My back arches as I wrap my leg around the pole and spin, my hair falling back behind me. I could do this routine with my eyes closed. I don’t, but I could. I dance. I’m not trying to be sexy. I’m just making sure I hit every single mark.
Every move, every place, and I do it the way Heidi taught me. Peeling off my top, spreading my thighs, arching just the right way. It’s all natural to me now. It wasn’t always, but it is now.
And when the music ends, a hush falls over the crowd as the lights lower, then a round of applause washes over me. I stand,knowing that my money will be gathered by Anna and handed to me as soon as I exit the stage, but something else happens.
Something I don’t expect.
A hand wraps around my mouth, and my body is lifted off the floor before I’m carried away. I don’t go easily. I fight, but it’s fruitless. I become lightheaded. And then everything goes dark.
PIGGY
Garcia drives past me, flipping me off when he does. I almost laugh, but decide to match his finger with a wave. I’m not going to match energies with him yet. Only when I have him completely by his balls and he’s not my issue anymore, that’s when I’ll gloat. For now, I’ll wave. Maybe I’ll smile next time, too.
I walk toward my car, throw my shit in there, set up my computer, and get started for the night. I have a long night of work ahead of me, and I’m already tired. Not the way I typically like to start my night, but I have to admit it was worth it. Getting everything ironed out with Millie was exactly what I needed.
It doesn’t take long until my first call of the night, and then it’s one after the other. On the way to my fourth call, I stop and look up at the moon. It’s a full fucking moon. Of course, it is.
That makes perfect fucking sense.
I glance at the clock in hopes my shift will be over soon. It’s one in the morning, which means I only have a few more hours to go. Thank fuck. Reaching for my cell phone, I look at the screen to check my notifications when I see several missed calls from Lightning.
Sliding my thumb across the screen, I unlock my device and call him back. I don’t even bother listening to his voicemails,even though there are a few. The phone rings, and he picks up on the second one.
“Pig,” he barks.
“What the fuck is going on?”
I ball my fingers into a fist and rub the center of my chest. I can tell something bad has happened, and I’m picturing the worst of the absolute worst. I can’t even speak. My heart is racing, and sweat breaks out over my skin as I wait for a response from Lightning.
Then he speaks.
And when he does, it’s the worst of my fears come to life. I figured that was why he was calling, but to actually hear it hit my ears is a whole wave of emotion that I wasn’t expecting.
“It’s Millie. She’s been taken.”
“Is she dead?” I ask in a whisper.
There is a moment of silence, or maybe hesitation—I’m not quite sure, but it takes far longer than I appreciate.
“He snatched her from the stage when the lights were low after her performance. I don’t know where she went or how the fuck he got her out. Goose was at the back door. Maverick was at the front.”
“What the actual fuck?” I ask, but I don’t scream or yell.
I’m more in shock and awe. I don’t understand how she could be taken from the stage. How she could have been taken from the actual fucking stage, literally in front of hundreds of people.
“Someone was in on it,” I snap.
“We have the whole place on lockdown. Bullet and Ivy are on the way.”
“Did you keep the customers there?”
There is another moment of silence, and then he clears his throat before he speaks again. “Couldn’t, as much as I wanted to. But we’ve got the employees, and I’m telling you, nobody is walking out until they are completely fucking cleared.”
I glance down at the clock again and wince. “I still have two hours of my shift left. I can’t get there until probably four.”
“I’ll text you updates, but I don’t know how this shit went down, Pig. It doesn’t make sense. No way could he have walked out of here with Millie. Not without one of us seeing. We have been posted up everywhere.”
Clearing my throat, I nod once, then pinch my eyes closed. “I know you’ll get to the bottom of this, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
