Page 40 of Vengeance

Burden? Matty, an eleven-year-old boy, thinks he’s a burden? That stupid bitch. Lex turns, but Lily grabs her arm. “I want to kick her, too, but we should leave. Now.”

“Tara, drop the quilt off at my place when you get him cleaned up.”

“How do I wash a quilt? Gentle cycle?”

“Why would you wash it?” You’re too damn nice for your own good, Tara.

Laughing, she gets Matty settled in the backseat of her car and turns to Lex and Lily. “How mad will Ty be with me about this?”

Smiling, the two blondes share a look. “Call him,” Lily says.

“If he’s going to be mad, I don’t want Matty to see.”

“Call him, Tara,” Lex says. “He might just surprise you.”

“You think?”

If only she understood the love the men of this club have. Instead of answering, she just nods and winks before climbing into her Mustang.

Chapter Twelve

Griffin’s Beach

Heidi

Sitting in an empty strip club makes Heidi overwhelmingly sad. Morose, even. It’s so depressing to see an empty stage when no one’s danced on it in days. Damn Christian. Damn him and his threats.

She sits with Jacob “Patriot” Norris, Hamilton “Mack” Carter, and Dean “Gunner” Owens. Gunner brought in Patriot and Mack as part of the Army Five years ago, and while it happened before Heidi’s time with the club, Lex has filled her in enough to know all about them.

It feels weird to sit with three very taken men in a strip club when Taylor isn’t there. It could also be the fact she’s not on stage. She never had an issue hanging around taken men when she was Starbright.

“How’d you guys get the privilege to interview strippers?” Heidi asks. “There had to be a fight to be here.”

“Oh, there was,” Patriot says and chuckles. He stands out of the crowd as one of the least tattooed men in the club. “But we were three of the only ones who didn’t want to fight to the death. And my girl doesn’t mind me looking as long as there’s no touching.”

Kai Russell fell in love with Patriot before he ever came to Griffin’s Beach, but it took a little while for him to tame down his playboy ways after a terrible relationship. When he finally decided he’d fallen in love with her, after learning she’d been with him and only him, he ran into many obstacles, mainly the Original Ten member who just so happens to be her father.

Creeper didn’t trust Patriot. Probably still doesn’t. Whenever Creeper and Patriot share the same space, the tension is palpable, which explains why Creeper got shipped off to Black Valley. It’s one of the few times Heidi can say she fully understands the saying about cutting tension with a knife. Except, a knife isn’t needed when they’re together. No… that shit can be cut with a baby spoon.

It’s no secret how much Kai loves Patriot, especially when defying her father. They’re both still pretty young, but no one will be surprised when he decides to finally put a ring on it.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Mack says, “I love strippers as much as the next guy, but I have a sexy as hell woman in my bed every night already.”

Mack’s love, Erica Smith, actually came to be a part of the club because she is a woman Lex knew when she moved to Arizona as a teenager. The poor girl had a rough upbringing after her dad was killed, and it put her in a position to be groomed and sold into human trafficking. Her sister, Emily, and Lex found her with the club’s assistance.

Mack was much like Patriot in terms of his promiscuous ways, according to Lex. The man never settled down for more than a night, and he never intended on falling in love. But the moment his eyes met Erica’s, Lex says he looked like he’d jumped straight out of a cartoon. Heart eyes and everything. He was a goner.

Gunner chuckles. “I came so I can talk to a few of these girls. I need to know what I gotta do as a father to make sure my daughter doesn’t end up on the pole one day. No offense, Heidi.”

Having a daughter changes a man in the club, and Gunner is no exception. Long before Heidi’s time, Gunner and a few others in the club saved Reagan Gentry from her stepfather, and she went as far as lying on the stand to protect them in return. As if that wasn’t enough, she showed up at the club years later, after Lex was gone, when she was a cop. Gunner fell for her as he played protector and fake boyfriend.

After the club was saved, Jennings said a cop, former or otherwise, couldn’t be in the club. Reagan moved, and Gunner and she faded away until she showed back up while the club was under attack by the ATF, working to help their enemy. Luckily, she was in on the plan with Lex and Lily, and the three women saved the club. She walked back into the clubhouse as a hero, bringing along a sidekick Gunner didn’t know she had. A little girl named Tiffany who had his eyes.

“You’d be surprised at how confident strippers are,” Heidi says. “And contrary to popular belief, they don’t all have daddy issues. Most, but not all.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to see that,” he says and chuckles. “Plus, do you have any idea what my body count would end up at? There would be so many men to kill.”

She laughs. “Okay, that’s fair. Here’s a little helpful hint. Stay in her life. Be a good father. Some see dancing as an easy way to make money to pay for college or medical bills or something, while others love the freedom and carnal desire that comes from being on stage. And some of us do actually have daddy issues, so just make sure you don’t cause that.”

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