CHAPTER 6 KAYLEE
I almost kissed him on my way out the door before I remembered that Ellie doesn’t know.
It has already become a habit, and that’s sort of terrifying.
But not as terrifying as the prospect of going to confront a stripper regarding the accusations she’s making about my fiancé.
We pull into the parking lot and I stare at the sign that flashes neon even in the daylight.
There’s a certain glamour at night to a place like this, even more so after a few drinks, but in the daytime, there’s trash in the parking lot, graffiti on the side of the building, and a depressing sort of bleakness permeating the entire area.
The inside looks the same during the day as it does at night—at least I would assume so since I’ve never actually been in this place before. I guess that’s the benefit of no windows and dim lighting.
I follow a few steps behind Ellie. This is my show, I guess, but it was her idea and I feel very much out of my element.
She stops, and I stumble into her back. She lurches forward, stopping herself on a random pole in the middle of the room. “Yeah!” some drunk guy yells from his table. “I love it when regular gals take the pole!”
Ellie and I look at each other in horror, and then we move over toward the bar. Except she stops again, and I stumble into her back again. Only this time, she doesn’t lurch forward. This time, I turn to look in the direction she’s looking in.
We both stare up at the stage, where a woman is gyrating on a pole with only the tiniest scrap of material barely covering her vag.
Men ogle her even at lunch on a Monday. Some dude slides a bill into that material.
Frankly…it’s gross.
The woman is gorgeous. She has a beautiful figure, and she can move her body in complex and interesting ways.
I wonder what her story is. I wonder why she works here and not down the road in some show, dancing her way across a stage every night with the company of other dancers.
I wonder whether she likes working here—if she likes the attention and if she likes baring her body this way or if she’s doing it for those tips that men slide into her barely-there undies.
“What can I get you ladies?” the bartender asks.
We both gasp, startled by the interruption as we watch the woman dancing. I turn and find an attractive guy on the younger side with lots of tattoos, and of course my mind wanders to how many of the dancers he’s slept with.
“Just a Sprite for me, thanks,” Ellie says. She looks over at me.
“Water,” I say meekly.
Ellie takes a seat at the bar, and I’m not really sure what she’s planning on doing. I’m also not sure I really want to sit beside her on that stool. Have people had sex on it? Is there like…residue there?
“Sex Residue.” Sounds like a country song.
He sets some menus in front of us, and Ellie glances at it for a moment before she looks up at the bartender. “I’ll take a dozen boneless wings with the triple X heat.”
“Fries?” he asks, and she nods. He turns to me next with raised eyebrows.
“Same,” I mumble. “Except mild heat.”
The thought of spicy food is making my stomach lurch.
The thought of eating at all is making my stomach lurch, but my guess is that it’s because of what we’re here to do. My stomach has been very attuned to my emotions lately.
The bartender heads back to put in our orders, and I turn toward Ellie. “What’s our plan?”
She shrugs. “I really didn’t think this through, and then I felt hungry, and here we are.”
I clear my throat. This is flighty even for Ellie, who I love dearly but can sometimes be a tiny bit of a dreamer. “Okay, fine. I will take care of this.”
She looks at me in alarm. “What are you going to do?”
I draw in a deep breath. This is for Ben, I remind myself. “I don’t know.”
She laughs and we stare at each other a while.
I have to do something.
I’m just not sure what.
Eventually I stand and make my way toward one of the drink waitresses walking around serving tables. “Is Kitty dancing today?” I ask her.
She narrows her eyes at me. “Who’s asking?”
“Me,” I say.
“And who are you?”
“My name is Kaylee and I was really hoping to talk to her today.”
She purses her lips, sets down some beer for a few men watching the dancers, and walks up toward the bar. She sets the tray down, and I follow her the entire way like an idiot.
“You’re talking to her,” she finally says.
“Oh,” I say on a gasp. I flounder for a beat, thrown off that this waitress is actually the stripper I was looking for, but Ben’s innocence plants itself firmly back in the center of my mind. “Can I ask you what happened with Ben Olson?”
She rolls her eyes. “Are you a reporter?”
I purse my lips a beat, and then I give it to her straight. “No. I’m his fiancée.”
She steps back a beat like I’ve issued a blow, and then she seems to gain her bearings again. “You should know the man you’re marrying said some very inappropriate things to me before he advanced on me in an uninvited way.”
“I think you’re mistaken, Kitty,” I say thickly. “I know my fiancé pretty damn well, and he would never disrespect a woman.”
“Yeah, well, it’s his word against mine, and guess who wins in these situations ten times out of ten?” She smirks at me, and at first, I feel the onset of rage…but then an oddly calm sensation washes over me.
“What do you want from him?” I ask. “Is it money? You want him to pay you off to retract your statements? Fame? Attention? A way out of this place?” I hold my hands up. “Something else?”
She stares at me a long beat, and then she shakes her head and shrugs. “Guess I just want people to know the truth about him.”
“What’s Eric Scott paying you?”
“That’s none of your business,” she snarls.
“So it’s something, then.” I nod and purse my lips. “Figured as much. Welp, all darkness eventually is revealed in the light. Now if you’ll excuse me, it looks like my hot wings are being served.” I smirk back at her and head toward Ellie as if I don’t really care about her and her lies.
It’s a completely fabricated confidence that I don’t feel in any way, shape, or form.
I don’t realize my hands are shaking until I sit back down beside Ellie and pick up a hot wing.
“So?” Ellie asks, her tone exasperated. “What happened?”
I stare at the meat stick in my hand. Grease drips from it onto my basket lined with paper.
“That was Kitty, apparently.” I shrug. “She won’t retract her statement, but she did sort of accidentally admit that Eric is paying her off in a roundabout way.
He’s the key. If we can get Calvin to get him to talk, we’re golden. ”
She presses her lips together and takes another bite of hot wing, and I can’t stomach the grease right now. I set my wing down without taking a bite and wipe my fingers on a napkin.
“These are disgusting,” I say.
Her eyes light up. “I know. And mine are super spicy. I love them.”
I watch her eat like a damn caveman for a second.
“What?” she asks, hot sauce dripping down her chin.
I tilt my head as I stare at her. “Wait a minute. You said beer and hot wings, and you ordered Sprite. I’ve never seen you order anything extra spicy food before except when you were…
” My eyes widen as I stare at her. “Oh my God. Are you pregnant?” I’m squealing, but it’s okay since the music is pumping as it peaks to a crescendo and the dancer on stage behind us is probably really getting into it.
She laughs. “Well this wasn’t exactly how I was planning to announce it…but yeah.”
“Ahh!” I scream. I toss an arm around her shoulders in a side hug. “Tell me all the things! When are you due?”
“January,” she says.
I count the months and attempt to math it out. “So you’re, what, two or so months along?”
“Eleven weeks.” She takes another bite of hot wing, and it all makes so much sense now. I didn’t really notice it, but I never saw her with a drink at Kate’s bachelorette party or at the wedding.
“Do you know gender yet?”
She narrows her eyes at me with a smile. “Yep.”
“Girl?” I ask, and she shrugs.
“Not telling.”
“I’m so freaking excited for you guys!”
She giggles. “Luke keeps telling me he wants at least six or seven kids.” She shakes her head. “But we both know he’s delusional.”
I laugh, but it’s a little hollow as I think about how that’s sort of what I want, too. Six or seven sounds like a lot, particularly since I’ve seen how hard it can be with just one when I was living with Jack and Kate…but three like it was for my brothers and me? Even four? That’s what I want.
Or it’s what I wanted, anyway.
Because I made my choice, and Ben is enough for me.
All I’ll ever be is the fun aunt.
It’s enough.
It has to be.