So, I showed up at work that afternoon with my handbag hiding my blessed small-but-mighty handgun, and my regular costume duffel bag stuffed with three assorted sets of getaway gear.
The one thing I hadn’t figured on is, of course, the one thing that had completely ruined my plan last night.
Fucking Dominic.
# # #
Despite the fact he had made sure to get my number last night, I had nothing but radio silence from Dom all day. That worked out well for me, as I had been super busy setting myself up for the second worst night of my life (the worst being the night I found out about Tania’s death). I had barely had time to think about him, except for the moments when my body twinged in little sore places caused by our gymnastic against-the-wall orgasm bath. My mind would get lost in that for some moments, and then I’d reel myself back to reality and continue with my preparations for the night. It was a surreal day.
The shift was going slowly. Minutes dragged by. What made it worse than normal was that I felt like I was being laughed at by all the Storm MC guys. They were smiling at me like they knew something special, and it pissed me off. I mean, yeah, I had fucked one of their own last night. So what? It had nothing to do with them. I had nothing to do with them. And Dom wasn’t even here (yet—was he coming? Fuck. I should not care. It would be better if he didn’t). So why all the special looks, smiles, and attention? It was like fucking high school.
And then there was the cold shoulder from most of the girls. I mean, really? They were fucking pissed off that I’d had sex in the back with Dom. Okay, I could give them that. I’d have been jealous, too, if it had been one of them he had chosen. The man was a fucking god with the sex.
But that was as far as it could go between us, and it was over now. Tonight would be the start of a new world order for me, and I was determined to keep my focus. Tania was what mattered the most. And that meant no more Dom. No more Asia, either. And no more me, not for a long time. It’s just the way it had to be.
So five hours in, I had performed three main stage dances and was working the room when I finally saw Mr. Ronn enter the clubroom. He looked peeved, and he was looking straight at me. This did not bode well.
But maybe it would give me the opportunity to get time with him one-on-one, which was exactly what I needed to pull off my scheme. So, I’d play dumb and regretful, or sexy, clueless, and eager, whichever might seem to appease him, to get that time in his office, alone.
The main difficulty here was that in my work uniform I could hardly carry my handgun. I mean, a G-string and nipple pasties don’t hide much. The gun was still tucked safely away in my handbag in the dressing room. So I had to wait until the end of my shift to get dressed and hope that the fucker was still in the building. But I needed to make some moves soon to make the office meeting happen.
I waved to him across the room and smiled like an airhead, big eyes and innocently raised brows and all. I even tossed in a little wave. He ate it up, though he still looked peeved. Still, he nodded at me and the guy I was chatting up for a lap dance, like he was watching me, but I was doing a good job.
James was one of my regulars, a really nice guy, typical story. Married, but he had a history of wandering. His wife knew it, and they had agreed that he should frequent the club and keep his hands to himself, but lap dances with dancers were okay with her as long as that was the extent of his wandering. It had been working for a few years for them, and he was really sweet and respectful with me, and he was a good tipper, so it worked out great for me, too. He even said I was saving his marriage. I don’t know that I’d have gone that far, but if he wanted to give me the credit, who was I to argue?
We went to the back rooms, I gave him the lap dance, he tipped me well, and we returned to the main room. I searched again to locate Mr. Ronn, my heart rate speeding up in anxiety as the time to pull the literal trigger came closer. Shit was starting to feel real. The throbbing beat of the rhythm and bass music was not helping matters; it only made me more aware of the blood pounding through my heart and veins. I was starting to feel a little nauseated.
Shit, I’d never done anything like this. I wasn’t normally a violent person. I was kind of freaking out. If I had only gotten it done last night, when it was more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of plan, it would have been so much better. But spending the whole day planning and preparing and packing and… Well, suffice it to say that my emotional turmoil level was pretty damned high.
But then I thought about Tania, my only sister, the one I was supposed to take care of. And I knew I had to go through with it. There was no way I would let Mr. Ronn get away with killing her and live freely for the rest of forever. No way in hell. I had to do it. I had to take him out. And do the best I could to survive beyond that.