The heat builds between us, embers always burning just below the surface but spark-flashing into flames, and we pause our conversation to make love or fuck, sometimes both. The pulsing music from the club below occasionally gives us a new tempo to match, leaving us both laughing at times afterward.
With Maggie, even when I’m slamming into her from behind, her hair wrapped in my fist as she cries out, her ass pink from my hand and my marks all over her smooth skin . . . even then, it’s a hundred percent love.
Finally, we fall into bed together, happily exhausted.
“Well, at least we’ve done one thing right,” Maggie says as she giggles and lays a naked thigh across my leg.
“What’s that?” I ask. “I think we’ve done a lot of things right today.”
“Oh, no doubt. But what I meant was that everyone goes to a strip club to indulge in a sexual fantasy, but it’s only that, a fantasy. We get to do the real thing.”
“Good point. Now we just need to get a pole up here and—”
Maggie tickles me in the ribs, making me laugh. “And I’ll make you dance for me!”
I don’t answer, but the reality is if she asked, I damn well might do it.
Chapter 23
Maggie
By late that night, or technically early the next morning, Shane and I finally lift our heads from being lost in each other and the hopes that there’s any way this is going to be okay.
Okay, okay . . . we lift our heads from a nap, but as I told Shane, I’m unemployed.
Soon after the club closes, we carefully head downstairs, as Shane says he wants to check in with Dominick. I sneak backstage and find Allie alone in the locker room.
She’s dressed in her silky robe, sitting at a mirrored table to remove the layers of makeup she wears for the stage. “Hey, Allie. How was the show tonight?”
She looks up, meeting my eyes in the mirror, and I can tell she’s still mad. Guess I can understand. I mean, I did drop a grenade into the middle of her world.
“No, don’t do that,” Allie replies, barbs in every word that sting as they hit my eardrums. “Don’t ask me shit like how my dancing went or how my night was. Like you care when your whole gig here was fake.”
Ouch. I step into the dressing room, really trying. Allie’s important to me. “I do care. And it wasn’t all fake. Yeah, the job, calling myself Meghan . . . but I meant what I said about feeling like I belonged here and that I found a family.”
Allie snorts, her eyes glued to the mirror as she peels her fake lashes off. “I don’t know if I should believe that. I mean, you’re obviously a good liar, so how can I ever believe what you say?”
I sigh, hugging myself and knowing she’s got a point. “You’re right, but I swear, Allie. You’re one of my best friends, not just in this life,” I say, indicating the club around us, “but in my whole life. You think I didn’t want to let you in all the way? I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth and that it hurt you.”
Allie finally turns around to face me. “This is some really fucked up shit you’ve gotten me into. I didn’t know all that stuff from yesterday.”
My eyebrows jump as my jaw drops, and I try to keep my voice to a whisper. “You didn’t know about Dominick, about the mob?”
Allie shakes her head, whispering back just in case we’re overheard. “No! I mean, I knew Dom was a bigwig, but I thought it was just . . . here, as the owner of a fancy strip club. I didn’t know he was big, like in charge of the city. Who wants to work in a mob-owned strip club?”
I nod, knowing that especially with Allie’s background, that’s the last place she ever imagined she’d end up. “So, what happened?”
Allie turns back to her table and starts working on her makeup again. “That guy’s blood was all over me. Dominick carried me into his office and helped me get cleaned up. He was furious, the anger buzzing around him like a force field, but he was gentle with me. Tucked me in on the couch in his office and went out to talk to the guys.”
“That was about the time Shane was hustling me out of the club,” I reply. “He was so worried about me. Looking back, it was touching.”
Allie finally gives me a ghost of a smile, looking into the mirror. “I bet. I don’t know what Dom told the guys. I guess I just avoided thinking about it because I was in shock. He gave me a couple of days off, even offered to let me stay upstairs in the apartment you’re in, but I just wanted to go home and hide in my own bed, you know? So he drove me there himself and came by morning and night to make sure I ate and was okay. He took care of me, and when he wasn’t there, Nick or Logan was downstairs, making sure I was safe. And then you called with the whole meeting thing, and he said he needed me to be there, for him and for you. And the three of you just sat there and spouted off all this big scary shit like it was normal conversation.”
I realize that while everyone always teases me about my innocence, this time, it’s Allie whose bubble of innocence was burst. “I’m sorry you found out like that. I didn’t know what you knew, but we needed you there because we thought Dominick wouldn’t hurt us in front of you.”
Allie smiles sadly, turning around to face me. “You used me. I figured out that part, at least, and I guess I can see why. I just wish I could go back to being blind to all of this around me. I mean, Dominick’s a great guy who’s been taking care of me, a good boss who makes it feel safe here, considering it’s a strip club. But now, I’m just . . . lost.”
Her words break my heart, and I step closer, putting my hands on her shoulders. “You’re not lost, Allie. Nothing here has changed. You’re still you, Dominick is still Dominick, and I’m still me. Now, the veil is just lifted and you’re seeing behind the curtain a bit. It’s shocking, but it’s better to know the truth, even if it’s ugly, than a pretty lie.”
Allie puts a hand over mine and looks over her shoulder. “That’s me, the pretty tragedy. Don’t worry, I’m just still adjusting. I don’t know what to think about all of this. Tonight was the first night I’ve performed since the shooting. I was just in total mind dump mode, not thinking at all. Although I practiced so much at home that I finally got that spinning death-drop move perfected. It was flawless.”
I grin, even as her eyebrows pull together. “I might need to rename the move though. Seems a bit dark, considering what’s been happening.”
I rub her shoulders gently. “Call it whatever you want. Allie, what’s awesome about you is how even in the deepest of valleys, you’ve never given up. You keep working until you find a hilltop, and that’s where you make your stand for the next journey. You sort of helped me, too. So many times over the past couple of months, I kept telling myself, ‘be like Allie. She’d keep going.’ And it was true.”
Allie takes a deep breath, nodding. “I like that. So . . . Shane? Is that where you’re standing for your next journey?”
I smile, feeling the mood shift to some semblance of before, when we’d dish about how hot the security guys are and lament Dominick’s no-fraternizing policy. Even as she cheered me on, she also thought it’d never happen. Guess we were both wrong.
Grabbing a chair, I sit down next to her, grinning foolishly as she raises an eyebrow. “What can I say except . . . he’s amazing, even better than what you used to tease me about. The last few days have been scary, especially when we had to explain the huge web of lies and get everything untangled. But he’s been there for me, kept me safe.”
I sigh, not fully able to put into words everything I feel about Shane.
But Allie seems to understand, grinning mischievously. “I can see he’s been there . . . and there, and oh, over there too, twice, by the looks of it,” she says cheekily as she indicates the various marks visible on my body. “Is there any part of you he hasn’t been?”
I blush furiously, proud of Shane’s claiming of me but feeling shy that she’s pointing them out so . . . individually. “Yeah, he’s a little . . . mouthy . . . and possessive. I, uh . . . I like it.”
I can feel my face burning even brighter, and Allie smiles.