Red Dog swiveled his head, his eyes hitting the entrance. It stood wide open. “What the fuck?”
All four of them immediately dismounted, pulling their handguns.
“After you, bro,” Cole whispered to Dog as they approached the entrance.
They followed him inside, pausing just clear of the door to scan the room, guns lifted.
“Mary!” Dog called out, but received no response. “Billy!”
All that greeted the four men was dead silence.
Red Dog made his way down the hallway to the master bedroom with Cole on his heels. The rest spread out through the house, searching for an intruder. Dog and Cole took in the trashed bedroom. Dresser drawers stood open, empty of all contents. A glance into the closet revealed that most of its contents had been emptied as well.
“What the fuck, Dog, you been robbed?”
Dog moved into the doorway of the walk-in closet. “Suitcases are gone.”
Cole watched as he yanked his phone out. A moment later, Dog bit out, “Where the hell is she?”
“I took her home. Dropped her off at 2:00 a.m., bro,” Shane replied over the speaker.
“She ain’t here.”
“Well, that’s where I left her. Swear to God, Dog.”
Wolf strolled in, taking in the room. “Looks like she packed her shit up and left you, man.”
“What the hell did you do this time?” Green smirked, following Wolf into the room. He was holding up a piece of broken dinner plate. “She took a hammer to your wedding china. It’s smashed all over the kitchen table like she was making you a fucking divorce mosaic.”
“Just shut the hell up,” Red Dog snapped. He tried calling Mary, but it went straight to voice mail. Then he tried his son’s phone, but got the same. His mind searched for a reason she’d leave him. He could think of nothing he’d done that would warrant this kind of reaction from her. Hell, he couldn’t even think of what he’d done that would piss her off at all. Not recently anyway.
Red Dog collapsed down onto the foot of the bed. Running a hand over his face, he tried to make sense of it all. She’d never done anything like this before. From the moment he’d met her, she’d never shied away from telling him how she felt, telling him her mind or telling him off, for that matter. It was one of the things he loved about her. It had surprised him when he’d first met her, that spunk of hers. Hell, most women he’d met in his life were afraid of him, either of the cut he wore or just his six-foot-four size. With his red hair and beard, he reminded most people of a
Viking. So, he wouldn’t have been surprised when he met the petite china doll, as he called her, if she would have been even more intimidated than most. But was she? Not his Mary. Nope, there wasn’t a shy or timid bone in her body.
His mind drifted back to the first time he’d ever laid eyes on her. It had been like a freight train running him over. That’s how much she affected him right from the very first instant.
Fourteen years ago…
Red Dog walked into Sonny’s Gentleman’s Club. It was a strip club that the Evil Dead had an investment in. He was there to pick up their cut of this week’s profits; a job that usually fell to Wolf. Red Dog hadn’t actually been up here in a long time. He glanced around. A few updates had been made since he’d last been there, new carpet, new lighting and an updated stage. The place was doing well.
Red Dog moved to the end of the bar and caught the eye of the bartender, who lifted his chin at Dog and moved off to let Sonny know he was here. Dog leaned against the bar and waited, his eyes sliding to the stage where a voluptuous blonde was working the pole.
A minute later, the bartender returned. “Sonny knows you’re here. He’s dealing with a problem in back.” The man nodded towards the stage. “He said to make yourself comfortable for about twenty minutes, and he’ll be with you as soon as he can. Drinks are on the house.”
Dog nodded and ordered a whiskey, then headed over to the end of the stage and took a seat at the rail. The blonde saw him and abandoned the patron she’d been getting dollars from and crawled seductively over to him. Maybe it was the cut. Or maybe Wolf was a big tipper, but apparently she thought Dog would be throwing more her way than the guy in the suit she’d just abandoned.
Knowing it was proper etiquette to tip if you took a seat at the rail, Dog pulled out a five and tossed it at her. She gave him a little attention, but soon returned to the suit, who began upping the amount of bills he showered her with. Dog grinned, content to sip his drink and wait for Sonny. Blondes had never really been his type anyway, although he had to admit she had a nice rack. Her show was soon over, and she exited the stage to move through the crowd selling lap dances.
The music changed, and the flashing light show dimmed as another dancer took the stage. This one had a different style, and Dog could tell at a glance her show wouldn’t be about any acrobatic pole work. She was a petite Asian beauty with long silky dark hair that hung to her waist. She was holding two large fans made of peacock feathers that hid her body. She danced and twirled, giving a teasing glimpse of different body parts, but never showing everything at once. It was erotic as hell, and Dog felt himself falling completely under her spell. As her dance continued, bills flew on to the stage from all directions, but she ignored them, totally caught up in her dance. She had a graceful way of moving that enticed and seduced. Unlike a lot of strippers, this dancer had skills that hinted at years of training. Ballet would be Red Dog’s guess.
She made no eye contact with any of the men, which was another thing that separated her from the rest. Until toward the end of the dance as she did her floor work, laying on her back, writhing and moving her body in a sensual way that called out to every man there.
And then she rolled her head, and her eyes opened. They connected with Red Dog’s, and he was blown away by the vivid green shade that stared back at him. Holding his gaze, she slowly twisted toward him, and then her shapely leg extended, her delicate bare foot landing on his chest. No tacky stripper shoes, another thing that set her apart. Dog had to admit he found her bare foot a thousand times sexier. His eyes fell to the pretty painted toes sliding up his leather cut as she arched her foot, then they climbed slowly up her leg, over the pearlescent skin of her slender body, to those vivid green almond shaped eyes. And she had him, hook, line and sinker.
As he watched, feeling like they were the only two people in the club, the pink tip of her tongue came out to glide over her lip.
Fucking hell.