Manny’s quiet confirmation hurt something inside me. I couldn’t even let myself think it.
The worst had happened.
Not the exposure. Not the family.
Tyler was gone.
And if he wasn’t coming back, it was because someone else had him.
Chapter 43
Dixie
It took hours for Arran and the crew to track down Jonas, a message finally reaching me that a crew member had discovered him in a pub. Arran said he’d bring him up to me, but I couldn’t wait.
Taking Convict and Mila with me, I descended in the lift, all the way down to the ground floor. It felt like the longest time since I’d been free to roam the central corridor that led between the clubs. I used to stalk this nightly, head held high, tits probably out.
I’d hidden from friends for too long, keeping my secrets. Well, that pussy cat was out of the bag.
The lift opened to the thump of music and the scent of a busy night in the air. Cocktails, beer, floral perfume. Then there were the people. It was like a record scratch. Faces stared. Dancers, sex workers, everyone gawked.
Familiar dread tripped me up.
Clem, a total babe who ran the bar staff and accepted no shit from anyone, took a shocked breath and bowled through the bodies. She hugged me to her huge chest. “Girl. I always knew you had that secret sauce, but dayum.”
At my choked laugh, she added, “If any of those reporters try to come in here, they’ll get a load of me. Fuck them for their sexist bull. So you worked on your back? Like any of them would be pretty enough to.”
I tried to smile. “You don’t blame me for hiding who I am?”
Clem snorted. “Honey, ain’t a girl or guy here who isn’t hiding something.” Her expression turned stricken. “Including Lex, God rest him. The news just hit about his body being found. I’d heard rumours but I hoped it wasn’t true.”
I took her hand and cupped it in mine, sadness creeping in. I’d not even started to process that loss yet. “I can’t believe it.”
“Neither can I.”
A couple of dancers drew nearer.
Liliana, who Lex had wanted me to team up with, stared with big eyes, her bodice pushing her pretty boobs up almost to her chin. “The crowd in Divine is wild, honey. They be callin’ out your name.”
My mouth fell open. “Say more.”
“Every regular, every group. You’ve never been so popular.” She cast an appraising look over me. “Rumour says you quit, but why not step on the stage? You’d make a killing.”
The girl with her clapped excitedly. “You’d bring the house down. Bookings all night.”
I saw it then, the alternative life to the one I’d made with Tyler. A life I thought I couldn’t go back to and where sex was a no go. He and I had done it all. Under the cover of him helping me, he’d given me my confidence back. If I wanted to, I could walk straight out onto that stage, bathed in the bright lights, and strut my stuff.
Except I wouldn’t.
I’d changed, in so many ways.
I pressed Liliana’s hand. “It’s not for me, sis. But why not have a Dixie-lookalike competition? Make a buck off my tight ass. I love that for you.”
She swung her gaze to the other woman and they started babbling, working out a plan and calling others over.
The crowd of people parted to let through black-clad men, crew returning with a stranger in their midst. The man we’d seen on the camera. Arran brought up the rear and did a double-take at me, then directed Jonas into his office, a hand out for me to follow.
Inside, he closed the door behind us. “Jonas, this is Dixie.”
