Page 6 of Killer Kiss

With a good nudge from my boot, the man rolled off the edge of the platform and hit the tracks below.

With a bit of luck, he’d get obliterated by the next train that came through before anyone even noticed he was there.

I strode away, tucking my hands inside my pockets so no one would notice the blood.

I had a sister to find.

2

AUGIE

Lucinda, our club DJ, had the music pumping by the time I dragged my sorry ass through the doors. Despite her best efforts, the upbeat music didn’t match the vibe of the room at all. The depressing number of patrons sitting around the tables was even more pathetic than the number of times I’d scoured the streets for Fawn, only to come home empty-handed.

Eve, the owner of the club, jumped down from the stage when she noticed me. I barely registered the fact she was in nothing but a G-string. We were all so used to nudity that having a full conversation while one of us was bare-ass naked was just a regular Thursday night.

“Anything?” she asked above the music, though it was clear from her expression she knew what my answer would be.

Same thing as always.

Nothing.

Absolutely fucking zero.

I didn’t mention the woman I’d seen on the train. The one with the dark hair, and long legs, whose eyes were so much like Fawn’s I’d thought for a second it was her. There was no point telling that story and having Eve’s hopes raised like mine had been. She didn’t need that extra stab of pain I’d felt when I’d realized the woman was just another dead end.

Lyric, one of the other strippers, had once described my relationship with Fawn as fatherly. It had rung so true I hadn’t been able to forget it. But if that were the case, then Eve’s relationship with Fawn had been motherly. Neither of us were handling her disappearance well, and we both felt responsible for the sunshine woman who hadn’t been seen in weeks. No matter what anyone said, no matter how many times the others tried to assure us, Eve and I shared pain and grief in a way nobody else did.

She squeezed my arm. “Go get ready. There are women waiting in the other room for you.”

I could already tell by her lackluster tone that the other side of the club wouldn’t be any more happening than this side. Which would be fine if this hadn’t become the usual.

We’d gone from filling the place regularly, with tips pouring in so thick and fast I’d been able to be choosy with who I went home with afterward. My little side hustle was a good time when it was like that. I liked sex, and getting paid for it was better than slaving away at a janitor’s job or some other bullshit. When the club was full, I could pick the hottest person there, someone I would have gone home with anyway, and make an extra five hundred to top up my night.

But it was a different feeling when it was desperation that drove you into that lifestyle. I’d been there before, and it had forced me to do things I wasn’t proud of.

That desperation had cost me everything.

My friends. Jobs. Self-respect.

My brother.

I couldn’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near me either.

How quickly I’d found myself back here again, knowing this shift wasn’t going to bring in the tips I needed to pay for a burger, let alone the rent that was already overdue.

I loved this club and the people here, but ever since Fawn had been taken, it hadn’t been the same. Eve and the others were trying, but I’d damn near given up. Without Fawn, we were all falling the fuck apart, and none of us seemed able to stop it.

I dumped my bag in the locker room, not bothering to take a shower or even glance in the mirror. What was the fucking point? Nothing I did was going to help the dark circles under my eyes or the gaunt hollows of my cheeks.

The club was too small and not soundproof enough to have two different sets of music playing across both rooms. Eve’s playlist poured from the speakers in the smaller space I normally performed in, but I didn’t care that it wasn’t really my vibe. I barely heard it anyway. I went straight into autopilot, avoiding the stage female strippers often preferred, and walking straight into the crowd.

Or in this case, the handful of women sitting at a table in the middle.

I got why Eve and Lyric and Fawn hadn’t particularly like getting down at floor height. Men were grabby bastards and would put their hands all over them if given half the chance.

But that was what I wanted. I wanted hands on me. I wanted people touching me, seeing the look in my eyes that made them feel like they were the only person in the room.

That was how you got taken home afterward.

---