Chapter 5 Looking Out
Looking Out
Punc
Punc dried himself after his shower and wrapped the towel around his waist. He wiped the steam off the mirror, loaded his toothbrush with toothpaste, and brushed his teeth.
The shower didn’t wash away his shame at being so damned weak where Savannah was concerned and no matter how hard he brushed his teeth, he couldn’t brush away the taste of their kiss.
She deserved better than him. He couldn’t give her the life she deserved.
Years ago he’d chosen to join the Riot MC, and his brothers came first. Sure, other members had old ladies, but Savannah wasn’t old lady material.
She was a good girl through and through, and he wanted her to have a better life than what she’d had growing up.
Being with him would only jeopardize any chances she had at improving her situation.
Maybe he was addicted to the risks that came with being with her.
No that was another lie. It was a risk to pull her out of the line of the cameras in the parking lot, but he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
At least five times while he followed her home, he thought of making a U-turn - but he didn’t.
No matter how many reasons said it was wrong to be with her, everything inside him said they were exactly right.
Stopping them from going farther was the hardest thing he’d done in a long time.
He didn’t want to be the reason she quit (or got fired from) Platinum’s, but he’d forgotten the biggest reason she didn’t belong there. Shit was swirling around the Riot MC, and it had extended to some of the dancers.
He’d hate for her to get robbed the way Lucy had two months ago.
Hell, Lucy had fought back using jiu-jitsu and still lost her cash.
Did Savannah know how to take care of herself?
Something told him she didn’t.
He grabbed his phone to call her, but saw it was a quarter to midnight. With anyone else, he’d keep it to a five-minute conversation, but he didn’t have that control with her.
Didn’t want to have that control with her.
Damn.
He’d call her in the morning.
And take it from there.
Before he heard her greeting on the cell phone the next morning, he heard the ambient noise of her car engine. “Hello?” Savannah said.
“Hey, it’s Punc.”
He could hear the smile in her voice. “Yeah, I know. After our marathon conversation the other night, I programmed you into my phone. But if I’m not mistaken, you told me to do that.”
That made him smirk.
“Right. You carry mace or any kind of weapon with you?”
She paused. “No. It’s too easy for that stuff to be turned against me, and a small handgun might be an option, but they aren’t exactly cheap, and other bills have taken priority.”
He thought about loaning her one of his guns, but none of his were small.
“Have you taken any self-defense classes in the past?”
“Aside from what they taught us girls in high school for fighting off a rapist, no.”
“Right,” he whispered, knowing he needed to keep her safe.
“Desiree mentioned some things have happened at Platinum’s lately, but she said I didn’t have anything to worry about.”
He pressed his lips together. Scaring her was not his intention. “You don’t. The dancers don’t go anywhere outside the building alone, so we’re taking precautions. I don’t like the idea of you and Catalina in that house without protection of some sort. Did your mom have an alarm system?”
“I don’t tell many people this, but she dropped the monitoring service over a year ago. But Cat and I still set the thing when we’re coming or going in hopes it keeps up a certain facade, if you know what I mean.”
He closed his eyes and breathed out, “Yeah.”
“Ted—I mean, Punc, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Once Punc took on more duties at Platinum’s, Turk and Yak made it clear that there were lots of reasons women stripped, but the vast majority of the time it was because they needed money and they didn’t have the means to earn more any other way.
He knew Savannah had added expenses now that she was in her mom’s house, but he couldn’t shake the feeling something else was going on, and he wanted to get her away from Platinum’s sooner rather than later.
“Am I wrong?” she asked into the silence.
“No, you’re right, sweetheart. I’m just looking out for you. My sister wouldn’t let me hear the end of it if something happened to you or Cat.”
The ambient sounds of her driving quieted. “I appreciate that. More than you know since I can’t remember the last time anyone looked out for me. I’d love to chat longer, but I’m at a client’s house. Time to wrangle the dust bunnies and clean a house. Later, Punc.”
“Later, Ava.”
Savannah
Thursday evening, after a four-hour stint at Platinum’s, I got home before Catalina, again.
I took a quick shower and started in on dinner.
Desiree hadn’t been on today, and I’d taken the stage solo for three sets.
My last set Heaven joined me for one song.
Only one man requested a lap dance, which felt like a blow to my ego, but when I tallied up my tips it came to about six hundred dollars.
I had the full payment for Frank, and I had a little more I could use toward the next installment. Part of me wanted to give him the extra, but I didn’t trust him one iota, so I was keeping that extra in reserve.
Not only had Desiree not been at the club today, Punc was nowhere to be found either.
I found that to be bizarre especially given the conversation we had this morning.
On top of that, I felt let down that he hadn’t told me he wouldn’t be there - but that only served to remind me to keep things professional with him.
The garage door rumbled as it opened, and I heard Catalina pull the Buick inside.
Her sneaker squeaked when she stopped short in the kitchen. “Oh, God. You’ve got the roast out.”
I shook my head. “I do, but I’m going to attempt homemade Philly Cheesesteaks.”
“We have no peppers,” she said.
With a quick grin, I reached to the side and grabbed a bell pepper. “I cleaned Muriel’s house today, she offered me four of these bad boys from her garden because she says Ludwig won’t stop producing.”
Cat wandered to the edge of the counter, where I was working. “Um, I’m confused. Who’s Ludwig?”
I chuckled. “The name of her pepper plant. She names any plant that actually gives her something edible.”
She picked up one of the smaller peppers. “I should let this go, but what does Ludwig have to do with peppers?”
I smiled. “Ludwig produces bell peppers, so he’s named after Ludwig Beethoven because in Muriel’s opinion ‘Ode to Joy’ is best played on handbells. I’ve learned not to argue about music with her.”
After she put the pepper down on the counter, Cat shook her head. “Yeah. I wouldn’t argue with her either. Do we have hoagie rolls?”
“Yep. I stopped on the way home.” I recalled wanting her to get in on cooking more. “If you don’t mind, you can get the oven preheated and we’ll have tater tots.”
She gave me a sheepish grin. “Sure. Let me put my backpack away.”
While I sautéed onions, peppers, and beef, Cat hauled herself up on the countertop. “I hate to bring this up, but how are we gonna pay this loan? Isn’t a payment due soon? Are you like using Venmo or something?”
My body jerked with a silent laugh. “I wish he took Venmo or something that would give me a record of payments made.”
“What do you mean?”
I took a deep breath. “He called me the other day—”
“What? Savannah! You should have told me—”
I took the skillet off the burner. “It was in the middle of the day, and it slipped my mind when you got home from school. I’m sorry. But he wants the payment in cash.”
Catalina tipped her head back. “Of course he does,” she said to the ceiling.
“Yeah,” I sighed.
The oven beeped once it was preheated. Cat hopped down from the counter, grabbed the tray of tots and popped them in the oven.
“What are you paying him?”
“Two grand.”
“How much will we owe after that?”
“Thirty-three thousand,” I said, though it came out sounding like a question because I did not trust Frank at all.
Cat’s eyes slid to the side, then bugged out before they came back to me. “It’s gonna take almost a year and a half to pay that off!”
I grimaced. “I’ll take your word for it, smarty.”
Cat gave me two short nods. “No really. Sixteen and a half months if we’re paying two grand per month…but that isn’t taking interest into account. Savannah…you gotta—”
I reached out and grabbed her bicep. “Cat. Trust me. I’ve got something else in the works, and in the morning, I’m calling about Mom’s life insurance policy.
If I’m not mistaken, the payout should have hit the escrow account.
After the hospital and any other creditors have been paid, if there’s anything left over, it’ll get split between you and me. That will help us.”
Catalina closed her eyes and let out a big breath. When my sister opened her hazel eyes, she looked like she’d aged five years. “I thought we needed that money to pay down the mortgage though.”
I sighed. “Getting rid of Frank’s skeevy ass and keeping him from sending his other customers our way is the top priority, Cat.”
Out of nowhere, Cat flung herself at me and wrapped her arms around me. “Thanks for everything you’re doing, Savannah. If things were different, I’d have been forced to be with Dad…who knows what would have happened then.”
I put my arms around her and squeezed. “Don’t even think about that.”
As quick as it started, Cat stepped back. “Right. Let’s get on the sandwiches. The tots only have ten more minutes to go.”
Later that night, I thought about calling Punc, but I didn’t trust myself not to fully open up about my problems. As much as I loved our earlier conversation since he said he was looking out for me - and seriously, he might be the first guy to ever even try to look out for me - something told me he would lose his mind if he heard about Frank Darren.
That kiss replayed in my mind. It would be so easy to fall for Punc, which was the last thing I needed right now.
I didn’t want to be like Mom…looking the other way when the man in her life did questionable things or outright broke the law.
Even though I knew Punc was a good guy, I had a feeling he had a way of skirting right and wrong.
Platinum’s didn’t close their doors until two in the morning, which meant Punc was probably working. I suspected some nights the Riot brothers didn’t leave until four or even five in the morning.
This wasn’t something he could help me with anyway. It was a ton of money, and since the Riot MC had supposedly gone legit and stopped doing illegal activities, no. I couldn’t ask Punc for help.
In the dark, I couldn’t sleep.
My mind raced from one bad thought to the next. What if Frank took the payment and still decided to do something to hurt me? What if he still followed Catalina after I’d paid?
Every bad scenario made my stomach churn. I leaned over and turned on a lamp. I took five long, deep, calming breaths.
Then I grabbed my phone and sent Dad a text.
Call me. If you can’t bring yourself to call me, call Catalina. Frank Darren wants Mom’s money. There is none, so we need your help.
I put the phone back, turned off the light, and sent up a feeble prayer that Dad got back to me.
In the morning, he hadn’t responded. Though, if the little check marks on the text were to be believed, the message had been delivered and seen.
Figured. No help from dear old Dad.
I had my hair in a ponytail ready to hit the road for work, when my cell rang.
Frank Darren.
Yippie. Not.
“Hello,” I answered.
“It’s payday, Savannah. You got my cash?”
“Yes,” I said, trying not to grit my teeth.
“Good. I’m in your driveway, unless you’d like me to—”
“I’ll be right out,” I said as calmly as I could.
Last night, I’d laid the cash out in piles with sticky notes labeling each pile, then I took a picture of the cash.
With the money in an envelope, I wrote the full amount on the outside along with the date and took a picture of that too.
It wasn’t much, and it wouldn’t mean anything to him, but it was better than nothing.
I grabbed my phone, keys, and the envelope, shoved my bare feet into a pair of slides and went outside.
Frank stood in the drive with his arms crossed, leaning against his BMW sedan. He had on a different pair of dress pants, a white polo shirt, and his sunglasses.
I stopped a foot from him and held out the envelope.
He uncrossed his arms to yank off his sunglasses, then arched a brow at the writing before taking it from me. “Don’t do that again.”
I crossed my arms. “Don’t do what? Label the envelope? Too bad, Frank. I’m gonna have some record of what I’ve paid because I didn’t take out this loan, and I’m not gonna get jerked around and be some endless gravy train.”
His eyes narrowed, then he turned his head and laughed. When he caught my gaze again, an icy chill crept up my spine. “Your spunk is gonna get your sister’s ass in trouble. No envelope. Just money.”
I tried to dial back my sass, but really, this was outlandish. “How am I gonna know where I’m at then? You aren’t giving me a receipt, I get that - to an extent. But seriously, for all I know, you’re gonna forget I paid you or claim I paid you less.”
He bent forward at the waist. “That’s the risk your mother took. You’ll just have to trust me, Savannah.” He straightened. “See you next month on the thirtieth.”
He climbed into the BMW and left.
Dammit.