Chapter 7
Alex
A loud BANG wakes me up.
I open my eyes and keep perfectly still, trying to figure out if the sound is real or part of my dream. It sounded close.
Suddenly, footsteps appear in my living room. They get louder as they approach my bedroom. Without losing a beat, I sit up and reach for the wooden bat I keep beside my bed. I clench it with both hands as I hold my breath and glance at the door.
“Son of a bitch!” a man yells. “Almost fucking tripped on the goddamn stool!”
Oh no .
I recognize that voice. I put the bat back in its place and walk out into the living room. Jacob is leaning against a wall, stumbling with each step he takes.
“What are you doing in my apartment?” I ask him.
“I felt like seeing you, sweetheart,” he slurs.
I hate when he calls me that. But I hate it even more when he shows up unannounced at my apartment. “It’s Monday night, Jacob. I need you out of my apartment.”
“I just want to talk,” he says, balancing up on the wall. “I’ve had a shitty night. Ben and some of the boys picked me dry in a poker game. Those pricks. I’m sure they cheated somehow.”
“I have school tomorrow,” I say firmly.
As uncomfortable as it makes me to talk back to him—being my boss and the leader of a biker gang—he keeps crossing the line. He’s an asshole and a pain in the ass.
A few months ago, when he decided I had to sleep with him to get more hours at work, he made me give him a key to my apartment. I have tried to end it several times, but every time I do, he reduces my hours. If I had an alternative way of making good money, I would change apartments and never show up at his club again.
But San Marquez is a small college town. Most jobs in town pay very little because they have an infinite supply of college students waiting to be exploited for cheap labor. The only reason Jacob pays well is because he has trouble recruiting workers. Every college student in town is afraid of working with a biker gang, so Jacob makes up for it with higher wages. The tips are usually pretty good, too.
“That’s what I’m here to talk about. School,” Jacob says, stepping forward and reaching for my chin. I recoil from his grip immediately. His face sours, but he continues, “Have you made contact with our mutual friend?”
His breath reeks of beer. I try my best to hide my disgust.
“I have. I’m supposed to meet him during his office hours on Thursday, but I’m not sure if I’ll go.”
“What aren’t you sure about?”
“About going through with this,” I say. “He may fool everybody in class, but we both know who he really is. He’s dangerous.”
“Danger is relative,” Jacob slurs. “He’s just one man. I have an entire army. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“Still.”
“It’s all about perspective, sweetheart,” he says. “Don’t think about it as you doing me a favor. Think of it as you doing your sweet mother a favor. She needs that money.”
Even in this drunk state, Jacob knows how to be persuasive. I know he doesn’t care about my mom. He only cares about himself. But he is right that she and I can put the money to good use.
“I’ll go to his office hours,” I finally say.
“And do what?”
“Seduce him. Get him to trust me.”
“Good. Why don’t you show me what you’re going to do to him?”
“We agreed I wouldn’t have to sleep with you anymore if I get you the money.”
Jacob laughs. “You haven’t delivered the goods yet. Besides, it’s the last week of August. We’re up for another renegotiation. There’s no harm in doing it a week early.”
I hold my breath as he speaks, stopping myself from gagging at the foul smell of his mouth. I really don’t want to sleep with him again, but if he holds up his end of the deal, this will be the last time I’ll have to deal with him.
Assuming things go well with Alonzo.
???
I wake up long before the sun is up.
Jacob is still passed out on my bed. His legs are twisted around my bedsheets.
I’ll have to toss those out, I think to myself.
“Jacob, you need to leave,” I say. No response from him. I grab my bat and nudge him on the shoulder. “I have to get ready for school. You need to leave.”
He wriggles and groans. Several attempts later, including pleas from him to let him stay in bed for a while longer, he is out of my apartment.
“See you at work tonight, sweetheart,” he says before I close the door on him.
As soon as he’s out of my hair, I go to the restroom and brush my teeth as thoroughly as I can to rid the disgusting taste he left in my mouth.
I hop into the shower and brush my teeth again. I’ve hated Jacob since the day I met him, and I’m counting down the days when I don’t have to work for him anymore.
The rest of the day goes by faster than expected. I attend two business classes, then head to the library to make a block schedule of all my classes and the time I need to dedicate to each class.
Since I’ve already attended all five of my classes this semester, I can decide which classes should be my highest priority based on how tough or demanding each professor is.
The only class I can’t decide on is Alonzo’s art class. I suck at art, but getting better isn’t the goal of being in the class. I need to seduce him somehow. That means I’ll have to spend time outside of class trying to get him to trust me.
On top of that, I have to work at The Den most nights and take care of my mom on the weekends.
I dig my face in my hands, already overwhelmed by the semester ahead. But it’s the start of my senior year, and if I play my cards right, I can have enough money to pay off my student loans and help Mom with her MS treatments.
Alonzo’s office hours are on Thursday. I have two days to come up with a way to seduce him. I’ve never had trouble pulling in normal guys my age, but Alonzo is anything but normal. He is a dangerous man, and a part of me feels dirty that I find him attractive.
Why does he have to be so disturbingly good looking?
???
Jacob’s club is packed when I arrive at work. I force my way through a crowd of middle-aged men pooling by the stage, ready for the night’s entertainment.
When I started working behind the bar, Tuesdays used to be the club’s slowest night. Mondays were bad, but Tuesdays were worse. Jacob had to lower the prices to attract customers, but even his most loyal reapers wouldn’t show up to the club that early in the week.
Everything changed when I got ‘promoted.’
“Alex!” Alice greets me from behind the bar. “Are you up next?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Can you serve me a beer?”
I like to drink a beer or two before my shift to ease myself into the proper mindset for work.
Alice tops me off and hands me a glass of the cheap beer on tap. The reapers at the bar raise their glasses at me, and I reciprocate.
Not all these men are terrible people. I have met a few of them, and apart from being in a biker gang by night, most are ordinary folks. Many of them work in transportation since Interstate 35 crosses through the heart of San Marquez. They may be drug dealers, but none of them are killers like Alonzo.
I take another sip of beer, thinking about Alonzo. My face warms up when I remember his pose during class and how his tatted arms bulged out of his tight muscle shirt.
I wonder what he looks like under that shirt .
I take two big gulps of beer when I realize what’s going through my head.
“Everything okay, Alex?” Alice asks with a smile. “If you drink any faster, you’ll choke on that beer.”
“Everything’s fine,” I say, wiping beer off my lips. “It’s been a long day.”
“Tell me about it,” she says. She tells me about her day, but soon I’m back to thinking about Alonzo and how he looked at me during class. A warm pulse travels down between my legs, and I squeeze them together.
I drink another sip of beer and try to think of something else. On the stage at the back of the club, Tiffany dances in her signature red polka dot bikini. Dollar bills line the edges of her bra and bikini bottoms.
Even though she says she hates being a dancer, something tells me she secretly likes it. She loves being watched. Desired. Even if it’s by these…men.
I don’t get it.
I finish my beer, thank Alice, and head to the back of the club. Sammy stands between the door to the dancer’s changing room and the door to Jacob’s office. Not only does he protect Jacob, but he also makes sure none of the reapers try anything funny with the dancers.
Sammy nods in my direction when he sees me. We haven’t had a hiccup since the night I yelled for Jacob. The night Alonzo was here meeting him and Ben.
Alonzo hasn’t shown up to the club since, and Jacob never told me what he was doing here in the first place. Of all things, that was the one thing he didn’t tell me. Honestly, I’m not in the least curious. I’m just here to make money.
I walk into the dancer’s room and go to my locker, where I keep my outfits. By outfits, I mean the bikinis I wear on the stage.
There is a rack at the back of the room with outfits that some of the other dancers share. That grossed me out when I first started working here, especially with all the sweat that gets released during dancing.
So I bought my own. My collection grew over time, and I experimented with several outfits until I determined which were the fan favorites that brought in the most tips. I don’t remember why I did that little experiment to maximize profits. I assume it’s something I picked up in one of my business classes.
“Wear your best outfit tonight, Alex,” Jacob says. I startle at his voice and turn around. He stands by the door with his arms crossed and a stupid grin on his face. “Tonight’s a special night.”
“What do you mean? What’s tonight?”
“Just do it, sweetheart,” he winks. He grins before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
What’s he planning ? I wonder. I don’t like surprises, much less from him.
I grab my most popular outfit, a matching two-piece bikini themed after the American flag. My right boob has white stars scattered on a blue background, and my left boob and bottoms have red and white stripes. Despite being outlaws, the reapers are a patriotic bunch and love this outfit.
I don’t know what Jacob has planned for tonight. I just hope it doesn’t turn into a disaster.