Claiming Her Beasts (Claiming Her Beasts #1) - Dia Cole Page 0,9

rest of her clove into my empty cup, she stood and reached for my hand. “How about you show me your room and I’ll let you bite me back.”

4

Lee

My breath came out in a quick gasp. Javier wants to see me? In all the weeks he and his men had been coming to Eros, he’d never asked to meet any of the dancers. Of course, he never looked at the other dancers the way he looked at me.

Cami swiveled around in her chair. “You’re not planning on pimping Lee out to the drug lord, are you?”

Max jerked as though she’d punched him in the solar plexus and rubbed his hands together nervously. “No. Nothing like that. He just wants to meet her, okay? I don’t like it either, but money is tight. We need his business.”

I don’t need that kind of business.

I stood up and headed toward the lockers. “I’ve already done two sets. I’m off the clock. Besides, my ride is waiting.” I couldn’t keep Uncle Duncan sitting in the parking lot all night.

“Please, Lee.” Max tugged at his candy-cane striped tie as if it was strangling him.

I sighed in resignation. “Okay, but I’m not doing any lap dances.”

He bobbed his head up and down so fast, his jowls shook.

“And I’m skipping my first set tomorrow.”

It wasn’t as if I’d make any money with the early set, anyway.

His eyes narrowed. “Friday’s our biggest night and you’re our headliner.”

“I’ll be there for my ten o’clock.” I slid my heels back on, trying to ignore the protest made by my feet. “Look, do you want me to meet Javier or not?”

He threw his hands up in the air. “Fine.”

Cami grabbed my arm as I followed Max to the doorway. Her face pinched with worry.

“Be careful. Javier Diaz is a dangerous man.”

Great. If Cami, notorious for her less than stellar taste in men, was worried, Javier had to be really bad news.

My stomach became a writhing ball of snakes. “I’ll be fine. I left your phone on my chair.” I gently tugged away from her. “There’s a party at the house tonight for Reed’s birthday. If you’re not doing anything after your set, why don’t you swing by?”

Her heart-shaped face brightened. “That’d be fun. Maybe I’ll give that sexy birthday boy a present he won’t ever forget.” She winked.

Something inside me balked at her interest in Reed, but before I could analyze my feelings, Max threw us an aggravated look.

“Come on, Lee. Time is money. Cami, have you seen Jess?”

I couldn’t hide the revulsion on my face. The auburn-haired stripper had made my life a living hell ever since Max gave me her time slot and moved her sets later.

Cami shared a knowing look with me. “No evil-bitch-of-the-West sightings here, Max. When are you going to fire her ass? Last week, Jess poured baby oil all over the stage steps, Havana hurt her back, and Lee nearly broke her leg.”

Remembering the nasty fall I’d taken made me wince. Jess’s mean-spirited pranks were going to get me killed one of these days.

“I don’t know why you ladies can’t just get along. Hurry up, Lee.” Max huffed out of the room.

So much for his begging and pleading act. I hurried to catch up with my boss.

Max was uncharacteristically quiet as we walked backstage and took the side stairs down. It added to my nervousness.

Javier seemed to inspire fear in everyone around him.

What did a man like that want from me?

My stomach churned as we moved through the dark hallway, past the VIP rooms, and out into the main club.

Onstage Havana was in her element. She’d shed her bodysuit and undulated to the throbbing beat of the music in nothing but a black G-string and her boots. Her whip was wrapped around the professor. Based on the dazed expression on his face, he’d just found his new religion.

Good for her.

My gaze skipped past the Christmas-light-encrusted bar and garland-wrapped faux Roman pillars to the back of the club. As I suspected, Javier watched my approach with the same intensity he watched my dancing. Some kind of primitive fight-or-flight instinct kicked in and I wanted to run. My knees trembled as I forced myself to walk toward him.

“Come on,” Max said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me forward. When we got to Javier’s table, Max cleared his throat. “Good evening, gentlemen. This is Heaven.”

Unwilling to meet Javier’s forceful gaze, I glanced at the men around him. They were dark-eyed with short dark hair except for the younger-looking