Page 90 of Bred

"I own this place." Lucas jerked his thumb back towards the bar. "And a couple of other places around here. Inherited them from my father. None of my brothers were interested in running them." He shrugged.

My mouth formed an O. His family must have some money then. Mine did as well, so I wasn't easily impressed or intimidated. I certainly wasn't going to hook up with him because of it. Wait, was I thinking of hooking up with him at all? Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was thinking right now. Maybe I wasn't thinking at all.

"What do you do?" he asked.

I exhaled through pursed lips, then reluctantly said, "I was a PA until a couple of hours ago."

"You were?" He pulled me over until we were walking hip to hip. "You really are having a bad day. Or is that related to the breakup?"

"Yeah," I said softly. "Don't date your boss."

"Shit," Lucas said softly. "Lucky for me I’m my own boss. Not that it doesn't come without its complications too. If you don't mind me saying, this guy is sounding more and more like a grade A douchebucket."

"The more I think about it, the more I agree with you." Michael was also a decade older than me. That alone should have been a huge red flag right in my face.

Truthfully, it was, but I ignored it, and now I was screwed over because of it. My father would probably tell me he told me so. Right before he took out a hit on Michael. I was hurt and pissed off, but I didn't want him dead. Not exactly.

"Then you definitely need this." Lucas nodded to a bouncer with arms like a monster truck. and led me into a place with the interesting name of Slush Bunny.

The outside of the building was completely black except their name in red. The inside was the same shade of red, with accents of black and gold. The walls look like they were covered with red velvet, interspersed with black velvet curtains and red leather seats.

The centre of the room was dominated by a black stage with a shining gold-tone pole running down the middle.

A woman around my age, dressed in only a tiny black G-string, gripped the pole with two hands and the crooks of her knees and spun around it. The amount of strength she must have had to hold herself there was mind blowing.

As for her bare breasts, I hardly knew where to look.

"I hope you don't think I'm going to get up there and dance?" I asked. Even if I had the strength, I didn't have the body confidence to do anything like that.

Lucas grinned. "I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind, but no. I wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine. He's on next."

I blinked a couple of times. "You brought me here to see a stripper?" After a moment, and before he could respond, I added, "Of course you did, what else would people do at a strip club?"

"We can leave if you want," Lucas offered. "I just thought watching Bray might take your mind off things for a while. He's very talented." He seemed sincere, like he would take me anywhere I wanted to go if it helped me to get through the rest of the night.

"We're here now," I said. "I have to admit I'm curious. I've never been in a place like this before."

"Never?" Lucas led me over to a table near the stage and pulled out my chair for me. A gentleman too. "In that case, I should warn you, no touching until we go backstage afterwards." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

I knew enough to know the look and don't touch rule in places like this. The last thing I wanted was to be removed by a bouncer who could tuck me under his arm and carry me out.

"I'll keep my hands to myself," I promised.

I sat.

I was close to the stage and the dancer’s nipples were at eye height. I felt bad for looking, but couldn’t look away.

She was braver than I was. I could count on one finger the amount of people who had seen me naked as an adult. Michael, and him only a handful of times we'd been intimate in the couple of months we'd dated. Before him, there was no one serious enough for more than a few kisses.

Lucas moved his chair closer to me before he sat. He barely glanced at the stripper. He seemed more interested in looking at me.

"Can I get you a drink?" he offered. "The water here is pretty good if you're done with alcohol."

"That would be nice, thank you." I watched with half an eye as the woman stripped off her G string, spun a couple more times around the pole and then slipped off the stage.

Lucas waved to someone near the bar and gave them a hand gesture that somehow seemed to mean to bring over two glasses of water.

In the meantime, a man walked out on the stage wearing a suit like Lucas'. He looked so—corporate—I didn't realise at first this was Bray.