I shrug. "Yeah? I wish her well. A shame." My stomach roars again, and I push my chair back and stand up.
"You done for tonight?" Allister shoves his hands in his pockets, regarding me with a wry smile.
"I think so. Anyone else coming in tonight?" I straighten the papers on my desk and slide them into a drawer.
My Dunhill pen goes in next. The staff chipped in and bought it for me at Christmas. I'm a hard fuck to buy for, don't want for much, but I appreciate quality and rarity. That pen is the best fucking pen in the world.
"A few gals are still here to try out." Allister reaches for his back pocket and pulls out three Polaroids, flipping through them. He squints at my face. "You get some ice on that?"
"It's fine."
"Uh huh. You're not twenty anymore. Next time, call for backup."
A throb pulses under my left eye where I took a punch earlier tonight. It will be purple by morning. Some asshole grabbed one of my girls by the hair on the floor and dragged her toward the bathroom hallway before a bouncer even moved. I moved. The asshole got three of his friends in on it before it was over, and I came out with this bruise and a split knuckle. They came out worse.
"I got the job done."
"You know we hire bouncers for that shit. You take on three at a time, old man, just at least let me stand behind you. Got it?"
"I haven't lost a fight yet, have I? Who got carried out of here calling for their mommy? Me? Nope." I'm pissed because ifthe bouncers had been doing their jobs, I wouldn't have had to. "New subject."
Allister stares at me, then nods. He knows when I'm not messing around. "No problem." He flicks one of the pictures against his palm, black Sharpie scrawled across the white strip at the bottom of the photo.
He steps toward me, ready to show me the photos, but I'm already moving, coming around the desk. I grab my briefcase off the floor before he can get close, taking my jacket off the hook, marching for the door.
"Here." He jabs the photos toward me as I work my way to the door.
I take them without looking. Tryouts don't move me. None of them do. Never have. I don't even remember the last time I jerked off. That's a story for another day.
I'm too tired to care who's standing on the other side of that door. I roll my shoulders back anyway. I love the money I make, but I want it to matter. I want to make a difference in someone's life. That's what gets me off.
There's a tug on the skin of my chest as the muscles stretch over the scars, reminding me of why I retired from the military. I roll my neck again, still trying to loosen the tightness as we near the end of the hall.
"I can handle it, boss," Allister says from just behind my left shoulder, sensing my fatigue. "Just get your food, take off, leave it to me. Two of these girls look like they won't last a day with your rules anyway. And the third?" He makes a noise in his throat. "She looks like she's never been outside her nursery before. Got a rack on her, though. Ass for days. Thick. I guarantee she's never seen the inside of a club before."
I grunt. Allister looks. He doesn't touch. Never has.
"Who's on the door tonight?" I ask, rubbing my chin.
"Buzz," he says with a huff.
"He's on his last warning."
My men work here as gentlemen, or they don't work here. Buzz thinks the place is his personal pussy buffet. It isn't.
"Yeah, I know. He's trying my patience, and there isn't much of that to begin with. When that little doe arrived, I gave him the stare. He was looking at her like she was a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken."
I bring the photos up into my line of vision.
I shoulder open the swinging door. The bright hallway light dies. The dim flash of the bar takes over. I glance down at the top photo —
And someone shoves a taser down my pants.
There she is, standing across the room, the same face as the one in the picture. Arms crossed, eyes darting around like she's just landed on Mars.
I know it's impossible, but I swear I can smell her. Some long-forgotten scent bombarding me with want for a tiny, lush stranger.
My pace quickens. I'm cutting a beeline for the three girls where Allister parked them. Except I only see one.
