Evelyn Vine Be Mine (7 page)

“Well, we hate to leave so early,” Danny said, “But I have to open the club.”

“Danny owns a strip club,” Donny told me with a wide grin, also getting up from his seat, “I’ve gotta go too. See the family and all that.”

My eyes bulged and I stared at Danny in surprise. He looked much too normal to own a strip club…but then, what do I know? His wife certainly didn’t seem like the type to marry someone who ran one.

“Okay,” Briar said cheerfully to Donny, “We’ll see you later on tonight.”

My head snapped to look at her. Tonight? What was happening tonight?

Briar caught my look and grinned naughtily as her parents went to say goodbye to Stone’s.

“We’re going to Danny’s strip club,” she said, laughing when my face paled.

“I’m coming too,” Liam said suddenly from the other side of the room.

“No you’re not,” Briar said with a frown.

He snorted and shot her a look that said ‘just you try and stop me, sis’.

“Reggie’s on the door tonight,” he said, “He’ll let me in, and Dad and Danny won’t care.”

His grin was evil as he thought of something else, “And you can’t tell Mum, because I’ll tell Dad you’re going.”

Briar glared at her younger brother, then grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the stairs.

“C’mon Evie,” she snarled, “Let’s go get sexy.”

What?

My heart sped up for the hundredth time that day and I struggled to sort through my thoughts.

We’re going to a strip club…

Stone will be there…

Briar’s going to make me …sexy…

Stone will be there…

Briar opened her closet and, after a moment, threw an outfit on the bed.

“You’re wearing that,” she said.

Oh hell no.

five

I watched our driver drive away as we stood outside a run-down and sleazy looking club. Come back, my heart cried desperately. I glanced back at the club entrance, where a long line of men and women stood, and flinched. Tacky flashing lights promoted events such as Wet T-shirt contests and Jelly Wrestling. From what I could see, there were several pictures of trashy saloon girls lining the dirty windows. The building looked like it should have been torn down…or maybe restored as a heritage building. I gingerly walked up the front steps in my heels, worried that they’d give out and I’d break an ankle. Or my neck.

Briar dragged me past the long line of people waiting to get in and my stomach quivered at the stares we were attracting. I tried to surreptitiously pull down the hem of my dress, but it was useless. It was shorter than short. Briar had apparently called ahead of our plane trip to her Aunty Bel. This dress was hers from her bulimic modelling days.

It was a deep purple, a colour that Briar insisted highlighted the natural golds of my hair, eyes and complexion. The sleeves were long and fitted, the waist band high, resting just beneath my breasts. My breasts were pushed up by a beyond magic push-up bra and the low, scoop neckline of the dress revealed much of them. The skirt fanned out loosely in a full circle, hiding my bony ribs and hips from view. The hem didn’t even reach mid-thigh.

My hair was loose and I’d refused to wear more makeup then some mascara and lip gloss. I pulled my black coat closer around me and shivered as I tried to keep warm. Liam drew me closer to his body as he conversed with ‘Reggie’ and I gratefully savoured the extra warmth. I was too cold to care that some strange guy was holding me. We were making our way through the saloon-styled door, when another bouncer stopped us.

“Who’s she?” he demanded, pointing at me, “She’d better not be underage.”

I bit my lip nervously, but felt a small thread of hope bloom. Maybe I wouldn’t have to go in after all?

“She’s with us,” Liam said casually.

The bouncer scowled. “You two aren’t eighteen yet either,” he said, “Briar’s birthday isn’t until September and you’ve got an entire year left buddy. I shouldn’t even be letting you in. There’s no way I’m letting this little miss in.”

He looked me over, taking in my scared expression and frail figure. “Hell,” he swore, “We’d probably have her daddy come down here and tear the place apart.”

I looked away, trying not to cry; knowing that there was no way my daddy would be doing that.

Liam chuckled. “Maybe you should talk to Stone,” he said smugly, “I doubt he’d be very impressed if you didn’t let her in.”

The big guy paled and then looked at me again with interest. “You a friend of Stone’s, little girl?” he asked me, raising a brow.

“Um,” I whispered, not sure of how to answer.

“Yes,” Briar answered for me, “She is.”

The bouncer nodded and moved aside. “I’ll let him know you’re here, sweet cheeks,” he said, before moving off into the crowd.

No, please don’t! I wanted to shout after him.

“Shit,” Briar swore beside me, “Not good.”

Liam laughed and pushed past us to enter the club. “See you around girls. I’m going to have fun.”

Briar rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand, pulling me after her as she entered in behind him.

***

My jaw nearly hit the floor as we cross the threshold. The inside looked nothing like the exterior of the building. It wasn’t falling apart at all. In fact, the gleaming ceiling was held up by massive green marble pillars. The main room was beautiful. Blue, velvet-lined booths sat along each wall, facing a high stage and tables lit intimately with candles filled the middle of the room. A massive, blue marble-top bar sat to one side and the busy men behind it were dressed smartly in black suits with gorgeous blue-satin ties. There were two huge staircases, one on either side of the room, leading to whatever it was that was upstairs. Briar found us a table and I blushed as a waitress in a lacy, green ‘dress’ took our order. Briar ordered for me, and from the sound of the name, I guessed that it was alcoholic.

I looked at her uneasily as the waitress left and she smiled back. “That chick must be new,” she said happily, “She hasn’t met me yet and thinks we’re over eighteen.”

I attempted a smile in return, telling myself that a little Dutch courage wouldn’t hurt. Our drinks came as the stage curtain opened and I took a few hurried sips to help prepare myself for a strip show. Surprisingly, the dancing was quite artistic and they didn’t take off all of their clothes. I still blushed like mad though, trying not to ogle as the barely-clothed women gyrated and shimmied.

Fredi joined us soon after, wearing almost less than the waitresses. Her black leather skirt was tiny, her black leather boots high. A vividly purple- let’s call it a top, for lack of a better word- barely covered her breasts and tied in a criss-cross pattern at the back. Her black and blonde hair was curled and pinned on top of her head, her long nails were painted purple and black, and she’d gone heavy on the eye makeup. I blinked in confusion and narrowed my gaze on her eyes. I was certain that it was her right eye that was blue and the left that was green. I frowned. Maybe I’d been mistaken?

“Looking sexy, Evie,” she purred, wiggling her eyebrows. I flushed, but felt more comfortable around her now that I knew she wasn’t really a lesbian.

“Where are the boys?” Briar asked, finishing her drink with a strong suck on the straw.

Fredi giggled and I suspected she’d had too much to drink. “They’re upstairs. Liam’s there too. They’re in one of the private showing rooms.”

Private showing rooms? I shuddered. There was no way I was going in one of them.

Briar snorted and waved down our waitress, gesturing for her to bring us all another round of drinks. I hurriedly finished my own.

“Stone know you’re here yet?” Fredi asked Briar, shooting a quick look at me.

Bri giggled. “Nope. Where is he?”

They both started craning their necks around, whilst I looked down at my now empty drink and tried to look uninterested.

“There he is!” Fredi cried triumphantly, before breaking off with an ‘oh’.

I followed her head and my stomach twisted with an unwanted twinge of jealousy. Stone had a leggy, blonde waitress pinned to a wall and was kissing her with a fair amount of enthusiasm. One of her long legs was wrapped around his waist and her hands had crept up the back of his suit jacket. I caught a glimpse of an ear piece in his ear and figured he must be working tonight as a bouncer.

“God. That Carmel is such a slut,” Briar snapped, looking unreasonably angry. Was she annoyed on my account? Did she think I had an interest in Stone?

“Uh oh,” Fredi said with a drunken chuckle, “Looks like step-daddy has caught the naughty boy slacking.”

I looked back at the entwined couple in time to see Danny tap Stone on the shoulder. He broke the kiss and glared down at his step-dad for a moment, before taking a step away from Carmel. The men talked for a bit, before Danny glanced down at his watch with a smile and nodded. Stone nodded back, his face expressionless as he grabbed the waitress’s hand and pulled her toward a hallway that was signed ‘Staff Toilets’.

Briar groaned and banged her head on the table, but Fredi just laughed again. “He must be taking an early break,” she sniggered.

“Idiot!” Briar growled against the table top.

I shot her a worried look. Did she like Stone? I thought she liked Donny?

Stone was waylaid by the bouncer we’d met earlier. He straightened and started looking around the club as if searching for someone. He froze as his gaze stuck on us. He stood there a few moments, before his waitress became impatient and tugged on his hand. He shook her off with a frown and walked away, leaving her standing there with a surprised pout. He made his way steadily towards us, his eyes locked on me. I nervously took a sip from my drink and his eyes shot downward to narrow on my glass.

As soon as he reached our table, he snatched my glass and sniffed at it. His features darkened and he picked our table number up to find the name scrawled at the bottom. He needn’t have bothered though. Mindy, our waitress, hurried over before he could summon her and wrung her hands nervously.

“Is there something wrong Mr. Stone?” she asked anxiously.

His eyes flickered over her face for a moment, before he relaxed a fraction.

“You’re new,” he said gruffly. I shivered at the sound of his voice and flexed my fingers and toes in an attempt to ease the electric hum echoing through my veins.

She nodded, straightening a little and waiting for him to continue.

He nodded slightly, his expression easing a bit as he pointed at Briar and I. “They’re underage,” he said simply.

The waitress turned white and her mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally murmured, “I’m sorry sir. I didn’t know. Are they friends of yours?”

He gave a brief nod and then gave her a different nod to send her on her way. She eagerly disappeared to serve someone else. Briar scowled up at him.

“Spoil sport,” she grumbled.

He just glared down at her for a few moments, before sitting down at the table next to me.

“You on break?” Fredi asked with a smirk, taking a sip of her vodka sunrise.

He nodded once again, his eyes searching the club intently. Probably looking for his blonde, I thought with a quiet sigh. I shifted away from him as subtly as I could, feeling more than just a little intimidated by all that size and warmth sitting so close to me.

“Who are you looking for?” Briar asked with a smug grin, “Carmel?”

He sent her a sharp look, but shook his head. “Where’s Alec?” he demanded.

Briar rolled her eyes. “We don’t need a chaperone, GG. You can keep an eye on us from over at your post and I’m sure the other bouncers will be too.”

His stony-grey eyes glinted with steel, but Fredi interrupted their face off with a laugh.

“The boys are upstairs,” she said with a grin, “They’re taking in a show.”

Stone glanced down at his watch with a scowl, then waved some sort of signal at a nearby bouncer. The beefy guy nodded, running his eyes over us briefly. Stone got up and left without a word, stalking through the tables to reach one of the staircases. I admired his ass in the tailored suit trousers as he climbed the stairs two at a time.