nothing and how important he is. Fuck, just listening to him you’d think he was the dean and he keeps dropping names into the conversation except I know and care about exactly none of them.
He doesn’t notice.
When he’s finally finished with his steak burger and fries, a large root beer float, and freaking dessert he pays for dinner and doesn’t tip the waitress. I want to claw his eyeballs out for that, the girl was great to us the whole time, but instead I try to get out of the diner in front of him to get a head start.
He catches up to me easily, putting a hand on the door to stop me from leaving.
“It’s early. You should come back to my place."
It’s four in the morning. I shake my head before the words are completely out of his mouth. "I just want to go home and sleep."
The grin on his face just gets wider. "Come on now, Angel. I'm sure you can throw in a freebie. Consider it payment for my silence."
I grit my teeth. "I thought dinner was my payment?"
"Dinner was something nice I was doing for you. Didn't your parents teach you any manners? Do they even know where you are?”
I take a deep breath. Then I take two more. How badly do I need this job? Enough to have sex with this man? Fuck. There's only one thing I'd rather do less than that, and that's to go back to the home I’m running from.
There are other strip clubs.
Now I know what I can make, I'll just head to a bigger city. Might be easier than hiding out in this tiny ass town and finding places to sleep will probably be easier too. Shit. There are other options, just not as comfortable as The Boulevard.
I can make it work.
I just need to figure out how the hell to get away from him now.
I give him a half-smile. I can’t even fake anything bigger than that. I’d noticed a gas station on the corner of the block, I’ll fucking fake nice and make a run for it down there. I’m in great shape thanks to all of the acrobatics I’m getting in with my dancing so unless he’s a regular runner, I should be able to make it.
“Good choice. We could make this a regular thing, I’ve enjoyed our time together so far.”
He steps out of the restaurant ahead of me, his eyes on me the entire time, and I have to control my breathing. He’s still too close to me. He could touch me, grab me, drag me by my fucking hair. I have to keep my shit together for a little longer.
Then he stops dead.
I glance up and find Tomi standing next to Finley's car, his face thunderous and fucking pissed. I'm scared for a second, he's not exactly the nicest of the bikers I've been around and the 1% badge is there on his cut like a badge of pride, but then Finley puts his arm around me and my skin begins to crawl.
I'd do anything to get him to stop.
Even throw myself at Tomi and pray he’s feeling merciful.
"Hey man, I think you're scaring the girl. Maybe you should back up a bit."
I stay rooted to the spot, my knees locked up with terror at his touch, and Tomi looks me over.
"Angel, get your ass over here now."
The spell is broken just like that.
I take a single step, trying to shrug Finley's arm off, and his hand clamps down on my shoulder. My mind starts to white out with terror, his fingers tightening until I know there’ll be bruises, and a weird squeak pops out of me.
Tomi moves fast for such a big guy.
One second I'm standing there freaking shaking and the next I'm stumbling towards the car, Tomi shoving me away from Finley as he smashes his face open with his fist.
I keep walking until I find Tomi's motorcycle, careful not to touch it because I know bikers can be weird about that but I stand there in my yoga pants and old band tee until he's done beating the shit outta the creep.
When he walks back over to me, his knuckles a freaking mess and blood splattered all over his shirt, his face is still fierce. I stare at the blood to try to distract myself from that anger.