Yeah, sure, I don’t mind having him around when I have an itch to scratch courtesy of Eddie Cleveland, but that doesn’t mean I feel anything for that goddamn loser.
Far from it.
Still, Commissioner Vicks is a lovebird, ladies, and he has fallen hard for me.
“I know you’re not calling me to read poetry, so out with it,” I tell him, growing impatient.
Austin is going to be here any time now, and I don’t want to be on the phone with Lester when that happens. After all, I wasn’t at Python as a customer, but as someone… on a mission?
Well, I wouldn’t be that serious about it, but the fact remains that Austin doesn’t really know the real reason behind me being at Python.
“Well, how did it go at Python?” Lester asks, and I can sense his eagerness in the way he speaks. God, I can almost imagine him bending over his desk, his fingers curled tight around his phone as he smacks his lips, anxiously waiting for my words.
“They have some amazing dancers, let me tell you, Lester,” I tell him with a smile, leaning back against my seat and crossing my legs. “And the bartender knows his stuff. You should try it out. Lots of women there and --”
“Cut it out, Destiny, this is serious,” he cuts me short, and I picture him smacking his lips together and balling his free hand into a fist. “I want to know if you saw something out of the usual. Someone out of the usual, I mean.”
“Someone out of the usual? Well, you’re going to have to be more specific than that. I think that ripped man dancing in his underwear for a crowd of manic women classifies as unusual, so I’m going to need more than that.”
“Look, did you see a woman with blue hair?” he asks, and I feel that we’re getting closer to what this is really all about.
“Blue hair?”
“Yeah, she’s a young woman. Somewhere around your age, slender and beautiful, and she dyes her hair in a bright blue color. She’s hard to miss. Did you see anyone like that?” I think back to my night at Python, but I don’t remember anyone like the person he's describing. Still, between the dark corners, the private booths, and the bright stage, I think that I could've missed that girl pretty easily.
“I don’t think I saw anyone like that there,” I tell him, still frowning as I try to remember the details from last night. “I mean, I could've easily missed her, the place was packed. What’s all this about, Lester? Who is she?”
There’s a few seconds of silence on the other side of the line, and I can’t tell if he’s lost in thought or if he’s looking for the right words. “She’s the girl I’m looking for,” he says curtly, and something in the way he says it makes my skin prickle.
“Why is she this important; she’s just a run-of-the-mill criminal, right?” I ask him and pause, hearing him catch his breath on the other line. “Why do you care this much about some girl sneaking around in a ladies’ club?”
“She’s important, that’s all you need to know, babe,” he answers huskily.
There’s something about the way he called me babe just now that makes my skin crawl.
Somehow, I don’t think he’s telling me the whole story.
The police commissioner doesn’t go around investigating common criminals, so what exactly has Lester pulled me into? I have enough trouble as it is running my club, I don’t need more bullshit to worry about. If he didn’t have the power to shut my club down with a snap of his fingers, I’d tell him to fuck off right now.
“Lester, I don’t like this. I have a business to run and—shit!” Austin strolls inside the bar with that confident grin of his, walking toward me as if he owns the place. He’s wearing dress pants and a crisp white shirt, his smart eyes finding mine as my heart starts to race. “Listen, I have to go, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Destiny, don’t you --” I hear him say, but by the time his words reach me I’m already pressing my thumb over the screen, ending the call.
“You’re early,” Austin says as he sits across me. God, he looks even more handsome during the day than he looks under Python’s lights.
“I always like to arrive fashionably late, but I made an exception for you today,” I tell him with a smile, tucking my phone inside my purse as all thoughts of Lester and his schemes vanish from my mind. “Of course, that means you’re paying.”
“Sure. But I always like to get my money’s worth,” he shoots back, that devilish grin making my heart beat faster.
Python, huh?
Game, set, and match. It’s time to dance.
Oh, this is going to be fun.
6
Austin