I fought rolling my eyes. They were both seventeen, nearly eighteen. So I was not shocked that they’d take this stripper job opportunity to “look at” a bunch of strippers.
“Boys—” I started.
“Just listen, Ally, yeah?” Sniff coaxed.
I studied him a beat and nodded.
“We still got school so we can’t do much, but Sniff took some, I took others, and after school we followed them,” Roam told me.
I didn’t know if this was good or bad. I just knew they’d been around the Hot Bunch not a little but a lot, so they probably weren’t doing stupid shit.
I also wanted to know what they saw.
So I prompted, “And?”
“And, I saw one hand over an envelope to your bouncer guy,” Roam stated. “Had binoculars, saw the guy look through the envelope. Lots of bills. Ones, fives, tens.”
“Tip money,” I said quietly.
“Can’t get in the club so don’t know her take, but my guess, yeah,” Roam replied.
Why would a dancer be giving this guy her tip money?
“He’s got somethin’ on ‘em,” Sniff answered my question and I focused on him. “Don’t know what and Roam only saw that one hand over her cash, but that’s what we reckon.”
“You see these women do anything else?” I asked. “Anything that he might be making them do? Anything that he might be holding over them?”
I got two negative shakes.
Crap.
“You want us to stay on ‘em?” Sniff asked.
“Only if Shirleen knows you’re doing it and she’s cool with that,” I answered.
They looked at each other then they looked at me.
Sniff grinned.
Roam looked focused.
But I knew from their reactions that Shirleen would say it was okay. Then again, she was raising badasses who she would prefer used their badassness for good rather than evil, so she wouldn’t say no.
I lifted my hand and waved it out in a “move along” gesture. “Go forth, get permission, keep your eyes on these girls and report in to me frequently. If you don’t already have it, get my number from Shirleen.”
This got me nods.
“And keep Darius in the loop,” I added.
More nods.
“Thanks, guys,” I finished.
Another grin from Sniff. A chin jerk from Roam.
Jeez.
Roam chin jerking.