Chapter 56

Piper

I was in the office with Mercy, finishing up the closing paperwork after a very successful Valentine’s Day at Euphoria.

“These cookies are amazing!” I praised as I took another one from the plate. This was Mercy’s treat for me. She was a great boss.

“Thank you,” Mercy replied with a grin. “My original dream was to open a small café. Nothing fancy. I just planned to serve sandwiches and baked goods. I love baking.”

“What happened to that dream?” I asked.

Mercy shrugged. “The opportunity to buy The Frisky Beaver came up, and I jumped on it.”

“Do you think you’ll ever open your café?” Mercy worked too many hours already, so she would definitely need to give up one or both of her other businesses to accomplish that.

“I don’t know,” Mercy replied with a shrug. “I hadn’t thought about it for quite some time, but then we got an offer to sell The Frisky Beaver.”

“You did?” I asked.

Mercy nodded. “My business partner wants to take it. The offer is really good.”

“How is it that your partner is hardly ever at The Frisky Beaver?” I asked. “I was shocked when you told me she was working tonight.”

“She’s there more than you think. You don’t go over there often,” Mercy pointed out. “Shelly’s been more behind the scenes in the last year. I’m not surprised she wants out. I expected her to ask me to buy her out months ago. She wants kids with her new husband, and she doesn’t want to tell them she owns a strip club.”

“Club management of any kind isn’t good when you have kids,” I remarked. “The long hours and unpredictable schedules are hard enough without adding kids to the picture.”

“Very true,” Mercy agreed. “I considered getting a cat, but I’m not even home enough to keep my plants alive.”

“This offer on your other club could be a good thing,” I told her. “You’re always working. I have no idea how you do it.”

“You do a good job of keeping Euphoria running so I only need to be over here part of the time. Besides, what am I going to do if I don’t work all the time?”

“Date,” I suggested. “Get some hobbies. Spend more time baking cookies for me.”

Mercy grinned at my last suggestion. “I’ll bake cookies to keep you happy. We should probably head out. I’m surprised Jeff hasn’t come back to see how much longer we’ll be. He hasn’t complained, but I’m sure his wife didn’t like him working late on Valentine’s Day.”

Jeff was the bouncer assigned to stay at the club until we were ready to leave. About fifteen minutes earlier, he’d come back to the office to let us know he was walking the other closers out to their cars. I suspected he’d be pushing to leave soon.

I grabbed my purse and turned off the lights in the office before heading out to the main club area. When I walked into the room, I froze. Jeff was lying unconscious on the floor, bleeding from a head wound. There were also two masked men with guns.

“I told you at least one of these bitches would be back there,” one of the guys said with a sneer. His voice was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

The other guy laughed before saying, “You were right. This is a good fucking night.”

The Project had been robbed at gunpoint when I worked there, but I’d been off that night. While I’d had training to handle this type of situation, I still stood there, frozen with fear. Men were pointing guns at us, and I was terrified.

“I assume you’d like us to open the safe.” Mercy’s voice was calm as she took charge of the situation. She had to be afraid, too, but she wasn’t showing it.

“We’ll get to that,” the first guy who’d spoken said as he moved closer to us. “First, let’s have a little fun.”

When he was standing directly in front of me, he brought the gun close to my head and leaned in until his face was close to mine. I nearly gagged from the smell of stale beer and cigarettes on his breath. “You want to party with us, don’t you, Piper?”

Before I could answer, his friend laughed again. “That bitch thinks she’s too good for you. I’ll bet you’d get frost bite from her frigid cunt.”

“He’s right, isn’t he?” the guy in my face growled. “You think you’re too good for me, don’t you?”

I still couldn’t place his voice, but he knew me.

“Why don’t you let me open the safe so you can be on your way?” Mercy suggested.

I could practically feel the rage pouring off the guy in front of me. He stalked toward Mercy.

“You think you’re in charge here, slut?” he demanded before backhanding her. When Mercy stumbled back, he pointed the gun at her. “I’ve got a better idea than us taking the money and running. Why don’t you open the safe, and then you can strip for us like the whore you are?”

“Please,” I begged. “Don’t do this.”

His attention shifted to me. “Oh, I like that. You aren’t so high and mighty now, are you?”

Mercy moved to my side, slipping an arm around my waist. “The longer you stay here, the more likely it is you’ll get caught. Let me get you the money so you can go.”

His friend practically jumped out of his skin at the sound of a siren in the distance. “Let’s take the money and go,” he urged. “I don’t want to go to prison again. We came for the money.”

The guy pointing the gun at me and Mercy snapped, “Fuck that! These bitches owe me more than what’s in that safe.”

That’s when I figured out who he was. While I didn’t have much experience with robberies, I was certain these guys weren’t experienced thieves. For all his bravado, Seth looked as nervous as his friend. He took several deep breaths. His eyes locked on me when he told his friend, “Go back to the office with the blonde bitch and empty the safe. If she does anything stupid, shoot her. I’ll wait out here with Piper.”

Mercy looked like she was going to argue about leaving me with Seth when he added, “If you aren’t back in five minutes with the money, I’m going to shoot this bitch.”

Mercy nodded, and Seth’s friend led her from the room.

“Five minutes should give me time to have a little fun with you,” Seth snarled as he tucked his gun in the back of his jeans and backhanded me. The force of the blow knocked me back, and I cried out. I didn’t fall with that first hit, but the second sent me to the ground.

Five minutes seemed like an eternity as Seth taunted and kicked me while I lay curled in a ball on the floor. I felt weak and afraid. I didn’t even hear Mercy enter the room, and I had no idea how she managed to get behind Seth and grab his gun. It was enough for Seth to stop kicking me and turn, ready to raise his hands in surrender.

The next thing I heard was the deafening boom of a gunshot.