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“Are you meeting at the apartment?”
“Yes,” she kissed his chest, and pulled out of his arms, “and now I really do have to get back to work. I really enjoyed my lunch break today.” She smirked.
“Okay, but I want you to promise me that you won’t go near Poles.” She glanced up at him and he continued, “I need that promise, Sylvia, otherwise I’m going to be worrying.”
“I have no intention of going back, so I promise. Don’t worry about me.” She reached up and quickly kissed his lips before disappearing.
Chapter Twenty
The bar at Poles was packed solid as Sylvia and Talya made their way through. A call from Yuri had interrupted their evening of catching up at the apartment. Yuri had apologized over and over again for dragging them in and he’d promised Talya that he’d have two of his friends in the club to make sure Sylvia didn’t come to any harm.
Three of the girls had called in sic
k with the flu, and Yuri had a full house and needed them to get on stage. He’d begged and sweet-talked them until they’d given in. Sylvia felt, at the time, that she was the one holding Talya back. Her friend would do anything to help Yuri, at least now that he’d apologized for his sharp words to her the other night.
Eric would hit the roof if he discovered that she was at Poles, let alone dancing. She’d promised him that she was through, but how the hell could she say no. She knew that Yuri kept his promise once he made it, so she didn’t feel threatened. In fact, one of the guys he’d said would be present was Gavriil, otherwise known as Scorpion in the underground fighter ring that she wasn’t supposed to know about. He was a frightening guy and never smiled, but he’d only ever had kind words to say to Sylvia.
“You sure about this?” Talya asked when they finally escaped backstage. “Sylvia?”
“I trust Yuri, so yes, I’m okay with this. Eric won’t be, but he’s busy with Zane tonight and with Bea being out sick, he’s not going to be dragging Eric here.”
“He doesn’t know she’s off sick, though,” Talya added.
“Oh, he does. Eric was laughing earlier saying that Zane had just gotten back from taking Bea some chicken soup.”
Talya rolled her eyes. “She’s watched Zane as much as he watched her.” She opened the door into the dressing room and ushered Sylvia inside. “The bodyguards are on the way.”
Sylvia frowned at her friend. How did she know that?
“They started toward us as soon as we got halfway across the bar.” Talya smiled and Sylvia blushed, the question must have been evident in her eyes.
“Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say. She hadn’t even seen them.
“Look, let’s just get this over with. I really don’t want to be going out on that stage either, and I know Yuri will be in a foul mood afterwards. It doesn’t really make sense why he’d ask me to get up there because he hates me being on display. That’s why I usually work the bar.” Talya opened her locker and started to pull out her hot pants outfit.
She was right. Yuri hated her dancing, which is why she had the most covered outfit of them all.
Sylvia had a surprise when she opened her locker. She had the same outfit as Talya but in purple. She smiled and made a mental note to thank Yuri.
Looking over her shoulder, Talya whistled when she spotted the outfit. “Surprised, huh?”
“I am. It’s about time I had a nice surprise waiting in my locker.” She hung them up on the door and started to get changed.
“You will be able to dance in them, right? You’re used to skin against the pole.”
Talya referred to her legs. She used the bend of her knee to hold herself onto the pole when she was upside down. “I’ll be fine.”
“Good.”
Sylvia reached for the small shirt, and gasped when a note fell out to the floor. Talya was there before Sylvia had the wits to pick it up. “What does it say?” she whispered as her friend scooped it up and slowly opened it.
Talya shook her head with tears in her eyes. She turned and walked to the door, and after whispered words with Gavriil, she was back next to Sylvia. “I’m sorry.” She wrapped her arm around Sylvia. “This bastard needs to be stopped.”
Within minutes, the door slammed open, they both jumped and Talya ran across the room to Yuri, wrapping herself around him. The poor Russian was taken by surprise before he held her tight, and kissed the top of her head. “What’s wrong, moia liubov?”
Sylvia was distracted from the unexpected note with her friend seeking comfort from Yuri. She knew that they were attracted to the other, but had she missed something? They hadn’t been that close before, at least, not in front of her.
It wasn’t long before Talya sniffed and pulled out of Yuri’s arms. Sylvia sensed that the Russian felt empty without Talya. Her friend avoided Yuri’s eyes and showed him the note that she’d yet to show her.
