Bad Girl
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Julie Miller
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15,4K
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12
Chapter One
Doreen Riley sat in her dark car beneath the harsh glow of neon lights and street lamps, staring at the wrinkled old photo in her hand. There wasn’t much she valued from her childhood, even fewer mementos she treasured.
This picture of her and her younger sister, Megan, taken at some Fourth of July picnic in the years before Sal Fusco had entered their lives, was one of the few items she’d taken with her the night she’d run away nine years ago. She brushed her thumb over the image of her sister’s strawberry-blonde hair, feeling a stab of guilt—along with something darker, angrier, and something decidedly more ruthless—curling in the pit of her stomach.
Riley—only her family and people she didn’t care to know called her Doreen—looked up from her past and surveyed the world outside her windshield. Rain fogged up the autumn night, making the sidewalks and pavements shiny, creating numerous places in the alleys and corners of this downtown Kansas City street for the cockroaches and lowlifes to hide.
Surfing through online porn sites that had left her skin crawling, and putting questions to old friends and enemies she’d known from her time on the streets, had all led her here, to the posh gentleman’s club called After Dark. A sandblasted brick building, with etched glass windows and a double front door, velvet drapes with gold trim, and a side door off the parking lot sporting a secret panel reminiscent of a 1920’s speakeasy made After Dark look like a modern, no-expense-spared homage to times gone by.
But she was certain there was more to After Dark than a million-dollar renovation and a discreet ambience that promised titillating fun and an assurance of privacy for its paying customers. Rumors she trusted more than the online newspaper articles she’d researched warned her there was more than a legitimate trade in alcohol and lap dances happening here.
And if this was where Megan had ended up…
“It’s getting bad, Dee.”
“Has he hurt you?”
“Not yet. I keep my door locked or spend the night at Nate’s.” Riley didn’t think her teenage sister’s twenty something boyfriend was much of an alternative to their stepfather, Sal. But when Megan had phoned her at 4:00 a.m., talking in hushed whispers so she wouldn’t be overheard, Riley sensed it was better to listen than to preach. “But something’s wrong.”
“Besides Sal’s perverted inability to keep his hands to himself?”
“More than that. He’s not just drinking and pretending like none of us knows what’s going on. He’s gambling again.” That meant he was losing money. “He’s angry. A lot. And he’s taking it out on Mom. I called the cops on him last night.”
Like they’d listen. “Did she press charges?”
“What do you think?”
Shit. “You can’t protect her, Megan. She didn’t have to go back to him. I offered her a way out.” Once Riley had gotten off the streets, landed a job and found an apartment, that had been her first call. “Do you need a place to stay? You know my door is always open. For Mom, too. I’m not afraid of that son of a bitch anymore.”
“I’ll try to talk to her. I’m going over to Nate’s after school.”
Okay, so she’d earned the right to preach a little. “Sweetie, if he’s back with his old friends, you can’t be with him, either.”
“Nate’s been clean for months now. And he’s really sweet and protective when he’s sober.”
Riley had buried her face in her pillow and groaned. She could see the same pattern happening all over again. Riley might be alone, but at least she was nobody’s punching bag or codependent or… No. Sal Fusco wasn’t even an acknowledgment in her random thoughts anymore.
She sat up on the edge of her bed, not bothering to hide her concern for Megan. “Keep me in the loop. You know where my spare key is, right? Even if I’m at class or work, and you need to get away, you come on over and make yourself at home. Okay, sweetie?”
“I will. I’ll talk to Mom before Sal gets home from work and call you tonight.”
Only, Megan had never called.
Not that night.
Not any night, day or in between for three days now.
Megan was gone. Missing without a trace.
No one at her high school and none of the friends Riley had talked to had seen her.
Nate Osborn, Megan’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, claimed she’d been talking about going away to a school for some kind of modeling opportunity, but he hadn’t heard from her and didn’t know where she was. His clothes smelled like cat urine and his speech and gestures were manic enough that she knew he’d been using crystal meth again. She’d been half-relieved that she hadn’t found Megan with him.
Even a visit to the home she hadn’t been to for nine years to talk with her mother and rat’s ass of a stepfather about what might have prompted Megan’s disappearance hadn’t revealed a thing. Her mother had cried, spouting some nonsense about a modeling agent stealing her baby girl away for her fresh face, while Sal had poured himself another drink.
There were no clothes or personal belongings missing from Megan’s room, indicating she’d left on a trip of her own free will. No money missing from her checking account to show she’d paid for a class or bought a bus ticket or even a square meal.
She was just gone.
Riley glanced down at the photograph of a happier time and swore at the irony of it all.
KCPD had listed Megan as a teenage runaway. But Riley’s gut was telling her that wasn’t right. Riley was the runner. She was the bad seed who’d fought back against her stepfather’s twisted abuse and paid the price. Megan was the good sister. The responsible one who got top grades and kept a part-time job at a grocery store, in spite of the trouble at home. Megan was the one who’d stayed and tried to help after Riley had finally had enough and left for good.
Riley knew about running away. She knew about living on the streets and supporting herself in necessary ways for two years until she’d saved up enough money to walk away and go back to school to get a decent job in an office while she earned her business degree.
That was why she was here tonight.
Megan wasn’t the only young woman to go missing in Kansas City. Every rumor she’d managed to latch on to said that the answers to the mystery of the missing girls could be found right here.
Riley knew this part of town. It was a haven for runaways and hard-luck cases needing to make a buck. For every bright light and renovated exterior, there were two shadows and a back alley where pretty much anything—or anyone—could be bought or sold for the right price.
Her gaze drifted back to the gentleman’s club across the street. The velvet ropes where men lined up to gain entrance, and the dark wood blinds in the windows didn’t change a thing—After Dark was just a fancy name for a strip joint.
But she suspected it was a different story behind the facade.
Yes, there was a Mercedes-Benz, a BMW and two vintage muscle cars that had to be worth a pretty penny in the well-guarded private parking lot on the building’s west side. But the two bruisers at the gated entrance weren’t any typical valets taking tickets and parking cars. The blue-and-black security uniforms didn’t fool her.
She’d chatted with counselors from homeless shelters, even an old friend she’d run into outside the Cheap Peep on the next block. Word on the street seemed to point to an illegal sex trade specializing in providing escorts of a young age or with a certain look—like Megan’s fresh face. Anyone who’d been willing to answer more specific questions had indicated that one of the trendiest nightclubs in the Kansas City area, After Dark, seemed to be the place where she’d find someone who might know about Megan—or at least answers about where she might look next to find where a missing eighteen-year-old strawberry-blonde who hadn’t shown up in the morgue might have gone.
Riley also understood the laws of the street. No one around here would be anxious to answer a lot of questions, especially from an outsider.
So she was going to revisit that part of her life she’d hoped she’d left behind and make herself an insider. Again.
The thought of what she was about to do made her cringe. Even after a lot of time and a lot of hard work, the memories still felt fresh. They made her raw inside. But she’d survived. She could harden herself against them.
Because the thought that Megan might be going through the same thing—or something worse—would kill her.
As ready for this charade as she was going to get, Riley hid the photograph inside the glove compartment. She didn’t want to arouse anyone’s suspicions about her real reason for being here. Plus, she’d learned the hard way not to get caught with anything sentimental that might reveal a vulnerability that could be used against her.
After locking up both the picture and her emotions, Riley unbuttoned her sweater down to a glimpse of her black-lace bra, pushed up her boobs to deepen her cleavage, and mussed her long auburn hair around her shoulders. A touch of ruby lipstick and a smack of her lips in the rearview mirror provided the final layer of armor. She was ready.
Climbing out into the cool night air, she locked the car behind her and strode across the street to interview for a job that hadn’t even been listed.
She spared a coy smile for the line of men who lacked the money and credentials to get in through the private side entrance. With a purposeful sway to her ass, she waltzed past the hungry looks and catcalls and pushed open the double front doors to the din of music, clinking glasses and chatter.
“Hold it, sweetheart.”
The bouncer at the front counter rose from his stool and grabbed her arm as she went past. She was no shrimp at five-seven plus three-inch heels. But this bruiser with the shaved head and surly attitude towered over her by half a foot as he pulled her back to face him.
“No one gets in without coming through me first,” he announced. His voice was deep-pitched, resonating through a square jaw and a prominent nose that had been broken at some point in his past. His brown eyes were dark and shining with suspicion beneath equally dark lashes.
“Surely you aren’t carding me,” she challenged.
His gaze traveled up and down her body without apology or flicker of appreciation before he snorted a sound that must be his version of a laugh. “You’re of age. What do you want?”
His unfortunate looks were offset by the midnight pitch of his tough-guy drawl and the utter masculinity of his imposing build. Riley ignored a traitorous ripple of feminine awareness at his brawny strength and bold assessment. Focusing on the bear paw locked on her arm, she offered up a dismissive smile. “I’m not here to talk to you, big boy. I’m here to see the man in charge. I’m interviewing for the bartending position. Mr. Russell is expecting me.”
She’d gleaned the owner’s name from an online newspaper interview. Talking as though she knew someone usually convinced people that she did.
“No, he’s not. Mr. Russell isn’t here.”
“Oh.” She pursed her painted lips into a frown. “Do you know where he is? I said I was coming by this evening.”
But the big brute wasn’t buying it. He wasn’t letting go, either. If anything, his fingers tightened above her elbow as he dipped his head toward hers. She heard his whisper loud and clear, despite the noise of the club. “What do you really want?”
The man didn’t mince words. Was he this distrustful of everyone? Of women? Or maybe just her?
Fine. Her bold sortie hadn’t worked. So she’d go straight to plan B and pour on the sexual distraction. If he liked to look, she’d show him. “I want a job. I don’t suppose you could help me, could you?”
Riley shook her hair off her cheeks and pulled back her shoulders, giving him a clear view of the creamy swells of her breasts before she traced the barbed-wire tattoo circling his left bicep. She lingered on his warm skin, as if curious about the ink’s symbolism. Then she tiptoed her fingers up his broad chest to touch the dimple beside his mouth, realizing after she’d made contact with the rigid skin that it was the pucker of a scar, not a smile line. But she didn’t let his harsh features or shaved head dissuade her. Instead of pulling against his grip, she aligned her body more fully with his and let the tips of her breasts tease the swell of pectoral muscles beneath his snug brown T-shirt. And though her nipples puckered into hard beads at the intentional contact, he didn’t so much as bat an eye.
Was this guy gay? Back in her street days, she’d pulled in fifty-dollar tips for giving a guy a similar show. Unused to the snub, she put her brain to work. Logically, she supposed a disinterest in making full-body contact with her girls was probably a good qualification for a club like After Dark, where security often meant protecting the women who worked there without getting involved with any of them.
But she had more weapons in her arsenal to get what she wanted if seduction wouldn’t do the trick. Whatever this guy was into, she’d deliver it to get what she needed—access to the inner workings at After Dark…without this dedicated security chief getting in her way.
Riley retreated a step and gave the bouncer her best I-need-a-friend act. “I just got fired because I wouldn’t sleep with the boss. But I’ve still got bills to pay, and I like to eat at least once a day.” She tilted her green eyes up to his and used her free hand to tuck her hair behind her right ear for a more innocent, less outright flirtatious, look. “If Mr. Russell isn’t here, is there someone else I can talk to? I’m a good bartender. Guys like me.” She shrugged and tapped his chest in apology. “Most guys do, anyway.”
At last the vise grip loosened and he turned his head toward a black-haired man wearing a suit with no tie. The short man was lecturing a cocktail waitress who was nearly in tears at the end of the bar. “You’ll want to talk to Rocky. He manages the place for Mr. Russell. No guarantees that you’ll get the job. Not even sure why you’d want to work here. But you can try.”
“Thank you. I heard tips could be really good at After Dark.” Riley added a shy little twitch to her smile. “I just need a break.”
At last he released her completely. He stuffed his fingers into the back pockets of his jeans, stretching the cotton of his shirt tightly across his chest and shoulders, creating an even more imposing wall of defense for the club. “Rocky’s in a mood tonight, so you be careful. I don’t like trouble.”
She ignored the dig that he still suspected she might not be on the up and up. “Why is he in a mood?”
A sharp rap at the door diverted his gaze for a second. “Hey, when can we get in?” the man at the front of the line shouted through the glass.
“When I say so,” the bouncer answered, just loud enough and forcefully enough for the man to retreat behind the velvet rope.
Riley glanced around the club, taking in the stools at the bar, the small tables around the U-shaped stage and the curtained-off private booths that lined one wall. It looked like the place was certainly full to capacity. The sex business was booming. Surely, someone here could answer her questions about Megan, and where a slender young beauty like her sister would go to follow a bogus modeling offer or to whom she’d turn for help when her home and her boyfriend were no longer safe places to be.
Then the bruiser’s brown eyes were back on her to answer her question about the manager. “When things aren’t running smoothly, Rocky takes it out on whoever’s close by. So keep your distance.”
“Thanks for the tip.” Riley shook her hair loose again and straightened the sleeve of her red sweater, making a show of exposing just enough cleavage to be sexy without looking like she was here for a job dancing up on the stage. Still no reaction from the Neanderthal. She was definitely leaning toward gay. What a waste of testosterone. “Wish me luck.”
His hand was on her arm again. “If you get the job, you can stay. Otherwise, I want you out of here ASAP. After Dark isn’t a place for ladies.”
Sweet. He thought she was a lady. So chivalry wasn’t dead. Not that she’d ever relied on a man to do the right thing by her. “You don’t have to protect me, Mr., um?”
“Josiah Kemp.” He shook his head. “I’m not worried about your safety, sweetheart. I’m just doing my job. Mr. Russell wants the customers focusing on the women onstage and buying drinks. He doesn’t like distractions keeping the clientele from spending their money.”
Ah, so maybe there was a chink in his male armor, after all. She pouted her lips into a smile. “You think I’m a distraction?”
Nope. Her mistake. He touched two blunt fingers to her chin and turned her focus out to the soulful music, boozy smells, and velvet and brass, leather and dark wood appointments of the club. “Do you see any other women here? It’s staff only.”
Riley glanced around at the colorful lights and secretive shadows. The only women she saw were cocktail waitresses in short shorts and too-tight jeans—and the dancer onstage with her leg wrapped around a pole, wearing little more than a G-string.
When the stab of a memory tried to take her back in time, Riley quickly buried the thought and focused on the fact that not one of the women she saw was Megan. She wondered at the back doors on either side of the stage. Were there rooms back there for special customers? Maybe the ones driving the luxury cars and coming in the private side entrance? Could Megan be back there? Or inside one of the secluded booths?
Her blood ran cold at the thought of her innocent little sister being subjected to the selfish whims of any one of the men here. “You don’t, um…” She lifted her chin from Josiah’s callused touch and tilted her face up to his. “The club doesn’t offer other types of entertainment besides drinking and…dancing, does it?”
“What kind of question is that?” His dark eyes narrowed. “You’re going to be trouble for me, aren’t you?”
A firm no would have been more reassuring. Riley chose not to respond to his suspicions. If there was something more sinister than sleazy going on at After Dark, and Megan had somehow gotten sucked into it… “I just need the job.”
Doubt lingered in his eyes. “Don’t play me, sweetheart,” he warned. “I’ve got no problem tossing you out on your ass if I find out you’re up to something besides that ‘poor me’ shit.”
Tough guys didn’t scare her. Of course, she’d never met one so immune to her charms before. But she’d figure out how to handle this one, too, if necessary. She arched an auburn brow. “It’s okay, Josiah. I don’t trust you, either.”
The snippy statement earned her a chuckle and half a grin that bled into the rugged line of that scar beside his mouth. “I’m glad we understand each other.” He inclined his head toward the manager. “Go on. Give it your best shot.”
Riley schooled the urge to breathe a sigh of relief. As she turned toward the bar, she caught Josiah’s gaze landing on her butt. Maybe he was just keeping an eye on a woman he didn’t trust. But her lips curled into a smile as the half-hooded gaze followed her weaving path through the tables.
Sucker. You’re not so tough, after all. And he was definitely into women. Maybe even into her, especially, judging by the unblinking interest warming her backside. She just hadn’t offered him the right bargaining chip.
Savoring the silent victory over at least one man here, Riley carried herself a little straighter, strutted a little harder. She had this. The bad girl who’d survived two years on the streets was alive and well, and about to make After Dark—and whatever secrets it could share about her sister—her own.
She spied the short, muscular man who seemed to be in charge and sauntered right up to him. “Are you Rocky?”
“I don’t want to hear any more complaints. Now go make the customers happy.” The manager swatted the rump of the waitress who was near tears at the end of their one-sided conversation and sent her on her way.
The stab of compassion she felt for the dark-haired woman didn’t show anywhere on Riley’s full-lipped smile when he turned to face her. “I’m Rocky Calibrisi.” His gaze settled on her cleavage. “What can I do for you, sugar?”
“I was hoping I could get a job tending bar. I’ve got lots of experience.” Riley raised her voice over the clinking of glass and chattering of voices around the bar. “The bouncer, Josiah, said you were the man in charge and I should talk to you.”
His dark eyes met hers. “We’re not hiring, sugar. All our girls are on the stage or waiting tables. Go home.” He walked away from her to shake hands with two men at the end of the bar. “Are you gentlemen enjoying your evening?”
Uh-uh. Doreen Riley didn’t give up that easily.
As the friendly guy talk ensued between Rocky and his guests, she slipped beneath the gate at the end of the bar, dropped her purse beside one of the cash registers on the mirrored back wall and hurried past the bartender filling trays at the waitress station to join them.
“Excuse me, gentlemen.” Riley poured on the flirt, and pointed to their watered down drinks. “Old-fashioned and a Colorado bulldog? Can I get you another?”
The two men, maybe little more than college-aged, trust fund frat boys, were suddenly more interested in her than in Rocky.
“Sure.”
“You can get me anything you want, babe.”
Trading sympathetic nods with the harried bartender, Riley quickly made fresh drinks and returned to the end of the bar. She removed the used glasses, wiped away the condensation on the bar top and slid the fresh drinks in front of the frat boys. Both of them slapped bills on the counter, eager to make an impression on her.
Riley looked beyond them to the short man in the light gray suit. “That’ll be…?”
Rocky nodded approvingly. “Four-fifty each.”
The young man who’d laid down a twenty pushed it across the bar. “Keep the change.”
“Thanks.” Riley rang up the drinks on the cash register’s computer screen, then stuffed the extra bills into her bra. When she winked her thanks, the two men practically drooled into their drinks.
With a little direction from the bartender who seemed relieved to have the help, Riley filled several more orders. She made sure that the manager saw how quickly and accurately she worked—and how her red hair and teasing flirtations lured several more men to come over and buy drinks.
Forty-five minutes later, when the lights dimmed and the music changed for a new performer to take the stage, Riley could finally catch her breath. The mirror behind the prime-label bottles she was wiping down revealed Rocky Calibrisi coming behind the bar to join her.
She smiled at his approving nod in the mirror. She kept smiling when he palmed her hip and pulled her aside. Riley had learned long ago how to hide any kind of reaction to the free grope. She let him corner her against the polished teakwood of the bar gate. “What’s your name, sugar?”
“Doreen Riley.”
“What do you go by? Doreen? Dorie? Dee?”
She didn’t have to look up to meet his hooded gaze. “You can call me Doreen.”
He fingered the top button of his silk shirt, perhaps hoping to draw her attention to the black chest hair curling at the open collar. “When can you start?”
This guy was almost as easy to manipulate as the frat boys had been. “I already did.”
“Take a break at ten. Pour a tray of sodas and take them around to the bouncers then.” He pointed to the dark-haired waitress he’d chewed out earlier. “Introduce yourself to Mary Sue. She can help you with the staff drinks. She’ll show you the back room and an empty locker, too. Stop by my office after closing and we’ll fill out some paperwork.”
“Will do.” Paperwork? That sounded more legit than the kind of operation she was looking for. But rumors about shady dealings at After Dark had to be gossiped about for a reason. She’d find out the truth, and she’d find Megan.
“Thanks.” She deliberately dropped a hint that she was willing to get closer to him, and hopefully to the inner workings of the club. “I owe you one.”
Rocky nodded, looking smugly pleased with that response, before turning away and disappearing through the door to the left of the stage.
“Hey, babe. How about some service down at this end?” A customer slapped a twenty on the bar top and gave her an order. Riley pulled two draughts and smiled.
Josiah Kemp could stuff his suspicions about her.
She was in.
