Page 40 of Indigo Sky

"Well," he said, obviously hesitating a little before chuckling, "it's this strip club up on the north shore in Turner’s Point. You ever heard of Midnight Lotus?"

CHAPTER TEN

It had been years since that night Nate had dragged me to Midnight Lotus, but the dude who conducted the interview recognized me right away.

Guessed it was hard to forget the guy wearing the eyepatch and mangled face.

His name was Saul. He was older than I remembered him being, but time had that effect on all of us. He told me to take a seat at the empty bar and asked if I wanted a drink.

"No, thanks," I said, then quickly reconsidered, not wanting to come off rude. "Actually, water would be fine."

"One water, coming right up."

Saul reached beneath the bar top, opened a fridge, and pulled out a bottle of spring water. He slid it across to my waiting hand, and I caught it easily.

"So, your lack of vision doesn't seem to mess with your reflexes," he commented, nodding with approval.

"Not really. But if something's coming at me from the right and it's not making a whole lot of noise, there's a good chance I'm taking a hit."

"Hmm." His hand rasped over his stubbled jaw. "Well, I'm getting old and slow. We all have our handicaps, and we either learn to adapt or quit."

He grabbed a bottle for himself and walked around the bar to take a seat on the stool beside mine.

"So, Rev, the rules are simple here, all right?"

"Mmhmm," I answered, listening intently as I uncapped my water and took a sip.

Saul held up a fist, and with every rule mentioned, he put up a finger. "You stand at the door. You ask for ID. If the ID is fake, you tell them to leave. If they're drunk or high, you tell them to leave. If they're volatile, you tell them to leave." When he ran out of fingers, he put them down and began raising them again. "If telling them to leave doesn't work, you make them. If everything checks out, you let them in."

I nodded, taking it in. "Okay, I can handle all of that."

"Good. Your concern, first and foremost, is the girls. We keep them safe. If someone is giving one of them attention they don't want, you do what you gotta do to fix it."

"Got it," I said.

All at once, I remembered that time I’d bumped into a girl not far from this bar. I remembered her giving me a lap dance. I remembered the kiss we’d shared in the parking lot.

Indigo Sky.

Fuck. It had been a while since I’d thought about that name, but I'd never forgotten.

"You married?" Saul asked, eyeing me from over his bottle of water.

"No."

"Girlfriend?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

The man grunted as he lowered the bottle back to the bar. "All right. I had to ask. Last guy we had thought it'd be a good idea to have an affair with one of the girls. His old lady stormed in here and made a scene. None of us wanna see that happen again if we can avoid it. I'm sure you understand."

"I do," I replied with a curt nod. "And honestly, Saul, I'm just looking to make a little extra cash. Nothing else."

"I can appreciate that," he said, running the tip of one finger around the open mouth of the bottle. "But none of us can predict the future, Rev. And, like I said, our job, at the end of the day, is to make sure these girls are safe. We don't want them hurt, andwedon't hurtthem. We hurt the people who hurt them. Do I make myself clear?"

He was sizing me up, I realized. Leveling me with his cold, hard glare. Threatening me with his deep, rough voice. He was about fifteen, maybe twenty years my senior, but I knew without a doubt that this man could kill me and likely would if I dared to even lay an ill-intended finger on one of the girls he protected.

But, as I'd already told him, I was there to make money, not mingle with the entertainment.

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