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“That’s a really annoying sound,” I tell him.
He just laughs, seeming unbothered. “You’re not going to make much in tips with that attitude.”
A sensation of mounting dread rolls over me. “What are you talking about?”
“Why do you think we have you guys in these pretty outfits? You’ve got to get up on the stage and work for your keep.” His attention moves to the rearview mirror as he addresses everyone in the vehicle. “Anybody who bitches out doesn’t have what it takes to be in Havoc House.”
So much for him being the nice one.
I’ll never understand why so many male-centered groups use humiliation as a bonding activity, but there you go.
But I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of putting up a fight that I won’t win.
“I hope you’re not expecting me to perform to your whistling. Music is probably better.”
Cole’s gaze leaves the road for the briefest second to look at me. “And here I thought you’d be more concerned about getting up in front of a bunch of men while wearing a skimpy outfit. Where’s the fight that I was waiting for.”
I glare at him. “Would that help anything?”
He chuckles again. “Nope.”
We pull into the dark parking lot of the strip club. I can’t tell if the place even has a name, because the sign out front just says Live Nude.
Cole casts me a warning look as he gets out of the car, so I strip off my jacket and toss it onto the seat before shutting the door. I shudder against the cold and wrap my arms around myself as we make our way inside.
The aging bouncer leaps to his feet as soon as he sees us approaching. “We’ve got a private room set up for you back.”
Cole barely acknowledges him as we step into the dark breezeway. Apparently, the Havoc Boys are good for enough cash that they don’t have to pay a cover charge.
The bouncer eyes me with obvious interest as I walk past him. On instinct, I want to cover my chest or pull my skirt down by a few inches, but I don’t want to give any of them the satisfaction of thinking that I’m nervous or off-balance.
I am not one of those girls who is going to pretend that she likes going to strip clubs when they actually skeeve me out. It’s not the naked women that I have a problem with, but the creepy ass men who sit around at the sticky tables waving money in the air. Even a man who would otherwise seem totally normal is different in a place like this, like a misogynistic trance comes over him.
Maybe it’s the expectation that everything is for sale.
The place smells like baby powder and cucumber melon body spray, with a nice overlay of dirty gym socks. I can barely make out the tables and chairs in the dimness because only the main stage is lit. The woman on stage writhes on the floor and I get a glimpse of breasts the size of her head before I look away.
“Nervous?” A voice taunts in my ear.
I turn to see Nolan’s malicious grin flash in the dark. “Nope. Are you?”
“We’ll just have to see about that.”
Drake comes up behind him and jerks his head toward that back of the club. “We’re over here.”
I follow them to what has to be the VIP section of the club. It’s just a smaller area with a bunch of tables surrounding a small stage that’s currently empty.
“We need to get some girls back here?” Nolan says loudly.
As if on cue, three strippers enter the room through a parted curtain behind the stage.
“Someone looking for a party?” One of them asks as she does a little twirl around the pole before stepping off the stage.
Nolan waves a hundred-dollar bill in the air, motioning the stripper over. “My friend over here needs a lap dance.”
With annoyance, I realize that he is directing the stripper toward Drake. For his part, Drake looks like he wants to refuse. When his gaze briefly meets mine, I subtly shake my head at him. The last thing he needs to do is raise his friends’ suspicions. If the old Drake would have happily let a stripper grind on him, then the new Drake has to do the same thing.
I force myself not to look at him for too long. His hands are relaxed on the arms of his chair and his expression is one of detached amusement. Anyone looking at him would think that he was just as into getting a lap dance as the rest of these Neanderthals seem to be.
