Tied to Trouble(43)

“I’m sorry,” Owen said. “That was over the line.”

“It’s okay. I’ll take the scholarship stuff, but you don’t have to make phone calls on my behalf, okay?”

“Okay.”

No one said anything for a minute until Chad spoke again, his voice lighter, but still slightly weighted. “What’s this work dinner you have Saturday?”

“Grant wants me to help him entertain some advertising clients he’s trying to woo.”

“And he asked you? Wow, he must be desperate.” There was a teasing quality to Chad’s voice that Owen didn’t take offense to.

“Yeah, well, we all know your sister would be better at it, but she’s out of town. I’m the stand-in.”

“You’ll be great—just use big words like ‘moratorium.’”

Owen laughed. “Okay, I’ll work that into conversation.”

“And I’ll call you Sunday?”

“Yeah,” Owen said, glancing around the office. “Call me Sunday. We probably need to have a talk, then, Chad, ya know?”

Chad’s exhale fuzzed the receiver. “Yeah, we do.”





Chapter Twelve


The Peach Pit was exactly like Chad thought it would be—a nondescript brick building with a small sign over top that said The Peach Pit and had a picture of the namesake fruit. He and Ace parked around the side of the building and walked toward a steel door. Now that he was here, he remembered driving by this building several times. But he’d never been inside. Maybe he just wasn’t in the crowd that received invitations to super-fancy, exclusive strip clubs.

He wondered if Marley and Austin had ever been. And then decided he didn’t want to know. He hoisted his bag higher on his shoulder and scratched the stubble on his jaw. “So, this is it?”

Ace grinned at him and smacked him on the shoulder. “Never seen you look nervous before, Lake. What’s the malfunction?”

“Dude, seriously? I’m not a robot. I have to take my clothes off in there.”

“I told you, there’s no nudity.”

“Okay, most of my clothes.”

“You work in the bar with your shirt off five nights a week.”

Chad glared. “That’s different.”

Ace shrugged and held the door open, waving to motion Chad inside. “You’re only doing waiter duty tonight. Don’t worry. You can look around, see what it’s about, and then step it up if you wanna do more next time.”

Chad bit back a nasty comment as he walked into the building. The door shut behind him with a heavy metal click, and Chad’s stomach dropped.

This weird swirling dread in his veins was unfamiliar and unwelcome. Since when did he get worked up about something like this? Ace was right—he was basically a piece of meat that served drinks every night at Blue Moon, so why was this so different?

Because of Owen.

Chad gritted his teeth against the thought of cuddling with Owen on the couch. The thought fueled him and made him pause. He had lied and said he was working late at Blue Moon, a job, which, yeah, he worked shirtless, but it was still a far, far cry from being a dancer at a strip club. Or even a waiter. He should back out right now, because there was no way Owen would be cool with this if he knew. He’d insist Chad find another way to come up with the money—a way that probably included his help.

And that just wasn’t acceptable.

This was the fastest way for him to make money by himself. Without the help of his boyfriend. Or…the guy he was seeing, or whatever. No, Chad was doing it his way, and if that meant being here for other men and women to ogle and maybe touch and definitely objectify, he was doing it so he could go back to school and be the kind of guy Owen could be with.

It was just a night. One night.

Get through this, he told himself. Pocket the money, and then figure out a better way to make money. On his own. Because he’d be damned if Owen had to hold his hand while he got his life situated. Finding scholarship applications was one thing, but for Owen to call his professor friends… Chad shuddered. That was taking it too far. There was no way he’d let himself be daddied, and he didn’t want there to come a time when Owen would resent him for being helpless and for needing someone else to get ahead.

There he went again, talking like they had a big future.

Chad shook his head. He needed to get his game face on.

Ace swiped a card through a reader, and the red LED light on the door changed to green. Chad followed Ace through it, making sure the door shut behind him. He thought that seemed kinda high-tech for a strip club, but what did he know?

Running down the hall was a topless girl in a G-string. A hot topless girl. Chad tried not to stare.