked at me with that defiance in her eyes, the urge to kiss her was almost too much to resist. Did she know the power she wielded over me with one simple look? When she slammed her knee into Rahul’s crotch—hell, I knew the danger she’d created for herself by doing that—it made me want to laugh out loud. She had no idea how hot the fire she was playing with truly was. But I got the impression she wouldn’t care. She’d play the game anyway. She was a force to be reckoned with.
Reality came crushing back down, however, when I saw Rahul duck around into the dressing room just as Audra finished her second performance of the night. I knew what he was up to and I couldn’t sit back and allow it to happen.
This one was mine. I didn’t fucking care who Rahul thought he was or what he was owed. This was my club.
I marched into the dressing room, pushing through the throng of half-naked women just in time to see him grab her arm and drag her from the corridor that led to the main stage. They were headed toward the storerooms at the back of the club.
“Rahul!”
Silence rushed through the room like the aftermath of a tremendous crash of thunder. I knew I was taking a huge chance calling him out in front of the girls in this way, but I couldn’t allow him to hurt her.
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