Page 17 of Born to Scar

“Tonight.”

I shake my head.

Ken, our four clients, and I are sitting in a booth next to the stage. We have drinks and women come and go, dancing around us, while we work on contracts. I’m not particularly interested in watching any of these women.

Strip clubs have never been my thing. I get the appeal, but it’s not for me. It’s nothing in particular that makes me dislike them other than the fact that my father tried to force me to like them. But that just made me resent the experience even more.

A large group of people walks in later in the night, sitting in three reserved booths along the other side of the room. I recognize a few of them in that group.

Then I see her hair. Her silver and black hair flows down her back, and I can’t pull my eyes away from her. She slides into the booth between Jared and the bouncer from the bar she works at—Micky, I think she called him. He has a girl all over him, practically in his lap, but she came with them. She’s not part of the strip club.

Indy’s laugh echoes through the club over the music. Or maybe it’s just me who can hear her? Ken snaps me out of my ogle. “Do you know them?”

“No.” I shake my head and return to the chatter at our table.

Except I keep looking over, like she’ll disappear if I don’t. Our eyes meet as Jared is running his finger under her jaw, tipping her head, whispering in her ear. Glaring at her, she smirks with hooded eyes. She knows exactly who I am and what the fuck she is doing.

He says something good, because she laughs before sucking her bottom lip in under her teeth, but she never breaks eye contact with me. Once his grip loosens from around her waist, she stands from the booth and heads to the back, toward the private rooms.

I excuse myself from my table and follow. Her voice carries before I see her. “Hey, lady! Looking hot as fuck as usual.”

“You want a dance, Indy?”

“Nah, not tonight, Bug. But Jared does.”

In the shadows, I grip her wrist. She doesn’t try to jerk away. She was luring me back here. We both know that. She turns to me with her brilliant smile. “Hi,” she says. It’s the same way she spoke to me the first time we met.

“What are you doing here?” I snap.

“Oh, touchy, are we?”

“So, you’re with Jared, huh?” I ask, but it’s dripping in jealousy, and I hate myself for it. I have no reason to be jealous, but here I am, losing my mind over it.

She arches her brow. “I’m not with anyone.”

I huff a mirthless laugh. “He’s all over you.”

She shrugs with one shoulder. “What are you doing here, pretty boy?” she asks, running her finger down my jaw, making me swallow. My body betrays me by leaning into her.

“I am working,” I snap, still leaning toward her touch.

“Why are you so testy?”

“Why are you here, Indy?”

She bats her lashes, looking at me like I’m crazy. And maybe I am. “This is my city, I belong here. And we’re celebrating. You could come and celebrate with us, too. But you wouldn’t be caught dead with us with those other suits out there, would you?” Her tone is teasing, but there is truth in her words.

She knows I can’t risk that. She’s baiting me, and it’s pissing me off. She kisses my throat, and my breath hitches. She sucks my Adam’s apple, licking over it, leaving a trail of fire burning straight through me. The groan that rumbles through my chest is loud and unwanted.

“You think you can just do this?” I whisper. Her lips curve up on the skin of my neck.

“Can’t I?”

The truth is, I want more. So much more. Placing my hand on the small of her back, I press her body into mine. A satisfied hum vibrates from her lips.

“Yes,” I breathe.

But our moment is short-lived.