Slow Burn(89)

    The other bouncer moved forward, but Griffin drove his fist into the man’s face.

    He grabbed me by the arm. “Come with me.” His fingers dug into me painfully. I had no choice but to let him drag me along.

    We were met in the lobby by three more bouncers, led by Axel.

    “Let go of her,” said Axel, raising his chin arrogantly. I rolled my eyes. Still trying to be Prince Charming, after everything.

    Griffin did let go of me. He lifted his fists and charged at the first bouncer.

    Axel hurried over to me. “Leigh, are you all right?” He threw his arms around me.

    I pushed him away. I was half-naked. “Don’t touch me.”

    Griffin had knocked the first guy out.

    He was jamming an elbow into the face of the next guy and aiming a kick for the third.

    “Stop!” I yelled.

    No one listened.

    Griffin’s elbow collided with the bouncer’s face. He started bleeding.

    “I know him,” I said. “I’ll go with him. Just stop it.”

    The third bouncer backed off.

    Griffin inclined his head, stepped over the knocked-out bouncer, and came for me.

    “You can’t just leave,” said Axel to me.

    “Why not?” I said.

    “Because you haven’t paid me back for buying you all those corsets and heels and tights,” said Axel. He put his arm around my waist. “Now, come back inside, and get back on stage—”

    “Don’t touch her,” said Griffin, ripping me away from Axel.

    “Leigh,” said Axel, “if you leave here, you can forget about this job. I won’t help you anymore.”

    “I...” I looked at Griffin.

    He was wearing a black hoodie. He pulled it off and draped it over my shoulders. “Come on.”

    “Sorry,” I said to Axel. I followed Griffin outside, clumsily trying to zip up the hoodie to cover myself.

    Griffin could hardly walk straight. He stumbled into buildings as he yanked me down the street. I had no idea how he’d fought all those guys so effectively when he was clearly hammered. We walked for a block until we were past the club. My high heels made loud noises on the sidewalk. The air was cold, and I was barely dressed.

    Then he grabbed me by the shoulders and slammed me up against a brick wall. “What the hell, Leigh?”

    “Ouch,” I said.

    “You were stripping.”

    “The money you gave me got stolen by a pick pocket,” I said. “It was my best option.”

    He laughed, and it was a bitter rattle. “Selling your body was your best option.”

    “It’s not like I was a prostitute or something,” I said. “I only took off my clothes.”

    “Only took off your clothes? Are you listening to yourself? Don’t you have any respect for yourself at all? I’m away from you for a week, and this is where I find you?”

    I glared at him. “You shouldn’t have left me.”

    He turned away from me. “I had to leave you.” He rummaged in his pocket until he came out with his wallet. He took all of the money out of it and pressed it into my hand. “Don’t let it get stolen this time.” He staggered down the sidewalk, away from me.

    What? He was just leaving? I went after him. “You’re not one to be on a high horse. What were you doing in a strip club, anyway?”

    “Drinking,” said Griffin, not looking at me.

    “There are other places to drink.”

    “Most of them don’t have naked girls in them, though.”

    I grabbed him by the shoulder. “So you’ve got no problem looking at girls doing that, but you don’t want me to do it? If you think stripping’s so awful, shouldn’t you boycott it?”

    He stopped. He took me by the chin. “It’s not that I think it’s wrong. It’s that I don’t want them to see... I don’t want you to...” He let go of me in frustration. “If you’re showing your tits to everyone, then it’s not exactly like letting me see them was anything special, was it?”