His Stripper (Dance For Me)

“Have you seen Hazel?”

“I saw her walk to the bathroom when I was still on stage. Is she not back up front?”

Fuck! Where the hell is she? Spinning around, I exit the bathroom. Holly is waiting in the hallway, her smile gone, replaced with fear and guilt.

“What did you do? Where is Hazel?”

“I’m sorry, Myles. I didn’t know—”

I grab her by the upper arms and push her against the wall. She lets out a shriek, and her eyes go wide with shock. I don’t normally touch any of the girls like this, but she has something to do with Hazel’s disappearance, and I’m one breath away from losing my fucking mind.

“Where is she?!”

“I don’t know, I swear!” Holly whimpers, her bottom lip shaking like she is about to start crying. “She ran into me in the bathroom and started asking me questions about Randy.”

About Randy? I’m so fucking confused. My mind is going at a million miles per hour, trying to make sense of everything. Then in the midst of all of it, something occurs to me. He knew her name. How did he know her name?

“What exactly did she ask about Randy?”

“Just if you knew him and how. I told her he comes here regularly because he works for your family. I thought she knew who you were.”

“Fuck!” I release Holly with a shove, and she steps away from me on shaky legs. “Ask all the girls if they have seen her,” I order. Holly nods her head furiously before taking off toward the dressing room.

Once again, I make my way down the hall and through the main room to the lobby. Maybe she left a note or some kind of clue. When I get to the front desk, I find neither of those. What I do find is the cash register open and all the cash missing out of it. Damnit.

Normally, I would be furious about someone daring to steal from me, to steal money from the Hale family, but the only anger I have is for myself. I don’t give two shits about the cash.

I’m not even angry with Hazel. I’m fucking worried about her. She doesn’t have a car or a place to stay. There might have been five hundred bucks in the register. How far can she get with that? How will I find her?

Getting out my phone, I unlock it and speed dial Ace. He answers on the second ring. “What up?”

“I need your help. I need you to find the girl.”

“Girl?”

“Hazel. I need you to find her. She ran from the club.”

“From what? What the fuck is going on, Myles?”

I give him a quick overview of all my fuckups from the past few days. He is not happy, to say the least, but I’ll have to deal with that later.

“Meet me at my place. We’ll find her.” I breathe a small sigh of relief at my brother’s willingness to help me, but I won’t be satisfied until I have her back in my arms.

Whatever it takes. I will get her back.

17

Hazel

I’m so stupid. So fucking stupid. What the hell was I thinking about stealing money from a guy in the mob? No, not in the mob, the mob. His family is the mob.

Hugging my knees tightly, I sit in the center of the motel bed. I’ve been crying for what seems like hours. There is a pressure behind my eyes that makes me think my head is gonna explode soon. I’m exhausted and hungry, but I can’t help either. I can’t go out to get some food like this, and I can’t sleep because I’m so fucking scared.

They are going to come after me. Myles is probably going to kill me. Another sob wracks my body. How could I have been so wrong about him? I thought there was actually something between us when, in reality, he is just as bad as Randy. I gave Myles my virginity, and I did every dirty thing he asked me to, willingly.

And now… now I’m in a shitty motel room fifty miles away. I don’t even know what city I am in. This was the farthest the cab driver would take me for a hundred bucks. Now I have a little over four hundred left. Where is that going to get me? Nowhere.

I look up at the TV I turned on for some background noise. The screen is blurry, and I don’t actually listen to a single word that’s said, but the sound makes me feel a tiny bit less alone.

When I hear knocking, I ignore it because I’m certain it’s coming from the TV. Then I hear it again, louder this time. I prop my head up and stare at the door.

“Hazel, open the door.” Myles’s muffled voice comes through the door.

I freeze, a sob gets stuck halfway in my throat while I stay completely still. He is here. He came for me, and now he is going to kill me.