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Her lips curve into a sad smile. “I heard about that.”
“Great.” I roll my eyes. I bet Ravage told her, that dick.
“Dancing here isn’t the way to his heart,” she says.
“And I suppose you’re the expert?”
She blows out a breath. “Obviously not.”
We stare at each other.
She drops her gaze first. “I’m sorry for what I said to you at Lincoln’s party—”
“Everything okay here?” Dex’s voice rumbles behind me. A second later, his firm hand settles against the small of my back.
“Two of the girls were hassling her,” Swan explains, waving her hand over her shoulder. “You shouldn’t let her run around without an escort.”
“Why are you here?” he asks Swan. His hand slides from my back to my hip and he pulls me against his side.
“I knew it would be busy and thought I’d help out.” She lifts her chin. “It was total chaos when I got here.”
“It’s not your job anymore, remember?” he asks slowly.
“Well, obviously I’m still needed.” She flicks her gaze toward me.
I really want this confrontation or whatever it is over with. Or at the very least, I’d like to be excused from it. I’m starting to feel bad for Swan and I don’t want to have any empathy for this woman who’s clearly still interested in my boyfriend.
“She did rescue me from the angel and devil,” I say to Dex, tipping my head to the side to see him better.
“What’d they say to you?” he asks in a clipped tone.
“I don’t know. I could barely hear the angel and the devil held her tongue.”
He clenches his jaw. “Go on,” he dismisses Swan. “Thanks for reining those two in,” he says in the least thankful tone possible.
His hand moves from my hip to my back again, nudging me forward.
“Bye, Emily. I’m sure I’ll see you later,” Swan says.
Can’t wait.
All out of words, I just nod and give her a weak smile as I pass her. Dex opens his office door and ushers me inside.
“Are you okay?” he asks as soon as the door closes.
“I’m fine.” I jut my chin toward the hallway. “So, Swan’s your other ex from here?”
“She’s not an ex.”
“Are you sure she knows that?” I tilt my head to the side. “She seems to think you two still have a chance or something. And her friends seem to think you should have Property of Swan stamped on your dick.”
The corners of his mouth twitch but not in a trying-not-to-laugh way. “Well, they’re wrong. She’s not even supposed to be here.”
What did Swan say? Stripping wasn’t the way to Dex’s heart? “Wait a minute. You manage a strip club but you didn’t want to openly date a stripper? That’s kind of mean.”
Are you actually arguing for him to date her, you idiot?
“What? Where did you get that from anything I said?” Frustration clenches his jaw. “We weren’t dating.”
My stomach seesaws. I don’t want to hear exactly what they were to each other. “Oh, is that because she also services all the other club members?”
“Jesus Christ. Where did you hear that?”
“So it’s not true?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“So your club passes women around?” My voice rises a few octaves.
“No one does anything they don’t want to do.” He rests his hands on his hips. “Who said that about her?”
“She did! At Lincoln’s party.”
“Fuck.” He shakes his head a few times, then stops. Staring down at the floor, he takes a deep breath then lifts his head. “Do you want me to explain or not?”
“Go ahead.”
“Yes, she’s one of the girls who hang around the club. But…she’s more than that. She helps us out. Takes care of the clubhouse. She worked here for a few years. We were friends.” He glances away for a second. “There was a time where I thought maybe there could be more. But she didn’t want that.” He winces.
“So you were just bang buddies?” Fan-fucking-tastic.
He rolls his eyes. “That’s not how I’d put it, but okay.”
I’m going to be sick.
“At first our arrangement was fine. It became an issue later.” He shakes his head. “It was more than that, though. She didn’t talk to me about the important things. I had to find out from other people that she was planning to leave here—to start a different career.”
“Maybe she wanted to surprise you.”
Shut the fuck up, Emily. This isn’t your battle to fight.
“Oh, I was surprised all right. But it’s more than bad communication.” He shakes his head, clearly frustrated with me. “We didn’t have that kind of connection. We’re friends. I care about her. Want her to be happy. But that’s it. Nothing deeper.”
“Does she know that?”
“I thought she did.” He waves his hand toward the door. “She was seeing someone outside the club.”
“But still living at the clubhouse?”
“Like I said, she does other stuff to help us out up there.”
“So she’s not just everyone’s sex doll. Phew!” I raise my hands toward the ceiling. “What a relief.”
