“The reason I rang Arran. He shares information with other venues around the country. He said I’d be challenged and he was right. Better to head them off.”
We reached the top of the stairs which opened out onto the wide main room of the club. A wall of noise and humidity hit me, gold and silver lights twirling in the dark. Thick with bodies, the dance floor heaved, and a pair of DJs directed the clubbers from their decks. There were beautiful people everywhere. Women in tiny dresses, men ogling them.
I ran my hands over my waist, self-conscious of my curves.
Next to me, Kane took in the room then gestured to the left side where another doorman guarded a curtained door. Inodded, and we wound our way through the corridor, passing couples in deep clinches in the shadows, to what I presumed to be the entrance to the strip club. We were waved into another dark room, this one set up around a stage with a lower, more seductive beat filling the air.
Men sat in a row of seats close to the catwalk or further back at tables and gold-patterned booths, their focus locked on the performance. For their entertainment, a bikini-clad dancer strutted on platform heels that lit up metallic yellow with each step she took. Her moves were sinuous and timed with the beat. At the end, she hooked an arm around the pole then dropped backwards as if falling, at the last second catching herself to spin around it, her legs spread.
I stared, dumbfounded, at the agility. If I tried that, I’d break my back. Despite all the times I’d been to the skeleton crew’s warehouse, I’d never ventured into Divine. This was eye-opening.
On her knees, the dancer crawled to the edge of the stage and reached out for the eager audience before rolling onto her back and rocking her hips up and down.
I stole a glance up at Kane. He was scoping the back of the room, not eyeing up the talented woman.
“We’ll try the bar,” he said.
I followed him down to the dark edge of the room to a low-lit hole in the wall.
A woman in a black uniform with gold embellishments rested a hand on the counter. “Table service here, folks. Find yourself a seat and a waitress will be over.”
Kane leaned in. “We’re trying to find someone.”
The woman’s smile didn’t flicker. “So are a lot of men, sweetheart.”
I held out my phone with the picture of Dixie on the screen. “This is my friend. She’s missing. Have you seen her?”
Just like with the woman in the brothel, and every other person we’d asked all day, she gave the photo a cursory glance then shrugged. “Sorry, can’t help.”
I deflated. This place was the only strip club in town. The last addresses on my list were basic nightclubs. It was possible Dixie could have gravitated to them, but that wasn’t my gut feeling. “Is there anyone else we can ask?”
She watched me for a moment. “Why is your friend missing?”
“I’m not sure, but we’re worried enough to have come all the way here from Deadwater. Is there someone who manages the dancers? Maybe she came in for a job?”
A waitress appeared next to me, and the bartender pushed away to grab a plastic pint glass.
“Go take a seat at the back. I’ll send someone over.”
It was better than nothing, but my belly tightened with an impending sense of failure. Despite our all-day search, so far, we’d discovered no trace. Dixie had come to this city, I was certain of that. She’d abandoned her life and run, but that was weeks ago. Maybe she’d hidden out for a few days, but after that, she’d need to work.
Then again, she might have moved on already. We could be too late.
In a booth in the back corner of the strip club, our view was blocked of all but the stage dead ahead. The beautiful dancer was down to a tiny pair of knickers, her hands skimming her full breasts. She held her audience captive, making sure to keep all attention on her as she crouched then simulated sex with the floor.
She was hot as hell, but when I peeked at Kane, he wasn’t watching her. At the edge of the booth, he white-knuckled the table, half off the seat.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He blinked and wandered his gaze down my body, trailing heat in its path. “Want to know how fuckable ye look this evening?”
I sat a little taller. Arched my shoulders.
Kane groaned and reached to brush my long ponytail over my shoulder. “You’re killing me.”
“Don’t die. I need a ride home.”
His lips curved into a smile that was entirely hungry predator. “Come here.”
