And take it from there.
Before he heard her greeting on the cell phone the next morning, he heard the ambient noise of her car engine. “Hello?” Savannah said.
“Hey, it’s Punc.”
He could hear the smile in her voice. “Yeah, I know. After our marathon conversation the other night, I programmed you into my phone. But if I’m not mistaken, you told me to do that.”
That made him smirk.
“Right. You carry mace or any kind of weapon with you?”
She paused. “No. It’s too easy for that stuff to be turned against me, and a small handgun might be an option, but they aren’t exactly cheap, and other bills have taken priority.”
He thought about loaning her one of his guns, but none of his were small.
“Have you taken any self-defense classes in the past?”
“Aside from what they taught us girls in high school for fighting off a rapist, no.”
“Right,” he whispered, knowing he needed to keep her safe.
“Desiree mentioned some things have happened at Platinum’s lately, but she said I didn’t have anything to worry about.”
He pressed his lips together. Scaring her was not his intention. “You don’t. The dancers don’t go anywhere outside the building alone, so we’re taking precautions. I don’t like the idea of you and Catalina in that house without protection of some sort. Did your mom have an alarm system?”
“I don’t tell many people this, but she dropped the monitoring service over a year ago. But Cat and I still set the thing when we’re coming or going in hopes it keeps up a certain facade, if you know what I mean.”
He closed his eyes and breathed out, “Yeah.”
“Ted—I mean, Punc, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Once Punc took on more duties at Platinum’s, Turk and Yak made it clear that there were lots of reasons women stripped, but the vast majority of the time it was because they needed money and they didn’t have the means to earn more any other way.
He knew Savannah had added expenses now that she was in her mom’s house, but he couldn’t shake the feeling somethingelse was going on, and he wanted to get her away from Platinum’s sooner rather than later.
“Am I wrong?” she asked into the silence.
“No, you’re right, sweetheart. I’m just looking out for you. My sister wouldn’t let me hear the end of it if something happened to you or Cat.”
The ambient sounds of her driving quieted. “I appreciate that. More than you know since I can’t remember the last time anyone looked out for me. I’d love to chat longer, but I’m at a client’s house. Time to wrangle the dust bunnies and clean a house. Later, Punc.”
“Later, Ava.”
Savannah
Thursday evening, after a four-hour stint at Platinum’s, I got home before Catalina, again. I took a quick shower and started in on dinner. Desiree hadn’t been on today, and I’d taken the stage solo for three sets. My last set Heaven joined me for one song. Only one man requested a lap dance, which felt like a blow to my ego, but when I tallied up my tips it came to about six hundred dollars.
I had the full payment for Frank, and I had a little more I could use toward the next installment. Part of me wanted to give him the extra, but I didn’t trust him one iota, so I was keeping that extra in reserve.
Not only had Desiree not been at the club today, Punc was nowhere to be found either. I found that to be bizarre especiallygiven the conversation we had this morning. On top of that, I felt let down that he hadn’t told me he wouldn’t be there - but that only served to remind me to keep things professional with him.
The garage door rumbled as it opened, and I heard Catalina pull the Buick inside.
Her sneaker squeaked when she stopped short in the kitchen. “Oh, God. You’ve got the roast out.”
I shook my head. “I do, but I’m going to attempt homemade Philly Cheesesteaks.”
“We have no peppers,” she said.
