Highways & Hostages (18 page)

“Okay, Mr. Relationship Guru. Oh wait, I forgot your only relationship is with your work, and that’s morally ambiguous at best.”

“Relationships are overrated,” Finn stated, kicking a pebble. “If I were you, I’d already be practicing the ‘Single Ladies’ dance.”

Stella raised her eyebrows and glanced down at her left hand resting on the bench next to Finn’s. “Oh, would you?”

“Ms. Carstens?” Big Ty, the mechanic, approached, wiping his hands on a dirty rag.

Stella jumped up and brought her hand to her chest as if she’d touched a hot poker. Finn stifled a groan and stood up as well. The mechanic had shit timing.

“Your car is ready.”

Stella bit her lip and turned to Finn. He put a hand on Stella’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this. You hang out here.”

A few minutes later a pale-faced Finn exited the shop, Big Ty ambling close behind. He waited next to Stella as the car was pulled out of the garage.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Is something wrong with the car? Is Phoebe okay?”

Finn thanked God he was already pale, because he was pretty sure he would have blanched at the mention of Phoebe. “I spoke to Billy earlier…Phoebe’s fine,” he said. He sent up a silent prayer that he wasn’t lying. “It’s just that getting Josie fixed took more of our funds than expected. We’re basically out of money…and still four hours from Millstown.”

“Couldn’t help but hearin’, you folks lookin’ to make some fast money?” Big Ty asked. “I have an idea, but it might not be your thing.”

“Let’s hear it,” Finn said. “At this point, any idea is better than nothing.”

“It’s Amateur Night at The Prickly Pear. I’ve heard some girls can make as much as a couple thousand on a really good night…”

“Nope, nope, nope,” Stella said, shaking her head. She crossed her arms. “Not interested.”

“Well…we could just check it out,” Finn said. “Do you have any other ideas?”

Stella bit her lip and remained silent.

“You folks have a good rest of your trip. Hope you can work something out,” the mechanic said. He waved and headed back into the garage.

“Still waiting,” Finn said. His own arms were crossed, and he tapped his foot on the ground rhythmically.

“Ugh! You know I don’t have any ideas, so just shut it!”

“We don’t have anything to lose by just going and checking the place out,” Finn said. “We don’t even have to stay more than five minutes. But we
do
have to come up with some kind of plan—otherwise we’ll be spending the night in the Beetle.” He eyed the darkening sky with a frown. “Let’s grab some food first.”

Stella sighed and gave in. “Maybe there’s something else we can do there—I used to bartend. Maybe they could use a hand?”

Finn and Stella walked to the Beetle. He ran ahead of her to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her. She glanced at him, amused, then got in.

He darted around the front of the car and got behind the wheel, smiling when he turned the key in the ignition and the engine purred. Stella smiled as well, then narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms, and stared ahead.

“I’m still mad at you,” she informed him.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he replied, pulling out of the parking lot. “Let’s go get something to eat, and then check out this Prickly Pear.”

Stella, 10:17 p.m.

Finn crossed his arms and glowered. He and Stella were standing just inside The Prickly Pear Gentlemen’s Club, eyeing a poster proclaiming it to be Men’s Amateur Night and, coincidentally, Rainbow Night. “I’m not doing it.”

Stella stepped forward and moved a heavy red velvet curtain aside for a peek into the club’s interior. She’d been in a couple of strip clubs during her days on tour with her ex, Corey. It was the usual setup: a pole in the center of a Plexiglas stage, surrounded by plump black armchairs. A well-stocked bar sat off to one side of the room. Since it was still pretty early, the club was empty. And the smell—ugh. The place stank of sweat and stale cigarette smoke. Stella released the curtain and turned back to Finn.

“What do you have against gay people?” she asked. She hid her mouth behind her hand, struggling to hold back her laughter.

“Nothing! I just don’t want to take off my clothes and shake my ass for them,” Finn answered. “We need to come up with another idea.”

Stella rolled her eyes. “As I recall, you didn’t have a problem earlier when it was
me
who had to do the stripping. I also recall that
you
didn’t have any other ideas either.”

Finn’s cheeks colored. “Well, like you said, maybe we can…I don’t know…bartend or something.”

The hostess who had greeted them upon their arrival returned with the club’s manager. Stella hadn’t expected the manager to be a woman, let alone an attractive, statuesque blonde. She gave off a no-nonsense vibe.

“I’m Tanya, the manager here at The Prickly Pear. I heard you were interested in performing tonight?”

Finn swallowed. “We, ah, didn’t realize it was, uh…”

Tanya let the silence stretch on uncomfortably as she studied Finn, her bottle-green eyes hooded.

“We didn’t realize it was Rainbow Night. My friend here is a bit shy,” Stella blurted out. From the corner of her eye she spied Finn glaring at her.

“I’m not gay!” he exclaimed.

Tanya considered them both with an amused look. “Darling, you don’t have to be gay; you just have to put on a good show. It’s a shame though,” she purred, moving closer to Finn. “You could certainly pull in a good amount of money.” She traced the neck of his shirt with a lazy finger.

Stella bristled and imagined dragging Tanya out of the club by her bleach-blonde hair. “Well, he doesn’t want to do it.”

Finn glanced at Stella, a strange look on his face, then turned back to Tanya. “How much money?” he asked. Stella looked at him, mouth agape.

A slow smile stretched across Tanya’s face. “I’ve seen boys like you rake in hundreds of dollars from the patrons. Not to mention there’s a hot body competition tonight. We give the winner five hundred dollars.”

Finn swallowed. “Look, we’re from out of town and we’re pretty low on funds. I don’t really want to do this, but we don’t exactly have a lot of other options. Do you need a bartender or server for the night? We both have experience in the service industry.”

Tanya drew herself up to her full height. “I’ll make you a deal.” She directed her comment to Finn and Stella narrowed her eyes.

Am I invisible or something?

“A girl called in sick tonight. If you perform, I’ll let Red waitress her shift.”

Stella opened her mouth to argue, but Finn spoke before she could utter a single word. “Deal.”

Tanya bobbed her head. “Good choice…”

“Jules,” Finn blurted. Stella had just closed her jaw, but she let it drop open again.

Tanya smirked knowingly. “Good choice,
Jules
.”

She glanced at her watch. “It’s just about time for the Rainbow Night crowd to start trickling in. Daisy will get you all signed up. Red, I should be able to find a larger uniform for you in the back. Follow me.” Tanya turned on her spiked stiletto heel.

“Could you hold on one second?” Stella asked. “I need to speak to, um, Jules, outside.”

Tanya narrowed her eyes. “Make it quick if you want the job.”

Stella pushed open the door and gulped in the fresh air, Finn following closely behind. They walked in silence a little way from the door so as not to be overheard. The silence, however, didn’t last long.

“RED?” Stella exploded. “Are you
kidding
me? I’ll have you know my hair is NOT red—it’s strawberry-blonde. And
then
she said I needed a LARGE outfit. Did you notice the way she pretty much just ignored me and drooled all over you? And why did you tell her your name was Jules?”

One corner of Finn’s mouth quirked up. “I don’t want that vampire lady or any of the men who show up here tonight to know my real name. Besides, why do you care if she drools over me?”

Stella felt her cheeks heat up and busied herself with pulling her hair into a ponytail. “I don’t care. You can do what you want.”

“Uh huh,” Finn said, clearly unconvinced.

“But are you sure you want to do this?” Stella asked. “I know there
has
to be something else we can do to get some money. We could check Craigslist—”

Finn shook his head. “Stella, did you hear her? Between your tips from waitressing, my tips, and me winning that contest, we’ll be set for the rest of the trip. It makes the most sense. It’ll be okay. Let’s go inside before Tanya takes back her offer.”

Stella trudged after him with her head down. “This place gives me the heebie-jeebies,” she muttered to Finn’s back.

“You can deal with it for a few hours,” Finn said. “Then you’ll never have to see this place ever again.” He opened the door and allowed Stella to enter before him. She stopped and looked back over her shoulder. “How did you come up with the name Jules?”

Finn waggled his eyebrows. “My favorite character from my favorite movie,
Pulp Fiction
.”

Stella walked toward Tanya, every step filled with dread. Before she disappeared behind the curtain she glanced at Finn again and mouthed the words “help me.”

An hour later, Stella balanced a tray full of glasses on one arm. She stood next to the DJ booth and glanced around the club. If she was honest, the strip club uniform wasn’t too far removed from her Leaky Stein outfit. She wore a red satin corset that made her non-existent chest look twice as large, and a black vinyl miniskirt that made her legs appear twice as long.

“Looking for the man of your dreams? I’m right here, sweetheart,” purred Cliff, the weaselly-looking DJ. He stroked his pencil-thin mustache and licked his lips while eyeing Stella from head to toe.

Stella wished she could dump the tray of drinks on his equipment, but Finn was depending on her. She stayed composed and gave the sketchy DJ a tight-lipped smile, just like she did when pervy customers bothered her at the bar.

She moved away and deposited some drinks in front of their respective owners. Working here wasn’t so bad; maybe she would find a new job in a gay bar back home. She wouldn’t have to deal with nearly as many handsy clients…and at the very least, these men asked permission first.

“Are you gentlemen having a good time tonight?” Cliff boomed over the microphone. Cheers went up all around the club. “Amateur Night at The Prickly Pear will get underway in just a few minutes!”

Stella returned to the bar with her empty tray and leaned against the counter.

“This is my favorite night of the week,” said Lacey, the lone female bartender. She was buxom, with long, silky chestnut hair. “I don’t have to worry about anyone hitting on me, I get tons of compliments about how good I look, and I get to watch gorgeous men take off their clothes. What more could I ask for?”

“My friend is going up there tonight,” Stella said.

“You a hag?” Lacey asked.

Stella’s eyes widened. “
Excuse
me?”

“You know, one of those women who surrounds herself with gay men, or has a gay best friend?” Lacey explained. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Um, no, I’m not a hag. My friend is straight,” Stella declared.

“Riiight,” Lacey drawled. “What is a straight man doing in a strip club on gay night?”

“Making money,” Stella said.

Lacey shrugged. “Good point.”

Bored of the conversation, Stella pushed herself away from the bar and went to check on her customers.

“Let’s get this Hot Body Contest started right!” the DJ crowed. “Our first contestant is…James Bond!”

Stella had been surprised by Finn’s stage name, but at least he hadn’t chosen something as obvious as James Bond. With one eye on the stage, she slowly made her way back to the bar with new orders.

“Need You Tonight” by INXS pumped through the speakers. “James Bond” pushed through a shiny silver curtain rigged up at the back of the stage. He was dressed the part in a sharp black suit and bowtie…but the poor guy didn’t have an ounce of rhythm. Stella cringed, the blood rushing to her face in secondhand embarrassment. Even so, the crowd was going wild and flinging dollars at the stage.

Lacey leaned on the bar and watched James Bond perform with a palm covering one eye. “I’m so embarrassed for this poor guy,” she said.

“I was too, until I saw all the dollar bills being thrown at him,” Stella replied. “That’s crazy.”

“It’s not that much. I’ve seen some guys crack a thousand without placing in the top three.”

Stella shook her head and watched James remove his pants, revealing a tiny speedo emblazoned with an American flag made of rhinestones.

“God bless America,” Lacey breathed.

“Enjoying the show, Red?” Tanya asked, appearing from nowhere, a frown on her face.

Lacey quickly turned her back to the stage and started mixing drinks.

“I was just having a breather while I waited for my drinks,” Stella said.

“Uh huh,” Tanya said with a sneer. “I’m not paying you to breathe.
Nor
am I paying you to ogle my performers. I’m paying you to keep my clients happy and inebriated so they spend more money.” She spun on her heel and made her way across the club.

“Don’t let Tanya get to you,” Lacey said as she mixed a drink. “She’s actually really protective of the girls who work the stage.”

“I’m sure she is,” Stella muttered, thinking of how “protective” Tanya had been with Finn. She helped Lacey load the tray with drinks and made her rounds again.

“Give James Bond a hand! Next up we have…” Cliff called over the speakers. Stella stopped and held her breath. “Mr. Darcy!”

Stella let the breath out and stopped to chat with a table as “I’m Too Sexy” started to play. She wasn’t interested in gawking at Mr. Darcy with his pink feather boa and silver-sequined pants. When would Finn take the stage?

Mr. Darcy’s set came and went. He didn’t receive nearly as many bills as James Bond.

“Are you guys ready for the next contender? Welcome Jules to the stage!”

Stella couldn’t rein in her grin as the first strains of The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah” pounded through the speakers. Finn appeared on the stage in a fringed vest with nothing beneath it, black leather pants, and a cowboy hat perched on his head.