Page 56 of Stripped

“Right,” I said. “But if Payne or Aron took me there and made sure I had no easy way to get back, maybe—”

“In a hurry to leave?” Zane stepped into the kitchen wearing low-slung jeans and nothing else. He was smiling, but his eyes were hard as glass. “Morning, Jules.”

“Wouldn't it be easier for everyone if I left?” I asked. “If I'm a possible threat, it would make sense to get me out of town.” The day before I'd been fine with staying in Mule Creek for a bit, but after my intense sex with Zane, I wanted to get away. Leaving him now would hurt, but if I got any more involved with him, I wasn't sure I'd be able to walk away.

Zane opened his mouth, his body tensed, ready to argue, but then he stopped, sighed and nodded. “I'll talk to Axel. I'm more worried about Leopold coming after you again, but if you want to go, you should be able to go.”

His easy acquiescence surprised me and my eyes stung like I was sad. I wasn't sad that he would let me go so easily. I was grateful for his support. “Thanks,” I said.

Julie looked at her phone, stood, and slipped it into her back pocket. “Hey, Abby. That friend I was telling you about, she's up. You want to pay her a visit?”

It took me a moment to shift from my conversation with Zane and understand what Julie was talking about. When it clicked, I stood. “That would be great.” I turned to Zane. “Do you mind if I head out for a bit with Julie? We shouldn't be gone long.”

Zane had his back to me, at the counter fiddling with the coffee pot. “Aron will go with you,” he said. “If I'm not here when you get back, just let yourself in and make yourself at home.”

I waited for him to turn around and smile or at least look at me, but he didn't. I followed Julie out of the house and pretended I didn't care what Zane thought. In a few days I'd never see him again anyway.

***

I let myself into Zane's house with Julie by my side. We'd been to see her friend, who'd told us where to find the morning after pills. Turns out the local doctor kept a supply of the pills on hand. It wasn't advertised widely, because there were so many women in town who wanted to get pregnant more than anything. They didn't need to hear about women who were opting not to even try. I'd taken the pill and, even though I knew it might not be a one hundred percent guarantee I wouldn't get pregnant, I was feeling mighty relieved.

Axel had texted Julie when he'd woken up and let her know he was at Zane’s. Zane, Axel, Paulie, and Clarissa were in the living room, laughing about something when we walked in.

“There she is,” Axel said. He got up and stalked over to Julie like he hadn't seen her for days. He planted a kiss on her that had me looking away in discomfort. I met Zane's eyes and he gave me a weak smile. Clearly, he was still miffed about me wanting to head to Denver. And that was good. He needed to understand how serious I was about not staying in Mule Creek. How serious I was about my career coming first.

I took a seat in a kitchen chair someone had dragged into the living room and let Julie sit next to her husband on the couch.

All eyes turned to me, expectantly. “Okay,” I said. “I did some research and there's a crazy wide range of prices online for metalworking. I'd recommend pricing the large pieces at fifteen hundred, the medium pieces at a grand, and the small pieces anywhere from two-fifty to five hundred.”

“That's insane,” Axel said. “I'm not going to rob people.”

I ignored him. “If you do custom orders, I would raise the price by fifty percent for each of the pricing levels.”

Axel looked at Julie. “Am I alone in thinking she's crazy?”

Julie smiled and patted his shoulder.

“Just try the prices,” I said. “If your work stops selling, you'll know you've gone too high, but if it does sell, if it sells out as quickly as it did before, raise the prices.”

“Isn't that price-gouging?” Paulie asked.

“Only if it's something necessary for someone's survival,” I said. “No one has to buy Axel's art. If they want it and they're willing to pay the higher price, then that's what you should sell the art for. If you could make more pieces more quickly, you could sell at a lower price to more people, but your problem is that you can't keep up with demand. Unless you want to build a factory to pump out these pieces, you need to raise the prices.”

Axel looked absolutely stricken, but he'd stopped arguing. Julie rubbed his back. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

“As for the rest of you, you should be taking advantage of the reality show attention before it dies out. Axel can build his name as an artist, he can become his own brand. Zane is offering something that a lot of other people are offering, but he can increase his exposure by using that reality show buzz.”

“Are you speaking English right now?” Zane asked, shaking his head. “I don't have a yoga studio anymore.”

I pulled in a deep breath. “You don't need a yoga studio. We live in a digital age. Is anyone else in town any good at yoga?”

“A couple of the guys and some of the women take classes in my basement.”

“And they're as fit as you?”

He nodded, looking worried. He probably should be worried.

“Here's my idea. Most yoga practitioners are women. I say you market to them. Get you and two other guys, in shorts and no shirts, and film a class. We'll use the reality show buzz to get attention, but I'm telling you, once women get an eye-full of three hot guys doing yoga, the money will roll in.”

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