I shrug and check my watch, I still have ten minutes left. “It’s fine. I’m just here to do a job. I don’t want to start anything with anyone.”
I glance up to see Poe chewing on her lip. Speck steps back in with a little frown right as she says, “Most girls are drooling over the likes of Speck so I’m sure he’s crying himself to sleep over it.”
He flips her off. “Poe’s just pissed she’s still not old enough to hang out with us when she wants too. She’s the baby of the family.”
“You are exactly eighteen months older than me, Reece, don’t be a fucking asshole or I’m calling Keely and she’ll have your ass.”
He shrugs and flings himself back on the chair in the corner. “Eighteen months still means I’m free and you’re stuck doing fucking geometry.”
She throws a pen at him without looking and it still hits him directly between the eyes. “Good arm.”
She quirks a grin at me. “Thanks! Growing up with these assholes means I’m pretty fucking good at it.”
I huff out a laugh at her and side-eye Speck. “You’re only eighteen? Jesus. Mel’s old enough to be your mom and she’s chasing your ass hard.”
He grins back at me. “I do love an older woman. If she asks about me, put in a good word, would ya?”
I roll my eyes at him and try to write a little faster, conscious of how long I have left before I have to get out there.
Poe leans forward in her chair to look at my work. “How long have you been dancing here? No one’s told me about you, I’m a little pissed I didn’t know you were here.”
I shrug. “A few weeks. I... uh, I don’t really hang out with the other girls.”
She scoffs and sits back in the chair with the first page of notes. “Lemme guess, Diamond hates you and now the other girls are being bitches to you? Diamond is a cunt, for real.”
I glance around the room like this is a trap and the stripper herself is about to jump out and fire me. “She’s not happy that I only dance. She thinks I’m a frigid bitch… she thinks that I think I’m too good to be friends with them all.”
She giggles. “Angel, I’ve only had to meet you to know that you are too good for them and it’s got nothing to do with them being strippers. Fuck, if my ass looked like yours I’d be up there taking dumbass men’s money too.”
Speck groans and stares up at the ceiling. “Don’t even fucking joke like that, it’d end in a bloodbath.”
That makes no sense.
Poe huffs and then we both jump at the sound of the door snapping open and bouncing off of the wall. Tomi walks through, pausing when his eyes land on me. The corners of his mouth turn down and my heart stops in my chest.
Poe comes to my rescue. “Where the hell have you been? You promised me you’d help with this bullshit!”
I cringe a little at the way she’s talking to him, he’s built like a freaking brick shithouse, but he just huffs out a breath at her. “You didn’t have to distract the dancers to get back at me. Angel, you’re late.”
I scramble to my feet and duck my head as I walk past him, cursing under my breath at myself. I enjoyed myself for half a second and it bites me on the ass.
By the time I take the stage Tomi is in his booth, whiskey in his hand and his eyes follow my every move.
Poe is gone before I make it back out.
Chapter Eight
Tomi
I spend way too long hanging around at The Boulevard watching Angel.
I make it clear to the girls that I’m doing an audit of the business, something I do on the regular anyway because it’s our biggest legitimate money maker, and then I set up in a booth every night where I can see every fucking twirl and shimmy the girl does on stage.
It’s a special type of hell because, fuck, can that girl move.
Diamond gives me all of the books, a bottle of whiskey, and the offer of a blowjob in the back room on the first night I arrive. The shock on her face when I pass on the blowjob isn’t just clear to me, the girls all see it and start fucking gossiping but I’ve never really given a fuck about that bullshit.
By the sixth night in a row like this, I’m sure word has gotten around because I find myself joined by my cousin within the first fucking hour.
“You wanna tell me why you’re stalking this place now?” Rue orders a drink from Diamond with a jerk of his head and I pointedly don’t look at the new girl.
He notices her anyway. “Fuck. New blood and she’s exactly your type. Tryna be the first one in her then?”
I blow out a breath and face the facts. There’s no fucking way I’m going to get through this pile of bullshit without having someone on my side. I’ve watched Rue chase his little flower child around for fucking years and I’ve dug him out of shit more times than either of us would ever admit to.
I don’t even have to tell him. The second I turn to face him he sees it on my face. “Oh fuck no. No. Really? A stripper? That’s bad fucking news, man.”
I scoff and drain the rest of my glass. “No shit. Looks like you’re the only one getting a decent woman assigned by the fucking curse. Congratulations. Who’d a thought it’d be Grimm fucking Graves’ kid?”
His eyebrows drop down low and I shrug. “I’m fucking bitter tonight, ignore me. Riddle me this, do you feel like you’ve been shot in the fucking chest all the damn time? Does the curse make you wanna fucking die or is that just me and my cuntstruck self?”
He gestures at Diamond to leave us the goddamn bottle, wise move, and gets to pouring the shit out. I drink it faster than he can pour, my eyes drifting over to rest on Angel no matter how I try to avoid looking at her.
She’s the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.
“It always feels like that shit. Fuck, Posey disappears for six fucking weeks every year, you don’t think that kills me? I don’t even know where the hell she goes, let alone who she’s with. Thorn tells me fucking nothing.”
We’re not allowed to ask either.
Part of his agreement with King is that Poe is off-limits. No one touches her, no one asks about her, and we all protect her with our lives.
For the life of me, I don’t fucking get why.
A group of new guys arrive and the whole damn lot of them walk over to the main stage where Angel is, even the regulars who have favorite girls. It’s pretty fucking clear that the other girls are pissed the hell off about it but the booze is flowing and men are ordering private dances left and right thanks to the tease happening on stage.
She’s too fucking flexible, gets a man fucking excited.
“So… gimme her story then. What do you know, how are we getting her the fuck out of this club before she starts a fucking riot? Jesus, Mel is looking at her like she wants to stab her eyes out.”
I whip my head around to check her out and, yep, the loathing there is clear.
Hm.
That might work to get her outta here.
“I know nothing. Nothing except she won’t do lap dances, won’t work on the side like the other girls, and she wants as many shifts as she can get her hands on.”
Rue shrugs and fills his glass again. “That’s a mark in her favor. At least up there they’re only looking. Fuck, is she the one that smacked Maverick out last week?”