Chapter 1 #2
The sound in the room had dropped to near silence, save for the music as she danced her routine.
Her costumes and dances had become very polished and professional, yet they made her seem approachable.
When she first started, one of the experienced dancers, Dusty, had taken her under her wing.
She hadn’t seen Aubrielle as a threat, as so many of the others did.
She was down to her G-string and the pasties that covered her nipples.
I ignored how looking at her made my body stir.
As the music ended, the cheering roar was deafening.
Money rained down onto the stage. As I turned my head to stop looking at her, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.
My head snapped back in time to see a man rush the stage.
Marco had been standing in the shadows unobtrusively. He came out to block the guy. The man landed a lucky, powerful punch that knocked Marco off his feet. It was enough to give the customer the opening to jump onto the stage.
Aubrielle stumbled backward, trying to put distance between herself and the guy. She was shaking her head, but rather than seeing fear, I saw determination. Her arms rose, and her hands clenched. She turned her body to the side and rooted her feet. She took up a fighter’s stance.
Without conscious thought, I was on my feet running toward her the moment I saw the man rushing the stage.
I knew the rest of my brothers weren’t far behind.
I jumped up onto the table closest to the stage, scaring the customers sitting around it, then used it as a springboard to leap onto the stage.
My heavy motorcycle boots hit with a loud thump.
The man had stopped a few feet from her.
I didn’t pause and raced up behind him. Aubrielle was still in her defensive stance.
I grabbed him in a chokehold from behind.
The guy struggled to shake me loose. He shouted profanities at me and demanded that I let him go.
I held fast. Some of my club brothers swarmed us. I saw Mayhem’s furious face.
Sandman and Riot placed themselves between the man and Aubrielle. A deep growl rumbled up and out of me. I disliked having someone between her and me. The strip club was in an uproar.
My prisoner was weakening because I was choking him out.
I wanted to snap his fucking neck for daring to scare her.
Her face was barely visible between Riot and Sandman's bodies.
When her gaze met mine, I felt the lightning-like zap race through my body.
Aubrielle let her panic peek out for a second, then it was hidden.
“Shadow, let him go. He’s done. He won’t fight,” Mayhem ordered. I kept squeezing.
“Brother. Shadow. Shadowrider, let go,” Crusher’s authoritative tone, along with his use of my entire road name, snapped me out of my rage.
Slowly, I eased off. The limp customer was removed from my hold by Gravel and Marco. I noticed the bouncer’s eye was already swelling from the punch. He’d have a black eye by morning. The two of them hauled the guy’s ass off the stage.
Sandman and Riot were turned, speaking to Aubrielle.
They had their hands on her shoulders. Without pausing to think about what I was doing, I shrugged off my cut, handed it to Crusher, who took it automatically, and then I whipped off my T-shirt.
Taking back my cut, I slipped it on and then went forward.
I pushed between my brothers. They moved back.
“Put this on,” I demanded.
Aubrielle’s gaze widened. “W-what?” she asked.
“Put this on. The show is over. We can’t have any more of these dumbasses losing their minds and jumping up here,” I growled.
She hesitated a moment, but then must’ve seen that if she didn’t do it herself, I’d do it for her.
She took it and slipped it over her head.
It was too big and fell to her thighs. Something inside me settled when I saw her in my shirt.
I pushed that thought away. This moment wasn’t the time for thoughts like that.
“We need to get you backstage,” Mayhem stated.
He’d come over to join us. Sandman and Riot had backed off. They gave me speculative looks. I pretended not to see them. I knew pushing my shirt onto her would raise questions, but I’d deal with those later. The priority was to get her to safety.
I moved to stand next to her. I pointed to the back of the stage. “Let’s go.”
As I did that, I noticed Mayhem circle his finger in the air.
The lights dimmed. The lighting guy was setting up for the next dancer.
As we proceeded into the back, we passed her in the wings, waiting.
Her expression was one of shock. No words were spoken as we passed her, then down the short hallway to the dressing room the dancers used.
Inside, I guided Aubrielle to the chair in front of her makeup mirror. I’d been in here enough times, though not lately, to know which one was hers. She sank into it and hung her head, rubbing her forehead. The other dancers were all watching us. Shit, this wasn’t the best place to talk.
“I think it would be better if we went to my office, don’t you?” Mayhem suggested to her. I nodded even though he hadn’t asked me. Her head rose, and she scanned the room.
“I think you’re right,” she replied softly.
As she rose to her feet, I held out my hand for her to take. She did. I held it as we left that room and went the short distance to Mayhem’s office. We had to wait for him to unlock it. No way he’d leave it unlocked when he wasn’t in it.
After we entered, I led her over to the small sofa. Aubrielle sank onto it. When the door closed, I glanced back to find not only Mayhem with us, but also Crusher. The others had either returned to our booth or were helping keep the crowd in check.
“Elle, can I get you anything?” Mayhem asked.
“No, but thank you, Mayhem. That was wild. No one has gotten that close before,” she replied.
“I know, and that’s what we need to talk about, but first, I want to be sure you’re okay? Did he touch you in any way?” Mayhem questioned.
She shook her head as she answered him. “No, but it was close. He tried to reach out, but I backed up.”
“What did he say to you?” Crusher asked.
I hadn’t known the guy had spoken to her.
“He wasn’t making any sense. He said that he knew I’d come back one day. He was begging me to forgive him and to come home. He was either very drunk or crazy,” she told us.
My gut tightened at the possibility he was crazy. People who weren’t in their right minds could turn dangerous on a dime. I was about to demand that something be done to ensure this never happened again. However, Mayhem spoke before I could.
“Elle, I’ll be honest with you. You’ve seen how some of the crowd have been reacting lately when you dance. They’re getting bold with rushing the stage and trying to touch you. Now, it happens from time to time with all the dancers. It’s par for the course. But it’s becoming too frequent with you.”
“Am I doing something wrong?” she asked.
“No, you’re just too damn good at what you do.
The customers love you. But the aura you project seems to enthrall some people.
They get stupid. We’ve been talking—Sandman, Riot, and I—about what we can do to ensure that what happened tonight doesn’t happen again.
Even with Marco nearby, he wasn’t able to keep the man off the stage. ”
When he paused, Aubrielle asked weakly, with an alarmed expression, “You’re letting me go.”
“What? Hell no, that’s not what we’re doing. You’re our headliner. We want to make sure that you’re protected. I have a question. Has anyone outside of work approached you?” Mayhem asked.
The way she hesitated and her gaze shifted away for a moment, then back, told me someone had. My anger, which had simmered, began to boil.
“Who? When?” I growled.
“Just a couple of times. Men who recognized me from here. They saw me in town, came up wanting my number, and pushed me to go out with them. I told them no. They refused to stop following me. Finally, I told them that I had a boyfriend and wasn’t interested.”
“And they accepted that?” Crusher sounded skeptical.
“They didn’t until I told them a little white lie. I said that my boyfriend was a biker, and they didn’t want to anger him. I didn’t say it was a Punisher or anything, but it was the only thing I thought of at the moment, and it worked. Sorry.”
“Honey, you have nothing to be sorry for. That was smart thinking on your feet,” Crusher assured her.
“Crusher is right. But we can’t take the chance that it’ll be enough next time.
I’m not trying to scare you, but people can be pushy and unwilling to respect boundaries.
You need protection, at least until things die down or something else happens.
I think I know how we should do this.” Mayhem added.
There was a note of something in his voice that eluded me. Mayhem continued after a brief pause. It was as if he were finalizing in his brain what he was about to suggest.
“What if your biker boyfriend was real? Or at least from the standpoint of outsiders. We can ask one of the single brothers to be your bodyguard, but to everyone else, it’ll appear that he’s your boyfriend.
It would be better than having a stranger hanging around you all the time.
I’d have to get Reaper’s approval to pull someone off their work, but I don’t believe he’ll object.
Then we’ll ask which of the brothers wants the honor.
” He smirked when he said the last part.
Crusher chuckled. Aubrielle appeared stunned. I was growing more furious.
“Mayhem, no, I can’t accept anyone at the club doing this.
First, it’ll disrupt his life terribly. Second, he’ll have to miss work.
That impacts someone’s earnings and leaves one of the businesses shorthanded.
Third, I don’t see anyone wanting that job.
It’ll screw up his personal life, you know, when it comes to… ” She didn’t finish.