Chapter 4 #3
Melanie would be furious – and even worse, extremely hurt – if she knew I was here.
Strip clubs were a major trigger for her, thanks to her asshole of an ex-husband who’d had a thing for women with big tits.
While my wife was sexy as hell and had a fantastic figure, her breasts were barely a modest B-cup at best. They were perfect as far as I was concerned, but her ex had found her lacking and had mentioned it frequently, actually suggesting that she get a breast enlargement on several occasions.
She’d divorced him after she’d found out he’d been getting his desire for big tits fulfilled by cheating with strippers for most of their two-year marriage.
She’d let me know when we were dating that strip clubs were a touchy subject, and since I’d never cared much for them anyway, it hadn’t been a hardship at all to respect that boundary.
Hell, I would much rather be home with my own sexy woman than watching a stranger dancing naked and flirting with me because they were paid to.
Mitch had never understood that, though, and had gone so far as to hire a couple of strippers for my bachelor party.
Luckily, Grady had found out about it a few hours before the party started and immediately let me know.
I’d shut Mitch down hard, and he’d been pissed, especially when he found out that the dancers wouldn’t refund his money due to the last-minute cancellation.
Not wanting any secrets between us, I’d told Melanie about it the next day and she’d been understandably upset.
They weren’t close to start with, but that had been the start of the low-key animosity that simmered between the two of them.
She never quite trusted him for trying to pull that stunt, and Mitch blamed her because I’d called a halt to his idea of fun.
Mitch had moved out of state after college and only came back to Indianapolis two or three times a year after that, so on those rare occasions they were both civil to each other but that was it.
Since Mitch had moved back to town though, he was around a lot more, and the veil of civility had worn thin on both their parts.
I was now caught in the middle, fielding Melanie’s mostly quiet disapproval and Mitch’s increasingly pointed barbs, and it was getting old.
Our server hadn’t made it back with our drinks by the time the lights on the stage were turned back up and the band walked out and took their positions. It wasn’t terribly surprising since the club was now packed without an empty table in sight, and there was a line three-deep at the bar.
One of the club’s bouncers had politely dispersed the crowd around the platform and helped the redhead climb down the stairs at the back of it.
They disappeared into the crowd as another bouncer escorted a blonde with pink highlights in her hair over to the platform, then steadied her as she climbed the steps to take the redhead’s place’s.
The new dancer – this one wearing a hot pink G-string, wrapped one long leg around the pole and did a full spin as the drummer kicked off the next song.
Mitch came back to the table and flopped down in his seat, then looked around as if searching for our drinks. I shrugged and jabbed a thumb over my shoulder toward the people standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the bar area.
“Damn, it’s crowded in here. We’re lucky we got this table,” he shouted across to me, then motioned to a hallway on the other side of the room. “I’m heading to the men’s room. When the beers come, go ahead and order me another one since service is probably gonna be slow tonight.”
I rolled my eyes but nodded an acknowledgement. When the band launched into “Sweet Child o’ Mine”, which had been one of Grady’s favorites, my mood soured even more and I pulled out my phone, thinking I would distract myself by scrolling through the news.
A pit formed in my stomach as I stared at the picture of Melanie on my phone’s lock screen and realized that I hadn’t spoken to her all day.
Shit, I hadn’t actually spoken with her since we’d each left the house to head to work early yesterday morning, and I’d only shared one brief text with her since our flight landed.
She would probably string me up by my balls when I got home, and I couldn’t exactly blame her.
She’d been on my ass for a while about being gone so much, and this wasn’t going to help.
The server returned then, delivering our beers and taking my order for another one for Mitch.
He could stay and drink and flirt with the strippers if he wanted to, but I was going to head back to the hotel and call my wife.
I had some apologizing to do for all but ghosting her for the past thirty-six hours.
I lifted the chilled mug, raising it toward the stage with a whispered, “Here’s to you, Grady.
Miss you like hell, man.” I took a long drink, and then another, downing half of the beer before setting the mug on the table and pushing my chair back so I could leave.
Before I could rise, a pair of bare arms came around me from behind, sliding over my shoulders and down to my chest, making me jump a little in my seat and bump the table with my knee.
A sickeningly sweet scent seemed to envelop me and a woman’s sultry voice said in my ear, “You look a little down, handsome. I’ll bet I can make you smile. ”
The next thing I knew, the topless redhead who’d been dancing on the platform when we arrived was sliding one of her legs over my lap, straddling me as she began to grind her body against mine.