Fifteen minutes later, I stood in front of the dressing room mirror wiping away the last of the glitter clinging beneath my eyes. The woman staring back at me looked more tired than she had when the night started. I peeled off my costume, traded it for black leggings, an oversized charcoal hoodie, and a pair of clean sneakers before pulling my hair into a low ponytail simply choosing comfort over everything. Stuffing my costume into my locker, I grabbed my bag and headed toward the hallway. The music hit me full force as soon as I stepped onto the club floor. Girls still worked the poles while customers crowded around the stage throwing bills into the air like rent wasn’t due in a week.
Just as I reached the front, Tasha came down from the main stage fanning herself with a stack of ones. When she spotted me, her smile disappeared. “Navy!”
I stopped in my tracks and she hurried over, still breathing hard from her set. “Where you going?”
“I’m heading out.” I shrugged.
Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits immediately. “With that man?”
I hesitated and looked around. “Yeah.”
Tasha grabbed my arm before I could take another step. “Girl, have you lost your damn mind?” A couple dancers glanced over before going back to what they were doing. “You know the rules. We do not leave with customers.” Her voice dropped lower. “Ever!”
“I know that Tasha.” I admitted while noticing how people were looking at us while acting like they weren’t paying attention.
“No, you don’t, because if you knew, you wouldn’t be standing here telling me you leaving with one.”
I glanced toward the entrance where Lev waited just beyond the glass doors. “It’s different.”
“Ain’t a damn thing different.” She followed my line of sight. “Who is he?”
I looked back at her. “That’s Lev.”
She blinked a few times. “Lev who? Not Marv’s Lev… not the Lev who had a gun pressed against your chin ready to blow your damn head off. Not the damn Lev who has your ass in this club just to pay me back.”
“That’s not fair Tasha; he didn’t walk me in this club. I chose this as a source to pay him back. Hell, I didn’t know that he owned the damn building.”
Tasha’s mouth fell open and she frowned. “The owner-owner? Like he owns the building but not the business itself?”
I nodded. “Well, yeah.”
She looked back toward the front again, genuinely stunned. “I see him in here every now and then.” Her eyes stayed glued to the door. “I just thought he was one of them rich investors.” She looked at me again. “You still don’t need to be getting in no car with him.”
“I’ll be alright.” I assured her while not even knowing where I was going. I just figured if he was going to hurt me, that could’ve been done by now.
“You sure?” She asked.
The question was tricky because I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but something told me I needed to see where this ride was going. I reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’ll call you.”
“You better!”
“I will.”
With one last look at my best friend, I adjusted the strap of my bag, took a deep breath, and walked toward the front doors where Lev was waiting. The mystery wasn’t whether he’d ask another question. It was why he’d decided I was worth asking in the first place and why he even wanted me in his presence.
CHAPTER 19
Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott
By the time we pulled away from the club, Miami had settled into that strange space between the night and morning where the city still refused to go to sleep but I loved it. I watched it all through the passenger window while Lev drove, mostly because looking outside felt safer than looking at him especially since he still hadn’t told me where we were going nor had he asked whether I had plans.
All he did was give me a damn order, then walked out of the VIP room like there was no possibility I would tell him no. The scary part was that he had been right because twenty minutes later and I was sitting beside him in an oversized hoodie and tights, smelling like club mixed with vanilla body oil I had rubbed on my skin before I left.
I should have been asking more questions and truthfully any woman with good sense would have. Unfortunately, my good sense had been making questionable decisions all night. Lev drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other relaxed near the center console where a gun was propped. Thedashboard lights cast a faint glow across his face, sharpening the angles of his cheekbones and catching the edge of the diamond in his ear. He had turned the music low and every few minutes, I glanced at him from the corner of my eye.
Lev had listened to every word I said tonight without giving me enough of a reaction to figure out what he was thinking. That was what made him so unsettling because most people exposed themselves when they were angry, offended, amused, or curious. Lev kept everything locked behind the same steady expression, leaving everybody else to guess.
I shifted in my seat and finally looked over at him. “You gonna tell me where we going?”
