Page 76 of Killer Kiss

I closed my eyes, but it was all around me, thick and perfect, but torturous because she’d made it clear where she stood.

I just had to be okay with that.

I ripped the sheets off and threw them down the stairs, but I was too tired to find clean ones. I fell onto the bare mattress, not even bothering to get dressed.

It was cold, but I was too tired to care.

Sleep took me, and the darkness was comforting.

I woke to my ‘get ready for work’ alarm blaring and I groaned, my body protesting every movement, but at least my head felt a little clearer.

I rolled across the mattress and leaned down to pick up my phone from the floor, scrolling through the notifications that had come in while it had been on Do Not Disturb.

A spam email.

Two Instagram notifications for an account I hadn’t posted on since Fawn had disappeared.

And a text from the private investigator I’d hired to look into Fawn’s disappearance.

I opened it eagerly, praying he’d found something.

Bert

Working on something. Will let you know if it comes to fruition. Don’t forget you owe me money. I don’t work for free, Augie.

“Whatever, dickhead,” I said to the empty room. “Give me something concrete, and maybe I’ll pay you.”

He’d been absolutely fucking useless so far. He could wait for his money.

Not like I had any anyway.

Which was only going to get worse if I didn’t go to work. So as much as I would have liked to stay there on that bed for another forty-eight hours or so, I didn’t. I got up, put on clean clothes, and went down to the club, early, like I always tried to be on a Sunday.

The club got trashed on Saturday nights, and Eve couldn’t afford cleaners. I knew she would be there, scrubbing the place down, making sure it was as nice as possible for the rest of us to work in, and she shouldn’t have to do that alone.

So when I pulled into the parking lot and her car wasn’t there, I was a bit surprised. But I had a key and let myself in, locking the door behind me again. I winced at the sight of the place. It was bad, but I wasn’t afraid of hard work. It was all I knew, and at least this sort of hard work didn’t require me to take my clothes off or fuck anyone.

I nearly emptied the cleaning supply cupboard, taking out the vacuum, mop, and a bucket of other supplies I’d need and got to work. Cranking up some tunes on Lucinda’s DJ decks, I got to work.

I started at the back of the main area, where there were three private rooms we took clients who paid for a more personal experience. Lap dances or fully naked dances from the girls. Phoenix and I didn’t give a shit about whipping it all out on the main stage, but the girls saved that for the men who paid more.

Each little room was set up like a living area, with couches and a bar fridge and their own individual speaker system so the client could choose what sort of music played while we danced. The only thing that reminded them they were in a club was the stripper pole.

I wiped each one down thoroughly, disinfecting them with wipes, while wondering where the hell Eve was. It was very unlike her to leave the club in this sort of state when we had to open again in a couple of hours.

I was just finishing up the third room and surveying how to best tackle the main stage when there was a thumping on the door. I rolled my eyes and went over to open it. “You forgot your keys, didn’t you…”

Ophelia stood on the other side, her eyes widening when she realized it was me.

I went to shut the door, but she put her hand out, catching it with a glare that would have frozen most people to the spot.

But I was getting used to her moods and had no time for this one. “What are you doing here?” I demanded.

She pushed on the door, trying to open it. “Seriously? I’m here for my dance class. I assumed you would make yourself scarce.”

“I assumed you wouldn’t come.” My voice came out sharp and harder than I’d truly meant, but goddammit. What was she doing? She couldn’t just come down here and take Eve and Lyric’s class after everything that had happened between us last night.

Especially not wearing that.

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