Meagan froze as Brad looked between Joshua and me. “Excuse me?” I asked as I balled my fists.
Joshua looked back at Brad and said, “It’s crazy to think that the owner of this fine establishment also owns a male strip club on the outskirts of town.”
“What are you doing?” Meagan asked as she glared at Joshua.
Brad looked confused as hell. “Um, well, I guess as long as everything is legal it’s all good.”
Joshua slowly turned and stared at me. “Well I don’t know, lets ask the detective. After all, he used to work there.”
Standing, I rounded the table and grabbed Joshua as Meagan jumped up. “Gray, don’t.”
Pulling Joshua closer to me, I gritted my teeth together. “I don’t know what your play is, but I suggest you leave now.”
With an evil laugh, Joshua pulled his arm from my grasp. “Better watch out detective, you wouldn’t want to have anyone thinking police brutality is going on.”
“Fuck you, asshole!” Meagan shouted as Diana came walking back over.
“Problem?”
Taking another step toward Joshua, I looked directly into his eyes. “Yeah, Di, the trash needs to be taken out.”
Less than thirty seconds later, Joshua was being walked out as I followed behind them. Meagan stayed back at the table with her father while I stepped outside and stood in front of this piece of fucking shit.
Joshua flashed me a cocky ass grin as he shook his head. “Stripper turned cop. Pretty interesting story.”
“You snooping around in my life?”
His eyes turned dark as his grin dropped. “You’re snooping in mine so I thought I would return the favor. Want to tell me why you’re so interested in me?”
“It’s part of an investigation.”
“For what?”
“Murder.”
Joshua’s face turned white. “You’re barking up the wrong tree, detective. I suggest you look elsewhere or I’ll have my father slap you with a harassment charge.”
With a laugh, I asked, “Harassment charge?” I took one step closer to him. We were practically standing head to head. “Listen here you little fucker, you mess with me and I promise you you’re gonna pay for it. And as far as Meagan goes, don’t you even utter a word to her or you’ll be hit with a restraining order.”
Joshua’s eyes narrowed as he gave me a dismissive nod. “We’re done here then?”
“You bet your fucking ass we are.”
Taking a step back, Joshua glanced over my shoulder before turning and walking out the door.
My heart was pounding so hard in my chest it felt as if I couldn’t breathe. I motioned to Meagan for one second. She looked frazzled and I couldn’t help but notice how angry Brad looked.
Great. Just fucking great.
Pulling out my phone, I hit Derrick’s number.
“What’s up?”
“I just had an interesting run in with Joshua Black. I want a tag on him twenty-four seven.”
“All right. Want to tell me what in the hell happened?”
Sighing heavily, I pushed my fingers through my hair and cursed. “Can I fill you in later? I have serious damage control to do with my future father–in-law.”
“Oh hell. Yeah, no worries. Call me later. Meanwhile, I’ll get on it.”
“Thanks, Winn. I owe you.”
Hitting End, I looked around for the little fucker. If he walked up to me I’d bash his fucking head in.
Before I had a chance to head back into the restaurant, Meagan and her father came walking out. Meagan was clearly pissed off and Brad didn’t look any happier.
“My father is being an asshole.”
“Meagan!” Brad and I both said at once.
Brad glared as Meagan stepped between us. “Dad, you promised me you would wait until we got back to the apartment.”
“You were a stripper? A male fucking stripper?”
My hands clenched and unclenched as my anger grew.
“Dad!”
“Yes, I was. I worked my way through college being a male stripper. That says nothing about who I am, though.”
Brad let out a contempt laugh. “The hell it doesn’t.” Turning to Meagan he pointed to me. “You really want to marry a guy who’s slept with lord knows how many women? Seriously, Meagan, where is your head at?”
Now it was Meagan’s turn to get angry. “How dare you judge him, Dad! You don’t know anything about Gray, except for spending a few hours with him talking and shooting guns. So he worked at a strip club; why do you think that automatically makes him a manwhore? Tell me, Dad, how many women have you slept with? Have you ever looked twice at a woman after you married Mom?”
Brad immediately looked away as Meagan took a step back and covered her mouth. Turning back to Meagan, Brad shook his head. “It’s not what you’re thinking, Meagan.”
“Oh my God. Is that why she left you before I was born? Because you cheated on her?”
Shit. This was turning south and fast.