“You good?” I ask.
He wraps his fingers around the back of his neck, and he rubs it, as if to release the tension that seems to have appeared instantaneously. Sliding my tongue across my bottom lip, I wait for his response.
“No,” he confesses, which is not what I thought he’d say.
“No?” I ask. “Wanna talk about it?”
He flicks his gaze to the door, then back to meet mine. “I’m fucked,” he hisses.
“Yeah? How?”
I almost tell him that I can probably help him, but decide against it because I don’t think I want to help him in any way whatsoever. I’m still not convinced he didn’t know that Anna was a piece of shit.
“Lorenzo is going to have me killed,” he hisses.
Well, this is indeed getting interesting. My eyes widen, and I dip my chin as I wait for him to continue. He clears his throat as he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. I know I have at least an hour until Millie’s next show, and I don’t really give a shit about watching anyone else, so I patiently wait.
“I fucked up. I thought I could have it handled before he figured it out, but he’s coming here tonight.”
This must be about money. There’s no way he would be sweating this badly if it weren’t. Because I’m pretty sure Lorenzo would be forgiving about a few things, but he isn’t going to fuck around about his money. And I wouldn’t blame him, because I don’t fuck around about that, either.
“You might as well come out with it,” I say when he doesn’t continue.
Bennet continues to massage the back of his neck, clearing his throat a couple of times, almost as if he’s got something caught there. But I know it’s just him panicking. If I didn’t have a whole other issue happening back in Thunder Rock on my hands, I would probably find his stress a little humorous.
“With the social media influencer coming… I wanted to keep him coming.”
Oh fuck, he gave Lorenzo’s money to someone else. He didn’t just pocket it. He gave it to some social media influencer. If it were an ad for the club, at least he could have shown a receipt orsomething. Handing some guy cash isn’t going to cut it. Not in the fucking slightest.
“How much did you give him, and did he deliver what he said he would?”
“He came to me,” Bennet begins. “He came to me and said if I paid him fifty grand, he would ensure I’d make that back and more.”
“Have you not?” I’m a bit confused because this place has been hopping since that influencer has been posting about the club and coming here.
“I would have,” he says. “If he hadn’t demanded fifty grand every single time he came here. I didn’t know it was for every visit. Plus, he gets free drinks for his group and free lap dances.”
The little scammer. I mean, I have to admit his shakedown is impressive. “But why are you still paying him?”
Bennet clears his throat again, whimpering before he speaks. “I signed a contract.”
“For how long?”
“Two years.”
That makes sense as to why he was pushing Heidi and Millie to work for two years. The only thing I can think of doing is sending the contract to Ivy. He’s not here tonight, and he will probably never be on the schedule to be here. But that doesn’t mean I can’t guide him to talk to him.
“When Lorenzo gets here, you let me know. I want to be in on that meet. I think Ivy can probably look at that contract and maybe figure out a loophole. But I don’t want to offer that without Lorenzo being cool with it.”
“You’d do that?” he asks.
He sounds beyond hopeful, and I don’t know if this is enough to save his neck, but maybe it’ll be enough that Lorenzo won’t make him suffer. He did a stupid fucking thing, especially without consulting Lorenzo before he signed anything thatinvolved his money. I just don’t see how Bennet is going to survive this.
MILLIE
A knock on the door sends a thrill of desire up my spine. I don’t even have to ask who is on the other side to know it’s Axton. Heidi is just tugging her zipper up the center of her hoodie. She gives me a wink, then walks toward the door.
She must know it’s him, too, because without asking, she tugs the door open, slips past, and then he’s in the dressing room with me. I start to say something, but then look into his eyes and pause.
