by Stasia Black
“I don’t think Marcus is going to like this.”
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Besides, he’ll just think it’s cute.”
“He thinks you’re cute. He’ll just kill me,” Armand muttered.
“He’s not going to kill you.” Cora shook his hand off.
“You’re right, he’ll get the big guy to do it.”
“Sharo’s not going to hurt you, either. I won’t let him. Now come on.”
She swung her legs out of the car and immediately regretted wearing a miniskirt. She’d gone for maximum vamp style, hoping to lower the chances of her being recognized. Black mini skirt, black spangly top, and black high heels: she looked a little like a goth princess. Add to that thick smoky eye makeup and a black wig she convinced Armand to loan her (and help affix to her head) and she was sure she’d be totally under the radar.
“This is insane.” Armand checked his hair in the cab’s rear-view mirror one last time and then exited the cab. He wore a grey suit and white shirt with a skinny black tie. With his mussed hair and her thin black clad figure, they looked like two kids playing dress up.
“Just follow my lead and I won’t let you do anything dumb. I mean, other than this entire venture.” Armand stuck out his arm to escort Cora in. “I haven’t been this reluctant to visit a strip club since…ever.”
Cora looked around as they walked in. The Orchid House looked much classier at night. The bar had cool purple lighting, and there were actual flowers placed on pedestals near the walls.
As soon as they were inside, Armand seemed to relax. He charmed the hostess and kept his hand on Cora’s back as they took a booth near the stage. He flirted with the waitress when she came to take their order, batting his long black eyelashes almost as much as the woman batted her mascara-laden ones.
“What are you doing?” Cora asked once the waitress left, walking on air.
“Just chillin.’” Armand smiled when the waitress returned with a bottle of champagne. “Be cool.”
Cora sat back in the deep chair but she couldn’t relax. She couldn’t stop scanning the room, glancing at the faces all around them to make sure she didn’t see anyone she knew. Especially AJ. But mostly all she saw was men in suits, and a few couples.
Armand handed her a glass of champagne and leaned close. “Don’t look around so much. Some people here don’t want to be recognized, either.”
“You seem pretty comfortable,” she whispered back.
Armand shrugged. “I’d like it better if you’d tell me what’s really going on.”
Cora paused with her champagne glass halfway to her lips. “What do you mean?”
“You’re acting funny. For one, you called me and asked me out. To a strip club. Without your husband. Are you two doing ok?”
Did he think she’d asked him here because she— Unable to find her voice, Cora just stared into Armand’s dark eyes.
He sighed. “Look, Cora, I’m happy to help. That’s what friends do. But it’d be nice to know what I’m getting into.”
“It’s not what you think,” she blurted. “That is, I don’t know what you’re thinking exactly, but Marcus and I are fine.” Okay, that was a giant lie, but she wasn’t going to even start getting into that with Armand. That wasn’t why they were here. “I just need to help…a friend.”
“And Marcus isn’t involved?”
She hesitated.
“Right, well when we get out of here, we’re going to talk about it. Like I said, I want to help you, but I don’t want trouble.”
Crap. Maybe it wasn’t fair to ask him to help her. She’d never fully understood the nature of Marcus’s and Armand’s business relationship. The last thing she wanted was for Armand to end up getting burned because of her.
“I understand.” Cora said softly.
Armand turned to her and took her hand. “It’s not only that we’re friends. Marcus and I are business partners. Without him, I never could’ve gotten Double M off the ground.”
Cora nodded, thinking about Metamorphoses, Armand’s spa. It was opening its third location soon.
Okay, if she was going to keep asking him to help her, he deserved an explanation. She leaned in and was about to explain when she noticed the fog starting to roll over the stage.
“Ladies and gentleman,” a voice came over the loud speaker, “We are proud to present: Venus.”
A trance-like humming filled the room, a woman’s breathy voice. The fog piled up on the stage as the music intensified, building with drums. Subtle lights revealed a pool of water shimmering under the mist.
Anna emerged slowly from the water, a wet cloth clinging to her body, leaving it covered and at the same time fully on display. Rising from the mist, she looked like a primordial goddess; her curves evoking a millennia of raw, potent desire.
“Wow,” Armand breathed.
The music went low until there were only drums beating. Beating deep into the brain. Anna smiled at the crowd, pirouetted slowly, and let the cloth peel away.
Underneath she wore a gold bikini, stretched tight over her flawless figure. The audience murmured their appreciation as Anna floated to the pole for her dance routine.
Cora glanced over at Armand; he had his mouth open and was almost drooling.
Anna’s dance was less acrobatic this time and much more sensual. Her hips made love to the air, and every man in the room felt it right in their groin. Anna gyrated slowly and Cora couldn’t help mentally filing the move away for later. She needed all the help she could get to manage Marcus.
People were throwing money but Anna danced over it like she didn’t notice.
The stage went dark and the cheering went on for a while. When the lights came up, Anna stood there transformed, now wearing a glittering red dress with a plunging neckline. As an old tune came on, she started to sing in her sweet baby voice.
The crowd went crazy.
“That’s my friend,” Cora whispered to Armand. The svelte young designer looked so mesmerized; it was almost comical. He took a gulp of champagne and poured some on himself without even noticing.
“Armand,” Cora called, and he blinked. She looked pointedly at his suit. “I didn’t know you had a drinking problem.”
Grabbing a napkin, he hurriedly blotted the liquid, then gulped more champagne.
“Oh my gods,” he said hoarsely, then cleared his throat. “Uh, she’s incredible. How did you meet?”
“Long story.” Cora smiled up at Anna as she vamped with the mike. “She’s helping me with some charity work.”
The song ended and other ladies came on stage.
Anna descended to dance and flirt with her patrons.
Cora wasn’t sure if Anna recognized her until Anna winked at her. She came slowly over and leaned over Cora as if she might kiss her.
“We need to talk,” Cora whispered, then indicated Armand with a slight jerk of her head. “Alone.”
Anna nodded, looking deep into Cora’s eyes as part of the act. “Just follow my lead.”
Anna moved to Armand, swaying over him. He held his hands over her hips like he wanted to touch her, but she gathered them, and pulled until he came up out of his chair. He followed her obediently on stage as the announcer spoke again. “Please welcome onstage a special guest, here on his birthday!”
Cora sat up, wondering what was going on. The women had set a chair onstage; they tied Armand to it and took turns grinding on him. The crowd whooped.
Armand’s face held a look of goofy pleasure and he didn’t even protest that it wasn’t his birthday.
Then two of the dancers climbed up, straddled his head as they faced one another and started rocking back and forth.
Eyes fixed to the debauchery on stage, Cora almost didn’t notice Anna signaling her to come around the stage to a side door.
Grabbing her purse, Cora rose and loped to Anna. The audience was transfixed on Armand’s plight onstage. The women had climbed off of Armand and now were untying him and
forcing him down onto his hands and knees. One of them was unfastening his belt.
“Time for his birthday spanking—”
Anna pulled Cora into the hall and shut the door, cutting off the raucous laughter.
“Um,” Cora began.
“Can’t talk here,” Anna whispered and drew her through gauzy curtains and then a door marked VIP.
“Is that your boyfriend? He’s a handsome one.” Anna motioned Cora inside the dimly lit room.
“No, just a friend.” Cora entered and stood in the center of the lush surroundings. “And, uh, I’m just curious. What are they going to do with him?”
“Oh, don’t worry, he’ll love it. It’s part of the fun.”
Cora wondered how much the fun had to do with Armand getting lashed with his own belt. “Ok.”
“They won’t hurt him.” Anna giggled. “Much. So, what have you found out about Iris?”
Cora caught her up to date, explaining Olivia’s cellphone trick. “Iris has to be here—or was here at some point, and left her phone. Have you seen or heard anything about her?”
Anna shook her head. “Maybe one of AJ’s guys has it. They’ve been crawling around here lately.” She shuddered. “Although, it’s possible she was here…”
Anna broke off when they heard voices in the hall. The sounds grew louder as people stopped just outside the door.
“Shoot—someone has a customer.”
Anna rushed to the back of the champagne room and Cora hurried after. Crap. The last thing she needed was to get caught here. Anna had just said that AJ’s guys were crawling the place. And she couldn’t tell where on earth Anna was taking her.
But as the voices grew louder Anna drew back one of the curtains covering the wall to reveal…a wall. But then Anna leaned down and pushed on the crown molding and with a slight creeeeeeeak, a panel of the wall slid aside. A hidden door. Thank the Fates.
As Cora crowded behind her, Anna stepped into the dark passageway beyond. It was totally black. No lights at all.
Cora couldn’t help hesitating on the threshold, but Anna pushed her into the hidden corridor and tugged the door shut after them. It clicked back into place just in time, too, because the next moment they could hear voices muffled in the champagne room.
“Where are we?” Cora breathed, the barest whisper. She fumbled in her purse and fired up her cellphone flashlight, raising it so she could see more of the narrow hall. It stretched in both directions, just barely wide enough for the two of them. Cora put her hand to the opposite wall and felt the cold brick.
“This place used to be a speakeasy,” Anna whispered. “I think this leads to a secret room in the back. I haven’t explored it much. Too creepy. And with AJ’s guys everywhere the past few days, I haven’t really been able to sneak away.”
“You think they could be keeping Iris here?”
“We could look.” Anna’s voice was quiet but held an undercurrent of excitement.
Cora kept the light high. “Which way?”
Seventeen
A few minutes later, Cora’s arm ached from holding up her cellphone light. And she was battling claustrophobia. It was really tight in here.
The passage had narrowed even further and she couldn’t be sure because her sense of direction was a bit turned around, but she felt like the floor was sloping down. Like they were headed to a basement or lower floor.
“Are you sure you don’t need to be back onstage?” Cora called quietly to Anna. Anna plunged ahead confidently, almost like she was enjoying this.
“Don’t worry,” Anna waved a hand. “They’ll think I’m back in the VIP room with a customer. If we happen to get caught, I’ll tell them you wanted a lap dance and we got carried away.”
“Yeah, snooping around in dark creepy basements always turns me on,” Cora joked feebly.
“You’d be surprised what people like.” Anna stopped in her tracks as the narrow passageway broke out into a larger room. Cora huddled close to her.
“What now?” Cora’s voice wavered a little. The place was spooky, with a low ceiling that was barely six feet tall. At five feet eight inches, Cora felt like stooping. Dust and cobwebs hung from the beams. Real cheery place. Cora shivered.
“Over there.” Anna pointed out a small door. They crept forward together, huddling in the small pool of light. Cora’s eyes kept skittering all around the room. Her phone better not run out of battery, that was all she was saying. She didn’t dare check, though. Iris could be only a room away and she couldn’t let her fears stop her now. Just please, gods, no rats. Please no rats.
They made it across the room but the door was stuck. Anna took the cellphone and Cora pushed at it. The thought of being stuck down here in the old air gave her a burst of strength, and she forced it open with her shoulder, staggering forward when it opened suddenly.
The room was tiny. Little more than a closet.
And it was empty.
“Damn,” Anna cursed softly. “I really hoped we would find her.”
“But look, is that a bed?” Cora pushed through the door and stepped into the small room, nose twitching at the stale air. Anna followed and pointed the cell phone flashlight at the floor. They both looked at the pallet and ratty blanket stuffed inside the tiny space.
“Do you think…” Anna began but then trailed off as Cora knelt down and pushed her hand up between the wall and the pallet.
Holy shit, was that a—
Cora came away holding a cellphone in a bright pink case. “It’s Iris’s. I’ll bet anything. They kept her down there, I’m sure of it.” But Iris herself was long gone. Still, this was one more clue.
When Anna said, “Let’s get out of here,” Cora was only too happy to agree.
They were back in the dark passageway when Cora caught Anna’s hand. “Wait, slow down.”
Cora held the pink phone between them and tried turning it on. It was dead. Cora cursed and took her purse back from Anna, sliding the new phone in there.
“Do you think—” Anna started, her voice grim.
Cora shook her head and cut her off before she could voice it out loud. “I don’t think AJ would harm her, yet.” Other than a needle in her arm. “He still needs her as leverage over her fiancé.” She said it for Anna as much as for herself.
Anna nodded and threaded her fingers with Cora’s again. “Come on.”
They started back through the tight space, holding hands. It seemed like it took forever. But gods, all Cora could see was that tiny closet and the pathetic pallet on the ground. Iris must’ve been so scared. And if they locked her in there without light? A shiver went through Cora that shook her down to her bones. She clutched tighter onto her phone.
But no, AJ still needed Iris. They could still save her. How much had they missed her by? A day? Hours?
When they reached the secret door to the VIP room, Anna’s fingers gave her a squeeze before pulling a latch and pushing the door open slowly.
They both waited a beat, listening. For a moment there was nothing but silence. Cora’s shoulders sagged in relief. She might just get away with this after all.
Then someone inside moaned and both Anna and Cora froze, hearing the sounds of two people kissing and panting. Anna looked at Cora and Cora made a face.
Someone was having a good time in the VIP room.
“Come on,” Anna mouthed, and Cora shook her head. Since they were stuck anyway, Cora picked a few more spider webs out of Anna’s hair. Anna held still and after a minute Cora had gotten them all. Cora felt like a nervous wreck but Anna looked completely composed, barely a hair out of place.
Cora looked down at her own cobweb-streaked dress and grimaced. She swiped at them and held still as Anna checked her wig.
After they were both set aright, Anna mouthed, “Ready?”
Not hardly, but she still let Anna tug her into the room and close the door behind them. They were behind the curtain and the champagne room lovers hadn’t yet noticed to them. Granted, they we
re otherwise engaged, the man moaning a little.
“You like that, baby?” a woman’s voice purred. “Takes the edge right off.”
Anna peeped out from behind the curtain.
Cora pulled on her shoulder. “No,” she mouthed, but Anna shook her off and stepped into the room. What was she doing? Did she not get how dangerous this all was?
Cora peered out after her. A dancer was moving over a male client, wearing nothing but a thong, as she giggled and let his hands roam all over her curvy body.
Anna strode confidently past them to the champagne bucket on its stand. She popped open a bottle and started pouring glasses.
“Oh, Anna, I didn’t hear you come in,” the other dancer said, glancing up. “He was looking for you.”
“I’ll take over.” Anna nodded and the other dancer immediately vacated her spot.
“Come join us, baby.” The man sounded woozy, reaching for the retreating dancer.
Wait, Cora recognize that voice.
Armand?
She yanked the curtain aside more abruptly to get a better look. And yep, it was Armand. He was lounging on the plush loveseat, his hair messy and his shirt half unbuttoned. His belt was gone.
“I’m coming,” Anna said sweetly, pouring champagne.
Cora came out from the curtain and put her hands on her hips, frowning down at Armand. He looked totally wasted.
“Cora?” His eyes blinked lazily. “Where’d you come from?”
Cora rolled her eyes, accepting a glass of champagne from Anna and taking a gulp to steady her nerves. She was officially ready for this night to be over.
Anna’s wide eyes over the glass said it all.
Reaching in her purse, Cora pulled out the pink cellphone. “It’s definitely dead,” she said, still pressing buttons.
“It’s a clue.” Anna came over with wet wipes, and started cleaning up Cora’s dress better. In the light of the room, the dust smudges were still apparent.
Armand hiccupped on the couch.
Cora ignored him and tried to piece together what had happened. “So her cellphone died but she figured Chris would know about this place and would look for her here. So she leaves it behind. But that means she was alert enough to leave it.”
