Chapter Four
Axel
He needed a break from the sweetbutts at the club. More and more, he was finding himself annoyed with them. He was even having trouble with bedding any of them, because he kept seeing Sophia's face if he closed his eyes. He was well and truly fucked if he couldn't get her out of his head.
Not wanting to go to the clubhouse, he headed into Hartford to Club Elysium.
After finding a place to park, he made his way inside and went straight to the bar for a drink. He was just taking a sip of his whiskey when he nearly choked on it as Sophia stepped out onto the stage. What the fuck was she doing up there?
He downed his drink and stalked to where Indi stood.
“What the hell is she doing?” he asked, motioning toward the stage.
“What does it look like, Axel? She's dancing,” Indi replied.
“What the fuck, Indi? She's too young to be up there!”
Indi laughing wasn't the reaction he'd expected.
“She's an adult, Axel, and she's a damn good dancer. Get over yourself.”
She waved him away and he knew better than to try and argue with her. Instead, he waited and bided his time. He knew Sophia would have a couple more performances, so he ordered another whiskey, found a seat, and nursed the drink until her final number.
Then, as she left the stage, he made his way to the hall that led to the dressing room. There was definitely a plus to knowing the owner.
“Sophia.”
Just her name, but it was enough to have her whirling around, her hand going to her throat.
“Gods, Axel! You almost gave me a heart attack! What are you doing back here?”
“Looking for you. What the hell do you think you're doing?” he growled.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. What the hell are you doing, dressing like that?”
When she put her hands on her hips, he struggled to keep his gaze on her face because the position lifted her tits just a little.
“Dressed like what, Axel?” she hissed.
“Like… like… that!”
“What? You mean like a woman who is comfortable with her body? Like a dancer? It's a job, for crying out loud.”
“Why can't you get a respectable job?” he countered and in his head he heard the robot from Lost in Space nearly shouting ‘Danger, Will Robinson’.
“Respectable? Wow. I'm so sure Tank would love to know that you think Rose isn't respectable because she's been dancing here for several years. Or Chaos. I'm sure he'd love to know you think Indi isn’t respectable because she's the owner of a den of such inequity,” Sophia hissed.
“That-that's not what I meant!” he stuttered out.
“The hell it's not. You just didn't expect me to call you out on it.” She poked his chest with her index finger. “You're not my father, and you're sure as hell not my boyfriend. Even if you were my boyfriend, you would have no say in where I worked or what I wore!”
Her finger jabbed into his chest repeatedly as she spoke, and damn if a pissed off Sophia wasn't sexy as fuck.
“Get over yourself, Axel,” she hissed and side stepped him to get to the dressing room.
Axel watched her go and willed his chub to go down so he didn't embarrass himself when he left.