“Boss, I got a hot one for you.”
There was a pause and then a shuffling followed by heavy footsteps. The door suddenly flew open, and the first thing I noticed was the red silk shirt and chest hair peeking out from underneath. He wasn’t very tall or muscular, so he didn’t intimidate me like Angel’s goonies had. Black slacks covered his legs and were tailored nicely to fit over black wingtips with gold tips. I lifted my gaze to his face and found him checking me out much like I had been doing to him but with a lot of lust. His dark hair was slick from grease and pulled back away from his face. He didn’t look a day over thirty, and I had to admit he had appeal.
If you were into the mobster type.
“What’s your name?” He never took his eyes from my legs when he finally spoke.
“Mian.”
“Not very sexy.” I bit back a smart retort and waited. His gaze finally met mine, and I found his eyes were as dark as his hair. “You don’t talk much. I like that.” He turned into the room and held the door open. “Get in here,” he roughly ordered.
I shuffled inside when I should have strutted and was just thankful his back was turned. The door closed making the music muffled and leaving only the rapid thump of my heart. Feeling a presence behind me, I peeked over my shoulder to see that Beefcake had followed us in with a leer.
“Out, Jones.”
I sent Beefcake Jones a smug smile and watched him mutter with his massive shoulders slumped as he left the room. When the door closed a second time, I became painfully aware that I was alone with a man I didn’t know.
“So, you want to dance for Caesar?”
Confused, I looked around before answering. “You’re not Caesar?”
“I am.”
Apparently, his ego was as flamboyant as this club and his gold-tipped shoes. I tried to think of what to say or do next, but instead, I fidgeted and tried to recall Brandi’s version of a pep talk before I abandoned what was left of my virtue behind along with my son.
“I know I said I liked that you didn’t talk much, but this is an interview. If you have nothing to say, then let’s get down to business. Lose the coat.” My hands flew up to the belt. “No, girl. Do it slowly.”
He extended his hand to the left and pressed a button I didn’t see. A rhythmic beat I didn’t recognize filled the room. I stood frozen trying to recall the moves Brandi showed me hours before. The singer took over now. The beat just background noise now. I instantly recognized the sexy, harmonious croon of Beyoncé singing about rolling up a partition.
“Any day now.”
I jumped into action and lifted my foot to take an exaggerated step forward.
But something went wrong.
Horribly wrong.
The heel beneath me wiggled causing me to collapse and tumble forward.
Shit.
Chapter Eleven
She’s no damsel.
ANGEL
“Run that by me again?”
“She went into Caesar’s wearing a black trench coat and red heels, Boss.”
“How long?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Report to me the second she leaves.” My keys bit the inside of my palm as I tore through my father’s house for the garage with Lucas and Z on my heels. We had been going over our plans for Mian when Lucas got the call. He listened as the caller spoke while I sat frozen. Instinct, perhaps, had warned me that Mian was the cause of the call. When he wordlessly handed me the phone, my suspicions were confirmed.
I knew Caesar’s. Lucas, Z, and I used to sneak in when we were kids to get an eye full. A blue-eyed, buxom beauty named Candy introduced me to the pleasure of blowjobs. My classmates who I had fucked on a regular basis were always too prude or scared to take the step.
“What’s the plan again?” Z questioned rhetorically. I could hear the amusement in his tone after Lucas finished explaining what had sent me into a rage.
What was the plan?
I wasn’t ready to take her yet.
She hadn’t made her move.
Caesar was a businessman, and a greedy one, but he wasn’t interested in anything that didn’t have to do with tits and ass. Not to mention his strip club was a front for something much more lucrative.
Selling pussy.
Any girl that worked for him sold their pussy whether they wanted to or not. It was a condition for a job at the Palace.
Mian risking her life to rob me started to make sense. She was never the type to use her body for gain. With my family’s secrets to sell, she would be free of Caesar.
How far down exactly had Mian spiraled?
I considered for the first time that I no longer knew anything about the girl I practically raised.
“He’s got a point,” Lucas said, siding with Z. I came to a stop at the entrance of the garage and faced them. “We still don’t know who her buyer is, and I’m not convinced it’s her pimp.”