Shutout (The Renegades Series Book 5) (9 page)

The second body was frat-boy, Dex. She looked up into his creepy face. “Excuse me, I have to—” As she backed up, she hit into the first guy again. She had no doubt that it was Kurt. Now pressed between them, she fought to keep from trembling with the fear that was bubbling up inside her.
Where the hell is security?

“Sash!” she tried to call, but Dex put his finger to her lips.

“Damn, girl. I didn’t know that you worked in a strip club.” Kurt ran his hand between them down her body, stopping to cup her ass. “It looks hella good on you.”

Hella good? Who even says that?
She could only assume his body hid his movements, or he would already be tossed out the door for touching her. His hands on her made her skin crawl.

Trying to keep calm, she cleared her throat and asked again. “Can I help you?” There was no way security was going to let this go on much longer.

She could feel Kurt’s hot breath on the back of her neck. “You can definitely help us, Hailee. You can help us into one of those secret back rooms and show us both a good time. An off-the-books kind of good time. You never did answer my calls, and that made me
very
unhappy. But I know a way you can make it up to me.” He flashed two one-hundred-dollar bills into her face. The tone of his voice made the bile back up into her throat, and the cash he ran over her shoulder and down to her chest made her want to puke.

“Get. Off. Me.” Hailee hissed through clenched teeth.

“Alright guys, that’s enough,” Bruno from security said, as he walked towards them. He was still a few feet away from them, and Kurt and Dex were still way too close for her comfort.

“You heard security, get off me!” Hailee’s blood was boiling, but being sandwiched between the two men, she still couldn’t move.

She tried to wiggle away, and as she squirmed towards the bar, a booming voice said, “She said to get the fuck off her, asshole!”

Tripping over Dex’s foot, she grabbed for the bar. Turning around she saw one fist hit Kurt, tossing him to the ground, and then another fist hit Dex.

Dominic

Dom’s eyes never left her as she walked back to the bar. When the two douchebags approached her, his blood began to boil, and the instant they trapped her between them, he jumped up out of his seat and to Hailee’s aid. He didn’t even stop to think about it. Security was almost where she was pinned between their bodies, but the urge to make sure she was okay took over. “She said to get the fuck off her, asshole!”

The dark-haired one grabbed her wrist to secure her where she stood when she tried to squirm away. That was all Dom needed to see.
Nobody puts their hands on Hailee.

His fist connected with one, then both of their faces. Pretty-boy one grabbed at his nose and whined about it being broken, and Pretty-boy two was too busy picking himself up off the floor. Heat filled Dominic’s face and he shook his now aching hand. Hailee sat there with large eyes just staring as she pulled herself off the bar.

“Hailee, you okay?” He barely got the words out before girls were at her side, asking the same question and holding her tight as she stood up. Security had already dragged both men halfway to the exit, telling them they weren’t to come back.

“Dom, you alright, bro?” Kaden asked, coming up next to him. “I tried to stop you, but I was pretty sure you didn’t hear me. Your face was red and it was like you were on a mission, the way you bolted over here. Are you sure your hand is okay? You better damn well hope it’s okay.”

The thought of Coach Walker and the owners of the Renegades finding out about this little debacle made him quickly search the room for anyone with a cell phone recording this fiasco. Paige would not be happy, and pissing Paige off was not really on his to-do list. Nope, not a cell phone camera in sight; the few guys that were here were too busy shoving bills in girls’ G-strings.

His hand stung, and his knuckles were red. Moving his fingers, he deduced that he should be okay. So long as it didn’t swell, he’d be good for the game tomorrow night.

“Guys, I should ask you to leave, too,” the security man said as he returned. “We don’t put up with fighting in here.”

“Bruno, pretty sure they didn’t mean to cause any problems. Those creeps had their hands all over Hailee. Even I was worried,” the girl with the black and blue hair said.

Dominic put his hands up in defense. “Really, I was just worried about her. Sorry if I caused any problems.”

“Hey, I know you two,” the man said as he looked at Kaden and Dominic more closely. “You’re hockey players, and you guys were here the other night for the bachelor party.”

“That’s us.” Kaden smiled.

“Well, I guess I could let you stay, as long as you keep out of trouble.”

“We intend to, trust me.” Kaden pulled Dominic back to their table. “Dom, we can’t afford to be put in the spotlight, not here.”

Yeah, a strip club would be a bad place to draw any attention to ourselves
. Dominic took a long drink of his beer. His hand ached.
Why did I punch them
?
Not the smartest move
.

“Dom, I think we should probably leave now and avoid any further altercations. Paige will kick our asses if we can’t stay out of trouble.”

“We haven’t even had lunch yet.”

“Here honey.” The bartender with the black and blue hair set a bag of ice on the table. “You might need this.”

“Oh, thanks.”
She wasn’t kidding
. His hand was on fire. “Is Hailee okay?”

She winked before she said, “Yes, hon, she’s just fine.”

As she walked away from their table, Dominic looked at Kaden to say something but noticed his eyes were trained on the backside of the bartender. “Yo, O’Conner.” Nothing. “Kaden!”

Finally, Kaden focused on Dominic. “Yeah?”

“You still want to leave?”

“But we haven’t had lunch yet.” Kaden smiled.

“Yeah, that’s what I figured. I was thinking about some nachos and chicken fingers. Oh look, here she comes now.”

Hailee was walking towards their table, a scowl on her face.

“Uh, D-man, she doesn’t look very grateful.”

“Hailee, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Dom plastered the flirtiest smile he could on his face in the hope that she wouldn’t be too mad about his caveman actions.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Uh, we’re waiting to order some food for lunch? Do you think we could get some nachos?” Even though he could see that she was poised and ready to yell, he just kept talking. “I’ll take another beer, too. Thanks.”

“Forget about food. What the hell did you think you were doing? You make a habit of punching people out?”

Dominic paused before he answered. After all this time, she still couldn’t accept help. Taking a breath, he calmly answered. “You mean getting those creeps off you? You’re welcome, by the way.”

“I was handling it just fine.” Her face froze in an angry look, her eyes intense and trained on only him.

“Sure you were.” Dom finished the last of his beer and pushed the empty bottle to the edge of the table.

“I didn’t need you to save me.” Her voice lowered. “They weren’t going to hurt me.”

“Well, it didn’t look that way from here.” She was so hell bent on being self-sufficient that accepting help from anyone was unacceptable. Or maybe it was just accepting help from a man. Or just from him. He’d bet it was him. Too bad he wasn’t letting this go. “How do you know they weren’t going to hurt you? Did you know them?”

“Not that it is any of your business, but yes, I did.”

He raised his eyebrows. “From where?”

“Excuse me?” Hailee asked, as she cocked her head and put her hand on her hip.

“Where do you know those dickheads from?”

“If you must know, my birthday, at the Cupcakery.” She rolled her eyes before sighing, then continued talking. “Alison, my friend, set us up.”

Heat raced through his veins. Why did that bother him? Biting the inside of his cheek, he tried not to comment. It wasn’t his place to say anything, or to care. “Like in a date?” But he said it anyway.

She scrunched her face up and shook her head. “No. I mean, sure, I guess that was her plan. But neither of them were my type. They were too… I don’t know…” She wrinkled up her nose. “They were squirrelly.”

“Squirrelly?” He’d never heard her say that before.
It must mean snotty punk ass brats, ’cause that’s what I saw
. Hearing she had no interest in them made the twinge of jealousy fade.

“They aren’t the issue right now, you are.”

Titling his head, he watched her
. How can she even say that after what just went down
? “Me?”

“You come in here with your arrogance and still think that I need you to take care of me. Well I don’t. We do have security here, and they would’ve gotten those guys off me. Why are you here, anyway?” Her face got darker red with every word.

“To answer your question, we came in for lunch.” He kept his voice calm and steady. She was trying to rattle him so he’d get upset and probably leave or get thrown out. It was obvious that by being here, he was getting to her, and that’s just how he wanted it. If he was under her skin, it meant that she still cared.

“You came in to check up on me and found a reason to be my savior. I don’t need saving.”

“Okay, you caught me. Honestly we came here because I needed to make sure it was actually you. I mean, the hair, the tattoos, I couldn’t be sure.”

“Well, now you’re sure. It’s me, violet hair, tattoos and all. Happy?”

He raked his eyes over her body, all the skin she was showing and very little clothes. Her tattoos were hot, but why was she on display for the world to see?
Happy is not the word that I would use
. “Not really, but I didn’t expect to see you getting manhandled by those creeps, either. Instinct just kicked in.”

“Look,”—she bent down and lowered her voice, since folks were starting to stare at them—“I’m no damsel in distress and I do a pretty good job being on my own. I chose to do this job and I’ll only be here until I get my art off the ground. I don’t need anyone to swoop in and take care of me. So if you think you can come in here and flash some money around and I’ll fall all over you, you’re wrong.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Can we still get some nachos and chicken though?” Kaden interrupted.

Hailee huffed and rolled her eyes.

“Oh, and we still need more beer,” Dominic added, before she stomped off towards the bar.

“So, that was the girl who broke your heart?” Kaden asked, once she was far enough away not to hear their conversation over the music.

Dominic took a minute to watch the girls dance on the stage. His mind wandered to Hailee dancing up on him then peeling her top off. If it was any darker in that room, neither of them would’ve been able to see each other and she would’ve finished her dance, grinding on him and doing her best to take him to the brink. His chest tightened. What made him sick was knowing that her sensual dance wasn’t only for him. She didn’t even know it was him. That was a carefully planned dance she did for anyone who paid her enough.

He moved his stare to Hailee. Her back was to him while she stood at the bar. “Yes. Minus the purple hair and tatts.” Putting his focus back on Kaden, he added, “And she never dressed like that, either.”

“So, she’s from Toronto, then? Funny how she ended up here in Pittsburgh, huh?”

“More ironic.”

“Ironic? Why do you say that?”

“Hey guys, I’m Sasha,” the girl with the black and blue hair said before Dom could reply. She took their beers off her tray and set them on the table. “Here are your beers, and your food is on the way. Can I get you anything else?”

“Hailee?”

“She’s behind me with your food, but I’m around if you need anything.”

Kaden’s eyes were on her ass again as she walked away, his hand almost knocking his beer over as he groped for it.

Hailee quickly approached the table, her face still frozen in a bitchy expression. She was apparently good at keeping that poker face, as hard as he tried to break it. She tossed the plates onto the table. They landed with a small clink. “Chicken. Nachos. Enjoy,” she said before turning and strutting away. He didn’t even have a chance to come up with anything to say before she disappeared into the back.

“I’m guessing ordering a second plate of chicken might be out of the question,” Kaden said, helping himself to a mouthful of food.

After a while, Sasha walked over to their table again, her hips swaying. She seemed to be working for a nice tip. “Can I get you boys anything else?” Her breasts were popping out of her top and Kaden’s eyes never left them.

“Actually, we’d like to get a second order of chicken.”

“No problem.” She winked at Kaden before retreating to the kitchen.

“So what happened with you two? Hailee seemed like she was mad at you.” Kaden took a nacho, scooping as much cheese, beef, tomatoes and sour cream onto it as he could before shoving it in his mouth.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious.”
She may have looked mad, but bet she was more upset that I found her
. “You know how I am, I love the ladies, but I also have respect for them. She had me wrapped around her finger. We were young, but we had a plan. She was going to travel with me and be by my side in whatever city I ended up playing for. I wanted her to know how serious I was, before I was in a position where there’d be fans and bunnies.” He ran a hand through his hair as the events of the worst day resurfaced. “I planned a day of beauty and shopping with my sisters for her, then they brought her home to our place for a special dinner. She looked rattled when she got home, but my sisters said she was fine, that they’d had a good day and discussed a lot of things.” He swallowed hard, fighting against the knot that formed in his throat. “When I proposed, she freaked out and ran. That was it.”

“You actually proposed to her? So it was that serious?”

“It was, to me anyway.”

“So why’d she run?”

“She told me she wouldn’t compromise her dreams for anyone, and she wasn’t looking to be stuck in the kitchen and given an allowance.”

“What did that mean?”

“I have no fucking clue. I always talked about a good contract that would take care of her forever, but she lost me with the stuff about the kitchen.”

“Now it’s all ‘How dare you try to save me?’ Right?”

Dominic nodded. “She was
the one
and she left me without any other explanation than that. The other night was the first time I’d seen her in a few years.”

“So why aren’t you more bitter towards her? You act like she’s still important to you.”

Dominic shrugged. “I’m not mad at her. Sure, she tore out my heart, and I’m sure someday I’ll understand what it was I did, or maybe I won’t. But, I could never hate her. She’s the only girl I ever gave my heart to.”

“And all the bunnies?”

“They’re just to pass the time. They know I’m not into it for any more than that. I’ve always wanted Hailee. No one else has ever measured up to her, and I don’t know if anyone ever will. And I’m not about to let any bunny get close enough to do that to me again.”