She gives me a sad smile, pulling back. “You should find different friends.”
Rich friends, she means. Girls who aren’t strippers or prostitutes or druggies. I squeeze her hands, keeping her with me. “I’m doing all right with the friends I have. I never got to thank you for watching out for Clara.”
After a little more interrogation I had been able to rest easy. Clara hadn’t seen too much that night—and Ivan had kept his hands off.
Lola brushes it off. “You don’t have to thank me for that.”
“I do.” Then in a lower voice, I ask, “Do you think it was wrong of me to keep her hidden like that?”
Her dark eyebrows shoot up. “What? No way. You kept her alive. You kept her safe.”
&n
bsp; “Yeah.” I know it’s true, but there’s a part of me that feels guilty anyway. Our father had kept us locked up under the guise of protection too. Maybe he meant as well as I did.
Her look is knowing. “Take it from someone who was bounced around foster homes her whole life. Being with family, no matter how much money you have or where you live.”
Then I can’t help it. I have to give her another hug. “Oh, Lola.”
“Be proud, that’s all. And get some of that.” She nods towards where Kip waits for me. “You deserve happiness too.”
“And you,” I say softly.
“Of course.” Desolation flashes through her eyes before she hides it.
I catch sight of Blue watching us. Watching her. His expression is unreadable, and I can’t help but wonder if he wants her.
Then why hasn’t he taken her?
She’s stage Lola again, flirty and smooth. “Maybe I’ll come visit you,” she says with a wink. “We can show your boyfriend that thing we did. In the VIP room. Together.”
She says that last part loud enough so Kip can hear. His expression turns both forbidding and curious, a dark look that gets me hot.
Lola, being Lola, notices and laughs. She heads back into the club. I frown when I notice Blue follow her in. Something is up with those to. I’m going to insist she really does visit me—and find out what the deal is.
Then there is Candy. She’s stiff in the hug I give her.
I step back quickly, not wanting to push. “Thank—”
“It was all Lola. Trust me, if it was up to me I would’ve had her strung out and on the pole in two hours flat.” Candy looks bored, but then again, that’s how she looks whenever she’s around me and Lola. She’s like the inverse. She can fake interest onstage or in the lap of some asshole. But put her in front of people she actually cares about and she turns into an ice queen.
So it’s interesting that she acts coldest to Ivan.
I give her a look that says I’m not buying what she’s selling. She just smiles, mysterious and hard.
She’s already walking away when I call out. “Did you know?”
Her face gives nothing away when she turns to look at me. “What?”
“You asked me, when you saw Kip and me together. Does she know you’re related? Did you know about him and Byron?”
“There’s not a lot that happens in this club that I don’t know about.”
“All seeing,” I say. “Like Ivan?”
Her eyes go flat. “Nothing like Ivan.”
Then she stalks off.