Page 23 of Tuck & Roll

The loud thumping music was no longer muffled since entering the inner sanctum. She could feel it vibrate in her chest so deeply she wondered if that was what a heart attack felt like. Maybe you didn’t notice it as much when you had several drinks in you.

She’d driven by Bottoms Up a lot over the years, but had never been inside. She had the silliest feeling like she was doing something naughty just being inside. How crazy was that?

Her eyes bounced around the room, checking out the layout of the place. There was a stage up front and tables and chairs set up between there and the bar. The booths along the walls seemed to be cloaked in more darkness than the rest of the room. Very little of the light coming from the stage penetrated the shadows. She was surprised at how many people were here at this time of day. Most of them were men, but there were a couple of women also. She reasoned some of them were probably getting off work and stopped by to let off a little steam. They’d have a few drinks, enjoy the show, then be on their way home.

Not knowing where Chet the manager’s office was located, she stopped at the bar to ask the bartender. The sooner she got this done, the sooner she could go home and fret about why she hadn’t heard from Tuck in a week. Although, given his history with her, she shouldn’t be at all surprised that he’d ghosted her. Again.

“What can I get for you, little lady?” The bartender dried a glass as he asked.

“Can you tell me where I can find the manager’s office?” She had to speak loudly to be heard over the music.

His gaze took her in, lingering just a smidge too long on her boobs. “You applying for a job?”

“No,” she offered him a fake smile. “I’m here to do a job. I need to find the manager’s office.”

“Oh, sure.” He pointed her in the right direction. “Only door on the right.”

“Thanks.”

On her way toward the hall, she noticed a set of carpeted stairs that led to an upper level. A bouncer stood guard at the bottom, his arms crossed over his chest, feet shoulder width apart. Once she stepped into the hall, things grew a little quieter. The lighting could have been better, she noted. It was spaced out far enough that there were some definite dark spots it didn’t reach. As she approached the only door on the right, she found the door partially open. She could hear that Chet was talking to someone. There were pauses in the conversation that led her to believe he was on a phone call and that she was only hearing his side of the conversation.

“Look. I don’t care how you do it, but you’ve got to turn up the heat on the Sons. That’s what you’re getting paid for. If you can’t get the job done, they’ll find someone else.” There was a pause in conversation long enough that Kylie thought he was finished. She knocked on the door and waited to be told to enter. “I gotta go. Someone’s at the door.”

“Come in!” Chet shouted.

Kylie tried to school her face in such a way that he wouldn’t realize she’d overheard part of his conversation. She was afraid if he knew she’d heard the part about turning the heat up on the Sons, he might be pissed enough to do something about it. She plastered on a fake smile and entered the office.

“Hi. I’m Kylie. Did Race call and tell you I was coming?” She stood a couple of steps inside the room with her backpack slung over one shoulder.

Chet sat behind his desk, rocking back in his leather office chair. It went back so far, she marveled at the fact he didn’t tip over. His eyes skimmed her from top to bottom in such a way it made her stomach roll. If it wasn’t for his blatant eye fucking, he might be considered an attractive man. He had light brown hair, dark brown eyes, a nice bright smile and a five o’clock shadow. From what she could see of him, he was dressed in a dark gray long-sleeve button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up revealing part of a tattoo sleeve on each forearm and the first two buttons at the neck were undone. He looked like he was fit beneath his shirt, leaving her to think he might work out regularly.

“Yeah. He called and said you were coming to work on the computer. I don’t understand considering there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with it.” He ran his thumb along his bottom lip, watching her. She felt like a bug, pinned by his stare.

“It’s just routine maintenance.” When he continued to watch her without saying a word, she pushed, “Is that the computer I’m supposed to work on?” She waved with her hand.

“Yeah. This would be the one.”

“Well, if you let me get to it, I can get out of here in time for dinner.” What she really wanted to say was, “Get the fuck up and out of here so I can get this done.”

He inhaled heavily through his nose and stood. “Yeah. Okay. All yours.” She stepped to the side, giving her enough room to get through the door. He stopped in front of her and smirked. He must really think he’s something special, she thought to herself. “I’ll be around if you need me.”

“Okay. Thanks.” She eased away from him and moved behind the desk. It wasn’t until she took a seat and was completely focused on the computer monitor in front of her, that he finally left the office.

“Geez. Weirdo,” she mumbled to herself.

She glanced around the room taking in Chet’s workspace. It could use a good cleaning and some organization that was for sure. Stacks of papers littered the top of the filing cabinet. Moron. Was he too lazy to file his own paperwork? On the opposite wall was a bank of monitors giving the club eyes on everything going on inside these for walls. She spotted a pink sequin bra flung over the back of the couch. One side of her mouth curled up into a sneer. Could the guy be anymore cliche? Scooting the chair forward, she accidentally kicked an empty water bottle next to her feet on the floor. She picked it up and was about to drop it in the trash next to the desk when she spotted a used condom in the bottom of the waste basket. “Gross.” She made a gagging ‘bleh’ face and reached into her backpack.

Pulling out her container of Clorox wipes, she wiped down the mouse, the keyboard, the arms of his chair and any part of the surface of the desk she might come in direct contact with on the off chance there was some super STD living in his office. Next, she pulled out a small bottle of hand sanitizer and squirted a good amount into her hands. Once she was satisfied she wasn’t going to catch anything, she took a deep breath and got to work.

She sorted through the already installed programs and discovered they were pretty standard for what they were used for. Then she checked into browser history just to make sure Chet wasn’t perving while at work. It was obvious he was fucking at work so she wasn’t sure what it would matter if she found porn on it, unless it was child porn, then she’d sick Race on him.

Browser history checked out. On the desktop, she started going through saved files. Still nothing unusual that could be considered a source of security breach. She opened one folder labeled BOOKS. This must be his shortcut to where he kept Bottoms Up’s income and expenses. Looked pretty normal. The next file, labeled BIKES, was a surprise. She thought it would be pictures of motorcycles he was interested in purchasing. It wasn’t. It was another record of income and expenses for the strip club and comparing the two sets of records, she could see discrepancies in everything from income to inventory to expenses. Unless this was standard procedure for the club, this couldn’t be right.

She needed to show this to Race to get his take on it because one set of books said they were making a lot less money than what the other set said. She pulled her flash drive out of her backpack and copied both files. When she was finished, she removed the flash drive and shoved it in the front pocket of her backpack as she got up to retrieve the copies she’d printed of the most recent entries along with the banking information so she could do further investigating later. All of this coupled with the conversation she’d overheard Chet involved in left her feeling nervous and vulnerable. Her inner voice was telling her none of this was right and that Race probably didn’t know this was going on. She needed to get the hell out of there. Now.

She was shoving the papers into her backpack when the sound of Chet’s voice coming from the doorway caused her to startle. “You about done? I’ve got a meeting in ten minutes.”

“Holy shit!” She jumped and clutched her chest. “You scared the crap out of me.” He frowned at her, stepping farther into the room. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to start talking. I was so zoned into what I was doing, I had everything else tuned out.” Stupid mistake on her part. “I was just packing up. I’m finished and was getting ready to leave. Everything looks good. No problems.”

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