Rosie and the girls were meant to be meeting up with us later, but Amy and I had wanted time alone with Ryan first. I had decided to abstain from telling both him and Alex about the me getting kidnapped thing. Considering everything that was going on, I didn’t need that little gem of information in the mix.
“I second that,” Amy chimed in, finishing her drink and grabbing her Prada. “Let’s go and check out these girls that Cade has to ‘check in on.” She finger quoted the last bit.
“Let’s skip past the fact that you are both insane, and just land at the fact we are meant to be meeting Amy and the girls any minute and none of us are sober enough to drive.” I stayed seated, toying with the olive in my martini.
Amy pulled out her phone, fingers moving at lightning speed. I was impressed, I’d lost the ability to text after my third cocktail.
“Two birds one stone. Rosie is picking us up and taking us to the strip club,” she declared clearly pleased with herself.
I groaned as the two of them pulled me out of the chair.
“This is a terrible idea you guys; there’s nothing to gain by going out there, and we always get into trouble whenever you both agree on a plan after martinis.”
“Oh, come on, you know you’re curious about this place, we need to do the recon. Don’t tell me it hasn’t been driving you insane.” Amy crossed her arms, daring me to argue.
I felt deflated; it had been gnawing at me knowing Cade was involved in a place where beautiful women took their clothes off in front of him.
“And name one time that we got into trouble with martinis,” Ryan challenged arms crossed.
“You almost got me arrested for stealing that cop’s hat.”
Ryan rolled his eyes “Almost. But didn’t.”
“Plus you ended up dating him for like a month and we got to bypass traffic whenever we were with him,” Amy chimed in.
Fuck. Bad example. The traffic thing had been handy.
“You got us banned from the Ivy for a year, Amy’s dad had to pull strings to get us back in,” I gave them another one.
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Totally not our fault. How were we meant to know that guy was married? And that his wife would be a biter?”
“Come on Gwennie, you know you want to,” Amy interrupted.
I blew out an exasperated breath. “Fine but we’re just looking then leaving.”
“That’s my girl!” Amy clapped her hands. “And we have to have at least one drink.” She ushered me out of the bar before I could argue.
“So this is it.” Rosie pulled up in front of a nondescript building that looked well maintained, and not at all like a strip club. It had a red sign reading ‘Diamond Lounge’ in elegant script and a bouncer at the door.
“I have to say this is an excellent idea, I’ve been wondering what this place was like for ages,” Lucy put in from the back, where she was squeezed between Amy and Ryan. She and Ryan were well on their way to becoming besties, the way they had been cackling in the backseat the entire ride.
Rosie grinned at me. “I gotta agree, Gwen, ever since the boys opened it I’ve wanted a peek, but Cade was always foiling our attempts, he would not be happy about this at all.” She gave me the impression she didn’t mind this one bit. She opened her door and everyone else followed suit.
I looked to the ceiling of the car. “Please don’t let me get arrested tonight,” I pleaded before jumping out.
The bouncer gave us all a questioning look, but opened the door for us. We all walked in, Ryan and Lucy whispering to each other linking arms, Amy and Rosie laughing. Once I got a good look at the interior I was surprised. It was almost tasteful. Apart from the women dancing naked on the poles of course. The lighting was dim, a soft glow radiated from candles on the tables. Black cushioned chairs were clustered around round silver tables and they looked comfortable. One must be comfortable for a lap dance I guessed. A long runway split the bar in two, jutting off a stage. It had a pole at the end of it, which a blonde with huge boobs was currently hanging off. Other girls danced on circular mini stages that were peppered around the room. Some were cozying up to various men, of which there were many. The place was packed.
“Okay now we’ve looked, and I feel sufficiently persuaded to get breast implants and lose ten pounds, time to go,” I instructed my friends.
Ryan cocked his head at me. “Um, no way, we’re staying and discussing what size you should go to, we have a lot to refer to here. And look! We’ve got us a table.” He pointed to Amy, who was sitting at an empty table giving us the thumbs up.
I groaned as Rosie and Lucy grinned at me, walking to join Amy.
Ryan linked his arm with mine. “Come on, Gwen, it’s just a bit of fun, what trouble could we possibly get into?” he asked innocently.
After two surprisingly good cocktails, I hated to admit I was having a great time. This place actually felt like I was in a trendy bar, well one with an almost exclusive male clientele that had naked women dancing in front of me. The service was good, like previously mentioned the cocktails were great, the company was pretty awesome as well. I was surprised we hadn’t gotten any sleazy advances from guys. I wasn’t being full of myself, it was just we were pretty much the only women in a bar full of guys, and my companions were nothing to sneeze at. Amy looked like she should be modeling for Victoria’s Secret, Lucy looked like a sexy Snow White with her milky skin and black hair, and Rosie looked like a biker goddess.
My thought was interrupted when I felt conversation stop. My head crooked to where all of my friends where glaring, apart from Ryan, he just looked puzzled.