Chapter 8
Alonzo
“The Den? What are we doing here?” Santiago asks, reading the sign above Jacob’s club. As we pull into the parking lot, he eyes the men in leather jackets standing by their parked motorcycles.
“You scared of bikers, hermanito ?” I tease him.
“Fuck no,” he says. “I’m just wondering why you drove us to a shitty club out in the middle of nowhere. I thought we were getting drinks.”
“We will,” I say, pulling into an empty parking spot. “But there’s something we need to do first.”
“Which is what, exactly?” He looks out the window at the bikers and adjusts his gun at his waist. “Are we here to send a message to someone?”
“No, the guys who own this club work for Nuestra Casa . They distribute drugs in San Marquez for the big guy. They’re allies, so no need to worry,” I explain. “We’re here because their leader thinks there’s a snitch in their ranks, and I’m helping them investigate. You’re here in case this snitch problem affects Nuestra Casa .”
“I guess that explains why the bar is way out in the boonies,” he says. He looks out at the wilderness beyond the parking lot. “So much for your retirement.”
I hate to admit it, but maybe Santiago is right. After all, the first thing I did when I moved to San Marquez two years ago was visit Jacob. I had worked with him a few times when I was an enforcer, so it made sense to let him know I was retiring here and to let me know if he ever needed anything.
Three months ago, he called me out of the blue. By then, I had already formed a reputation at TCU and was growing bored with retirement and college girls.
The peaceful life is making me anxious. It turns out teaching art is a little too relaxing, so when Jacob called, I was eager to see what he wanted.
“The owners of the club are Jacob and Ben. They are the only points of contact for Nuestra Casa . In other words, his men don’t know who we are, and it’s better if we keep it that way,” I say.
I grab my gun before exiting the car.
We walk to the front of the bar, where a group of leathered men stand by the door. Santiago recoils back when one of them tries to search us for weapons.
“Chill,” another guy tells the one trying to check us for weapons. “Jacob is expecting this man. He’s a personal friend. But I’ve never seen this one before.”
He points at Santiago.
“He’s with me,” I say. “He’s family.”
The two men look at each other, contemplating what to do.
“If he doesn’t come in with me, I’ll walk. I don’t think Jacob would like that very much. Or Ben,” I warn.
The men exchange a few glances.
“You can come in,” says the one who recognized me. He waves us in and tells us he’ll take us to Jacob. He escorts us through the crowded floor. It’s surprising how many men are drinking this late on a Tuesday night.
“Is Jacob hosting a party or something?” I ask our escort. The lights are dim, and loud music plays at the back of the club. I’ve been to The Den a few times before, so I know they have dancers, but they never seem to pull in this many men. There must be some other event going on.
Our escort keeps walking. The music is too damn loud for him to hear me.
“It’s not normally like this. Business must be booming,” I yell at Santiago over the loud music.
“I can see why,” he responds with wide eyes. “ Wow .”
I follow Santiago’s eyes to the stage at the back of the club, where a woman in high heels dances on the runway. She leans down to let a group of men stuff money into her bra. Crowds of men pool around the stage, waiting for their turn to tip this incredibly sexy woman.
“God Bless America,” Santiago mutters beside me, referring to the dancer’s flag-themed bikini.
The dancer has long, sensual legs. Her breasts bounce as she walks up and down the runway. Watching her sway her perfectly toned body evokes a slight tingle in my groin.
Where did Jacob find a woman like her?
“Alonzo?” Santiago yells. I turn to look at him. He is a few feet ahead of me and pointing at the man escorting us to Jacob, who is way ahead of us. “You’re falling behind!”
Without realizing it, I had slowed my pace to get a better look at the dancing woman. Her killer body is evoking all sorts of feelings in me. I’m trying to see her face, but she keeps looking in the other direction, only partially turning her head our way.
I pick up my pace. We’ll pass her on the way to Jacob’s office, so I’ll get a better look at her face then.
With each step, my body aches with anticipation to see the face of the woman whose body charms every soul in the club, mine included. My heart is racing in my chest, and my pulse is speeding out of control.
Who is this woman?
Our escort stops before reaching Jacob’s door and points to a booth in an elevated section of the club. Jacob and Ben sit at the booth with a table full of beer bottles. When Jacob sees us, he waves us over with a big smile on his face.
The stage is front and center from the booth where Jacob and Ben sit. It looks like I’ll get a perfect view of the dancer and not just a quick glimpse.
“Gentlemen,” Jacob says as we arrive at the booth. “Welcome! Please, take a seat. My office was cleaned this morning, and now it smells of chemicals, so this will do for now. But don’t worry, the noise will cover up our conversation.”
Ben scoots closer to Jacob, allowing Santiago and me to sit across from them.
“This is my baby brother, Santiago,” I say, patting Santiago’s back. He’s a grown-ass man and only a few years younger than me, but to me, he and Gustavo will always be my baby brothers.
“Good to meet you, Santiago,” Jacob says. He introduces Ben as his business partner. “We normally speak with Manny. He’s our point of contact with Nuestra Casa .”
Even after all the time he’s worked with Nuestra Casa , Jacob still manages to mispronounce the words. It’s as if he has contempt for the Spanish language and doesn’t like the way it feels on his tongue.
“Manny is a logistics guy,” I say, turning to Santiago to make sure what I’m saying is accurate. Manny was the logistics guy when I retired, but I’m assuming he is still around in the same job position. Santiago nods, so I continue, “He handles getting the merchandise from point A to point B. But we’re here to talk about a more complicated issue.”
“Well, I hope it’s not too complicated,” Jacob says. He waves over a server, a young guy wearing a leather jacket with the reaper logo. The server is clean shaven and well groomed. He looks nothing like the rest of the men at the club. “These are our special guests, so bring us the good stuff. None of that cheap crap we serve the regulars.”
“Yes, sir,” the server nods before leaving. As he walks away, I glimpse at the woman on the stage behind him. Her face is finally in clear view.
Holy fuck .
My jaw almost drops when I recognize her.
What is Alex doing up there? Is this where she works?
I study her sensual body again now that I know who she is. Plenty of my female students have shared their beautiful bodies with me, but for some reason, seeing Alex like this out in the wild feels different. Forbidden, almost.
She looks so fucking good up on that stage. Like the pied-piper, her sensual dances hypnotize the poor souls in the club out of their money.
I swallow hard, imagining my hands on her warm, soft body again. Heat pools behind my eyes as I consume her body. Her perfect curves. Her perfect tits. My heart gallops in my chest. Fuck .
Suddenly, she looks in my direction, and our eyes lock together. Her body freezes for a split second, but a beat later, she’s back to dancing normally. It happened so fast that I bet most men looking at her didn’t notice her body tensing up. But I did.
She was surprised, shocked. It amuses me that she reacted that way.
Alex moves further toward the back of the runway, every now and then glancing in my direction as I speak to Jacob and Ben about their snitch problem. I reciprocate the glances. I like what I see.
“The reapers are like a big family,” Jacob interrupts my thoughts. “So it’s fucked up when one of us goes to the cops. It’s like getting stabbed in the back by your own brother.”
I nod, only half listening to the conversation. My attention is on Alex dancing on the stage. Her movements evoke a certain feeling in my cock.
“Did you look into the prosecutor?” Ben asks.
“I did,” I say. “I visited her apartment last night, but she doesn’t seem to keep any legal documents there.”
For years, local law enforcement has been harassing Jacob and his men. They suspect the bikers are dealing drugs but haven’t found any evidence to go after them. Then, a few months ago, somebody tipped off the cops about a street-level drug deal, and they arrested one of Jacob’s men.
The captured reaper knew better than to turn on his own kin. He said he was dealing drugs on his own and took the fall, but cops continued to snoop in reaper affairs. Eventually, they gave up when they couldn’t produce evidence of Jacob and Ben’s involvement.
According to the police, the matter has been settled. But Ben believes the prosecutor who went after their reaper was tipped by a snitch. He thinks legal documents, which have been hidden from the public, name the snitch. That’s why I trailed the prosecutor from the rooftop bar to her apartment last night. I didn’t find any legal documents in her apartment, but I made a copy of her work keycard.
“So, what’s the next move?” Ben asks.
The server returns with a bottle of whiskey and pours some into our glasses. As soon as he leaves, I clear my throat and tell them what I did last night.
“I made a copy of her work keycard.” I sip on the whiskey and look at Alex, imagining that she’s dancing only for me. “I’ll visit her office soon.”
“Sounds good,” Ben says. “I’m glad you two are here to help.”
“He’s doing all the work,” Santiago says, leaning back in his seat. “Like Alonzo said, I’m only here in case the big guy needs to worry about this snitch problem.”
“I don’t think Nuestra Casa has anything to worry about,” Ben says. “This will get handled soon.”
“That’s right,” Jacob says. “But enough about business. Alonzo, I see you’re a man of taste.” He points to Alex on the stage. “That’s our top performing dancer.”
“I can see why,” I say. I don’t care to hide my infatuation with Alex. She is clearly the main attraction of the night, and all the piss-drunk fuckers here are salivating over her. They grace their disgusting hands on her soft body when they insert tips into her bikini, and it pisses me off. Without warning, I find myself saying something unexpected. “I want her.”
“Excuse me?” Jacob snorts.
“I want her for the rest of the night.”
“We don’t do private dances anymore,” Ben explains. “Some reapers were too rough on the women, so we had to put an end to it. Besides, Alex is already booked to work the stage for the night.”
“How much?” I ask.
“I don’t understand,” Ben says. He looks at Jacob, who smiles at my insinuation. “How much does she earn for the night?”
“How much to have her for the night?” I ask.
“Oh,” Ben says. “We don’t run that type of business here. It’s too risky, especially if there’s a snitch roaming around.”
I smile at Ben. “I just want a private dance.”
He looks over at Jacob again, who simply shrugs. “Like Ben says, we don’t do private dances anymore.”
“Anything can be negotiated,” I say. “Name your price.”
I don’t know why, but I can’t stand watching these filthy bikers put their hands on Alex. She’s a hot piece of work, and I want her all to myself.
Ben looks like he’s about to say something, but Jacob beats him to the punch. “Twenty grand.” He grins, thinking the price will shut down my request. But it might as well be pennies for me.
“Done,” I say.
“Done,” Jacob repeats with a smile.
He gets up and walks to the stage. Santiago stares at me as if I’ve gone mad. He knows I’m not the type to pay for a woman’s attention. But for some reason, right here, right now, I can drop a hundred grand just to get Alex away from these filthy men and onto my lap.