“Take it off!” One of the women from the audience shouted and waved a dollar bill in the air. The rest of the team stood at the side of the stage, shit-eating grins on all of their faces as they watched Nick. Like his teammates, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. His movements were slow and deliberate, and even though his dance moves were goofy, the man oozed sex appeal.
He tossed his hat into the crowd and did a Michael Jackson kick turn before reaching behind his head to pull his T-shirt over his head. His back muscles rippled as he spun the T-shirt around in circles.
“That guy sure is in shape.” Lauren looked surprised. I wasn’t expecting an eight-pack and a V-cut so intense it had its own shadow.
He made a motioning gesture with his hands, but none of the women at the front of the stage moved to put any money in the waistband of his 501s.
His brow furrowed and his smile momentarily faltered. Then he put the T-shirt between his legs. It was the cheesiest classic stripper move I’d ever seen, but with him, it was captivating. The women screamed and one tried to hand him some money, but another hand reached out to stop it from being given to him.
That’s when I realized that the ringleader, Mrs. Leopard Print Top, was stopping anyone from giving Nick money.
“Excuse me.” I stood and made my way across the dance floor to the stage.
The ladies were huddled together, money in hand. “He’ll stop as soon as he gets fifty bucks. I want to see all of him.” Leopard Top stopped another woman from getting onto the stage.
Nick undid the top button of his pants and they went wild. Leopard Print leapt onto the stage and stuck a measly dollar into his pocket, but when another woman tried to do the same, she held out her palm, stopping her. It was obvious that Leopard Print ran the cougar gang and she had her sights set on Nick.
The music continued to play, and Nick continued to pull out all the cheesy dance moves—the sprinkler, the lawn mower, the running man, even the old-school break-dancing move where you hold your foot and jump through with the other. His smile was starting to falter, and Leopard Lady was being stingy with the money.
His eyes tracked through the crowd. I pushed to the front. “Nick,” I shouted.
Help me,he mouthed. His thumbs were stuck in the waistband of his jeans and he was grapevining across the stage. The good thing about not meeting many people is that while I didn’t have many friends, I also didn’t have any enemies, but I had the feeling that was about to change. I hopped on the stage and rushed to Nick, bypassing Mrs. Leopard. I shook the fifty above my head and handed it to Nick. He did up his pants and held the fifty above his head like a wrestler holding up a belt.
“A fifty?” Leopard Lady crinkled her nose in disgust. “We wanted to see what’s under these jeans.” She hooked her finger in the loop of Nick’s pants. “Welcome to Chansh Rapidsh,” she slurred. “Let me know when you’re ready for areal woman.” She bumped into me as she stepped off the stage.
“And that, folks, is it for the new Bobcat. He made it to fifty in record time.”
Apparently there were no other participants in amateur night and the Magic Mike song was replaced with some ACDC. The stage lights cut off and Nick and I stood there in the darkness. “Thank you.” He pulled me so close I could feel the heat of his breath on my ear.
“Don’t thank me.” I squeezed his hand. “That fifty is from GJ. She heard that you were going to get initiated tonight.”
“Thank God you two came along.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to do theDance Dance Revolutionmoves.”
We stepped off the stage and into the corner of the room. It was still noisy, but at least we didn’t have to shout to hear each other. “That woman was stopping everyone from giving you money.”
“I saw that.” His mouth drew to a line. “I wonder if the guys told her to do that.”
“Maybe, although I doubt it. I’m surprised she didn’t push me off the stage.”
Nick squeezed my hand. “I wouldn’t let that happen. No one is going to push you around, Evie. Although I’m pretty sure that you could take that cougar—especially after I saw the way that you lugged around that ancient vacuum tonight. Also, what took you so long?”
I smiled. “I wasn’t sure whether or not you needed rescuing.”
“Evie.” He put both of his hands on my shoulders. “If you ever see me doing the Roger Rabbit dance move in public, I need to be saved. Let me buy you a drink. I’ve got fifty bucks burning a hole in my pocket.”
We wove through the crowd to the bar where GJ wassitting with Bob and Glen. “I hear you saved me.” Nick kissed GJ on the cheek. “Thank you.”
“It was all Evie.” GJ stood and put her arm around Nick. “This is the guy who’s going to help us win the Classic for the first time in twenty years!”
Nick seemed to stiffen. “It takes more than one person to win a game.”
It seemed like a weird thing to say, but in all fairness, he had just been forced to do a public striptease, almost mauled by a cougar in a leopard top, and his biggest fan was an eighty-three-year-old woman.
“He’s being modest.” GJ patted him on the back. “Rumor on the street is that this guy could stop a shot from McDavid with his eyes shut.”
He seemed uncomfortable with the whole interaction. “I came over to buy you and Evie a drink. What can I get for you?”
GJ smoothed out the front of her slacks. “I’m going to get back to the inn. Edward is in charge of the front desk and he still hasn’t figured out how to work the call waiting button on the phone.”
