Chapter Five
Nashville
“Ellie’s right.”
My voice in the quiet room startles her as she searches the darker area at the back to see where it came from, she lifts her shoe and shouts out a very unsavory word for such a pretty little thing.
I walk around the column I’d been watching her from while she was dancing, then talking to Ellie. I didn’t exactly ask around but I know her name is Charley and that she spends a lot of time here when the club isn’t open.
Not that I’ve been hanging around here too much or anything. Things have been quiet, no sightings of Storm or anyone messing with our business or warehouses. When Nero said he’d go to ground, he was right.
Blaze is doing everything he can to try to dig the worm back up.
I was wrong about Charley being like Bambi, when she gets to her feet, there is nothing wobbly or disjointed about her, she’s more like a panther, graceful, lithe.
Beautiful.
“Right about what?” she asks, a scowl on her face.
It’s more from fear at me freaking her out than genuine anger. I’m not sure she is capable of anger.
I move a little closer, not enough to freak her out even more. We’ve never talked, or been alone, just the two of us. She is dressed like a dancer at a rehearsal, not in her underwear, but the fabric is skintight, clinging to every inch of her perfect body.
“You’re too good to dance here.”
She rolls her neck, looking away from me. It makes me smirk but when she looks back my face is carefully neutral.
“Do you know how many times I’ve heard that?”
“Probably a lot. It might have more to do with you trying to dance at all the wrong places.”
“How am I supposed to get the experience I need if no one will let me dance?”
“For the kind of dancing you want to do, you think they’d accept this as your experience?” I indicate around us.
Elegance is a high-end place, but there is no getting away from the fact that the women who dance here, though extremely talented, do it with their tits and ass, and occasionally their pussies on display.
Something tells me this little beauty couldn’t handle that. She’s picked a good place to try. Some other strip joints would have had her up on stage the second she walked through the door.
I don’t know much about professional dancing, but I do know those chicks are a lot skinnier than her.
She has a beautiful body, no doubt she’s kept herself fit with all the dancing she does, but her tits are more than a handful. And from the way they move when she dances, even all bound in those tight tops, they’re real.
Beast tries not to take anyone on who has fake tits, but it happens a lot in this industry.
Everything about this girl is real, pure, and that is why it’s dangerous for her to be in this business.
Well fuck, now I know why Beast is letting her work here. A few blocks away there is a club I’ve heard a lot of bad shit about. The strippers there are hardcore and dance because they have to. Here, the women dance because they love it, they feel safe and we pay them well.
Beast is worried about her so he’s doing what he can to keep her here, even though she is one of the clumsiest people I’ve ever seen. Except when she is on stage.
“It pays well,” she answers.
“You’d sacrifice your chance at professional dancing for money?”
“That isn’t what I’m doing,” she takes a step toward the edge of the stage, a little fight in her tone.
It’s fucking hot, more so than how she looks. “Forgive me if I’m being na?ve but aren’t those dance types all hoity toity about where someone learned to dance?”
She licks her lips, not in a sexy way, she’s trying to think of a response. My guess, she knows I’m right. Dancing here will hurt her chances of ever doing anything better. Of following her dream to be a professional dancer.
No woman ever dreams of being a stripper, I’m pretty sure of that. And even if they do, this girl isn’t one of them.
“Servers here are paid well, you’d be best off sticking to that.”
“Right,” she mutters and reaches down to grab her shoes, muttering to herself.
She doesn’t realize I have exceptional hearing.
“If Beast thought you were that bad, he would have let you go weeks ago. We’ve all seen you dropping a tray full at least once,” I laugh.
Her back straightens and she bites her lip. Fuck, this girl. She’s killing me.
“I didn’t mean… I can’t lose this job. I’m…” she blinks and looks as if she is trying to force the words out. “I’m practicing.”
It’s hard not to snort a laugh out. “Hey, no one is saying Beast is gonna fire you. And practicing will help,” I wink and she frowns, like I’m making fun of her and she doesn’t like it. “Stick to doing that. You get good tips.”
“Not as good as the dancers,” she sighs, then walks to the steps that lead down off the stage.
I watch how she moves, she carries herself like someone of a higher standing and I wonder where she came from, but it’s none of my business. She is none of my business. It would have been best had I not stepped out of the shadows and butted into whatever was going on up there in her head.
People say I’ve always been a sucker for those down on their luck. That isn’t what this is, but she is sad about something. Defeated was the way she looked when Ellie walked away and left her sitting next to that stripper pole.
“Well, maybe in three months you’ll get your shot.”
Her head comes up, a hopeful expression on her pretty face.
“Not up to me,” I hold up my hands. “Buttering up Ellie or Beast won’t work. They see what I see.”
“What’s that?” she asks, her voice quieter.
“Someone who doesn’t belong here.”
The little frown is back, indignant and sexy as fuck. Before she can say anything in response, or I get drawn even deeper into everything she has got going on, I turn and walk away.
With very great restraint on my part, which I have to congratulate myself for, I don’t look back as I push out through the back exit which leads to the dressing rooms, offices and bathrooms. It’s also the way out to the back parking lot only staff can access.
I’ve really got to stop hanging out here, especially when it’s closed.
The door opens to the outside before I reach it and a woman comes in, juggling her purse and some outfit bags.
She glances up, surprised to see someone here and for a second, fear etches her face, but it passes when she sees my cut.
That’s a fucking insane thought. She’s less scared of me in a cut than a man in a suit.
I dip my chin and hold the door open for her.
She shuffles through with a quiet thanks.
For a moment, I watch her as she walks down the hallway, pausing when the door to the club opens and Charley comes through.
Something like relief passes over her face as a smile brightens Charley’s.
They start to talk and Charley helps her with her things.
Damn. I let the door go and step outside. I really need to get the fuck out of here before my dick starts getting ideas that are going to get me in a whole world of shit.
It happens, quite a bit, regardless of what Beast wants.
Hell, even Nero has been with some of the dancers.
For a while, him and Ellie had a semi-exclusive mutual arrangement.
Not a lot of people know about it, and I’m sure he would like to forget it now he’s with Taylor. They’re never likely to meet.
I can’t imagine Taylor would be happy knowing her guy has slept with a stripper who everyone likes and respects, looks like an iconic movie star who does outstanding burlesque shows, and gets secrets out of men by fucking them until their brains melt and their lips start flapping.
Or maybe she wouldn’t care, don’t know her well enough.
Rebel texts as I’m leaving to say Nero is calling Church and I should get back to the club. It will have gone out to all the officers, and means drop everything, especially when it hasn’t been scheduled.
I make good time but am still one of the last to arrive. Nero wants to let us know that nothing has come back on us from the Morris disappearance and any police investigations going haven’t connected us in any way.
He runs through some other business then gets to what he really wanted to talk about.
“You remember Cannon’s club got raided a few weeks ago?” he asks.
“Yeah,” Razer laughs. “That was a shame.”
A couple of the others laugh. Nero orchestrated it after the owner, who we’d been working with for years, decided to go get his product from Storm, another way that piece of shit was trying to undercut us. Whole thing went to shit and now he’s facing jail time.
“They’re having to sell the club to pay for legal fees and other shit.”
“Serves the fuckers right,” Beast leans back in his chair.
“Where would we stand if I wanted to buy it?” Nero looks at Blaze.
“It’s in a good location, has a fairly decent reputation and handled the right way, it can make a pretty decent turnover. We’d want to change things up and relaunch though. After the raid people are going to be wary.”
Nero waves his hand like that is all something we can think about later.
“Are you thinking legit business?” Rebel asks.
“Yeah, what we put into it we’ll make back within a few months?” he looks to Blaze to answer that, and he nods.
“Once it’s up and running, we can bring in some in house dealers, take a cut,” Razer says.
“Blaze run the numbers, if it’s doable, Razer work on the purchase. Once we have it, we’ll figure out next steps from there.”
Razer nods. He studied law in community college before he joined the club. He never passed the bar, but he understands it better than the rest of us and it’s the kind of shit he likes to do.
“Everyone in agreement?” Nero asks.
No one disputes it.
“Okay. Anyone have anything they want to bring up?”
“Where are we with Storm,” Stryker asks.
“Still can’t nail down a location,” Blaze says in annoyance. “But I’ve got a few ideas I’m working on.”
“What ideas?” Nero asks.
“Nothing I want to go into yet, Prez, if that’s okay? I’m trying to think outside the box.”