She looks over my shoulder as if to check to see if anyone’s following, then takes my hand and says, “Come on.”
We round the corner and we’re standing at the archway for the bigger VIP room. There are about five people sitting on the couches, drinking and throwing dollars at two of the dancers. The girls are doing their jobs, flirting and serving shots before their lap dances.
Among the customers, there are three guys and two girls… And I know one of those girls.
There’s no mistaking her mane of curly red hair and big, innocent, puppy-dog eyes. It’s Sasha.Oh, no.
Natasha pulls me back and whispers, “I didn’t want to sic security on them, because they’re just kids, right? If Mr. Orlov or any of their guys finds out?—”
“Thanks, Natasha. Go back out onto the floor. I’ve got this.”
She leaves and I walk into view. No one notices me at first, so I clear my throat. The girls are in the middle of smiling and joking when they look up and see me. Sasha’s face drops like a rock in the ocean the moment she sees me.
“Excuse me,” I say to the room. The dancers both look back and see me and freeze, knowing something must be up. “Sorry to do this, but would you all mind showing me some ID?”
The three guys exchange slightly panicked glances between one another. The dancers, both sensing trouble, get up slowly and move to the side, out of the line of fire.
“S–Sure,” the large, blond one says, reaching for his wallet. Just judging from his barrel chest and oversized arms, he strikes me as the ringleader of this gang of teens. He smiles casually, winking at his closest friend who just stares, his face slate. Everyone else looks terrified, in fact. They don’t really move until Big Blond urges them on with a jerk of his head.
Everyone takes out their IDs and presents them to me. I look at them one by one, stopping at Sasha’s. When I glance up at her, she looks down shamefully at her hands.
“Gotta admit,” I say. “These are pretty good. You guys been here before?”
More panicked glances. Big Blond clears his throat and says, “Yeah, we love this place. I was here last month for my coworker’s bachelor party?—”
“I sincerely hope that’s not true,” I say cutting him off. “You five can’t be more than sixteen years old between you.”
Three out of the five go white as sheets. Sasha’s still looking at the floor. Big Blond goes, “Excuse me, but we’re all over twenty-one. I don’t like the implication that our IDs are fake?—”
“So, if it’s true that you have actually been here before,” I talk over him, asserting my authority, “then in the very least, I have to believe that you had a good enough time to come back. Do you know what happens if we get raided and you little shits are caught back here? This club goes away. You don’t get to pull this scam again at your favorite club, and these young women have worked too hard tonight for you dumbasses to come in here and blow it for them.”
I glance over at the dancers. I don’t have to tell them to leave. They both move in unison and make their way past me through the archway, grabbing the parts of their skimpy outfits that they’ve already taken off as they go.
“Okay,” I say to the teens. “Everybody out. Now.”
“Wait a second—” Big Blond starts.
“Don’t make me call security, okay? Or worse, your parents.” I glance over at Sasha, especially. Her already pale face goes paper white.
“It–It’s okay,” Sasha says, standing up. “We’ll go. Come on, guys.”
They all start to file out. I grab Sasha by her arm. “Not you. The rest of you get moving. You can meet your friend in the parking lot.”
They all look a little confused but leave just the same. I turn to Sasha.
“What are you doing here?” I ask her. “Do you have any idea what your father will do if he catches you?”
“I didn’t want to come,” she says, her voice high with defensiveness. “We were all hanging out and Joey starts talking about hitting the strip clubs. He said he had some fake IDs that looked real and, and he did it all the time. It’d be easy, he said.”
Jesus. I’ll need to talk to Junie about this. Who the hell knows how long “Joey” and his buddies have been doing this?
“I didn’t know we’d be cominghere,” Sasha goes on. “I couldn’t say anything because then they’d think I was weak. Ijustgot to hang out with these guys, Ms. Lorenzo. I don’t want them to think I’m not cool.”
I sigh and shake my head. I remember being a teenager and being at the whim of my friends when they wanted to get into something. My father was always on my ass about that sort of thing, but he never did anything more than ground me. I never had to fear any serious explosions from him. I don’t know what Roman’s going to do when he finds this out.
“Okay. Here’s what’s going to happen,” I tell her. “I don’t know how you got back here without your father seeing you, but I don’t think you’re going to get that lucky again. That being said, you’re going out the back way with me. You’re going to meet up with your friends in the parking lot and you’re going to ask them to take you home. When you get there, you will text your father and let him know you’re okay.”
Her eyes get large. “You’re not going to tell him, are you?”
