Chapter Eight

When the DJ finally cut the music, the house lights brightened on the dance floor and over the bars at Club Escapade. At three in the morning on a Sunday, it was mostly sloppy drunks and die-hard partiers who remained. The remnants of cologne and perfume wafted in the air, along with body funk and beer fumes.

In a low-lit corner booth upstairs, a young blond woman straddled a twentysomething, dark-haired guy. Her dress was nearly hiked up to her hips, and the straps of her dress hung off her shoulders. The guy played with her tits while she fumbled with the front of his pants.

Rafe approached them. Seriously? They weren’t blind to the club closing. “Feel free to hook up all you want, but you can’t do it here.”

The girl fixed her dress straps and went to move off the guy’s lap.

The guy held her in place and gave Rafe a bro nod. “Come on, dude. Give us a sec. You know how it is.”

Yeah. He knew his type. The guy got off on pushing buttons and boundaries, but Club Escapade was Rafe’s house, and whoever entered it abided by his rules. He’d like to educate the guy on respect, but diplomacy was the better route.

Rafe crossed his arms over his chest and faked a knowing smirk. “You’re going to need more than a sec, chief, and the staff ain’t got that long. Take it outside.”

The guy studied Rafe, as if sizing him up. “You’re right.” He smacked the girl on the butt. “Zip me up. We’re going to the parking lot.”

Rafe didn’t hold back a derisive snort. If she was only worth a second or two of fun, she needed to skip the parking lot and leave the guy’s sorry ass behind. But it wasn’t his place to judge.

Xan and the bouncers corralled stragglers to the exits.

Rafe joined Shannon at the bar where she sipped a dirty martini.

The auburn-haired bartender at the other end of the counter pointed at him and signaled the offer to get him a drink.

He shook his head.

Shannon sighed and slipped off her heels. “There’s at least an inch of glitter on the floor in the back ladies’ room. We’ll be sweeping it up for days.”

“Be glad that’s all it is.” Bad judgment and too many drinks had prompted customers to leave more than a few nasty surprises behind.

“Amen to that.” Shannon picked out the olives skewered on a plastic toothpick from her drink. She gave them to Rafe.

He slid them into his mouth. The bite of vodka and the tang of olives woke up his taste buds. “Do we know who dropped the glitter bombs?”

“One of the servers noticed a couple of women in the area acting weird, but no one saw them do it. What happened to the guy that flashed his bare ass in the lobby earlier?”

“The bouncers saved him from getting a beatdown from the guy who didn’t appreciate him waving his dick in front of his girlfriend’s face.”

She giggled. “Why? Was it bigger than his?”

“Laugh all you want.” He tossed the toothpick on Shannon’s beverage napkin. “It could have gotten ugly. This isn’t the first time Flasher Dude pulled out his junk. I warned him what would happen if he did it again. I banned him from the club. I also comped the guy and his girlfriend and gave them free passes for next time. From what I heard, they and their friends ran up a hefty bar tab and tipped the servers well.”

She toasted him. “As always, your wisdom and voice of reason prevails.”

A chuckle shot out of him. “In our last meeting, you called me unreasonable and claimed I was the voice of doom and gloom.”

“You vetoed zombie clown night.”

“Zombies and clowns in the same space. Hell fucking no. Drugs and therapy combined wouldn’t erase that crazy shit from my mind.”

“Crazy is good for business.” She sipped her drink. “Speaking of insane, did I imagine seeing the girl you danced for at the Bash leaving your place yesterday morning?”

Eagle-eye Shannon. He should have guessed her indifference about him not returning to the club after he’d danced didn’t supersede her usual keen observation. “Uh-huh. And wherever you’re planning to go with that question, don’t.”

“No need to get touchy.” She raised her hands in defense. “Just checking in.”

Checking in—that was the code phrase they used to alert each other that they weren’t trying to intrude but had concerns. “We had sex. End of story.”

“One encounter is the end of a story. Two opens up potential for a continuing saga. The latest buzz is that you danced for Pretty Miss Rich Girl the night you settled our bet, and things got heated between you two back then, just like they did the night of the Breakup Bash.”

The latest buzz. That shit had obviously come from one of the veteran Hunks. And everyone claimed women were the ones who liked to gossip. “Drop it. I know what I’m doing.”

“Sleeping with a woman who snuck backstage and into your bed is a bad idea. It’s the door opener for her to weasel her way into your life, just like Eden did.”

“You know what’s a bad idea? You sticking your nose into my business.”

“I overheard women like her at the Bash saying they wanted to hook up with a guy who was different than what they were used to for kicks, especially a Hot Body Hunk. That woman you were with undoubtedly had the same thing in mind. She’ll just keep popping up, trying to instigate another hookup with you.” Shannon shook her head. “I shouldn’t have pressured you into dancing again.”

“Pressured me? What the fuck? I’m a grown-ass man, not a child. I made that decision on my own to perform at the party to help the club. And as far as what happened afterward, I don’t need your input or permission about who I can and can’t hook up with.”

“Sorry.” Shannon slid her glass away. “I just don’t want to be responsible for putting you in the path of women you should stay away from…again.” Guilt flickered in her eyes.

Sure, she’d introduced him to Eden, but no matter how many times he’d told Shannon she wasn’t to blame for his ex fucking up his life, she wouldn’t believe him.

His irritation lessened. “You worry too much.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Go home. I’ve got the club.”

She opened her mouth as if to speak, then shut it. “Fine.” She slid wearily from the stool and snagged her shoes from the floor. “I’m leaving.”

Nearly two hours later, he finally crawled into bed. So much for giving up being a handyman. His list of repairs had gotten longer. A sink behind one of the bars had a leak. Stools and chairs on the main floor needed tightening. A tile in the lobby had cracked. Then there was all that glitter clogging up the toilets in the ladies’ room. Plumbers were expensive. He’d rent equipment and get one of the maintenance staff to help him snake it out.

He folded his hands behind his head. As he settled back, something pricked his shoulder. What the…? He dug a gold-and-silver earring from inside the pillowcase. How the hell had it gotten there?

A vision of Alexa with her face buried in the pillow, moaning out her encouragement as he drove into her from behind, reared up in his mind. He’d more than welcome her coming by to pick up her earring…and for them to hook up again.

Pretty Miss Rich Girl. Shannon wasn’t trying to bust his balls by reminding him he didn’t belong with Alexa. She’d witnessed how hard he’d fallen for Eden six years ago.

When he and Eden had started dating, they were inseparable…so he’d believed.

The signs were all there. Hushed phone calls behind doors. Expensive gifts she’d said were from her parents. The trips to New York to see her family without him that became longer and longer each time. Eden had claimed they’d made her feel guilty for disobeying their wishes and returning to him instead of reuniting with her wealthy ex-boyfriend. Proposing marriage was his way of giving her the freedom to live the life she chose, with him at her side. He’d loved her, and he’d thought she’d felt the same way about him.

Alexa’s earring winked in the light.

He’d planned to pop the question during Eden’s surprise birthday party at Shannon’s apartment. Good thing nerves had gotten the best of him and he’d held off. Just after Eden had blown out the candles on her birthday cake, she’d announced that she was returning to New York to marry her ex-boyfriend.

Emotional scars pulled tight over painful recollections. The feeling of Alexa’s earring digging into his palm, almost to the point of piercing his skin, made him suck in a breath. He opened his hand.

It was amazing how a large city like Miami suddenly became smaller than the town he’d grown up in. It seemed as if everyone knew Eden had dropped him. He’d put up with stares, insensitive comments, and he’d accepted all the pussy thrown at him, as if those women had some magic power to erase Eden from his mind. He couldn’t forget. A few months after her big announcement, he’d moved to Maryland.

Rafe tossed the earring on the bedside table. He and Alexa had indulged in a moment. If she had lived out some rich-girl-slumming fantasy by having sex with him, so be it. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe he factored into her life. Or that she was important to his.