CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Phoebe clutched her purse as two older women brushed past her. From the corner of her eye, she glanced at Reggie and saw the happiness gleaming in the older woman's face. Reggie was even bobbing her head to the loud vibrations emitted from the club's sound system.
"Are you sure about this?" Phoebe fell against the wall while a gaggle of blue-haired women stepped into the entryway. She frowned as she watched them whisper and giggle. She cut another glance in Reggie's direction and found that her charge was no longer there. "Reggie!"
The loud music throbbed through her head. Even though no smoking was allowed in the venue, enough of it lingered on the clothes of the patrons that she felt her eyes water. She even caught the distinctive whiff of marijuana in the air, and she covered her nose with a curled fist while she made her way through the packed crowd.
After their shopping trip, Phoebe had convinced Reggie to participate in a bingo game at one of the local casinos. They'd agreed that if Phoebe chose the bingo, then they would do something of Reggie's choosing after the game was finished. To Phoebe's surprise, Reggie had given her directions to a dimly-lit nightclub just east of downtown Tacoma.
"Reggie!" Phoebe didn't know why she continued to call Reggie's name. She was only making her voice hoarse as she competed with the music, laughter, and conversation. She clamped her purse against her body and took shallow breaths through her nose as she walked around the venue in search of Reggie.
After five minutes, Phoebe came to two startling revelations. The first was that it must have been ladies' night as the club was packed with mostly women. The only men she'd seen were the bartenders and the bouncer at the door. The second thing she realized was that she was likely one of the youngest women in the place.
That observation snagged her full attention. Standing in the center of the club, she spun in a circle and realized that she wasn't finding Reggie because she was standing in a gaggle of Reggies.
Phoebe grabbed her purse and rummaged around until her hand grazed her phone. She was pulling it out when she felt a hand latch onto her forearm and spin her around.
"Damn, girl, you need your hearing checked." Reggie pulled on her arm until Phoebe staggered in the direction Reggie wanted. They bobbed and weaved through the crowd until they arrived at a table near the wall.
"You found her?" asked a large-boned woman. She was sitting at the table with a wad of money in her hands. As her eyes perused the length of Phoebe's body, her thumbs flicked over the bills.
Reggie sat down beside the woman, then plucked a shot glass from the table and threw it back. She cut Phoebe with such a sharp glance that Phoebe closed her mouth before she could utter an objection. As Phoebe sunk down into the chair beside Reggie, she watched another older woman, who looked as though she was in her early seventies, lift a bottle of whiskey and pour more shots for the group.
Placing one hand on the back of Phoebe's chair, Reggie rested her other elbow on the table. She inclined her head in Phoebe's direction. "This is Phoebe. My niece." Reggie removed her hand from Phoebe's chair and grabbed her shot glass. Lifting it, she motioned towards the large-boned woman. "Phoebe, meet my new friends. This is Kalena." She pointed at the other woman. "And this is her sister-in-law, Soo-Jung."
Kalena reached out in Phoebe's direction, and Phoebe assumed the other woman wanted to shake hands. But instead of taking her hand, the woman grabbed onto Phoebe's upper arm and squeezed.
"You're so little," Kalena said, pulling her hand back. Her nose crinkled as if she'd caught a bad odor. "My son likes his women with a bit more meat."
"Uh..." Phoebe's empty hand fell onto the table. She looked at Reggie, who only motioned for Soo-Jung to pour more whiskey. When she realized help wasn't coming, Phoebe lifted her left hand and pointed at her wedding band. "I'm married actually. I'm married to Reggie's nephew."
Kalena cocked her head to the side as she studied Phoebe's ring. Then she turned her gaze back to Phoebe's face and shrugged. "So."
There was a shrill scream from the front of the venue. Reggie, Kalena, and Soo-Jung all turned rapt eyes in that direction while Phoebe exhaled a heavy breath. More screams filled the air as a man dressed in only black leather pants and a white bowtie stepped out onto the stage.
"Good evening, Tacoma!" yelled the scantily-clad man into the microphone. His bright white teeth contrasted with his darkly tanned skin. His gelled blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his pectoral muscles bounced with each word he said. "My name is Dirty Rod, and I'll be your host for the evening." Dirty Rod braced his legs apart, which sent some of the women into near vapors. "Welcome to the Houston Revue!"
Phoebe told herself that the Houston Revue was some obscure cover band. She'd nearly convinced herself that they must perform hit songs from the seventies when loud house music began to fill the venue. This sent the audience into a frenzy; many of the women leapt from their seats and shouted.
Dirty Rod pointed into the crowd. Then to Phoebe's horror, he cocked his fingers like they were a gun and began shooting at women throughout the audience. His pretend victims would gasp loudly, clutch at their chests, and collapse back into their chairs.
"Where are the instruments?" Phoebe murmured.
She didn't think her voice would carry over the noise, but her words must have reached Reggie because she sent Phoebe an amused glance. Then Reggie chuckled low in her throat, pulled her wallet from her pocket, and grabbed a fistful of bills from inside.
"Where'd that come from?" Phoebe asked, pointing at the money.
Reggie waved her question away. "Inconsequential."
"Wait--"
Phoebe never finished her statement. Instead, bright strobe lights pulsed from the stage and the music faded to a whisper. Phoebe would have been awed by the near silence of the crowd, but then the music boomed loudly and sent the women into hysterics. Kalena and Soo-Jung jumped from their seats and began clapping exuberantly.
Reggie's rise was a bit slower, but even she was standing on her toes. "Look at this, Phoebe."
Judging from the piercing screams around her, Phoebe had a good idea what she would see. "That's okay. I'm good right here."
"No-no-no," Reggie said, grasping Phoebe's arm and tugging, "you need to see this." She stared down at Phoebe over the rim of her glasses. "You'll thank me."
Phoebe slouched down in her chair, which only gave her a better view of the stage. She could see the man on stage, who was in the middle of ripping the t-shirt from his own body. Groaning loudly, she covered her eyes with her hand.
There was a vibration against her chest. She plopped her purse down onto the table, then she reached inside and removed her phone. It was Ash.
She glanced at Reggie and saw rapture written on her features. Curling away from the table, Phoebe stuck a finger in her ear and answered the phone. "Hey."
"Where are you?" was his immediate question. Then, after a few moments of dead silence on his end, he asked another. "Are you with Reggie?"
Phoebe nodded, then realized he couldn't see her movements. "Yeah. She's sitting right beside me."
"Is she okay?" he asked.
Phoebe studied Reggie's face again. She noted the vastness of Reggie's pupils, and the frenzied pulse at her neck. She looked close to swooning, likely from hot lust rather than illness. "Um. She's good. I think."
"Let me talk to her."
Phoebe grimaced. "She's a bit busy at the moment."
"Where's Jack?"
"She's at home."
Ash unleashed a torrent of curses. "Damn it. You don't know Jack like I do. She's probably sold half my shit already." He sighed through the phone. "She get to you?"
"No, I think we came to an understanding." Phoebe wanted to ask him about his conversation with Frank. She wanted him to explain how he'd introduced her to his sisters. But then she glanced at Reggie, who licked her lips and pushed up her sagging breasts. "I should probably go."
More silence greeted Phoebe. She wasn't sure if the loudness of the venue made it difficult for him to understand what she was saying. Then she heard him chuckle.
"She took you to a strip club, didn't she?"
"Yes. Whoa." Phoebe leapt from her chair when Kalena nearly landed in her lap. The other woman threw her head back, laughing loudly as she leaned against the table. Phoebe nearly dropped her phone when she noticed the thickly-muscled man pressed against Kalena with his face buried between her breasts. "Oh, dear Jesus."
"Well, I'll just leave you two to it," Ash said. "Oh, by the way, whatever you do, don't let Reggie get on the stage." There was an audible click as Ash ended the phone call.
Phoebe was pushing her phone back into her purse when she felt something bump against her shoulder. She assumed it was one of the fawning women, but when she turned to look, she found herself at eye level with a thrusting pelvis.
Her mouth fell open as she stared hypnotically at the bulge between his legs. The stripper had removed most of his clothing. Now he was only dressed in a bright blue G-string. Leaning away from his bouncing cock, Phoebe's gaze roamed up his torso before landing on his broad, muscular shoulders. For a moment, her eyes were drawn to the distinctive tattoo that covered his shoulder and traveled down the length of his arm.
When her gaze finally reached his face, she found wicked amusement darkening his blue eyes. With an exaggerated wink, he spun around, and Phoebe bit back a shriek as she turned away. Before Phoebe crawled under the table, the last thing she saw and heard was Reggie leaning over to smack her palms against his bare ass cheeks.