“Young and hot,” Trix whispered as we drew closer to the Elvis table.
I turned my attention to the table that was reserved by those who wanted a front row seat to the dancing onstage as well as two different servers to wait on them.
The smile I was determined to keep on my face tonight, however, was forgotten when a pair of familiar eyes met mine. Breathing also became difficult as my throat tightened from panic. The room seemed to close in around me, and suddenly, there was no one else here, no loud music, no voices. All I could see was the disgust in Rio March’s eyes.
Chapter Five
Rio
What the fuck? I stared at Bryn as the reality of this sank in. She was topless. In a strip club. Walking toward our table. Or she had been until she saw me. Holy hell.
“Hello, boys,” another female voice said, but I couldn’t focus on her or anything other than an almost-naked Bryn standing a few feet from me.
Drake was speaking now, but I wasn’t paying attention. Why was Bryn here, dressed like that? She had to work here. In a motherfucking strip club. Was there nothing of the girl I had once known left inside her?
A massive brick wall of a man with dreadlocks and tattoos appeared at her side then, and she swung her gaze up to him. He was touching her back. She wasn’t wearing any damn clothes, and he was touching her. I felt my hands fist at my sides as my blood began to simmer from rage.
What had happened to her over the years? She was nothing like the girl I had known.
Bryn was smiling again and saying something to the man, but he looked our way and didn’t look convinced. Then, his eyes found me watching them, and I met his steady glare head-on. What was she telling him? Was she dating him? He was a damn bouncer at a strip club.
She moved then and began walking toward me—or us. She didn’t look my way again, but I watched her as she walked up to Benji, Drake’s brother, who we were here for, celebrating his graduation from college. Benji lifted his eyes to her—or her tits.
Had she really sunk so damn low that she had no problem with using her body to make money? I was torn between being disgusted with her and being turned on. I hated that I was attracted to her at all. She was just like her sister. Maybe worse.
“I’m Angel,” I heard her say.
Then, Benji said something that I couldn’t make out with the noise, and she laughed. It was an excellent fake laugh. No one else here would know it was fake. No one but me. I had once thought she reminded me of an angel. How ironic that she went by that name now that the girl I’d once known no longer existed.
“Hey, sugar. You look familiar,” Drake said then, and her gaze swung to mine only briefly before she lifted a shoulder and gave him a small laugh.
“I have one of those f-faces,” she replied.
Drake laughed. “No, babe, you don’t. Those tits might have me proposing after a few drinks. Go ahead and start thinking about your answer.”
Unable to handle any more, I stood up abruptly, shoving my chair back as I did so. Bryn’s eyes swung to me. I could see the uncertainty there, and damn it, I wanted to wrap her up and take her out of here. I wasn’t sure what made me angrier. Her working here or my giving a fuck what she did.
“We need to talk,” I said to her.
The other server was there then, standing in front of Bryn. She was smiling at me in a way that was supposed to distract me, I was sure, but she wasn’t a part of our history.
“Ah, the girls on the floor just serve the drinks and food. If you want anything more, we do have a couple dancers here tonight that offer that kind of thing.” She winked at me.
“Bryn,” I said her name, needing her to say something.
“Oh fuck,” Drake said, realizing who she was now that I had said her name.
Bryn touched the other girl’s shoulder and whispered something to her, but the other server didn’t look happy about it. In fact, she was now glaring at me with a warning.
“This way,” Bryn said to me and turned, walking toward the door we had entered through.
I followed her, getting a view of how bare her ass was in the tiny bottoms she was wearing. She might as well be naked. I had guessed Bryn’s body was nice under her conservative clothing, but I had never imagined this. And damn if she wasn’t out, making money with it.
Where had the girl I knew gone? How had she changed so completely?