Page 45 of Archer (Dirty Misfits MC 3)
“Where is she!?” a man demanded.
I whipped around and blocked her body as two burly men in black leather jackets stood at the entrance to the bathroom. “That her? The sick one?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why? What’s going on?”
The skinnier man thumbed over his shoulder. “Got a doc in the audience. He’s willing to take a look at her. She comes with us.”
“I want to come, too,” the other dancer I didn’t recognize said.
The fatter man rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Can we just go on and get out of here? It smells like regret and farts.”
Really? A fucking fart joke?
“What a winner,” Cole murmured in my earpiece.
I had to hold back a snicker as I stepped to the side. One of the men threw the sick girl over his shoulder and the other dancer walked behind them with her eyes pointed toward the ground. If I had to venture a guess, they were girls that had already been brought in from other countries, and the idea made me sick.
But once they all left the room, I was the only one in there.
So, I closed the bathroom door. “Cole?”
“I’m already thinking it. This shipment of women isn’t their first.”
I sighed. “Any way we can get them out of this, too? Or are we just focused on the—”
He cut me off. “Be careful with what you say out loud. We can’t ruin this for them. Everyone’s lives are on the line right now.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Right, right. Well, uh, is there anything we can do?”
He paused. “Give me a few minutes to think about it and I’ll get back to you. In the meantime, get ready for your set. I heard you’re back on stage in about thirty minutes, they just announced it.”
Knowing Cole would be out there watching me settled my gut a bit, but I was still incredibly nervous. However, the dancing came and went without a hitch. There wasn’t as much money tossed up onto the stage, but that was what happened as the night waned on. That was why a lot of dancers enjoyed being either the first three to go on stage or the last three, because the middle of the evening usually slumped a bit. Men either threw too much money in the beginning and had to penny pinch until the end where they went big, or men threw all their money in the beginning so they could get home to their wives before sneaking back out and coming refreshed with a wallet full of twenties.
But I still cleared a decent four hundred, even after the assholes in black leather jackets took their cut.
“Hey, you.”
I heard the cat-call, but decided to ignore it. And apparently, he didn’t like that very much.
“Hey,” he said behind a whistle through his teeth, “I’m talking to you.”
He gripped my shoulder and spun me around, and I found myself face to face with Chops.
“Josie? Don’t engage that man,” Cole said in my ear.
But it was too late. “My apologies, I didn’t know you were speaking to me.”
Chops raked his eyes up and down my body. “With me. Now.”
“Where are you two headed?” Cole asked.
I couldn’t respond, though. “Of course, sir. Where would you like me to be?”
He peeked over his shoulder at me. “Behind me. Now, do as I ask or you’ll be out of a job.”
Shit, he’s got the right to fire in this place.
Cole rustled around in my earpiece and I tried to ignore how frantic he sounded. He needed to keep his cool, but the only thing I could do was clear my throat. I did it as many times as I could without it sounding fishy, but the longer I followed Chops the more worried I became.
Especially when he rounded into a private dance room that had a pole in the middle and a plush chair backed up toward the far wall.
“Dance,” Chops commanded as he slammed the door closed.
I looked up at him, watching as he went to sit down. “What kind of show would you like?”
“I hear you. You’re dancing for him. I’m on my way,” Cole whispered in my ear.
Chops glared at me. “I won’t ask you again. Dance like your life depends on it.”
“Fuck,” Cole hissed.
Once the music cued up, though, I didn’t have a choice. I swayed my hips side to side as I stepped up to the pole, hoping and praying that I didn’t have to go any further than that. My small gun pressed against my right knee as my thigh-highs bunched up, and I prayed the damn thing wouldn’t be revealed while I swung around.
I climbed up the pole and swung back down, shimmying my tits as my legs hung on for dear life. But once I got to the ground and stood back up, Chops was on the platform with me.
