Something that looked a lot like fear entered the man’s eyes, but he didn’t back away. “They’re trouble. The kind you’d want to steer clear of, if you know what’s good for you.”
“They come in here much?” I asked.
He shrugged. “About once a week. They gotta come collect their payment.”
“Payment?” Gunner pressed.
The bartender’s eyes darted around for a moment before they settled on Gunner once again. “Here’s the thing,” he said in a low voice. “We’re not really supposed to talk about it. The manager doesn’t like it. I’m not sure that a hundred bucks is enough to risk getting in trouble.” He didn’t really look worried about it, but the man was smart enough to see he had a hand to play in this.
Gunner wordlessly pulled another hundred dollar bill out and added it to the first one.
“Talk,” I demanded. I wasn’t in the mood to get the run-around from this punk.
“At least three of them come in regularly, demanding a pay-off from the boss. If he doesn’t hand over the money, they’ve made it clear that they’ll make sure this place doesn’t stay open another month.”
“Have they hurt anyone?” Gunner asked.
“Not that I know of. Not yet. But that might have something to do with the fact that their leader is dating one of the girls.”
“Snake?” I asked with a frown. The last I knew, he was a married man. Things might have changed on that front, but I doubted it. It was more likely that the man was having an affair. His biker name truly suited him. He was a snake.
The bartender shrugged carelessly. “Might be. He has a tattoo of a boa constrictor on his neck, so I guess that makes sense. He was just here earlier this evening, but I saw him leave while I was out back having a smoke.”
“Which girl is he sleeping with?” I asked. It couldn’t be Naomi, I told myself, and I was probably right about that. But an inkling of doubt rose in me, brought on by the surprise of finding out that she worked here as a stripper. What if she had other surprises?
“I don’t keep up with that kind of thing. I just know that Duane—that’s our boss—pays out a fortune to those assholes, and whoever he’s sleeping with is probably reaping the benefits too.”
“Where can we find Duane?” Gunner asked.
“There’s a door to the right of the small platform Diamond was just dancing on.” He pointed to the stage where Naomi had been. “It says employees only, but it just leads backstage. You’ll find his office back there.”
So, she had a nickname too, a stage name. A rare diamond indeed.
Gunner let the man take the money and the two of us headed in that direction, going through the unlocked door and finding ourselves in a surprisingly clean backstage area. It was dimly lit, but there were white runner lights along the floor, so we could see where we were going.
It turned out that we didn’t need to hunt for the man’s office, because he was standing straight ahead, talking to Naomi. It was her voice saying his name that caught our attention.
“I’m leaving, Duane. I don’t feel well.”
“What the hell, Diamond? This is my busiest night of the week, and you’re just taking off? It’s like you don’t even want this job.”
“I want the money, Duane. The job itself on the other hand, well—”
“If you want to make more money, you know what you have to do to get on the center stage.” Duane reached around and grabbed a hold of her ass, giving it a rough squeeze.
I was sure he’d leave bruises on her skin. I saw red. “Hey asshole, try keeping your hands to yourself,” I snarled as we approached.
Both of them turned to face me, Naomi with surprise and Duane with aggression.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked.
“I’m the guy that’s going to teach you a lesson if you touch her again.” I got close to him, too close to avoid discomfort, shoving my body in the small space between them. I didn’t want him to be able to reach her again.
“We need to talk to you,” Gunner interjected, “do you have a minute?”
“Why should I?”
Gunner smirked. “What if I told you that I represent an MC?”