“It’s your lucky night.” He holds out a meaty hand. “That’ll be forty bucks.”
“Forty bucks?” Like a dumbass I reach for my back pocket and pull my wallet out. “What for?”
“Cover charge.” He laughs, the sound booming from his chest. “Rich dicks looking for their girlfriends gotta pay up.”
Figures he would know about us. I slap two twenties in his palm. “Where’re they at?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “That’s on you.”
He steps aside and I walk into the club, thankful it’s not crowded, but it’s a Monday night so I’m guessing that’s typical. I check everywhere in search of Jensen, or Savannah, but neither of them are anywhere to be found.
Deciding I need a drink, I go to the bar, where the older bartender offers me a sympathetic smile. “You looking for your girl?”
What, does everyone here know I’m with Jensen? “If you mean Jensen, yeah. I am.”
He nods, grabs a shot glass, and pours me a drink without asking what I want. “She’s a good girl. Sweet. Quiet. She doesn’t belong here.”
His words surprise me. “I agree.”
The bartender pushes the shot glass full of amber liquid in my direction. “Take a drink. Then I’ll take you to where she’s at.”
I down that shot so fast, I barely feel the fiery liquid slide down my throat. “What do I owe you?” I ask, my voice scratchy from the alcohol.
“On the house. Just—get her out of here once and for all. Wish I could say the same for her friend, but she’s a smart one. She’s on her way out on her own. But yours? She’ll get sucked in if she doesn’t watch it.” He nods once. “Good luck.”
I appreciate the speech, but… “Where is she?”
“Oh, yeah.” He chuckles. “Follow me.”
Jensen
“You can’t hide out forever,” Savannah says as she paces the length of the dressing room. Her shift starts in fifteen minutes and we got here early at my urging. I didn’t want to linger at the apartment any longer than we had to. I didn’t want Rhett to come around, and I definitely didn’t want to have him stop by while Savannah’s at work.
So I solved that problem and drove her to City Lights in Rhett’s fancy BMW. Savannah oohed and ahhed the entire drive, running her hands over the leather interior, begging me to go faster. I sped up a little but not too much, scared I might wreck Rhett’s car and then he’d really be mad at me.
Though truly I’m the one who’s mad at him. No, I take that back. I’m not mad, I’m hurt. He had to have known his uncle was really Greg. Yet he didn’t tell me. I don’t know how he could keep such a huge secret from me.
Right. And you’re just hiding from him that his stepmom is your real mom. No big deal.
Ugh. I have no room to judge.
“I can hide out tonight,” I tell Savannah, settling into a chair. “I’ll stay back here while you work.”
“Don will probably beg you to come back.” Savannah wrinkles her nose.
“He’s not here tonight; I already asked around.” I smile, though it feels forced. “Dodged that bullet.”
“Lucky you.” Savannah’s tone is heavy on the sarcasm. She plops into the chair next to mine. “You need to return his car.”
“Tomorrow.”
“You need to talk to him.”
I wave a hand. “Tomorrow.”
Savannah sighs. “You need to tell him the truth, once and for all.”
Once I got to Savannah’s apartment last night, I cried on her shoulder, and then I told her everything. All of it. Every last sordid bit of my true story, my connection to Diane, my reason for seeking out Rhett. How my original plan had been to destroy him, but then I realized he was actually a decent guy.