Chapter 15

Quinn

 

There were a million things on my mind, but I welcomed them. The distraction helped me stay in my own head while I worked through the shift at my second job. Mentally going over everything that was weighing me down, my body moved on autopilot. Honestly, it moved more fluidly when I didn’t think about what I was doing.

Over the last four weeks, while Colt and Raider had been gone, I had been able to save up money, but it still wasn’t the amount I was hoping for. Another week or two of the kinds of tips I had been getting while I danced and took my clothes off for a crowd that got bigger and bigger with each passing night, I would be able to put Creswell Springs, and everyone in it, behind me.

Now they were back, though, and I didn’t know how I was going to keep Colt from finding out what I was doing with my nights. He had been at my house the night before when I had gotten home. It wasn’t out of the norm for him to show up unannounced, especially now that he was dating Kelli.

I didn’t know why it was okay for his girlfriend to be a stripper and him not lose his shit. Probably because Kelli was so much like Raven, and he didn’t really worry about his sister.

Kelli, while she sometimes talked with an accent that I imagined some snotty prep school kids had, didn’t need anyone to hold her hand. She could and did take care of herself. She was the kind of chick that every female wanted to be—confident, strong, and sassy.

I wasn’t nearly half as confident or sassy as I liked to believe I was, but I was finding out with each passing day that I was a hell of a lot stronger than I had ever imagined.

In the past, Colt and I would hang out until I was ready for bed, and then he would either go to Kelli’s room and wait for her to get home, or stay up and watch TV in the living room. But I hadn’t been there the night before, and he had been upset about how late I was getting home, like some raging papa bear who couldn’t handle not knowing where his little cub had been.

Even though said little cub was twenty-five freaking years old.

His reaction wasn’t typical of the Colt I knew so well. He didn’t usually fall off the deep end just because I wasn’t home, even if he was the most overprotective man I had ever met, something I had always cherished because no one had ever cared or loved me as much as Colt did. Still, I was curious as to what was going on with him to make him so anxious for me to be out late.

Could he have found out about me and Raider?

No, that wouldn’t have been why he was so upset about not knowing where I had been all night. Even if he did know about my big mistake, his reaction would have been different. I doubted it would have been solely pointed at me. If anything, he was most likely to kill his brother and hide the body, then pretend like nothing had happened.

I wasn’t blind. I knew my best friend had done bad things. None of that mattered, though. Except, I didn’t want him to kill Raider. Even with my dissolutions where that particular Hannigan was concerned, I still found that I couldn’t completely turn off a lifetime of love.

When I had gotten up that morning to go in for the lunch shift at Aggie’s, he had offered to take me to work. Colt Hannigan, the man who would rather walk than drive a cage, had wanted to drive my little Honda to the diner for me.

I couldn’t help wondering what had gone down on the run he had been on. Maybe he had hit his head, and that was why he was acting even more overprotective than usual.

I didn’t know, and I hadn’t had the time to find out, so I had laughed at how neurotic he had been acting and kissed him on the cheek on my way out the door. Then the diner had been crowded with MC brothers. That wasn’t an unusual thing, but no sooner had one group of brothers left did two more show up. They all sat close to the front doors or the windows, none of them saying much as they had eaten their food and watched people coming and going.

It was almost like they had been waiting on someone.

Or something.

I didn’t like it. Just watching them had made me nervous, and I didn’t need more crap on my already overflowing plate right then.

There had still been MC guys at the diner when I had left several hours after what should have been the end of my shift. I would have stayed longer, would have closed the place for Aggie, but she had taken one look at my face and demanded I go home and rest.

If only.

I didn’t have time to rest. Not when Topaz was enjoying the new flow of guys through Paradise City that the mysterious Luna was bringing in practically by the bus load.

I danced three sets, and never any private dances for any of the guys, although they had begged for them. It was their begging that kept Topaz rubbing her hands in glee every night I worked, which was every night the club was open.

Keeping me an enigma to the guys who came back every night, hoping to tempt me into something as little as speaking to them, was making Paradise City the hottest spot in not only Trinity County, but three others as well.

She was raking in the money just as fast as I was scooping up the ones, fives, and even twenties that some of the more determined customers stuck into the tops of my boots.

Some of the other girls loved the crowd I was bringing in, getting the tips from the private dances I kept refusing. My popularity wasn’t exactly a good thing for everyone at the club, though. Some of the other girls were not happy that I had shown up out of the blue and suddenly had the place packed with customers every night, that guys chanted “Luna” over and over again until I took the stage. Kelli said the ones who weren’t happy with me were only jealous, something that was alien to me, because who would be jealous of little ol’ me?

The week before, I had gotten my first glimpse of just how determined the crowd could become just to touch me when two guys, sitting at one of the closer tables with a group of college-aged guys, had actually tried to charge the stage.

With the new popularity of the club, Topaz had hired a few more bouncers and bartenders. One of them was stationed right beside the stage whenever I was out there. When the college boys had tried to jump on stage, Porter had tackled them both to the ground. Another bouncer had come running, almost as if out of thin air, and had used his Taser on the guys before helping Porter drag them out.

So far that night, I had already done two sets. I was dog-tired, but I still had one more to go.

There were still a few girls in front of me on the roster before I would be called to the stage again. I took the time to try to relax back in the dressing room. My feet were killing me after being on them all day, and then putting them into a pair of boots that had six-inch heels and could only be classified as a torture device.

I had set up my vanity station right beside Kelli’s, where I dropped down onto my little ottoman, thankful for the bottle of water my roommate handed over. Uncapping the fresh bottle, I took a slow, thirsty swallow before replacing the cap and pressing the coolness to one side of my neck then the other.

“Did you eat dinner?” she demanded as she watched me closely for a few uninterrupted moments.

I still had the lacey veil covering my face, not daring to reveal who I was even then. I wasn’t in any hurry to speed up the process of having Colt freak the fuck out and having to give up my lucrative second job.

“I had a sandwich at work before I came over here,” I told her. It wasn’t a complete lie. I’d had half a sandwich at Aggie’s.

Okay, so it had been a slice of bread, lightly toasted. But it had been buttered, so that totally counted.

It was also the only thing I had eaten the entire day.

As if she could see what I was thinking, Kelli muttered a harsh curse under her breath then pulled out a small back of peanut butter crackers from one of her vanity drawers. “Eat these. You don’t want to pass out on stage.”

Blowing out a frustrated sigh, I took one from the pack she was so insistent on me taking and carefully nibbled on one corner of the cracker so I didn’t have to remove my mask. I wasn’t hungry, but I knew better than to tell her that. She would only yell at me.

Again.

I had no appetite, but she didn’t seem to care. All she saw was that I had lost weight, something I was actually liking. My body was looking leaner, and while I was actually enjoying this new shape, I knew she was constantly worrying. She meant well and was only trying to look out for me, but she was turning into a bit of a nag.

All around us, the others were getting ready for their sets, when they suddenly stiffened. Half a second later, the reason walked into the dressing room.

Topaz scared almost everyone in the room, except for me and Kelli. She didn’t scare my roommate because, well, if Raven didn’t scare her, nothing much could.

Me, on the other hand, I had come to the realization that Topaz needed me just as much as I needed the money I raked in every night. She had already been telling me she was trying to come up with a plan to make sure, even if Colt were to find out, I could still continue to dance.

Luna was Paradise City’s new cash cow, and while the club had been popular to begin with, now it was becoming a local legend.

Or rather, Luna was becoming a legend.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was going to be leaving soon.

At first, I had been nervous to take the job. Then it had gotten exciting. Men had been excited to see me, to watch me. They thought I was sexy, mysterious, and a million other things that men who got off on watching a woman take her clothes off for them did. Now …

Now I was too tired to care.

One more week, that was all I needed. One more week, and then I could say goodbye to it all.

Topaz didn’t spare a single glance to the room at large. Her gaze zeroed in on me instantly, and then she was marching across the room in her sexy heels and an odd look on her face.

I was too tired to stand, but I gave her my full attention when she reached me.

“We have an … issue,” she muttered in a low voice so only me and Kelli could hear her. She glanced over her shoulder, as if expecting the police or something to barge in.

I went still. “Colt?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know yet, but he might turn up.” She ran her fingers through her glossy hair nervously. “Spider is sending over five of the MC brothers. He said he wanted extra security for a little while. When I asked why, he clammed up and said to make sure the brothers were put to good use.”

Kelli touched my shoulder. “Maybe you should just head home.”

“She can’t leave!” Topaz exclaimed. “Two cars full of guys in expensive suits just walked in. I need her.”

“You have a choice here, Topaz. One, you can send … Luna home, and avert a total shit show if Colt shows up—she lives to dance another day if you do that. Or two, she goes out there and maybe Colt recognizes her if he shows up. Or one of the other guys recognizes her and calls him.” She stood, getting ready to take the stage when the master of ceremonies called her name. “Your choice.”

The taller woman glared after her as she walked away, then turned back to me, shaking her head. “I know the dangers of letting you stay, but these guys are already throwing around big bills for drinks and tipping the bartenders like they have it to burn.”

I pressed my lips together behind my mask. “I don’t want to cause you any trouble. And I really don’t want to lose you business.”

“If you stay and dance, those guys are likely to toss you a few of those hundreds I saw two of them pull out of their pocket in rolls.” She crouched down so that we were on an even eye level. “Do the set, and then get out of here.”

The temptation of the possibility of extra money was too much to pass up, so I nodded and turned around to face my vanity mirror to make sure my mask was still secure and my wig was glued in place. I used a little sheer powder across my breasts because they looked shiny from all the sweating I had done already. Picking up my perfume, I spritzed some behind my ears and across the tops of my boots. It cost a small fortune for just an ounce of it, but lately, I wasn’t so concerned about wasting it.

One night, I had accidently found out that the honeysuckle and sunshine scent drove the guys in the front rows crazy. The next night, three bottles of the expensive stuff had been delivered to the club for me. Now I made sure to spray it on thick so some of the other guys could smell it, too. I had been rewarded with some very generous tips.

Topaz stayed where she was until I stood. Then she moved forward and fixed my outfit. I wore the same outfit every night, for every set I danced. The killer boots that made me look like I was half a foot taller than I really was with fishnet stockings. I wore leather shorts that crawled up my ass like a thong and showed off the globes of each of my ass cheeks. The top was a corset that pushed my boobs up toward my throat and had been tied so tight at times I was sure I wasn’t getting enough oxygen.

My boss fluffed up my boobs, making them perky. I was used to her fixing me like this now, but I still felt uncomfortable letting someone touch my intimate parts so nonchalantly.

Once she was done, she stepped back and smiled wickedly. “I would so fuck your brains out if you would let me.”

As always when she said something like that, I found myself blushing. I think that was what she had wanted, because it wasn’t just my face that heated up with pink. My entire body seemed to blaze with it, making her eyes shine even brighter.

“Go make their jaws drop, sexy.” She turned and left just as quickly as she had come.

I shook my head, still feeling the heat from my blush burning strong. Picking up my water, I took a thirsty drink then slowly turned and followed after her.

Kelli was over halfway through the second song of her set when I got to the stage. I stood there, mesmerized as always by how effortlessly she played the crowd. She didn’t care that her boobs were out, or that over two hundred men could see them. If anything, it seemed to excite her, and her sultry smile as she slid down the center pole was so sexy the guys in the front rows were losing their minds.

Her red wig; those clear, over the top heels she wore; and her dancing around in nothing but a pair of silky sheer panties would have made anyone hot for her. I was just surprised the club hadn’t caught on fire yet.

When the third song started, she took off her panties in a way that was so effortlessly sexy, and then tossed them in my direction. With a small squeak of surprise, I caught them, and she grinned before giving me a wink then turning back to the job at hand.

Laughing softly, I tossed her panties aside and watched her finish up.

With each passing second, my pulse started to spike higher and higher. I was excited and nervous, and maybe a little nauseated from not having been eating properly lately. I was just so busy that I didn’t have time to remember to eat, and really, I was loving my new body. It had never been what you say overly curvy or even plump, but I had held on to the baby fat from my childhood.

Now, I was slender like I had never been. My face was leaner, giving me more of a cheekbone, not that anyone could see that here. My lacey mask hid that from everyone. But my waist was smaller, my boobs more perky. And my ass, oh, I was in love with my ass these days. All the exercise from dancing and swinging around on those poles had lifted it and given it kind of a Brazilian pop to it that some women paid a fortune to accomplish.

A small commotion to the left of the stage, from the direction of the entrance, pulled my attention away from Kelli—or Ireland, as she was known as on stage. Five of the MC brothers were walking in, laughing and seeming to have the time of their lives as they headed toward the bar. I held my breath, trying to pick Colt out of them.

Matt Reid was the first one I recognized, followed by his brother Tanner. Clutch was in the middle of them, and apparently, the source of why they were cutting up and laughing their asses off. Behind him, I saw the handsome face of Creed, and then Warden.

I slowly released the breath I had been holding. Thank goodness. I wouldn’t have been able to have gone out there if my best friend had been in the crowd. It would have been like undressing for my brother. Gross.

Forcing myself to focus now, I attempted to turn off everything in my head.

Kelli’s song ended and, as she collected the money some of the less brave guys had tossed onto stage rather than stick into her garter or even the top of her boot, the master of ceremonies got the crowd ready for me.

The men who had just been losing their heads and hearts to Kelli, suddenly quietened.

I balled my chilled hands into fists, trying to calm myself enough to take the stage. The anonymity I got from the wig and mask gave me more confidence than I would have ever had without them. Not one of these guys knew that I was the same waitress who took care of them at Aggie’s most days. No one realized that sweet, little Quinn Wilder was the mysterious Luna.

My intro music started as Kelli walked past me. She caught my hand and gave it a comforting squeeze, stopping to watch me take the stage as she always did. For the first song, at least. Normally, she would go out and work the crowds after my first song, chatting up the guys to get them to buy her a drink. Whenever a customer bought a dancer a drink, they got half of the profit from it, because the bartenders charged double for our drinks. She did a few private dances if she was in the mood or needed a little extra cash, but most of the time, she didn’t even bother.

I kept my focus on Kelli until I got lost in the music and my own head. I welcomed the assault of all the problems that kept piling up on top of me. It allowed me to get lost and forget about the crowd.

I let my body move to the music, even as I stressed over bills that I needed to make sure were paid off in the next few days, so that once I did have the money I needed, I could leave without having to worry about them.

I tried to think of how I was going to tell Aggie I was going to quit, but every time I even thought of the woman who had become my second mother, I had to fight back a flood of tears.

Out in the crowd, guys were starting to become more rowdy, and out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Porter shifting toward me.

I blinked back all the thoughts scattering through my head and tried to look at the guys who had moved as close to the stage as they possibly could. Some of them looked familiar, others not so much, but what caught my eye wasn’t the preppy college boys or even the men in suits watching me like I was fresh meat and they were hungry lions.

No, it was the bikers at the bar … or rather, one in particular.

The five had become six, and the sixth was someone I hadn’t been expecting to see again for a long while. Or ever, if I could have helped it.

I was still moving to the music, having memorized my sets so I could do it on autopilot. But as I continued to look at the dangerous man in his leather cut, those jeans that rode low on his hips, I found my heart pounding just as hard as it always had whenever I saw him. My body was responding, despite everything that had happened, just as it always had.

I couldn’t believe that, after all the weeks I had told myself that I was over this guy, that my stupid heart, and my traitorous body, hadn’t stopped wanting him.

That I still cared about him.

As if in slow motions, I watched as Raider turned. I watched his eyes zero in on me like there was a homing device attached to my chest. Still, I continued to dance, letting men put cash into the grater on my leg, or into the top of my boots. I couldn’t see his eyes from where I was, especially with the lights shining on me, but I could feel them as they traveled over my body, touching every inch, as if mentally caressing me. It felt like he was physically running his fingers over my skin, and my body responded accordingly. Goose flesh popped up along my entire body, and I felt my nipples harden and stiffen.

Memories of how it had been with him that crazy night so many weeks before flashed back to me. I had loved having his hands on me, had been begging for more …

Until the pleasure had turned into pain, and I had come back to my senses.

Raider tilted his head, and even in the dim lighting that surrounded him like a cloak, I could see the instant he turned into the predator I always knew he was.

Someone got adventurous as they tucked their money into my left boot, tracing their fingers up the back of my thigh.

I snapped my head around, glaring at the guy, only then realizing I was halfway through my set and that my top was now off. My boobs were bouncing around, and the guy was drifting his fingers higher.

I stepped back, but he grabbed for me. I stumbled back in my crazy high-heeled boots, landing hard on my ass, a loud squeal of fright leaving me before I could stop myself.

After that, everything seemed to move in fast forward. The guy was only a few inches away, his face full of determination and a lust that scared the hell out of me. I yelped again. There was something in his eyes that told me that, if he caught me, he would hurt me.

His fingers latched on to my ankle, and I couldn’t control my scream of fright as he tugged me toward him with a strength that shouldn’t have been possible with just one hand.

I kicked out at him with my free foot, but when I came into contact with nothingness, I realized that the guy had been jerked away from me. In the blink of an eye, he was there one second and gone the next.

Swallowing the next scream that had been about to leave my throat, I lifted my head and met the green gaze of a man far more dangerous than the one who had just tried to snatch me. Only this one held my stupid heart in his huge hands.