36. Leo
CHAPTER 36
Leo
“A strip club?” The alcohol sputters out of my mouth at the words that have left Myles’s mouth.
We are sitting at dinner with a few of his work buddies when he tells us the plans for the rest of the night.
Earlier in the day, he took us all to a place with go-karting, paintball, and rock climbing. It was fun, a nice distraction for a bit, even though in the back of my mind, I was still worried about Veronica.
Leaving her alone was probably a mistake, but she can hold on to her own until I come home. It’s not like I could have bailed on Myles. Do you know how mad he would have been if I told him I couldn’t make it to his bachelor party because Veronica needed my help?
I think he would have disowned me.
“Yes, a strip club!” Myles informs me that what I heard was correct. “It’s tradition to go to one for bachelor parties.”
Two of his buddies smile, bumping fists together at the news.
“Does Chloe know about this?” I ask, setting my whiskey down on the table.
“Do you really think I would even go to one without asking her?” Myles looks at me dumbfounded. “She didn’t care.”
I’m sure he is telling the truth. Chloe isn’t the type to get angry like that unless he were to cheat on her. Her ex, Jeremy, cheated on her once, and all hell broke loose.
He came over to apologize after she found out, and my sister chased the man around with a frying pan. Her face red while she yelled profanities at him.
To this day, I don’t know why she stayed with him after that. Maybe it was because she was pregnant and wanted to stick it out for the baby.
What I do know is that Myles wouldn’t dare cheat on her. Not only would he have to deal with Chloe, but he would have to deal with me.
He may be my best friend, but she’s my baby sister.
“Remember when we would go to the strip clubs in college?” Myles lifts his glass with a smirk.
“You mean the two times we went?”
“Yeah, the first time was fun!” He wiggles his eyebrows. “You got a lap dance from one of the hottest strippers I’d ever seen. Didn’t she put her tongue down your throat?”
Smiling at the memory of that drunken night, I shake my head. “We kissed, and once the guards saw it happening, they pulled her off of me.” I sit forward, arching an eyebrow as I ask Myles, “What about that second time we went?”
His friends are listening intently, waiting for all the juicy details to be spilled about their friend’s past. I’m sure Myles hasn’t really opened up to any of them the way he has with me.
“Nope,” he deflects, staring into his glass at the ice cubes floating around.
“You got so drunk they had to kick your ass out,” I remind him, although he knows what I’m talking about. “I’m pretty sure I remember you trying to climb up on stage during one of the shows.”
His brows dip in fake confusion, shaking his head slightly. “Hmm… I don’t recall that night.”
“You were yelling at the guards, ‘Let me up there! I’ll show the girls how it’s done!’ ” I laugh at the image playing in my mind. “Then you looked at me over your shoulder, winking, while they attempted to get you down and said, ‘Leo, be sure to toss me the big bills. I’m gonna be the best stripper you’ve ever seen.’ ”
A slow smile appears on his face, clearly not able to pretend anymore.
“Okay, yeah. I remember. It was entertaining, I’m sure.” He sighs. “To be fair, I would have been the best stripper you’d ever seen.”
“I have no doubt.” I laugh, sipping on my drink. “I honestly couldn’t stay mad at you.”
“I’ll make it up to you tonight.”
“Will you be sneaking up on stage?”
“No.” His buddies sigh in disappointment, surely wanting to see this side of Myles. “I will pay for a lap dance for you.”
“You don’t need to do that,” I decline the offer, sitting back in the chair and bringing my glass to my mouth again.
“Yes, I do.” He leans forward. “You need some action from someone other than… she who must not be named.”
I choke on my drink as his words hit me. Liquid sputters from my mouth and all over the tables as I laugh.
Picking up the cloth napkin, I wipe the drippage from my face. “Did you just compare her to Voldemort?”
“Both their names start with a ‘V,’ and they both want to wreak havoc on people’s lives.” He shrugs, narrowing his eyes at me. “I’m buying you a lap dance. Deal with it.”
Lifting a hand in defense, I gulp down the last of my drink and then order another one.
It’s going to be a long night.
The club is overwhelming.
I know I’ve been out of prison for two months, and sometimes it got… rowdy in there, but it is nothing compared to the sounds I’m enduring right now. The only thing that is allowing me to handle the music and the loud chatter of the other guests is the multiple shots Myles is pouring down my throat.
The music becomes somewhat bearable after each burning liquid slips past my tongue. The voices of the men around us die down until I only focus on our group.
I wasn’t planning on drinking this much. I was only going to have a few drinks with dinner and then cut myself off, but in Myles's words, I need to let loose tonight.
The hidden meaning behind his advice was to get laid by someone who wasn’t Veronica.
I haven’t told him that I slept with her. There was no need to. Ever since I showed up at his house, he was suspiciously eyeing me. We are like brothers. We know each other like the back of our hands.
Luckily, he never brought it up. Even with Chloe not there and the two of us in the kitchen waiting for his work friends to show up, he didn’t bring it up once. Probably because he knew I would get defensive about it if he did.
Not only did I sleep with her, but Veronica stirred up all these feelings inside me that were locked away tight. And if he knew that, he’d blow a fuse.
A woman walks over to our table with a tray balancing in one hand. Shot glasses are arranged sporadically on the tray, but no liquid sloshes over the rims. She walks at a steady pace, and I’m not sure how she keeps the liquor in the shot glasses. I would have been spilling it all over the place.
Setting the tray nicely on the table scattered with beer bottles, she flashes me a smile before glancing at Myles.
“Here you go!” she yells over the music.
“Thank you! Keep them coming.” He raises his glass in a cheers motion, to which she politely nods. With one more look at me, she walks away to either grab us more or help other guests. “Dude, she is totally into you!”
Myles's voice booms over the music. He doesn’t have to speak so loud since he is sitting right next to me, but he is drunk. “No, she’s not.”
“Uh, yes, she is!” He reaches forward to grab a shot glass. “I know you’ve been locked up with men and haven’t been in the dating pool since you’ve been released, but did you see how she was looking at you? She obviously wants to take a ride on the Leo train!”
I look over at him, a sly grin sitting on his face. “You did not just say that.”
“I did.” He chuckles before tipping his head back to down the shot. “Let her go for a ride, man.”
“I’m good,” I dismiss him.
“Because you’re letting her ride you?” Even drunk, he won’t let her name slip from his mouth.
“And here I thought you weren’t going to bring it up.”
“I wasn’t going to.” He shrugs. “But since we are on the topic…”
“Yes, I slept with her ,” I tell him.
He groans, tossing his head back. “Why?”
With us being drunk, the music blaring, and half-naked women dancing all around us, this is not the right time to have this conversation.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you, Myles.” It comes out snappy, and I immediately regret it. “I’m sorry. We can talk about it later, okay?”
He nods slowly, then smiles. “Okay! In the meantime, let’s get you that lap dance!”
Shaking my head, I throw back another shot. “Nope.”
Narrowing his eyes at me, a commotion rips his gaze away. I look to where his attention is and see the waitress delivering more drinks. From the corner of my eye, Myles sits forward with his elbows resting on his knees.
“Would you be interested in giving my buddy here a lap dance?” Embarrassment floods me. He sounds like he is making a sales pitch.
“I’m not a dancer,” she informs him loud enough for him to hear over the bass.
“So that’s a no?” Myles questions. I nudge his side with my elbow to get him to stop.
The waitress laughs and eyes me up and down before returning her attention to Myles. “It’s a no, but I do get off in an hour if your buddy wants to have a drink with me.”
Myles claps both hands on my shoulders, rocking me back and forth. “He would love to!”
I offer the waitress a soft smile, and then she leaves us. “Seriously, man?”
“What?”
He looks genuinely confused, so I brush it off. Now’s not the time for fights. “I’m gonna use the bathroom.”
Standing from the booth, I weave in and out of the other crowded tables as I make my way back to the restroom. Thankfully, there isn’t anyone waiting to use it.
I don’t actually have to use the bathroom; I just need a breather. A break from all the noise.
Once I lock myself inside, I grip the edge of the sink and blow out a long breath. I didn’t realize how drunk I was until I stood up. My face looks distorted in the mirror, and the room tilts.
Shit.
Getting wasted was the last thing I wanted to do. It’s been a great distraction from the knowledge that Veronica killed someone and the police showed up at my door, but it is soon going to fade, and I’m going to have to face all that.
I was supposed to help her get rid of that knife, which I was hoping to do tonight, but with the state I’m in, I don’t think that is going to happen.
Which is not good. The longer that knife sits in my apartment with that man’s blood all over it, the worse it’s going to be if the officers show back up.
Turning the faucet on for the cold water, I cup my hands underneath the stream and splash it on my face. The icy water stings my heated skin but feels refreshing. It won’t sober me up much, but it’s a start.
After drying myself off with a paper towel, I open the door and head down the dimly lit hallway. I guess the water didn’t do too much because I hadn’t realized someone was walking from the other way until my body ran into theirs.
A small gasp fills the narrow space, and I apologize. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“It’s okay,” she reassures me. The dull lighting shines on her features when she tilts her face in my direction. It’s our waitress.
In the club lighting, I could tell that she was pretty, and even now, in this dark hallway, I can tell pretty isn’t the word I would use. She is gorgeous.
As she smiles sweetly up at me, I can’t help but ask, “Did my friend send you to find me?”
I watch her brows dip, and a smirk tilts her lips. “He did not. I was actually just on my way to the back room.” She points behind me to a door at the end of the hall. “I’m off, so I’d like to get all my stuff from my locker.”
“Ah, I see.” I move my eyes away from the door. “I just figured… my friend has been very persistent about being my wingman.”
“You don’t seem like the type of guy who needs a wingman.” Her voice is flirtatious. “I’m Naya, by the way.”
“Leo,” I introduce myself and then allow my eyes to scan her features.
Her skin looks like it is made of rich chocolate. It is so smooth and delicate that I’d be afraid she’d melt if I touched her.
Deep brown eyes stare back at me, filled with exhaustion, but there is a playfulness that is trying to fight past the tiredness of working so late.
With her beauty, any man would be stupid to turn her down. Before I can respond, my phone vibrates in my pocket. Pulling it out, I see a text from Myles.
Where did you disappear to man? We are heading out.
My eyes lift from my phone to the woman before me and then over her shoulder.
At the end of the hall where the club is, Myles comes into view, staring down at his phone. It’s almost like he senses me because he raises his head and turns it toward me.
It’s dark, but I don’t miss the grin on his face. He begins typing on his phone, and sure enough, mine vibrates.
You stay.
I’ll be out in a second.
He sends an okay and walks out of my sight. “I should get going.”
“No drinks then?” She pouts.
“If I’m being honest, I think I’ve had one too many tonight.”
“That’s fair,” she says. “Let me give you my number; that way, you can text me before you’ve had too much to drink.”
Handing over my phone, Naya punches her number onto the screen and saves the contact. Once the phone is back in my possession, she slips around me and heads into the back room.
The sad thing is, I probably won’t text her. No matter if I want to, Veronica is always there, sitting in the back of my mind.
Sighing, I make my way to the front door just in time to see Myles climbing into the back of an Uber. Sitting beside him in the backseat, the driver leaves the curb and drives to Myles's house. The ride is silent, Myles too tired to talk, and for that, I am thankful.
He gets out once the driver stops in front of his home, giving me a salute before shutting the door, and I watch as he stumbles over himself as he makes his way inside.
Since Myles only ordered the car to drop him off at his house, I told the driver my address and informed him I’d pay him cash if he took me home, too. He agreed.
Pulling up to my apartment, the scene is one I wasn’t expecting to see.
Police cars are everywhere.
Flashing lights cast a red and blue glow over the entire building.
I blindly toss the driver some money and hurry out of the car. My heart is beating so fast that it’s the only thing I hear.
Rushing into the lobby, I see nothing out of the ordinary. I don’t bother taking the elevator because it will be too slow.
Shoving the doors to the stairs open, I climb them two at a time, praying that this doesn’t have to do with Veronica.
When I finally reach my floor, I stumble into the hall, almost losing my footing, to find officers surrounding my door. As I approach them, I can see it isn’t my door they are surrounding, but Veronica.
Her eyes are red from crying, her body is shivering, and there is blood on her clothes.