“Damn,” I said.
At that moment, my luck, never good, turned nasty.
I felt a hand go from the back of my knee, up my thigh, nearly to my mini-skirt.
I whirled around.
“No hands,” I snapped to Bachelor Number One, the one I’d clocked as the one to watch. He had greedy eyes and, at first sight, I didn’t like him.
“Hey babe, why aren’t you up there?” He motioned to the stage, “You’d be shit-hot up there.”
I started to walk away but was tagged by a hand at my camisole and pul ed back.
I turned around.
“I said, no hands.” I looked around for Lenny or one of the other bouncers but I saw none. The place was packed.
“You left without your tip,” Bachelor Number One said.
He held up a fifty.
A fifty was a f**king great tip and definitely worth the f-word. Even the dancers didn’t often get fifties.
I went to take it and he snatched it away.
He folded it in half, lengthwise.
“I want you to take it with your teeth.”
Then he held it at his fly.
What a jerk.
My eyes moved to his and I couldn’t help it, fifty dol ars or not, my lip curled.
“I don’t think so.”
I turned to walk away; he grabbed me by the waist, yanked me back onto his lap and curled an arm tight around me. With the other hand, he slid the fifty between my br**sts.
That’s the last thing he did of his own accord.
The next thing I knew, a hand wrapped around my wrist and Eddie jerked me out of his lap. The strength of the pul and momentum of my body threw me away from him several feet and I crashed into some guys who were standing around. Stil , I saw Eddie yank Bachelor Number One out of his chair by his col ar.
Then he held him by his col ar and he put his fist in his face. It was not pretty and I winced. You could hear his nose breaking.
The other bachelor party boys rose from their seats in defence of their brethren and al hel broke loose.
Several guys tried to jump Eddie but he had his eyes on the prize, yanking Bachelor Number One free of the clutch and, stil holding his col ar, slammed his fist into his face again.
That’s al I saw. I was being jostled and pushed back, teetering on my dominatrix shoes. Lenny got to me and pul ed me out of the rapidly growing brawl. It started with Eddie and the bachelor party and grew.
I saw one of the bachelor party boys get thrown on stage.
JoJo was dancing and he nearly col ided with her. She let out a screech and al the girls began running around and then disappeared into the back.
I wanted to try to get to Eddie but Tanya grabbed my arm, pushed my purse into my hands and tugged me out the front door. The other waitresses and some of the dancers were standing outside, taking the brawl opportunity to get a smoke break in and some of the customers were reeling out to get away from the pandemonium.
“Holy crap! Did you see that?” Tanya asked. “I watched the whole thing. You were in the way so your hot guy couldn’t see what was happening with the money. The minute that ass**le pul ed you on his lap, though, your man threw three guys out of his way to get to you. It was ace!” she shouted, clearly excited.