Lock and Key (39 page)

“And what do you want to do to me?” I asked breathlessly.

His one eyebrow quirked up. “You want me to tell you?”

“Hell yes, tell me!”

He chuckled and licked my throat. His fingers inside me and his thumb over me moved in more determined strokes. His other hand slid into my ass.

“You still sore?”

“No.” I arched my back. “Dig… tell me.”

“What would I do to my Wildflower…” Dig went down his wish list in remarkably filthy detail. His teeth nibbled on my breasts. My entire body shuddered and groaned.

“I need you.”

“I’m not fucking you here.”

“What?” My fingers dug into his shoulders. “Why not?”

“I don’t want our kid conceived at the fucking Tingle!”

I laughed and my one hand raked through his hair. “Baby, it’s going to take the pills at least a couple of weeks to wear off!” I reached for his belt buckle.

“Shit, really?”

I unbuckled the clasp. “Yes, come on…”

Explosions and screams detonated below us in the club. Dig and I froze. Were they gunshots? More screams rolled through the building. The music screeched to a halt.

“What the fuck?” Dig lifted me off his lap. “Get dressed.” He adjusted his jeans, buckled his belt, and took out his gun.

I grabbed my top and skirt and jammed them over my body. I nabbed my purse and curled my fingers in the back of Dig’s shirt as he unlocked the door. We crouched down, he slowly opened the door.

“Get off me, man!” A voice boomed from downstairs.

A Demon Seed stood in the middle of the club with his gun held over his head.

“Stay down, baby. Don’t move,” Dig whispered and squeezed my leg.

“Dig.”

He glanced at me.

“Love you,” I whispered.

He wrapped his hand around my neck, and his eyes softened over me for a split second. “Love you, too.” His lips brushed mine. “You keep that thing on for when I get home later, yeah?” He rose to his feet, and I held my breath as he strode to the top of the staircase.

“What’s the problem, man?” Dig asked. He strode down the stairs to face the Demon Seed I had never seen before. Boner and Jump held him in an arm lock. The guy squirmed. A hush came over the room.

“Why are you shitting in my club?” Dig leaned into the guy, nostrils flaring. The guy mumbled something in his ear. Dig’s shoulders stiffened.

“Clean this mess up,” he said. The girls hustled to right chairs, the bouncers set up an overturned table. Broken glass was swept away by the two bus boys.

“Office, now,” Dig said. Boner and Jump led the Demon Seed to the back of the club. Then he turned back to the crowd. “Round of drinks for everyone!” A few cheers went up, and the music blared again. Dig and the men were gone. A shadow fell over me. I blinked up. It was Shannon again.

I stood and pushed the door open for her. “Take the room, sweetie. Sorry about before.”

“If you got it going on, hon, you got it going on. Good for you,” she said. “But some of us got to make a living here, you know?”

“I know, believe me.” I moved out of the doorway.

Shannon leaned into me, her hand touched my arm. “Sister, don’t be sorry. You two are great together. It’s good to see.”

I smiled at her. She turned to her new customer, her hands on her hips. “Come on in, honey.” Her voice was sultry and welcoming. A young, short guy wearing a fancy western shirt, his fists stuffed in the pockets of his jeans, shifted his eyes down the hallway then darted into the room. She winked at me and closed the door behind them.

The wild hum of the crowd battled with the music once again. Three nearly naked statuesque women danced onstage. The club had returned to normal. I sprinted down the stairs and found Alicia sitting at the bar.

“This sucks,” she said, her eyes dull. I wiped strands of blonde hair from her damp face and put my arm around her shoulders.

“Let’s go home,” I said.

“Yeah, this just… sucks.” Alicia slapped her hand down on the bar top.

“Sure does.” I fished my car keys out of my bag. Clip, one of the prospects, came up behind me and plucked the keys from my fingers.

“I’ll take you two home, okay?”

I sighed. “That would be great, Clip. Thank you.”

We each grabbed one of Alicia’s arms and got her out to the parking lot.

Yeah, good times.

“To Ruby!” Jump declared. “She was a good woman who sure as shit lived her life wild and free, and she did good things for this club. This one’s for her!”

He knocked back his tequila as did the rest of us at the table. Alicia’s lips twisted. She hated Jump reminiscing about his former flames, even if they were married to someone else… and dead.

The fiery shot slid down my throat.

Yes, my sister was one in a million. She paid big time for her missteps over and over again, but it didn’t seem to faze her. Her tough exterior never faltered. She didn’t deserve the damn cancer, though. Especially now, when everything was so right for her. It didn’t make any sense. I suppose you never know when your number’s up. Could be any minute, couldn’t it? I slammed my empty shot glass down in front of me. Lock’s eyes cut to mine from across the table.

There he is—just another biker brother in my club family.

He’s not just another anything.

I sank back in my chair, and Butler’s arm dropped around my shoulders and drew me close to his chest. My head rested back against him as I trained my gaze above me. There had certainly been major improvements at the Tingle since my day. Mirrors now lined the ceiling. The light fixtures hanging over us were sexy vintage style chandeliers dripping with crystals, not those eighties style bulbous lamp fixtures of old. My gaze followed the shiny chrome embellishments and light effects that decorated the black walls and dotted the staircase that led to the VIP rooms.

The center stage seemed bigger and sleeker. A ribbon of tiny lights bordered the edge of the stage along the bar. There were even two small mini-stages with their own stripper poles on either side for more dancers to do their thing. Maximum exposure equals maximum returns, right? Nice to see the club spent money on necessary upkeep when needed, not to mention an improved ‘wow’ factor.

“Different huh?” Alicia leaned over Dawes who was on my left at our huge table. She let out a chuckle.

“It’s amazing,” I said. “It’s no sleazy, small town party barn anymore.”

Gone was the stifling smell of cheap sweet perfume, sweat, and carpet mildew from too many drink stains. In its place was a citrusy freshness churned in from commercial air deodorizers along the walls also boosted by good circulation from an improved central air system that hit me the moment we walked into the club.

“Things in our part of the world have heated up,” Alicia said. “Girls are leaving the East Coast and Mid-West to head out this way what with the mining and the oil boom further north. We’ve been riding the wave. Those men have nothing else to spend their money on, at least the ones who aren’t sending most of their pay home to their wives and kids. Some girls stay on, others keep moving, but they’re all real good. And things just keep getting busier with a better crowd, not just the tired faces.”

“Are those more private rooms over there?” I asked, pointing to two doors against the far wall.

“Yeah, they’re bigger than the VIP rooms upstairs. They’re for groups, like bachelor parties, who want their private show. That was my idea. I was the house mom about ten years ago, you know.” Alicia grinned at me.

“Really?”

“Someone had to keep these girls in line, look after them, keep them organized. What the hell do our men know about running a strip joint other than getting free pussy and booze?”

I let out a laugh. “You got a point there, Alicia.”

“It was good. I liked it,” she said. “Then I found a manager with a lot of experience at a club in Milwaukee, and I got her to come out here. Things really took off. It’s been awesome.”

“Good for you.”

Butler’s hand stroked my thigh. “You okay, babe?” he asked. His blue eyes searched mine. He really cared about me; that was the rub in all this. And I cared about him, too.

“I’m good.” I sat up and settled my hand over his. “Ruby would have a real laugh if she could see us all here like this.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He smiled at me and his lips touched mine. The lights flashed off for an instant, and I settled back against Butler to watch the show.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s hear it for one of your very, very favorite Tingle ladies… Honeeeeeysuckle!” The announcer’s velvety voice rippled through the room. Gavin DeGraw’s “Sweeter” blared over the speakers. A spotlight flashed on a tall redhead.

Heather slid down the pole on the main stage.

There goes one of my favorite songs.

She looked amazing. She must have gotten hair extensions, because now her red mane was incredibly full, and it wasn’t from teasing. It was sleek and shiny and flowed around her with every sensuous move she willed her body to make. Heatherlicious rocked a silver sequin drape halter top tied in the back over an itsy-witsy matching thong with super high silvery heels polishing off the look.

She pranced up and down the short walkway that led from the stage. She shook her long legs and curvy hips in tune with the driving beat of the music. The men around the edges of the stage hooted for her and clapped as she headed back to the pole. A sexy, daring smile was plastered on her red lips. She snaked herself up and down the pole in a fantastic way that surely made every woman in the audience only wish she could do.

Oh man. Someone else’s sugar indeed.

I could only imagine what having sex with her would be like. The girl worked it. She worked it hard. I clenched my hands together in my lap as I imagined her and Lock fucking. Raw images tripped through my fevered brain. Heather pulled on the tie on her halter top, and it dropped away.

She stroked her breasts with satisfaction and smiled at the men at the edge of the stage waving cash at her. She popped out a hip here and there at them. They stuffed her thong with bills. A couple of them purposely tossed money onto the dance floor out of her reach. With a smirk on her face Heather leaned over, her round, full ass high in the air, and snatched up the bills. She got on all fours and crawled like an alley cat towards the last bill. The men high-fived each other and cackled.

Heather split her legs out to the side. She raised her rear in the air giving us a full view of all of it and humped the stage, then smacked her own ass and rolled her pelvis over the floor as if she was desperate to be fucked and daring someone to do it.

More tequila, somebody please.

Honeysuckle then darted at the pole and lashed herself around it once more. She slid down the damn thing, one long leg out, her hair whipped in the air. Boner and Dawes whistled for their club girl.

Who the hell wouldn’t?

I grabbed Butler’s glass of beer and drained it.

“She’s good, huh?” Butler whispered in my ear.

I nodded against his chest. His hand roamed over my upper thigh. It felt like a lead weight pressing in on my flesh.

Had Ruby danced like on this very stage with Jump and Dig cheering her on? Dancing, screwing, driving fast, and puncturing her veins with chemicals. My sister had once been so good at all that. All for fun, all for men, all for the club, all to punish the daddy she didn’t have, all to make her momma blow her lid. All to put food on our table, keep a roof over our heads, feed our cars gas. Once upon a time that had been the good life for Grace and Ruby Hastings.

Butler peeled the empty beer glass from my grip. My eyes darted down at my white knuckles.

I blinked up at the stage, but my vision was blurry. Honeysuckle Heather was still holding court. The music surged, the men howled and whistled. Acid licked at my throat and spread its sour poison through my veins. Heather swung her hair in circles, and then she sprang back into a handstand. Very impressive on those damned shoes. The dollars cascaded in her direction once more.

I glanced across the table.

Lock stared at the stage, a cigarette dangled from his lips. He had to be reminiscing about fucking Honeysuckle Heather as he watched her dance. Even so, I couldn’t help but be transfixed by him at this very same moment. Something about his quiet bearing, the lean lines of his still body. All heat filled, combustible, restrained power.

Dammit, where’s the tequila?

Bear clapped Lock’s shoulder, said something in his ear and smirked. Lock nodded and scrunched his eyes. He grinned and took the cigarette out of his mouth. Just then those dark eyes cut to me and burned me through the smoke he exhaled over the table. My stomach seized. Butler’s fingers absently stroked up and down my arm. It felt like sandpaper rubbing against my skin.

“Be right back, got to hit the ladies’ room,” I whispered in Butler’s ear and quickly pushed off my chair. He nodded, his eyes never left La Honeysuckle on the stage. Shit, does every man turn to mush when titties and g-strings romp in front of him?

I charged to the back of the club through the thick crowd. I pushed through the bathroom door, leaned on a counter, and took in deep gulps of air. Goddamn, even the bathrooms were very clean and super snazzy, gone were the tiny, always grubby sinks and squeaky faucets. Why the hell did that make me sad? My head snapped up to the mirror.