“I want her kicked out.” I smile at him.
Blaze looks past me to her, and I don’t have to turn to know she has a smile on her face.
“Rebecca, you should leave.”
I hear a heel stomp behind me and turn to see her shocked face. She looks to me then to Blaze.
“Leave, now,” I say as security reaches us. I tell McPherson to escort her out while Blaze steps closer to me. I can now sense and smell every part of him.
“My night started out shit,” he says, reaching up, touching a lock of my strawberry-red hair and pushing it back. My heart beats hard in my chest at his words. His eyes drop to my lips, and I think he’s about to kiss me, which cannot happen. He can’t make me fall for him. I don’t want to do that. It’s meant to be him falling for me. “Now I guess it will end shit,” he says gruffly, dropping his hand but not stepping back as he examines me with his eyes.
If I leaned up right now, my lips would touch his. They could linger for two seconds too long, and I would be in heaven. But then I’d be thrown straight to hell.
Managing to gather myself, I look at him with what I hope is steel in my eyes and narrow them. Leaning in, so my chest is touching his chest, my tits are now pressed on him. Blaze does good, though, and he doesn’t look down.
“You and your boys are going to go out there and tip Sparkle real good for ruining her performance, or I will come and visit you every day, making you my new baby’s daddy.”
“I would say you wouldn’t dare, but I have a feeling you would.”
I nod. “Damn straight, I would.” My chest is still touching his, but finally I step back, needing distance between us.
I can’t touch him.
I don’t want to touch him.
I shouldn’t want him.
“You run this place?” Blaze asks, sounding almost impressed.
“I do. And from now on out, don’t bring your little friend in again. She isn’t welcome.”
“But I am? Welcome, I mean?” he asks, prying.
“If you pay, of course you’re welcome.”
“Miss.” I’m called and turn to see Sparkle standing there with tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I’ll be a minute.”
She nods, wiping her face and ducking off.
When I look back to Blaze, he’s still watching me. “You’ll fucking shower her with money and apologize right now. Won’t you?”
“Miss?” he asks in amusement. “I like it.” Then he turns and walks back out, leaving me standing there confused by his words.
Turning, I walk out the back to Sparkle, whose makeup is running down her face as she looks up at me. “I’m so sorry.”
She really needs to leave this line of work and go somewhere else.
I hear the music change as my next girl goes on stage. Silver—who even knows where she got that name from—should hopefully cause a distraction and make everyone forget about the crazy that was on that stage a few minutes ago.
“Miss, the group is asking for Sparkle to serve them,” one of my waiters says.
Sparkle wipes at her eyes, and I reach for her makeup brush, helping her fix her face.
“You can do this. You are strong. Rebecca’s just jealous.”
Sparkle nods and walks out past me to head out the front. I listen for the music to change and wait a good five minutes before I go back out there too. When I do, Sparkle is smiling and laughing with the group of bikers, and when Blaze spots me, he holds up his drink and tips it. I don’t nod back. I simply walk straight past them, as if they’re regular clients, and continue with my job.
It’s late. The guys stayed all night and tipped Sparkle well. By the end, you wouldn’t have been able to tell she was crying at the beginning of the night.
Closing the place down is always the highlight of my night. When everyone is gone and the place is silent, it’s actually quite peaceful. It’s very rarely silent, and the only people who are left now are one security guard, whose job it is to stay until everyone has left, and me. I didn’t say goodbye to the bikers, and I didn’t watch them leave either. I stayed far away from Blaze for the rest of the night, with only the occasional quick glance his way here and there. And every time I looked, he was watching me anyway.
“I’m ready, Fred.”
He smiles while opening the front door. When he does, about ten bikes sit out front, all on and loudly revving. Fred stays next to me as I look up at Blaze who is front and center, his eyes looking my way. “Care for a ride, Miss?”
“That’s not my name,” I retort back to him, pulling my jacket tighter around my body.
Blaze leans on his handlebars as he watches me. “Oh, I know. But it’s growing on me,” he teases.
I look to Fred. “You can go. Thanks for tonight.”
“Are you sure, Miss?”
I nod, then Fred walks past the bikes and to his car.
Walking over to Blaze, who sits up straighter when I get to him, I smile.
“What do you say, Miss?” He taps the seat he’s sitting on. “Care for a ride?”
I look down between his legs where his jeans hide his cock, which I know from grabbing it, it’s impressive, then back to him. “No,” I answer simply.
His mouth drops open, and I walk around him to where my car is parked and open the door as he yells, “Playing hard to get, so you can break my heart. Isn’t that right, Miss?”
I turn, smiling at him, then offer him a small wave as I slide into my car. Not looking back, I drive off and straight home.
The sitter is on the couch studying when I arrive. When she sees me, she closes her books and stands. “Annabelle was an angel. Hasn’t made a sound since she went to sleep.” She collects her belongings as I pull the cash out to pay her.
“Thanks so much.”
“It’s no issue. She’s easy.” She smiles, then turns and walks out to her car, leaving. When she does, I go straight for Annabelle’s room and see her curled up in a ball in her crib.
When she was first born, I was told not to co-sleep with her, but that was hard, and she ended up in my bed every night anyway. Now, well, now she has her own room and doesn’t need me as much as I need her.
Lifting her up, I carry her to my room and barricade the pillows around her as I take my work clothes off and climb in next to her.
When she’s in my arms, everything in this world is perfect, because she is perfect.
Chapter Seven
Kat
“Is today your day off?” Rochelle asks.
I’ve been working all week and today was my day off, until it wasn’t.
“Can you watch her, please?”
“You know if you just called Mom, she would, right?”
“Rochelle,” I warn her.
“Okay, okay. Marcus will have to bring me around. I don’t have my car. It’s getting fixed, and he needs his for work.”
“What, so he can cart dead bodies around in it,” I scoff at her. Because not only does he work at a crematorium, he owns it.
“Please, they won’t fit in his car.” She laughs at me. “Okay, I’ll be there soon. Bye.” She hangs up, leaving me to bathe Annabelle and feed her before she arrives. My phone bings, and when I look at it, I see a number I don’t recognize, so I leave it. Then it rings, and this number I do recognize.