Chapter Nine
Jax
“A fucking sex club?”
I threw my head back and laughed as Marty punched me in the arm. I knew I should’ve just told her it was an erotic restaurant, but the look on her face when we walked in was priceless.
“You could’ve warned me,” she whispered harshly.
“And miss out on all this fun? Not a chance.”
There were half-naked women dancing in cages strung up above the tables, and shirtless men wearing tight boy shorts with bow ties around their necks were taking orders. To be honest, I’d interviewed for a job there, but they were pickier about tattoos on their servers, so I was turned down.
Oh well; I made a shit ton more dancing than what I ever would’ve at that place.
“How many?” the hostess asked.
“None. Come on,” Marty huffed.
“Two, please,” I said as I grabbed her arm. I could tell she was furious with the girls for directing her towards something like this, but I figured if Marty could handle what happened at that bachelorette party, she could handle this.
“We’re staying?” she scowled.
“Come on, it’ll be fun! We can have some food, make some jokes, have some drinks, then go on a pontoon boat ride after. You know you’re hungry, Em.”
And just like clockwork, Marty’s stomach let out a growl that pierced through the silence as the song that was playing slowly faded into the background.
“Wonderful,” she murmured.
“Right this way,” the hostess beamed.
We sat down in a booth that was right underneath one of the dancers, and the clear floor of the cage gave me a magnificent view of her black thong.
“Classy,” Marty mumbled, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “You just think you’re so fucking funny, don’t you?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t you?”
I caught her gaze and held her fiery stare, and the anger I saw building behind her eyes slowly began to dissipate. A small grin spread across her face before she placed her elbows on the table and slapped her face into her hands, and all I could do was reach over and slowly take hold of her wrists, curling my fingers around them as I bit back a groan building in my core and slowly pulled her hands away from her reddening face.
“You look amazing tonight, Em.”
And she smiled that beautiful innocent smile I was all too familiar with from our high school days.
“You don’t look too bad yourself, Jax.”
“Good evening. My name’s—”
“—Jake?” I choked out.
I couldn’t believe my eyes: Jake, the cougar-chasing ass man I’d known since I was nineteen—the guy I worked with every damn day in my shop—was working at the fucking Love Shack. His face went pale and his eyes grew wide in horror, and I saw Marty dart her head between the two of us as I stood up and gave Jake a few pats on the back.
“Holy fuck, dude! And to think you gave me a hard time for working at the club.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Jake shrieked.
“Oh, dude. I gotta get a picture. The guys are never—”
“Dude. Stop!” Jake shrugged me off, but I was too busy pulling out my phone, trying to snap a picture of him.
“Oh, god,” I chuckled, “this is un-fucking-real.”
“Jax, stop it, alright?”
There was something in his voice that caused me to whip my head up; something I’d never heard in Jake’s voice before.
Yeah, at the garage, we always pissed him off with mom jokes and got on his ass about always dating older women, but he always threw exactly what he took. That’s how it’s always been with us.
But this was different.
“You alright, man?” I asked before I slowly dumped my phone into my pocket.
“I’ll go get you another waiter,” he mumbled.
“Hey,” I said before I reached out and grabbed his arm. He turned back around and eyed me carefully. “If I need to be paying you more at the garage—” I began.
“Nah, dude. I’m good.”
Hell, maybe he was just making money on the side because he could, but something told me that wasn’t the case.
“I’ll have a whiskey neat and she’ll have…something with apple, I bet,” I told him and gestured towards Marty.
“Yes, actually; I’ll have an appletini, please.”
And Jake nodded before he strode off for the bar.
I watched him leave before I sat back down, and it was Marty’s voice that ripped me from my thoughts just as the dancers finished changing out and the music came back on.
“You even remember how much I love apple-flavored stuff,” she smiled.
“How could I not? I probably still have wrappers from all those damn green Jolly Ranchers you used to eat stuffed in my leather jacket,” I laughed. “Besides, I remember everything about you, Em.”
“Is that so?” she grinned.
“Yes.”
I slowly reached out for her hand across the table and she actually allowed me to take it. I laced my fingers with hers as I held her gaze, and when she broke the moment to look down at our hands, I got a chance to study her face. Her freckles were a bit paler than I remembered, but her adorable cheeks were just as perky as they’d always been.
“A whiskey neat,” Jake said with a smile as he set the drinks down, “and an appletini for the lovely lady.”
“So, how do you and Jax know each other?” Marty asked, taking a sip of her drink.
“I work down at the garage with him,” Jake said.
“How long have you two worked together?”
“Jake’s one of the original four.”
“There’s four of you?”
“Yup,” Jake answered, “Me, Jax, Chip and Mitch.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Jake,” Marty smiled.
“Likewise,” he nodded. “Now, do you guys know what you’d like to eat, or would you like a little more time to look over the menu?”
“Some time would be nice, thank you,” I nodded at Jake. As he began to walk away, I heard laughter start to rise from Marty’s side of the booth.
“Oh, my god,” she chuckled into her hands.
“What?” I asked. “What is it?”
And all she did was point up.
“No panties,” she breathed, and as I looked up to behold the shaven sight of the new dancer above us, all I could do was cover my mouth with my hand and laugh alongside Marty.
“That cannot be sanitary,” she snickered.