Picking up a bar towel he wipes his fingers. “Your girlfriend have a thing for strip clubs, that you don’t like?”
“She’s not my girlfriend. I was looking for…” My words die on my tongue.
Hunter smirks at me. “Go on. Tell him what you’re doing here. Because it sounds so sane.”
“Let’s go home.”
“No, I want to hear this. Explain to the man!”
Stifling a smile I lock eyes with our scantily dressed bartender who’s holding the counter with a question in his eyes.
“My kid brother is a pain in my ass. Ignore him.” I head out.
But Hunter doesn’t follow. Jumping off the stool he deadpans his explanation. “My adult brother is looking for a woman named Natalie who does the bookkeeping here, presumably.”
“Why does he want Nat?”
“Nothing, never mind,” I tell him, wrapping my arm around Hunter’s neck.
As I drag him out he shouts, “She’s the producer on his film and he likes her!”
“Shut the fuck up,” I groan, tossing him on the street. Scrambling not to fall, he manages to stay upright even though he’s laughing his ass off. We’re the same height but I’ve got a man’s body and Hunter just ain’t there yet. When I was eighteen my shoulders were that narrow, too.
“What? We were wasting time, Max!”
I point to my Jeep. “Get in!”
“You still don’t know what Natalie does! Is she a stripper? Is she counting dimes? Does she clean the floors, what?”
Glancing back I look over at the bouncer. From the tense yet curious glow to his eyes, he knows her, but wouldn’t talk even if I tried.
Climbing in, our seat belts automatically tighten around our bodies, “I just realized how nuts I’m being.”
“Told you.”
“When?” I demand, backing out.
“Well I didn’t tell you with words.” Spreading his arms out like ‘Ta Da’ he says, “I showed you.”
Sucking on my teeth as we pull onto the road I think about it. “You think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?”
Rolling down his window, he smirks, “I know I am, Max. I know I am.”
CHAPTER 28
N ATALIE
O n my way home from being stuck in Paul’s office under his watchful eye, I decide to stop at Swinging Richards to have a peek at how the décor looks with actual people in the club. There are no windows in the place, of course, so I was able to see how the lighting I installed looked in the dark, but I can’t help but be curious about the response.
If the patrons like my decorations then maybe there’s something I’ve done that isn’t shit.
Pulling into the parking lot I nod to the bouncer, climb out and leave my purse in the car. With Boone guarding the front of the property nobody would dare mess with my car, or anyone else’s. He’s the size of three men and angry-looking to boot.
“How’s it going, Boone?”
He nods, “Nat.”
As I head inside he grabs my arm, lowers his already deep voice to a rumble. “Some guys were here looking for you.”
I react with a start. “What? Who?”
“Nat, I don’t know what you’ve got goin’ on, on the side, but they were Cockers. And people here won’t like that.”
My face turns to stone, my best defense. “I have no idea why they were asking about me. Or who they even were.”
Boone regards me with a knowing look. “I’m lookin’ out for you because you’ve always been nice to me. The knowledge stops here. I didn’t see nothing.”
Frowning I touch his arm on my way in. “Thank you, Boone.”
His hands clasp over his stomach as he returns to his statue-like watch over the business.
The Winter Stripper Wonderland I created is an assault on the senses after that news. Was it Max? Boone used a plural so it was at least two members of the Cocker Family. Max told me his parents were concerned with my working in a strip club. Were they checking up on me? Are they really that protective of their son?
I distractedly scan the club. There are more people here than normal and they all look a little freaky to me in my disturbed state.
“Hey Robert, I need a drink.”
Grabbing Belvedere vodka from the shelf, my favorite bartender strolls over without his usual smile. “Hey Nat.” He scoops ice into a bucket-glass and pours.
“Looks like there are more women here tonight.”
Nodding he glances around the club before reaching for a lime to squeeze. “Last night, too.”
“Yeah?” I cock an eyebrow and take a seat on the sturdy barstool. “My evil plan is working.”
“I’m getting a lot of Rudolf jokes about my cock,” he mutters, handing me my drink.
Rolling my eyes I sigh, “Oh, sorry.”
“But the tips are better.”
“Yeah? Small price to pay then.”
He locks eyes with me as I take a sip. “Never say small in reference to a man’s penis.”
“Noted.”
Glancing around again he leans over the bar, volume dropping. “Nat, some guys were here looking for you. Members of the Cocker family.”
Staring at Robert a beat I gauge whether he’s friend or foe. Unsure, I take the safe route again. “Don’t know anyone in that family.”
With a warning in his eyes he says, “Didn’t think you did. Because Paul wouldn’t want you involved with them in any way.”
My heart picks up speed. “Paul has nothing to worry about.”
“It’s not Paul who needs to be worried.”
“What are you saying?”
He motions for me to wait as a group of laughing and excited women approach the bar ready to spend money. “How are you sexy ladies doing tonight?” he smirks.
“Better now!”
“Merry Christmas to me!”
I let their voices blur as I search for a way to get out of this. Or find more information. I don’t spend a lot of time in this particular club since Paul’s main office is in The Dollhouse but I used to feel he and I were on the same wavelength, the way you are with your tribe. I haven’t spoken to A.J. about this again. He’s on a date tonight, not here dancing.
I have to take a
