Stone
It’s Friday and I’ve been stuck at home by myself for hours waiting for Miranda to get here. I tried so hard to keep myself busy, but I’m nervous as hell. All day I’ve been trying to figure out what I’m going to say to my staff tonight as I introduce myself to everyone and discuss the issue we’re battling right now. Not to mention I’m a bit concerned about Miranda being at the club even though I asked her to come point Benny and his goons out to me. I’ve planned for the girls to have a table near one of the bouncers so they can call me should there be any issues. I’m hoping since Saturdays are probably busier at Vixen, they will come tonight so I don’t have to have Miranda there tomorrow too.
I’m in the kitchen making dinner when she comes running through the door. She’s out of breath and it has me concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m running late from work and I still need to change so we can get to the club for your meeting.”
I shake my head. “Go, hurry up and change. Dinner is ready.”
She runs off to our room, stripping as she goes to change into something a bit more comfortable for tonight. While she does, I put pasta, salad, and garlic bread on plates and set them down on the table. She comes back in wearing these leggings and pink top that barely covers that sweet ass of hers and she’s carrying black calf high boots. She sits down across from me, placing her boots behind her. “Thanks, this looks delicious,” she says.
“Thanks.” I dig in because right now I’m so nervous I can’t think straight.
“What’s wrong, Stone?”
I look up. “Nothing, just eating my dinner.”
“Really.” She stares at me, and I can see in her eyes she’s pissed. Once again I wipe my hands down the legs of my jeans.
I can’t stand her staring any longer, so I jump up from the table, practically knocking the chair over. I go to the kitchen, dumping my plate, and then lean on the edge of the counter, looking down. I can’t believe how much I’m struggling with this and it kills me that she sees it. We both wait in total silence for a minute, but when I say nothing, she leaves the table and slips her body between mine and the counter, forcing me to look into her beautiful eyes. “I’m worried about you,” I finally say in a low, gravelly voice. I wrap my arms around her, squeezing her to my chest. “I can’t let them hurt you, and something in my gut tells me this guy is dangerous.”
“Well, for tonight it’s just another night at work. We’ll take it one day at a time. Once I point out Benny and his goons, you’ll know who they are and that’ll make it easier for you to protect both me and the club.” I nod, silently hoping she’s right. “Finish getting ready. We need to leave soon so you’re not late.” I look down at my watch and realize she’s right—we need to get going.
We pull up to the club and we’re one of the first ones here. Logan is here because he manages this club, for now. He’s considering hiring an assistant manager so he can be around more for Sky. I hope my becoming head bouncer helps him out and takes some of the stress off him. Being the head bouncer, I now have a key, so I let Miranda and myself in. We find Logan at the main bar, stocking it and getting ready for the night. “Hey, Logan.” I put my hand out to shake his. He hugs Miranda and says hello.
“Listen, you and your friends are going to sit in that booth right there. I always have a bouncer over in this corner, so you ladies will be safe there. Stone, you will inform your team of the situation, make sure they realize that no one other than Sandie, you, or I approach that table.”
“Got it,” I say to him.
He turns back to Miranda. “As soon as you spot Benny, you are to let your bouncer know and he’ll call us. You’ll point him out to us and we’ll get them out of here.” She nods at him and then the back doorbell rings, letting us know that the staff are starting to arrive for our meeting. I run to the back to let them in while Logan makes Miranda a drink. I know she’s nervous because she orders a Parrot Bay Rum and Coke. She hardly ever drinks hard liquor.
I open the door to find one of my bouncers. I put out my hand. “Hey, man. I’m Stone.”
“Good to meet you, I’m Tommy. I’ve been bouncing here since Logan opened the place.”
“Cool.” I’m about to shut the door when I hear someone shout.
“Hold up!” I open it again and see another bouncer running toward the door. Both guys are in black pants and black fitted polo shirts. That’s dress code for this club. Logan likes the guys to look good, but tough too, so everything on us bulky men is fitted. Shit, I look like I’m about to rip my shirt, and both these guys are a tad bigger than me. I hold out my hand yet again and introduce myself as the new head bouncer. He returns the handshake and tells me he’s Jake. The three of us head back to the bar where I left Logan and Miranda.
I’m introducing them when the doorbell rings and Logan says, “I’ll get it. Get to know your guys.”
He walks off and Jake says, “Logan told me about you. I believe I’m in your section tonight.”
I wrap my arm around Miranda. “Do I have to tell you that she’s my girlfriend and extremely important to me?”
“Not at all. I got it.”
I nod. “I’m glad to hear that, because if anything happens to my girl this weekend, it’s your balls I’m serving up on a silver platter.”
He laughs. “Don’t worry, you’ll see we all take our jobs seriously, and I like my balls where they are.” He grabs his junk.
I slap him on the arm. “Good.”
Logan comes back with the bartenders and two more guys. It’s almost time for my meeting to start and I’m still missing two bouncers. Lord help them if they’re late. I don’t take kindly to tardiness, and I will use them as an example if I have to. I don’t want to be a dick, but these guys need to take me seriously. The girls are helping Logan behind the bar while Miranda and I are sitting with the bouncers chatting about everyday life. They ask her what she does for a living and she fills them in on her marketing career and how she has been hired to work for the club that’s causing issues for us. “I’ll be pointing out the guys from the other club to you.” She looks so proud to be helping us out, even though she was hired to work for them. My last two bouncers come strolling in right on time.
“Ready?” Logan asks.
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, now that you’re all here, I’m going to kick off this meeting because we have work to do. Some of you have already met our new head bouncer, those of you who haven’t had the pleasure yet, this is Stone Alexander. He’s coming to us from Club Thrive, and is a great guy to have on our team. He’ll do anything he can for you so long as you don’t cross him, so stay on his good side and you’ll have no problems.” He nods to me. “Take it away.”
“Thanks, Logan. Like Logan said, I’m Stone. I’m former military police. I served two tours overseas and then decided I’d had enough. I got the nickname Stone while I was serving our country because I didn’t take any shit. My friends used to say I was hard as rocks when it came to my stubbornness and that I was stone cold when I was angry.” I shrug, the nickname stuck. “Don’t ask my real name because I haven’t used it in years and I won’t tell you anyway. There are only a few people who know my real name. Oh, and if I catch you trying to pry it from my girl, I’ll kick your ass,” I say with laughter in my voice. The crew starts laughing with me. “This is Miranda…she’s my girl, and she’s here tonight because her firm was hired to do a marketing plan for Vixen. The club owner, Randall Higgins, is pissed because when Club Heat opened, his club went to shit. He’s sending some goons here this weekend to check out our club, and Miranda knows what one of them looks like, so she’s keeping an eye out and is going to report to Jake as soon as she sees him.”
I can see they’re pissed at the thought of being spied on and so am I, but this is why we have to kick them out this weekend. A hand goes up. “What’s up?” I question.
“Do you realize we’re short staffed?”
“Yes, Logan has filled me in. I have already placed an ad to hire someone and have started receiving applications. I’ll be going through them Sunday and getting another guy as soon as possible.”
“Tonight, Jake, you’ll be over here.” Logan points to where he wants him. “That’s where Miranda will be sitting with her friends. I’m sure Stone has already filled you in on the importance of your job for the night.”
“Yeah, he threatened my balls, dude.”
Logan laughs. “Yeah, that’s Stone.” He shakes his head. “Craig and Ressie, you two will be at the door.” They nod at Logan. “Tommy, you and Dusty are at the stage, and that leaves Keenan, you’ll man that side of the club.” He points to the opposite side of the bar from where Jake will be standing. “Starting next week, Stone will be placing you around the club, but since he was thrown in here tonight, I’m doing it through the weekend. Any questions?” He looks around.
I’m looking around the room to see if anyone is going to say anything, but no one does. “They’re all yours, Stone.”
I pull my guys aside to give them my cell number, letting them know they can call me at any time should there be an issue at the club and I’m not here. We’re standing by the stage talking when the girls come walking in the room. A few of them strut their stuff for the guys, distracting them.
Logan shouts, “Cut the shit, girls, and get ready for the show.” A few of them giggle and walk to the back of the stage where they get changed into costumes. I see Miranda cross her arms as she gives me a look that screams, I knew it. I’m really going to have to talk to the girls about behaving themselves.
“Do you guys have any questions for me?” I shake away my issues with Miranda.
“No, but your girl looks pissed.”
“Yeah, well, she’s concerned with the stripper situation and the girls didn’t help just now.”
“Good luck with that, bro,” Ressie laughs.
“Yeah, thanks.” I shake my head. “All right, let’s get to work and show Logan we can keep this place safe.”
I’m one lucky bastard. These guys could have been total assholes to me because I was brought in from the other club to be head bouncer instead of one of them getting it, but instead they were totally cool about it. I’ll have to figure out a way to thank them if they continue to prove themselves loyal.
I walk Miranda to her table and slip in beside her. “Stop. I couldn’t give a fuck about those girls.” I plant a kiss on her lips and she softens, smiling at me.
“I’ll try to remember that. The kiss definitely helped,” she says with a small grin.
“Good. I’ll see you soon, I have to go open the club now.”
***
Miranda
Poor Stone has been a nervous wreck all day and my stupid insecurities aren’t helping him. He slips into the booth next to me and plants the softest kiss on my lips while looking into my eyes. He’s so sweet to me and I love him so much for it. “Go get this place open. My friends are probably waiting outside.”
“Okay, I love you, baby.”
“Love you too, William,” I say with laughter. I think it’s funny he doesn’t want the guys knowing his real name. I admit it doesn’t really fit him, but it’s still fun to remind him once in a while.
He growls at me, “That’ll earn you a spanking later, little lady,” he says, walking toward the doors.
“I hope that’s a promise you intend to keep,” I shout over to him and I watch as he shakes his head, not bothering to look back over his shoulder. I look up to see Jake standing about three feet away from my booth. I’m looking around, checking the place out, when I realize that people are filing in the door. I know Benny won’t be here yet because he won’t want to draw attention to himself. He’ll get here when it’s busier and everyone is more worried about the show than who’s wandering around, but of course Katie is here, and I couldn’t be happier to see her. Stone is walking her to the table and he calls over a waitress. “This is Sandie, she’s your waitress for the night. Jake knows that only myself, Logan, or Sandie should come anywhere near you.” He looks over to him and he nods his head in agreement. We place our drink order and Stone walks off toward the front of the club and Sandie leaves us to get our drinks.
“He looks uptight,” Katie says.
“Yeah, he’s freaking out. He has been all day.”
A few minutes later Sandie is back with our drinks and Lila is walking in the door. “Hey, girls.” She slips into the booth with us.
“Hey, Lila, want a drink? Sandie is our waitress,” I tell her, so of course she places her order and Sandie tells us she’ll be right back.
“This place is pretty hot,” Lila says, looking around. “I’ve never been in a strip club before.”
“Us either, never really been our thing, but if I want to be with Stone, then I guess I have to hang here once in a while.”
“No, you don’t. You can tell by the way he looks at you that he wouldn’t dare even go next to anyone else. He really loves you, Miranda,” Katie says.
“I know, but I want these bitches to know I’m here too, and that he’s mine.”
“Staking her claim,” Lila says with a small grin.
“For sure,” I say. “My man is hot, and I don’t want them trying to sink their claws into him.”
The club is in full swing. Men are wandering around getting tables and there’s music playing in the background. A few guys have glanced our way, making note that there’s a table of women in the club. We just laugh and continue on with our conversation when suddenly the lights dim and the music changes. All of the girls performing tonight strut their stuff onto the stage wearing string bikinis. They go right into a choreographed routine that shows just how flexible they each are. I’ll admit they look pretty hot. Not that I would ever go that way, but I’m just saying. Some of the moves they’re doing remind me of a pole dancing class the girls and I took once. It was pretty fun and we’ve talked about doing it again. Maybe this time we’ll include Lila.
I look over at Katie and Lila, and I’m glad to see they are just as taken in by these girls as I am. “Remember the class we took?” I shout to Katie over the noise of the cheering crowd.
She nods and Lila shouts back, “What class?”
In unison we both respond, “Pole dancing.”
“Sweet,” Lila says with a huge grin.
“If Sky can get us another class, will you come?” I ask.
“Sure.” She shrugs her shoulders like it’s no big deal, but the smile on her face shows how excited she really is. The show ends, and some of the girls exit the stage while others stay on and begin dancing around poles and continuing on with another routine. I realize I haven’t been on the lookout for Benny, so I start skimming the crowd. It’s really not that late, so I feel like he wouldn’t be here yet, but he only has so much time to get through the line to make it in and actually check it out.
I call Jake over. “What if he reserved a VIP room under one of the goons? We may not see him.” I can see him thinking about what I said.
“What does he look like?”
“Big guy, bald. He has a weird skull tattoo on his forearm.” He gives me a look that screams really? “Hey, I’m sorry. I’ve only seen the guy twice.” Then I remember, “Oh, he has a small scar on his left cheek. It’s small, but I remember seeing it and thinking he probably had a beer bottle smashed across his face.” He steps back and calls into his ear wig.
We order another round of drinks, and when Sandie delivers them, he tells us that the VIP rooms were checked and no one even close to that description was in any of them. I nod my head and continue on with the conversation I’m having with the girls.
It’s now starting to get late and I’m milking my drinks. I want to have fun, but I’m trying to keep an eye out too. That’s when I see two bald guys and a dude with spiked hair walking through the crowd. I’m squinting my eyes because they’re across the room, but I’m almost positive it’s him. I just need him to get a little closer. They point to an open table on my side of the room and they make their way over, but he must sense someone watching him because he starts looking around. I call Jake because now I know it’s him, and that’s when he spots me. An evil grin spreads across his ugly face and he nods at me, letting me know he saw me. Fuck.
In a matter of seconds, Stone, Logan, and Ressie are on the guys, telling them they are not welcome and need to go. They’re pissed and arguing, and that’s when I start praying they don’t begin fighting. “It’ll be okay.” Katie tries to comfort me. That’s when I realize that I’m shaking.
The guys finally hold their hands up in defeat and begin walking out of the club, but not before Benny turns around and gives me one last dirty look. I’m so fucked.