“Don’t,” she mouthed at me with a quick shake of her head. My face, along with my heart fell and I nodded in understanding.
“It’s getting late, we need to go.” she announced to Logan, throwing a bag over her shoulder.
“I don’t want to go!” he whined. He scooted his little body closer to me and this seemed to punch Maddie in the gut. She closed her eyes in defeat and let out a breath. “Mommy’s tired, Logan, and she wants to go home.” The thought of Maddie leaving and possibly getting hurt caused me to tense.
“You’re not staying?” I blurted. “I mean, I thought everyone was staying here,” I clarified.
“Frankie is not going to hurt me. It’s you he has a problem with,” she said, staring daggers into me. Oh. Of course Frankie didn’t want to hurt her. She was his daughter, in a sense.
“Mama, please let me stay. All the other kids are staying. Uncle Luke said I could stay,” Logan said, oblivious to our conversation. He got up and walked to Maddie, wrapping his little arms around her waist. “You won’t have to fix me breakfast. You can sleep late and I won’t be there to wake you up.” Man, this kid was a genius.
“Fine, but you do as they tell you and I mean it,” she said sternly. Not giving her time to change her mind, Logan darted out of the room. Maddie stood in front of me, shuffling her feet while I played with my hands, neither of us knowing really what to say. Luke saved us from the awkward situation when he came in.
“Ya’ll good?” he asked, eyeing us both suspiciously.
“I’m gone. Logan says he wants to stay. Is that cool?” Maddie asked Luke.
“Of course. You really leaving?”
“Yeah, I got some shit to do. I’ll be back in the morning before ya’ll leave.”
“Be careful, Maddie. I mean it,” Luke said sternly. It would have bothered me before if he would have shown that much interest in her safety, now I expected it. She walked out without another word and left us alone. When she left, it felt like a part of me was walking out with her. I wanted to get to know Maddie and maybe mend this broken relationship. Luke, aware of my intense thinking, decided to intervene.
“Babe, there is a party going on outside,” he said, pulling me from the couch.
“Does it involve the stripper?” I asked smiling at him and wrapping my arms around his waist. Luke shook his head and smiled, “Yes, babe. There will be strippers.”
Strippers were not the only thing in the clubhouse. When the sun went down, the clubhouse turned into the penthouse. Most of the ol’ ladies were not here. I only saw a few patch members who had their women with them. Red was with Brooklyn and Ronnie, but Regg was nowhere in sight. The lights had dimmed and the music had more of a modern R&B vibe compared to the rock music that was playing earlier. I guessed it was much easier to strip to R&B than it was to rock. Couches and chairs were set up around the pool tables. A pole was mounted between the tables and I wondered if it had always been there. The seats were already full, awaiting the arrival of Linda, but there were two seats reserved towards the front for me and Luke.
“I don’t have any money,” I told Luke, hoping he would produce a wad of ones from his pocket.
“Trust me. She is making plenty of money. We paid her for her entertainment. This is a private party and we don’t have to tip.” Luke ushered us to the loveseat directly in front of the stage, and we were immediately greeted by a girl who could have easily been on the cover of Vogue. She was tall and thin with jet black hair and pale skin. Her eyes were emerald green. I think. I didn’t get a good look at them, because the sight of her perfect breasts took my breath. She was completely naked, other than a little thong and a pair of high heels.
“Babe, you okay?” Luke asked from beside me.
“She is naked!” I said in disbelief. “And she’s not even a stripper!” Luke brought his face close to mine and his expression was serious when he said,
“I want you to let me know when you have seen enough. There is a lot of shit that goes on out here and I don’t want you freaking out on me. By the end of the night, it’s gonna get a lot worse.” I didn’t have time to respond to him, because the crowd erupted when Linda walked up to the pole and twirled around it.
She wore a leather vest, leather chaps and a black thong. She was stunning and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. The music started and if I didn’t know any better, I would have sworn that she was dancing for me. She watched me the entire time, as I sat on the edge of the couch, fully enthralled by what was happening in front of me. She took her clothes off to the beat of the music and before the song was finished she stood completely naked in front of me. One song played into another and then another and I watched as she wrapped her body around the pole in a way that was beautiful. I had the same feeling when I watched the opera or ballet. Linda was truly talented and she knew it.