Chapter 6 #2
And that was before I met the DJ who was so fucked up that anything besides telling him what playlist to load wouldn’t compute. Like his pupils were beyond… Disgusting.
Oh, and it was Nicole’s nephew.
I ended up breaking my own rules and asking Owen and Evan to text me a selfie of one of them with Mudbug to help my cover. I needed to get the owner’s wife off my ass and let them know what I was planning.
Relief filled me when Evan was almost instantly able to do it and looked beyond fucking sexy.
I decided to suck it up and pretend like I was playing nice, going over to Nicole with the picture out. “Look, I don’t know your deal or what happened before I got here, but I can guess.”
Rage and indignation filled her eyes. “You need to—”
I held up the phone to her. “This is my lover. Like almost a year. The dog we just adopted. I don’t like to get personal, but I’m just here to fill in for Maya.
I got a great man. I don’t want yours. Legit, your turf is safe from me.
He owns a club and we’re great. So get off my ass and let’s just work, okay?
I’ll make you money and blow back out once Maya’s back. ”
Almost instantly, her tone changed with me. The hostility was there because I’d called her out and people were still around, but she realized I wasn’t going to be a pushover like others.
“Cute pup,” she muttered. “Good shelter? I hate when people are pompous going to breeders and it’s some fool treating the dogs bad pumping out paydays.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” I said honestly. “Shit disgusts me. And yeah, nice shelter we found when he had to travel for work. Normally, they don’t adopt out of state, but we knew someone local who made it happen.
Trickier since he’s British, but I’m a citizen, so it worked out.
” I pulled the phone back and chuckled. “Damn pup just melted me when we were only looking.”
“Yeah, had one like that.” She moved like it was over but then froze. “Thanks for fixing the poles. I don’t want people hurt. I’ll look at the contracts.”
I took it as a win and one less issue to fucking navigate. It was definitely the right play and helped me out… Which was why I texted Evan that I owed him a blow job because that quick response got me out of something sticky.
To which he replied something dirty that made me laugh, helping me even further like I was enjoying flirting with my lover who wasn’t near me.
Which was actually true and not just a cover.
But still helped me.
With Lottie’s assistance, a few of the girls changed what they could dance to that night so we didn’t have crossover songs and I promised I’d remove them going forward.
I could easily change out, but I was honest that I basically packed a bag and drove over to cover Maya.
Most seemed to care about her or weren’t fussed.
A few seemed too dead inside to really register any of it and simply didn’t want drama. It made me sad, but it was at least nice it wasn’t the normal bullshit of someone starting shit with me or getting in my face.
I always liked the shitty clubs where at least the dancers weren’t the problem.
When I was up, I did my normal shtick starting off with “Say My Name” from Destiny’s Child and pumping up the crowd. It always played well as the intro. I also did some crowd-pleasers, and it was hard not to laugh that both Austin and Nicole were full of desires to keep me because I was that good.
Yeah, well, treat your people better and you could get great dancers, not just people who are desperate or stuck. And those people even have a chance to thrive and become better.
Why could owners and bosses never seem to understand that? Stupidity? Selfishness? Evilness?
Probably all of the above. That was normally my vote.
Right as I got up on the main stage for my second set, dark desires hit me. Not dark as in violent or evil.
No, these were the scary kind that worried me someone was going to hurt themselves.
I focused on what I was supposed to but glanced in the direction of the desires while I was spinning around.
I had a flash of Dylan. Not because they looked alike, but the guy was big and surly and nursing a drink like when I’d first met the bear shifter.
It was hard to get a read on this guy too even if he was human.
Confusing. It was a confusing situation when I was undercover that made the memory stir basically.
I pushed it out of my mind and put myself in the now. I was on a case, one that had driven me crazy for years—decades even. It needed my full attention, and the lead I had said the woman danced where I was at.
So it was a time to watch my back, especially when I thought she was a demon.
Once I was done with my set, I was heading in his direction when one of the other dancers cut in my way. Not in a bad way but clearly to just get my attention.
“Don’t bother,” she mumbled under her breath. “I find it best to just leave him be.”
“Thanks, but he reminds me of someone so just gonna be polite,” I said. I smiled when she bristled. “Really, appreciate the heads-up. Just feel like I’ve met him or something. Need to just check or it will bug me.”
“Makes sense and we’re slow,” she accepted wishing me luck.
“I don’t do lap dances but thanks,” he said as I reached him. He didn’t even cut me a glance, his eyes focused on the main stage… Where no one was dancing at the moment.
But I didn’t budge and that left him unsettled. His desires mixed of hoping I left him alone and also that I didn’t.
He cleared his throat and fidgeted with his drink. “You’re really talented.”
“Thanks. A lot of training and discipline,” I said as I rested my butt on the table next to him. “Former military?”
He did a double take. “You?”
“No, but I have friends who were and…” I pressed my lips together trying to figure out how to phrase what I wanted to say without sounding off.
He snorted. “We’re our own breed—almost like shifter species, and once you’re used to being around us, you can sense us almost.”
“Yes, exactly like that,” I agreed. “I’ve got a martial arts background and… How long you been back?”
He slowly met my gaze for real then. “That obvious, huh?”
I let out a long, slow breath. “I don’t know that things are ever obvious, but more it’s who’s looking. Who cares enough to see or knows what to look for?” I gave a half shrug. “There’s lots certain people can see when they look at me. Not the stereotypes or stripper jokes, but really see.”
That seemed to intrigue him and he stared me over.
And not in the way I was used to getting when working undercover as a stripper or dressed as I was.
“You also learned dance early. You carry yourself with the confidence of someone with a high belt but the lightness of a trained dancer,” he muttered. “You’re older than you look too. Almost like a secret that amuses you that others won’t get.”
“Yes, but I’ll do you one better that it’s also that I’m stronger than anyone would guess someone my size is,” I added flexing my biceps for him and then letting him see the muscles in my back up close.
“Oh, I believe that from the way you held yourself up on the pole,” he muttered. “Those kinds of—that’s not just gym calisthenics or fucking pull-ups. That’s a level of control and strength that could take down special ops.”
“What else?” I asked.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You first.”
Fair enough. “You’re conflicted about what you did wearing the uniform. Saw too much darkness and others didn’t come back from it. You struggle that you made it through and they didn’t. And yes, I know that look from experience even if not military.”
He took a sip of his drink and watched me. “Yeah, I saw the abuse around you like a…”
“Wound,” I accepted. “My mom didn’t make it out. Never did and I always regretted it. I’ve helped others, but you can’t save those who don’t want to be saved. I’ve crossed lines, but it shouldn’t have been on me that I needed to.”
He swallowed loudly and set down his glass. “Deep conversation your first night here. Not even asking my name or—”
“Because you know what I’m seeing that I’m not about to fuck around,” I said gently. I swallowed the need to cry for this man when his desire I not ask about his loaded gun at home hit me. “It’s not just you. We survive it because we have the right support. What support do you have here?”
None. It killed me how fast I felt the answer from him.
“Why come here?” I asked gently. I pushed when he didn’t answer because this could go bad fast. “Do you need to stay here? Something keeping you here?”
He pounded back the rest of his drink and gave me a hard look. “Like it would be better anywhere else. The darkness follows.”
I moved my hand to his chest when he started to stand.
“But there are people who can help—willing to help. I don’t know here, but I know some in Denver.
Former military who work security at clubs and make it through the darkness each day because they help each other.
I met them through some dancers I worked with. ”
He stood and crowded my space, trying to get me to back off, impressed when I didn’t and let my breasts press against him. He was taller than me and it put us intimately close. “And they’ve got a friend opening or take in strays?”
“Not how I would have phrased it, but why can’t it be like that?” I threw right back. “Isn’t that what you had in the military? What it was supposed to be? Why does that stop because you were discharged?”
He snorted and moved me to turn so he could get past. “It was bullshit then too. That’s the first lie we were fed.” He let go of me and tried to leave, but I grabbed his wrist.
“I won’t argue that,” I told him firmly. “I don’t know enough that I could, nor should I.”
“But?” he challenged, glancing down at my hand like I was going over the line.
Fair enough and I let him go. “But is there any world where you thought a new dancer would walk in here tonight and tell you not to give up hope and maybe there was a better way? Just promise me that you’ll think about that and you realize you matter enough that someone saw the truth tonight and cared enough to come talk to you. ”
He lost his anger and gave a firm nod. “Fair.”
“Don’t break my heart,” I breathed when he took a step away.
“I hurt enough people already, so you’re safe,” he called over his shoulder.
And I believed him.
Thank fuck.