I shrug and grab my keys from the kitchen counter. “I’m a busy man. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be watching Angel.”
He grins. “It’s her night off. Diamond is being a bitch about her hours still. I’m just grabbing beers from the bar to take to the clubhouse for the party tonight… thought I’d check in with you. In case you’ve fucking killed yourself over your little backroom fuck last night. Biting that forbidden fruit and all that shit.”
I think about smashing my fist into his fucking jaw and I’m sure he sees that on my face. “I’m just saying, for a man who was spouting shit about staying away from her, you’re doing a shit job of it.”
I try to unclench my fists. I need to get the fuck away from her, I need to get her the fuck outta my head and my town before I fucking lose it. “Call Diamond. Tell her the girls all need to come to the party tonight. No excuses."
Speck stares blankly at me for a second and then groans, shaking his head. "That's a fucking terrible idea."
I pin him to the fucking floor with a single look. "And why's that, asshole? Are you already fucking infatuated by her or something?"
He heaves out a sigh. "No, but she doesn't like crowds. This'll only drive her away."
Good.
I hate this fucking feeling, this tightness in my chest and the energy in my legs like I need to run far away from this fucking situation. It's probably that feeling that pisses me off the most. I'm a fucking Callaghan. I don't run, not from fucking anything, and certainly not a stripper.
She fucking flinched.
"All of them have to be here. If she doesn't show up then she doesn't have any more shifts."
The back door slides open and Rue steps in, grease covering his shirt and hands from whatever he’s been working on in the garage. He stops at the sounds of us arguing.
Speck huffs out a laugh. "She's doubled the alcohol sales in a single week, did you know that? Guys are coming and drinking for longer now she's on the stage. Diamond is convinced that they'll quit coming if she doesn't do extra but if anything it's just getting busier."
I clench my jaw and fight the urge to punch him in the face for even talking about her. "Like I give a fuck about what our laundering strip club makes in legitimate income. I want her the fuck outta there."
I don’t even care that I’m lying, I’m just in a shitty fucking mood. Trink crying has just made it fucking worse.
He squares up and puts himself all the way into my path. "Fine. Fire her then. Boot her ass out and we'll never see her again, easy solution."
Rue curses and steps up closer to us both. Fuck knows whose side he's on, the three of us are as close as brothers, but I guess we'll be needing a referee soon anyway.
When I don't say a word he knows he's got me, the fucking asshole. "You don't want to risk her leaving. You want to force her into coming into your turf and finding out her fucking story. How about you stop being an asshole and just ask her?"
Rue scoffs. "Because she's a fucking stripper who's 'struck him. You don't think that shit is risky? Just fucking wait. Just wait until your ass gets 'struck and then see how you handle it."
He shrugs. "I'll be a fucking pro by then, after all the shit I've done for the two of you. A conversation isn't that fucking hard, anyway, Tomi. Don't be a fucking dipshit."
Rue pointedly doesn't look at me because he gets it. He gets what it feels like to know your fucking life doesn't belong to you anymore. Hell, he's been chasing Poe around for more than half his fucking life now, never once telling her about the curse choosing her for him and what's going on. He's convinced it'll fuck her childhood up knowing, so instead he just spends all his time beating the life right outta anyone who goes near her and tries to stay the hell away himself.
It was easier for him back when she still looked like a kid. He just treated her the same way he did Trink and was done with it. Then a few years back we get a call to bring her out to the Bay, her school year cut short at the discovery of this sister of hers and she walks out with a guy draped all over her.
He was way too fucking interested and she was smiling at him like he hung the fucking moon for her.
She has Rue's full fucking attention now.
The whole lot of it, every grumpy minute.
I decide I'm done with this conversation and head back into the clubhouse, ready to drink enough to forget all about this fucking night and the fact that Angel exists. Fuck, she probably had gone back home to fuck her boyfriend.
I’m still not convinced she doesn’t have one.
I’m really not sure that I won’t kill the fucker if I find him.
Chapter Thirteen
Angel
Poe invites me over to her house to help her out with her homework while Tomi is out on club business and can’t help her.
She gets the message to me through Speck and he passes on her address, telling me to head there after my early finish that week.
I arrive just after midnight to find two guys sitting on her couch, sharing pizzas and talking a whole lot of shit with each other. They're very obviously twins, identical but not. One of them is laughing and joking, the picture of playful shit-talking, and the other is messing around but quieter, more reserved. When I walk in the quiet one shoves his brother and scowls at me.
I pause in the doorway and Poe ducks around me. "That's Lawson and the scowling dick is Lyndon. Ignore Lyn, he's weird about new people. Trust issues or some shit."
He glares at her and she shrugs. "Tell me I'm wrong, asshole. Angel is here to help us so stop glaring. I'll kick you the hell out too."
She realizes what she's said and bites her lip, glancing over her shoulder at me. "Trink was going to study with us but... she's weird about strippers. It's not you, I swear."
I shrug and try not to be so freaking awkward as I step into the room. "It's fine. I mean, I'm sorry you had to kick her out or whatever, but I don't blame her. What do you guys have?"
Poe hands over a whole pile of worksheets and a textbook. And then heads into the kitchen to grab us all drinks and snacks. When I look the pages over it's all shit I'm good at, thank God, and I get them set up and working in no time. Lawson keeps his eyes on Poe and what she's doing but it feels pretty... familial. They must all be related or something, because he jokes around with her like she's his little sister or something.
Lyndon just keeps staring at me like I killed his goddamn puppy.
After an hour of it I decide I can't take another second of it. "Look, there's only half a page left. I'll get going."
Lawson punches his brother in the arm. "Stop being a fucking asshole."
Lyndon shrugs. "I don't trust strippers. The fact that you can do math like this makes me trust you even less. You're either a spy for the Demons or an undercover cop."
I choke on my coke.
"You think I'm a cop? Are you for fucking real right now? Jesus." My skin is crawling.
Poe watches me closely and shrugs. "Thorn's a cop and he's not so bad."
Lyn glares at her. "That's different. He's family."