‘Theo tells me you’re a nurse.’
I nod as Simon returns and places two wineglasses before us. ‘That’s right.’ Looking up at her, I find the fondness remains as she takes me in, sipping on her red wine. ‘And now I know what Theo does.’ I gaze around the club again, specifically to the cage where two men are now dragging an unconscious body towards the exit. I have to look away, feeling my stomach turn in circles.
‘I told him to tell you sooner rather than later.’ She looks over to the cage, too. ‘Does it bother you?’
‘Yes,’ I answer honestly. ‘I’m not a fan of mindless violence.’ I dealt with it for too long. ‘Or . . .’ I fade off and look to the stage, where two more women are flaunting their arses at the men seated around them. These two women are smiling, too. Enjoying themselves.
‘I understand,’ Judy says, pulling my attention back her way. ‘Let me rephrase that. Does it bother you enough to say goodbye to my son?’
Her question takes me by surprise, and I just stare at her, recalling how shell-shocked Theo looked when I spilled a fraction of my history to him. It’s no wonder. He must have wondered how on earth he would explain the Playground. Not to mention the cage of death over there. I look over, now seeing a man mopping up blood. Good Lord.
‘Izzy?’
‘I’m . . . a little thrown at the moment,’ I admit. Thrown in so many ways. I’m thrown about this place, but I’m even more thrown that I’m so calm. I point towards the stage. ‘The girl who was just stripping—’
‘Penny?’
‘Yes.’ I take my glass as I study Judy, wondering if the genuine beam of a moment ago is now painted on. It seems somehow forced. ‘It’s good to see her well.’
‘She’s working safely now. I guess that’s a good thing.’
She’s working safely now. ‘Are all of the strippers ex-hookers?’ I ask. Judy alluding to a safe working environment is cementing my early thoughts about Theo. He likes saving women. I just didn’t ever anticipate that in saving them, he was setting them to work in his strip club. His fucking strip club!
Good God, I feel like I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole. Of all the men I could meet, a strip-club owner? I frantically look around the bar again, hoping to catch sight of the man himself. If only to siphon off some calm from him. I need calm. My world is suddenly rocking again, and, oddly, the damn source of that rocking is the only thing that can stabilize it again. This is fucked up.
‘Dancers, Izzy,’ Judy says, pulling my eyes back to her. ‘They’re dancers, darling. Not strippers.’
‘Sorry, dancers.’ I smile apologetically. I wasn’t a dancer. I was a puppet. Forced to do things no human should be forced to do. My young, naive self was so lost. So . . . hopeless. ‘So they’re ex-hookers?’
‘Not all, but many.’
I take a little wine as I wonder what Theo has told his mother about me, but I force myself to say something else before I give in to the urge and ask her outright. ‘He doesn’t like being touched.’
Her look now is knowing, her forced smile drifting into more of a genuine, mild grin. ‘Except by you.’
I feel a blush creep up on me. ‘I have to give him some warning.’ I evade her eyes, feeling like she could be reading my mind, which is currently filled with images of me restrained in a Las Vegas hotel suite and Theo driving me nuts with his tongue, his touch, his . . . I shake my mind clear.
‘You don’t have to, Izzy,’ she states matter-of-factly. ‘He sees you move before you’ve even thought to.’ She smiles again, getting up from the table. ‘His words, not mine.’
He sure has told his mum a lot. Has he told her that I used to be a stripper? Not a dancer, but a stripper? ‘You two are close?’ I ask for the sake of it.
‘As close as can be without touching.’ She laughs, and my eyes widen a little. His own mother? ‘Yes.’ She reaches for my palm and holds it gently, almost reassuringly. ‘Even his own mother isn’t so special that she can touch him without permission or invitation.’
‘Has he always been like that?’
For the first time, her smile falters. ‘No, darling. He hasn’t.’ She looks up from the table, her smile returning. ‘Speak of the devil and he shall appear.’
I turn and find Theo standing behind me, taking in the scene before him with an extremely worried expression. It’s warranted, I guess. My confession, this place.
‘Mum.’ He nods to Judy, giving her a questioning look.
‘I found her wandering around.’ She waves a hand flippantly over her head.
‘So you thought you’d capture her and grill her?’ There’s disdain in his voice, but Judy laughs it off and wanders over to her son, who towers above her petite frame. She stops a few feet in front of him, and Theo lifts his hand, keeping his eyes on me. I feel like an intruder, like he doesn’t want me here, and I shift on the spot nervously.