Chapter Five
“Fuck,” Reyna muttered.
“Sit. Now,” Gabe growled in her ear.
Gabe put a hand under her elbow and drew her into a corner.
“What the fuck?” Reyna said as she plopped down.
“I’ve seen people do worse to survive,” Gabe reminded her.
“Yeah,” Reyna whispered. She had seen people do much worse. It wasn’t like Reyna was completely innocent. Being a blood escort came with its own litany of issues. And that was before she had become a permanent escort for Beckham, let alone going to a vampire sex club.
It still made her ache that Jodie hadn’t trusted Reyna enough to come back. Jodie had been taken to Visage at such a young age, and she wanted her own life and to find her cousin. Reyna hoped this was one step on the way to that.
Still, Reyna had about a million questions running through her mind. All of which she wanted to jump on the stage and demand answers to immediately. If it wasn’t for Gabe’s hand on her arm, she would have done just that.
“If we disturb the show, we’ll get kicked out. Then what will we do?” Gabe asked her.
She grit her teeth at him. “Fine.”
It became clear almost at once that Jodie knew Reyna and Gabe were in attendance. Her eyes kept shifting to their table. Reyna hoped that she would march off that stage. But she didn’t. She did some sexy little dance, removing her negligee and baring herself to the crowd.
Reyna sighed heavily. “How much more of this do we have to endure?”
Gabe snapped his fingers twice. A woman scurried over and started dancing just for him. He stopped her. “I want a solo room with the girl onstage, for me and my girl here.”
He grinned wickedly at Reyna, who had the sense not to bite his head off.
“I can get that solo room now for me and you,” the woman said with a wink.
“The one onstage,” he said. “Now.”
“It’ll cost you.”
“Now,” he growled.
The woman lifted an annoyed shoulder and then disappeared. Within the next minute, another woman was taking over Jodie’s spot on the stage and Jodie was being ushered offstage.
“You’ve done this before?” Reyna asked dryly.
A manager came to escort them to the back and take payment for what was clearly an expensive private room. Jodie was in a flimsy nightgown and had her arms crossed over her chest.
“What the hell are you two doing here?” Jodie snapped as soon as the door closed.
“What the hell are we doing here?” Reyna gasped.
“Ladies,” Gabe said with a sigh.
“Don’t,” Reyna spat.
“Yeah, if she has something to say, then by all means,” Jodie said, waving her hand out to the side.
Reyna took a deep breath and then let it out slowly.
Getting angry at Jodie wouldn’t help anything.
She wasn’t even mad at Jodie. She missed her.
She loved her. And she wanted her back. It wasn’t fair to channel all the shit that she’d gone through into her closest friend.
Someone she definitely did not want to lose.
“I’m sorry you felt that you had to leave. We want you to come back,” Reyna said.
Gabe shot her an appreciative look. “To what’s left, that is.”
“What’s left?” Jodie asked. She dropped her arms to her sides and glanced between them. “What do you mean?”
“A lot has happened since you left,” Reyna said. “We’ll fill you in when we get you out of here.”
“Wait, I’m not leaving,” Jodie said. “You think I’m doing this for nothing? I have to find June.”
“And are you any closer to finding June than you were before?”
“Yes,” Jodie spat.
“She worked here?” Gabe asked.
Jodie nodded solemnly. “Two years ago. One of the girls said that she just stopped showing up. She’d been here for a long time. Kind of a mom of the group. But the owner says he knows more.”
“Let me guess,” Gabe said with a sigh. “He’ll tell you if you can afford it. Since you can’t afford it, you work for him until you can afford the information.”
Jodie ground her teeth together. “So what?”
“It’s called exploitation.” His hands curled into fists. “The owner saw a pretty girl down on her luck. If he had his way, you’d never get out of here.”
“What a piece of shit,” Reyna muttered.
“I can take care of myself, thank you very much,” Jodie said. She looked furious that Gabe was suggesting she was being taken advantage of.
“Why don’t you point me in the direction of this owner, and I’ll handle it,” Gabe suggested.
“I’m not letting you fight my battles for me,” Jodie said. “You should both leave so I don’t get in trouble.”
Reyna pinched the bridge of her nose. “This is a disaster.” She glanced at Jodie. “I know that you want to find your cousin. I want to find June too. But what happens if Visage finds out that you’re here? What happens if the owner finds out that they’re looking for you?”
“The owner doesn’t know shit, Reyna,” Jodie shot back.
Reyna held up her hands. “Fine. Okay. I get it. This is a shitty situation.”
“It’s not just a shitty situation. It’s my cousin is missing and she is the only family that I have left in the entire world,” Jodie argued. “What would you do if it was Drew or Brian? Or Beckham?”
Reyna jerked at his name and Gabe winced.
“What? I know exactly what you would do. You’d burn the world down and between Elle and Visage. I have never made a decision of my own, so forgive me that I’m going to stay here until I find June.”
Reyna’s cleared her throat. Now wasn’t the time to mention what had happened to Beckham.
All that mattered was that Jodie was right.
Her life had been controlled since nearly day one.
She deserved her own independence. Reyna wished she could give it to her, but if Jodie stayed here, she would die.
Everything caught up to them eventually.
“We want to find June, too, but Jodie, this isn’t where you belong. You’re not safe here, and we can still help you.”
Jodie turned half away from her. “I wanted to do this on my own. I thought I could…”
Reyna took a step toward her and held her hand out. “Why should you have to when you have me? When you have all of us who would stand behind you when you need it?”
Jodie glanced between them with a sigh. “Y’all are really annoying. You know that, right?”
Gabe snorted. “Pretty much.”
Jodie reluctantly dropped her hand into Reyna’s. “We’re going to find her?”
“Yes,” Reyna said, tugging Jodie in for a hug. Having Jodie back felt like a win. And any win was something they needed at this point.
When they separated, Jodie agreed to lead Gabe to the owner of the strip club. They left the private room and headed down a side hallway to an office at the back of the building. No sign announced the room, as if the owner was used to unwanted attention.
Jodie held her hand up and knocked on the door. “Ricky?” Jodie said, using an uncanny, submissive voice. “It’s Jodie. I got some cash for you from my performance tonight.”
A series of locks released before the door cracked open. “Hurry up and get in here. I don’t have a lot of time.”
Jodie arched an eyebrow at Gabe and Reyna before walking into the office.
“Where’s my money?” Ricky demanded.
Gabe and Reyna followed behind Jodie. Ricky’s eyes widened in surprise, then he dashed to his desk.
“Wouldn’t do that,” Gabe said, holding his gun leveled at Ricky’s chest.
Ricky stopped moving as if he were a mouse caught in a trap. “What the hell do you want? I’m running an honest business here.”
Reyna shut the door and bolted it back up. Jodie crossed her arms over her chest in disgust. “Psh, honest.”
“You work. You get paid,” he spat. “I don’t care if you’re a whore or a snitch. I’m still honest.”
“You’re exploiting her,” Gabe said roughly. “Now divulge what you know about June Gardner or else things will be less than pleasant for you.”
“I can have the cops here in seconds. I have the whole place wired. They’ll know you were here.”
“You can’t have the cops here before I shoot you,” Gabe reasoned.
“You wouldn’t…”
Gabe cocked the pistol. “Try me.”
Ricky gulped.
Gabe pointed the gun at a chair. “Sit.”
Ricky did as he was told, grumbling all the way.
“June Gardner. Everything you know,” Jodie said.
“You’re a real bitch,” Ricky shot at her.
“You haven’t seen the worst from me yet.” Then she walked across the room and punched Ricky in the face. She pulled back hissing, but the crunch of Ricky’s nose breaking and the blood gushing from it were all too perfect.
He bent over, holding his nose. “I don’t know shit about June. She worked here for a couple months two years ago. She was in and out like all the pathetic girls who filter through the place. She didn’t leave a forwarding address. She just stopped showing up. Christ.”
“What?” Jodie asked in horror. The realization that she’d been working here for no reason hit her. “But you told me you knew where she was.”
He shrugged. “That’s the biz, baby.”
“Motherfucker,” Reyna spat.
Gabe shook his head. “A bullet is too good for you—but man, I would love to use one.”
“We need the tapes,” Jodie said.
Reyna and Jodie ruffled through his office until they found the system that recorded the interior of the strip club. The video screens were up for his viewing pleasure, including all the private rooms. Not so private.
Jodie ripped the machine from the wall and watched as the screens flickered and then the images disappeared. “There. That’s better.”
“For real,” Reyna said, as she looked for something to destroy the machine with, but she finally shrugged and tucked it under her arm.
Gabe passed Jodie a gun while he tied Ricky to the chair with some rope. Always prepared. Once that was done, Gabe clocked him across the head with the butt of his gun. Ricky collapsed forward, unconscious.
“Good riddance,” Jodie spat. She nodded her head toward the door. “There’s a back way out.”
“You’re going to need to change,” Gabe said.
“I’ll meet you out there after I grab my stuff.”
“I’ll go with you,” Reyna insisted.
“It’ll be less suspicious if I go alone,” Jodie said.
Reyna opened her mouth and then eventually nodded. Jodie needed to be able to make her own decisions. “Good luck.”
Jodie smiled a real smile at her this time before hurrying down the long hallway. Reyna followed Gabe out the back door with the recording machine. It was about ten minutes before Jodie dashed from the doorway in street clothes with a worried look on her face.
“No one liked that I quit,” she said with a grimace. “We should get going. I bet they’ll all complain to Ricky soon. We do not want to be here when that happens.”
They jogged away from the club, back to the car. They kept glancing over their shoulders, wondering if someone would come after them. It was a long shot, but totally possible that they would at least call the cops.
The trio jumped into the car and zoomed away from the scene of the crime. They were tired and breathing heavy but jubilant and excited. Jodie even giggled from the back.
“That was amazing. I can’t believe we just did that,” she said. Then she seemed to sober up. “But what am I going to do about June?”
“We’ll keep looking,” Reyna assured her.
“Yeah,” Jodie said with a sigh. “I thought this was going to be easier.”
Reyna frowned. She felt that way about most things at this point.
“Y’all said a lot had changed?” Jodie prompted.
Gabe and Reyna shared a look as if to ask who should start. Reyna chewed on her lip and faced Jodie. “We went after Harrington, but he knew we were coming. Penelope double crossed us and became a vampire. Then Harrington bombed the bunker and killed…killed Beckham.”
Jodie’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“So yeah. A lot has happened,” Reyna said, crossing her arms around her stomach.
“The bunker? And Beckham?” Jodie asked in utter disbelief. “Holy shit, Reyna. Are you okay?”
Reyna didn’t respond to that. She didn’t know if she would ever be okay, but she was moving forward.
She was doing what Beckham would have wanted her to do.
And so she crawled over the divide to the backseat and wrapped her arms around her best friend.
They were both mourning the loss of someone they loved.
They were both learning this new life. Reyna was glad that she had someone else to move forward with.