Playboy led us to the other side of the club to a cluster of roped off tables where only a couple of guys were seated.
They were both wearing cuts, and I assumed they were Barracuda and Monk.
Meeting the president of the Royal Bastards was not what I thought we would be doing tonight. Playboy pulled out one of the chairs at the table and motioned for me to sit down.
Yeah, sitting with the president of an MC was something I did all of the time. I nervously sat down, and Playboy dropped into the chair next to me.
Both men stared at me.
I sat there frozen like a deer caught in the headlights of a huge semi barreling down on it.
I lifted my hand and gave a wave.
Yeah, I waved.
If God didn’t strike me down right then and there from embarrassment then there wasn’t a God.
Playboy chuckled and rested his arm around my shoulders. He leaned close, and his lips brushed my ear. “Relax, pretty girl. They don’t bite.”
Easier said than done. And, it looked like both of them bit. Hard.
“New blood?” the guy to the left asked.
“Billie Jean’s sister, Monk.” Playboy replied.
That helped. Now I at least knew who was who.
“Is she still missing?” the one who must have been Barracuda asked.
I nodded. “I haven’t heard from her for a week.” I didn’t know if I was supposed to speak, but I did.
“You sure she didn’t take a breather for a minute?” Monk asked.
I nodded again. “Yeah. Billie Jean wouldn’t leave town without giving me a heads up. I talked to her before she came to work, and then, I didn’t hear from her again.”
Playboy relaxed next to me and kept his arm around me. “Figured I’d talk to the girls tonight and see if I can find anything out.”
Barracuda nodded. “Good place to start.” There was an arrogant air about Barracuda. His words were simple enough, but he seemed to be giving Playboy permission to talk to the girls.
Leona sat down next to me with a drink in her hand. “Did you see the shoes the waitress with the red hair was wearing?”
“Uh,” I mumbled. I hadn’t really looked at anything as Playboy and I walked through the club. I had been in shock at the fact that he was holding my hand. “I’ll have to keep an eye out for her.”
Leona nodded. “Girl, they are hot.” She smiled wide. “Not that I expected a waitress at a strip club to wear Crocs or something.”
“Doll, you think you could have grabbed one of these drinks?” Mace grumbled. He set a drink in front of me and sloshed some of it on the table. He sat next to Playboy and did not seem amused with Leona.
Leona leaned toward me and lowered her voice. “I pissed him off,” she whispered. “I wasn’t paying attention to him walking in front of me and barreled right into him when he stopped at the bar.”
“What were you looking at?” I hissed back.
Leona cringed. “The redhead’s shoes.”
“You’re a mess, Leona,” I laughed. “I’m the one supposed to be making a fool of themselves, not you.”
“Well, I guess it’s finally my turn.”
I took a sip of my drink. “Well, I gave a princess wave to the president and VP of the Royal Bastards. Maybe we’re both destined to make fools of ourselves tonight.”
Leona cringed. “Is that who those two are?”
I nodded.
“I’m gonna try to keep my mouth shut. Maybe we both should.”
That sounded like a damn good idea. I just hoped that both of us could stick to it.
“Billie Jean was close with Raine and Violet. Start there,” Barracuda instructed.
Playboy nodded.
Was it just Playboy helping me, or was the whole club helping me? “Uh, I talked to Raine last week but not Violet. Raine said she didn’t know anything about Billie Jean. She figured she was home sick or something when she didn’t show up for her shifts.”
“But she showed up Tuesday night, right?” Playboy asked.
I nodded. “She worked last Tuesday with Billie Jean. She said Billie Jean was her normal self.”
“Sassy and full of it?” Mace laughed.
That was pretty accurate. “Yeah. That’s Billie Jean to a T.”
“This a class field trip or something?” Monk asked. He looked from Leona to me.
Playboy might be fine with Leona tagging along to help figure out where Billie Jean was, but Monk obviously didn’t think it was necessary.
“How many people know Billie Jean is missing?” Barracuda asked.
“Uh, well.” I counted the people who knew in my head. It was a short list. “Playboy and Leona are the only ones I told.”
“And the people you talked to last week at the club,” Playboy pointed out.
“Well, I didn’t exactly tell them she was missing, though. I just asked if they had seen her.” I guess even asking if they had seen her was hinting to the fact she was missing.
“There’s buzz she’s missing. Mitzy was telling me earlier the girls were kind of paranoid wondering if something was going on.” Barracuda shrugged. “As of right now, I told her nothing was going on and to treat everything like business as usual.”
“Mitzy?” Leona muttered to me.
I shrugged. “No clue.”
“You think that’s his old lady?”
“Ol’,” I hissed. “Old lady is like your grandma.”
Playboy’s eyes cut to me.
I plastered a smile on my lips. “Shut. Up,” I grunted to Leona. What happened to keeping her mouth shut? I didn’t care if Mitzy was Barracuda’s ol’ lady. If she had any info about Billie Jean, I wanted to talk to her. “Maybe we should talk to Mitzy, too.”
“Have Playboy do the talking,” Monk instructed. “The girls know to keep their mouths shut if they’re talking to someone they don’t know.”
“Oh.” Well, what was the point of me being here then?
A woman dressed in black tight pants and a skimpy white tank top walked up to our table and leaned toward Barracuda. Their voices were low, and I couldn’t make out a word they said.
Leona leaned toward them. “I used to be able to read lips,” she muttered.
Dear God. Did she not know how to be less obvious? “Stop it,” I hissed.
“There’s a bear at the bar, and he left his lettuce in the safe.”
Playboy choked on his beer, and I slapped my hand over my face.
“His lettuce in the safe?” Mace asked.
Leona closed one eye and tipped her head to the side. “Pineapple?”
Playboy wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Pineapple and lettuce don’t even sound the same.”
Mace shook his head. “And why is it in his safe?”
The woman walked away, and Barracuda sat back in his chair. “You four done acting like fools?”
Apparently, we weren’t talking as quietly as I had thought.
“What did Mitzy want?” Monk asked.
So that was Mitzy. I couldn’t get a feel of whether or not they were together.
Barracuda grabbed his drink. “Memphis hasn’t shown up for her last four shifts.”
Say what?
“Anyone check on her?” Playboy asked.