Page 54

When the drinks arrived, we didn’t have to wait long before the girls on the floor approached our booth. One crawled over Tommaso to sit between us, though her attention was entirely on me. Her lip gloss glistened in the low light. “Hi. Want a dance?”
“Yes,” I said instantly. “Lead the way.”
We slid out of the booth. Tommaso and Cesare stayed behind with two girls, while I trailed mine to a back room. There, everything was colored red, from the light overhead to the padded benches lining the walls, and every surface sparkled. The music wasn’t as loud here, which was good. It would allow me to ask questions.
Grabbing my hand, she led me to a seat. This was far from my first lap dance, so I rested my arms on the back of the bench, leaving my hands in plain sight. Though there was no one else in the room, I knew there were cameras. Guards weren’t far away.
Once I was settled, she began moving sensuously, showing off her body, palms sliding over her smooth skin. Her tits were full and lush, barely contained by her skimpy top, and her hips ground into my dick over and over. I waited for the automatic response from my body, my dick predictably going rock hard at the friction.
Except nothing happened. I was limp beneath her.
I frowned. I jerked off this morning in bed, so I knew my dick wasn’t broken. Yes, I’d been thinking about Maggie and everything I would do to her if I ever got the chance. Like make her crawl on her hands and knees and beg me to fuck her . . . .
My dick began to thicken.
Fuck.
“That’s enough,” I told the woman grinding on me. “I need to ask you questions and will pay well for the information.”
She crawled off me and adjusted her thong. “I only dance. I’m not going to fuck you back here.”
“No, not that. A friend of mine came in last night. Italian, like me. Did you see him?”
“I didn’t work last night, but I heard some of the girls talking about him today. He threw a lot of cash around.”
“Was there any girl he paid particular attention to?”
“I don’t know, but I could ask.”
“I’d appreciate it. I’d also like to know if there was anyone who approached him, someone he argued with. Someone who might’ve wanted to hurt him.”
Her eyes darted toward the door nervously. She knew something.
“Tell me,” I urged.
“Like I said, I wasn’t here last night.” Crawling back onto my lap, she peeled down the cups of her top, letting her breasts spill out. Was she hoping to distract me?
I held up my palms, trying to stop her. “I’ll pay you. I need to find out what happened to my friend.”
“Why?”
“If you know something, I will make sure you’re compensated.”
“It’s not that.” She turned around and began grinding, her ass bouncing as she moved over my crotch. “I don’t want any trouble.”
I leaned in ever so slightly. “I can protect you. I swear, signorina. I won’t let anyone hurt you if you tell me what I want to know.”
She shook her head.
Frustration tightened in my chest like a fist, but I forced myself to remain calm. “I am more powerful, more dangerous than anyone in this town. If you help me, I will protect you.”
She crawled off my lap and fixed the cups of her top. “That’s two hundred.”
I took out my money clip and peeled off five one-hundred-dollar bills. “If you tell me, I’ll give you these.”
Leaning in, she opened her bikini top. As I slipped the money inside, she whispered, “There were some guys here last night. Red Raiders, a motorcycle club. They treat the girls like shit. If your friend tried to step in, they might have hurt him.”
The same Red Raiders who’d been selling drugs behind Maggie’s kitchen.