Risk It All (Risqué #2) (4 page)

‘Since when do you make me pay for sex,’ he said. ‘I thought that all I had to do was ask.’

‘Those days are long gone, and you know it,’ she said then lowered her lashes. ‘I don’t do sex anymore.’

‘I know,’ he said, with a half-smile. Brushing a finger down her cheek, he thought about all of the times that they had been together, and everything that had happened to tear them apart.

‘I heard that Ruger left town,’ she said. Changing the subject was her way of retreating from an awkward subject. No matter how many times he tried to bring up the incident which happened a year ago, she always closed the door in his face.

‘Again,’ Blaser said, carrying on his journey with her walking at his side. ‘He’ll be back eventually, he always is.’

‘I heard that he moved a woman into his apartment.’

‘Yeah,’ Blaser said. ‘Sort of.’

‘Ruger the cohabiter, who would’ve thought… I never figured out what I did to that guy to make him hate me so much.’

‘He doesn’t hate you,’ Blaser said, his younger brother didn’t trust Bri and made no secret about it. Colt, Blaser’s twin, didn’t trust her either, but he at least made his reasons clear – Colt thought that Bri was trouble, full stop. ‘And Suzette isn’t his girlfriend, she’s Lyssa’s best friend.’

‘Lyssa? Doctor Cutler?’

‘Yeah, you know, Colt’s fiancée. Suzette needed a place to stay and Ruger knew he was leaving town, so he said she could use his place.’

‘I thought he had a trillion secrets.’             

‘He does,’ Blaser said. ‘But I don’t think he keeps them all in his apartment.’

‘I can’t believe that Colt is really getting hitched.’

‘He says so, he just moved into her townhouse this week,’ Blaser said. ‘Lyssa’s alright, she’s a doctor, a therapist, you know that… I’ve told you that already, a bunch of times. She said if you ever wanted to talk or, you know, or we wanted to talk together that—‘

Brianna stopped. ‘You never told me what made you tell her, about what happened to me.’

Turning to see the curious vulnerability spread across her face, guilt seeped into him. When he had first brought up Bri talking to a doctor, she had been horrified that he’d shared her secret. Now she seemed more accepting and he hoped that was a sign that she was ready to move on from the trauma.

‘I didn’t tell her all the details, just… Don’t you think it’s time that you talk about what happened to you?’

‘I talked,’ she said and he recognised those defensive hackles firing from her eyes. ‘I talked to cops and lawyers and doctors. I talked to them all. I talked and I talked. This is something that happened to me and I don’t like the idea that you think I’m broken because of it. Why can’t you just forget it? Forget that you know it at all and think of me like you used to.’

‘You haven’t forgotten it. You said it yourself, you haven’t had sex since it happened, have you?’

‘I get along just fine without sex, Blaser… Sex isn’t everything. A person can live a long and happy life without ever—oh to hell with you, I don’t even know why I came here. I should’ve listened to Gary.’

She spun around, but he snagged her arm and brought her back to him. Bri wasn’t usually so short tempered, her reaction betrayed that she hadn’t dealt with issues from her past that desperately needed to be dealt with. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up, not out here like this.’

‘You didn’t say that you shouldn’t have brought it up at all, which means you’re not finished harassing me about it.’

‘I don’t think I’ll ever be finished harassing you about anything,’ he said, managing a smile and silently praying that she would relax and forgive him for bringing it up. 

Fingering a rip on the strap of her top, she moved her eyes away from his. She was practically naked in the revealing outfit and he couldn’t handle seeing that much of her skin without his body reacting. So Blaser unzipped his jacket and draped it around her. She stumbled back, blinking up at him with round eyes. He held his hands up to show he had no intention of hurting her.

‘You shouldn’t be out like that. You’ll give guys ideas.’

‘Guys like you?’

Now that he had her up close again, he wished that he didn’t have a rule against messing around with subordinates. But he was brought back to considering her original request because he couldn’t act on the impulses he had around her, not anymore. ‘I’ll let you wait tables.’

‘If you let me dance I’ll make more money,’ she said, but he shook his head. ‘I can work in the garage for you too, just like I used to. I can answer phones and do your inventory and—‘

‘I’ve got a new girl,’ he said. Back in the day, Bri would come to Warner’s autos when it was a chop shop and do what admin needed to be done. Things were definitely different now that he was legitimate.

‘You replaced me?’ she asked, but her mock indignation was enough to make him smile, which was something she’d always had a knack for doing: making him smile even when others failed.

‘I’ve replaced you a couple of times, but the girls never seem to stick around for long. They’re intimidated by the guys or they date them and things get awkward.’

‘So if I hang around long enough, your new girl will quit and I can take over again.’

‘I don’t think that Ivy is the type to be easily intimidated,’ Blaser said.

‘Sounds like you like her. Is she pretty?’

‘Jealousy?’ he said and had to laugh because Bri had never been the jealous type.

Never in all of the years that they were together did she even accuse him of so much as looking at another woman. But that might have been because he never did. Bri kept him enraptured, he’d been besotted since they were teenagers and looking at her now he didn’t think that enchantment had ever gone away.

‘I can be jealous of other women sharing your bed,’ she said, toying with his pinkie finger that hung at his side. She always fiddled with his digits when flirting with him or playing coy. He had never seen her do it with another soul, but she was entitled to his body in a unique way.

‘You could be, but she’s not sharing my bed. Her husband is working security for me at the club.’

‘She’s married? What’s her husband like?’

‘I haven’t figured him out yet,’ Blaser said, narrowing his eyes as he once again considered what Dax Harrow’s story might be. ‘So far he’s doing his job and that’s all that I care about, the rest isn’t my business.’

‘You’re too trusting,’ she said. ‘You hire people that no one else would touch.’

‘It doesn’t mean I trust them. I know how to handle things if they go wrong.’ She still wouldn’t look at him, so he took the opportunity to scope out the figure he still dreamt about at night.

‘I know you do,’ she whispered and clicked her nail under his.

She was stronger than she gave herself credit for, which was good because Risqué didn’t employ many wallflowers, meaning he was used to being around women with gumption in spades. Risqué women had to be tough enough to deal with wandering hands and savvy enough to retort to mouthy patrons without causing an altercation.

‘Thank you for stopping in the alley and helping me out,’ she said, gratitude was another way she had of repaying debts. Sometimes she wasn’t strong enough to save herself, but in the times he’d done it for her, she had always been generous with her appreciation afterwards.

When he resumed walking, he was pleased that she remained at his side. ‘Who was the guy?’

‘He works for a guy called Rafe. I didn’t realise that he was following me. I was coming to the club to ask you for a job, I thought it was best to talk to you outside, so I waited. Rafe will be pissed that you stepped in, but he’s not going to start a war with your family. I don’t think that he’s that dumb.’

‘We’re not the mafia,’ he said. ‘My family can deal with shit. We’ve been dealing with lowlifes and scumbags for years. Do you need help with this Rafe guy?’

She exhaled what sounded like a laugh and slipped her arms into his jacket sleeves. ‘I wouldn’t even know where to start.’

‘At the beginning,’ he said.

They kept walking, then turned away from the main drag, and continued on. ‘I saw Crystal last week,’ Brianna said and he didn’t think this was the beginning of an explanation for what was going on with Rafe. ‘She practically took my head off.’

Crystal was the head dancer in Risqué, she had worked there since day one. She had helped him design the uniforms and come up with the ground rules. She was probably his best friend in the world, after his two brothers. Though he didn’t always get along with them because his path through life hadn’t been as kosher as theirs.

‘What for?’

‘She heard that we… that we’d been seeing each other.’

‘No one was happy about that,’ he said. ‘Ruger and Colt have been giving me shit for getting involved again. I still can’t believe that Gary called in a raid at the club and showed up to cause shit with the girls. I think he’d be happier if I had backed off quietly.’

‘I was surprised that you showed up at Erika’s like you did.’

‘I’m surprised that you let me in,’ he said.

Bri slid an arm through his and folded her arms, holding herself close to him. ‘I miss you sometimes. I mean I know we can never go back…’

‘No,’ he said. Just talking to her again had both of his brothers raising the DEFCON level and Gary was on the offensive. If they ever thought about getting physical with each other, Blase dreaded to think how that would turn out. ‘Your family wouldn’t appreciate it.’

‘Neither would yours,’ she said.

His family was huge and spread into most areas and vocations of life. Brianna’s family consisted of her brother who was presently in jail. ‘Crystal told me that I would stay away if I knew what was good for me.’

‘But you’re here.’

‘Gary’s in jail and I’ve been kicked out of Erika’s apartment. I need to get a job and to start supporting myself again. So if I need money, the quickest way to get it is to dance for it, and your club is one of the few I’d trust to feel safe in.’

‘Who was the guy tonight?’ Blaser asked he had to know what trouble she brought with her.

Brianna usually brought trouble, but it was always someone else’s, she rarely caused it herself. The unfortunate woman trailed her brother’s messes everywhere she went. Though Blaser couldn’t judge Gary too harshly because there was a time that she trailed Blaser’s messes with her everywhere too.

‘He was an enforcer,’ she sighed. ‘Erika and her boyfriend owe Rafe money, but they left town.’

‘So they’re coming after you?’

‘Guess so,’ Bri said, making them wait for a light before they crossed the street despite there being no traffic. ‘Erika took off, then my landlord kicked me out.’

‘So where are you staying?’

‘After I beg you for a job I plan to head over to Marshall’s.’ Marshall was a friend of Gary’s that Blaser knew from back in the day.

‘You’re going to walk all that way?’ he asked. ‘If you go to Marshall’s he’ll expect gratitude.’

‘I don’t have much choice,’ she said. ‘With Gary out of town there’s no one else around here that I trust.’

‘With Gary inside you have a chance to get your life together.’

‘That’s what people told me about you,’ she said. ‘When you went to jail they all told me that this was my chance to break free.’

‘We broke up, didn’t we?’ he said. Setting her free was supposed to give her the chance to get herself a good, respectable life. ‘You moved to New Jersey.’

‘For all the good that did me,’ she muttered.

‘You have a helluva story, Bri. All of this crap you put up with from the men in your life…’

‘Everyone has a story, Blase. You should hear the stories that follow your family around.’

‘I’ve heard them,’ he said and she laughed, which intrigued him.

‘Not all of them.’

‘Ok, hold up,’ he said, taking her forearm to draw her to a halt. ‘I’m not going to let you walk all that way to Marshall’s. You’re scratched up and it’s not safe.’

‘Let me?’ she asked, but he ignored her surprise.

‘I’ve got a vacant apartment, Colt just moved out.’

‘You want to rent me an apartment?’

‘You’ve lived in the building before, it’s right next to the garage. You’re not going to be isolated in the middle of nowhere.’

She jerked her arm back. ‘And just what do you want in exchange for this generosity?’

‘Three hundred a month for employees, it’s a one bed, half bath, nothing fancy.’

She began to shake her head. ‘I’m so disappointed. I really didn’t think you would… What are we talking? Blowjobs once a day, once a week? Once a month? Or do you want the full package?’ Her index finger dug into his pec when she prodded at him. ‘I am not a hooker. I have never sold my body and I never will. I’d go hungry and homeless before I let a sleaze like you slobber on me again.’

She spun to storm off, but he got hold of her arm again. ‘Hold on there, quick draw. I don’t want sex.’ She frowned, reeking of suspicion. ‘I’m presenting a legitimate rental contract. Do you think I’m screwing all of my tenants? That would open me up to all sorts of lawsuits and most of my tenants are guys. Even if I did swing that way I don’t know where I’d find the time to have all that sex, between the club, the garage, and the apartment complex, I haven’t had a girlfriend in a long time. But I guess if you’re still that hot for me I could shoehorn in an hour a week somewhere.’