“Got it,” his friend said.
I watched Rich strut to the door that led to the office and the entrance to the girls’ dressing room, trailing behind Mason and the club’s manager.
I hurried back behind the bar, trying to gather my wits together, torn between running as far from this place as possible and figuring out a way to find out where the three of them went and what they were discussing.
“Lowry’s comin’ on strong,” Kip said, “even for him. Mud was right.”
I looked up at him, stuffing down my panic. “Right about what?”
“Rich likes a certain type of girl, and you fit the bill.”
“What? Brown hair?”
He laughed. “Actually, yeah, that’s part of it. Long brown hair, not too skinny but not too stacked either. But it’s more than that. He likes ’em a little classy but not overly done up.”
“Girl next door,” I finished.
“Yeah.”
“And he always gets what he wants, right?”
“Anything he wants. The sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be—financially and otherwise.”
Now it made sense why Mud had been so interested in hiring me. “We got interrupted. He had to go meet someone. Why didn’t his friend go with him?”
“His friend isn’t important enough to meet the owner.”
Mason was meeting the owner. That couldn’t be good. “The owner?”
“They meet every Friday night, and then Lowry meets men in the VIP rooms later. But something different’s going on tonight. That guy at the front door is new.”
I shot a look of surprise up at him. I’d been peppering him with questions, forgetting his rule about smart girls. So what did it mean that he was actually answering me?
He shrugged, guessing the source of my confusion. “Lowry picked you. That means you’re in. The way he’s taken with you, he’ll probably have you with him for some of his meetings.”
“Did Sapphire sit in on some of his meetings?”
“Only the last night she was here. Lowry didn’t like her as much as he seems to like you.”
“Because she wasn’t his usual type?” I asked.
“Plus, she was a little bit too eager to suit him. But the man has his needs, and he couldn’t have Diamond because she belongs to the owner.”
I hated the way he talked about us like we were property. But I had more pressing concerns than his misogynistic attitude.
I had to figure out how to get Mason out of here.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“I have to go to the bathroom,” I said.
“Now?” Kip groaned.
“Yes.”
He pointed to the door Mason had just disappeared through. “It’s in that hallway. Hurry.”
I circled the counter, and Rich’s friend, McDonald, watched as I went through the door to the backstage area.
The second door on the left was marked “Ladies.” I ducked inside the single bathroom and pulled out my phone. There was a text from Skeeter.
Get the hell out of there.
I wasn’t going anywhere. Not yet.
I wasn’t sure what to do, so I called my best friend. “He’s here, Neely Kate.”
“Mason?”
“Yeah.” My voice broke as it finally sank in why he was here.
“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.”
“He’s somewhere in the back with Mud, one of Skeeter’s guys, and the owner. I don’t know what to do.”
“There’s nothing to do. You can’t stop him. Just walk out the back door and let’s go home.”
“I can’t, Neely Kate. It’s Mason!”
“Rose . . .”
“No! Something doesn’t make sense. If the owner of Gems is meeting with Mason right now, and Mason is taking bribes from him, why were Skeeter’s guys trying to kill him?”
“You saw visions of Skeeter’s men. Isn’t it obvious? Skeeter’s behind it.”
“No.” I shook my head. “He promised me if I helped him that he wouldn’t hurt Mason.”
“Rose, he lied to you. Why does that surprise you? He’s a hardened criminal.”
I pressed my back against the door and closed my eyes.
There was a knock on the door behind me, and I jumped.
“I gotta take a leak!” one of the dancers shouted.
“Just a minute!” I called out to her.
“Rose,” Neely Kate said. “I’m beggin’ you. Come out and let me take you home.”
Part of me said she was right. There was nothing I could do. This was what Mason had chosen. But I couldn’t wrap my head around the why of it. I knew him. Mason would never take bribes. There was something going on here I didn’t understand. What on earth would motivate Mason to throw everything away?
What if it somehow had to do with me?
“I’m not leavin’ yet.”
The phone vibrated almost immediately after I hung up. Skeeter. I declined the call and seconds later Skeeter sent a text.
You get your ass out of that building or Jed’s busting in to get you.
I texted back. I can’t!
Give me one good reason why not.
Mason’s here.
There was nearly a ten-second pause. You have fifteen minutes.
Shit.