“It’s the day job. They expect me to be respectable.”
A shrill ringing pierced through the room and Samair jumped. She spun around and tugged her phone out of her backpack while Karl stepped forward and spoke quietly. “Are you sure you didn’t make enough?”
Val nodded. “I’m sure.” He watched as the color drained from Samair’s face.
“How much are you short?”
“Samair?” He ignored Karl and stood, moving around his desk. “What’s wrong?”
“Joey? Joey, calm down, sweetheart. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Samair’s panicked baby blues looked at him as she spoke into the phone. “Where are you? No, no, stay there, I’ll be right there. Don’t do anything.”
She snapped the phone shut and looked at him. “Joey’s in trouble. I need to get downtown.
Now
.”
“I’ll drive,” Karl said as the three of them strode from the office.
Val struggled to control his own emotions as he boosted Samair into Karl’s pickup and climbed in behind her. Samair told Karl where to go and started to tell them what was happening.
“You remember that producer guy who gave her his card in the club and said he wanted her to audition? She went and danced for him, then last week she got a callback. Today was her callback. I don’t know what happened, but she was crying and babbling and sounded pretty freaked.” She looked at Val. “If that bastard hurt her, I’ll kill him.”
Karl got them downtown in less than five minutes. He pulled up to the curb in front of a coffee shop and they saw Joey pacing back and forth, her arms folded across her stomach.
All of them jumped out of the truck, but Samair was the first to reach her. She grabbed Joey by the shoulders, forcing her to stop her pacing and face them. “What happened?”
Val saw the handprint on her cheek and rage started to boil up inside him.
“He wanted a . . . a lap dance. He said that the scene in the video was a like a love scene in sha-shadows, and that it would be a lap dance thing, so he needed me to give him one to show I could do it.” She gasped out the story, her hands visibly shaking in Samair’s grip. “I . . . did it, Sammie. I wanted the job, so I started to give him a lap dance. Not naked. I wouldn’t strip, but you know . . .”
“I know. Shhh, baby. I know.” Samair rubbed her cold hands, trying to get circulation going for Joey again, trying to warm her. But Joey wasn’t done with her story yet.
As she told them what happened, a familiar calm settled over Val.
“But he kept telling me to get closer, to touch him. He wanted a real one, and when I started to back away, he grabbed me. He grabbed me by the arms and pushed me back on his desk. He put his hand under my skirt and when I tried to stop him he, he slapped me! The bastard slapped me and I kneed him in the balls. Hard, Sammie. I nailed the fucker good.”
“Good girl.”
“I ran then. And he was screaming about suing me. Charging me with assault and how it would be my word against his, and I was just some stripper slut so nobody would believe me.”
Karl met Val’s look and nodded. They’d heard enough. He stepped forward, putting his hands on Samair’s shoulders as she hugged Joey to her. “Where’s his office, sweetheart?”
Joey pointed up the street. “The door that goes upstairs over the record store.”
“You girls get in the truck and wait for us. We’ll be right back.”
Samair looked at him, searching his gaze, then she nodded and guided Joey to the truck without a word.
He spun on his heel and Karl swung into step at his side. They both knew what needed to be done, and they were ready, willing, and eager to do it. Val pulled open the door Joey had pointed to and they jogged up the stars. Val opened the flimsy door at the top that had RAISEN PRODUCTIONS stenciled on it. There was an empty desk in the front room and Val heard shuffling and muttered curses from the next room. He turned to Karl. “Watch the door. Don’t let anyone in; this won’t take long.”
The door shut behind him and he stalked to the second room. “Carl Raisen?” he asked when he saw the little weasel with his eyes closed, stretched out on an overstuffed sofa, muttering to himself.
“What do you want?” He swung his legs over the side and sat up, still hunched over. Good, Joey had kneed the bastard hard enough that he was still feeling it.
“You made a couple of mistakes, and I’m here to see that you never repeat them.” He spoke softly as he stepped into the room and pulled the asshole up by the lapel of his cheap suit.
“Hey, hey, man!” The guy’s hand flew up, grabbing at Val’s, trying to break free. “I don’t know you. You got the wrong guy, dude.”
“I’m not your dude, and I don’t have the wrong guy.” His patience wore thin and Val lashed out, breaking Raisen’s nose. The crack echoed through the room and blood spurted.
“Fuck man! What the hell? I’m gonna sue your ass.”
Val hit him again. “Shut the fuck up and listen to me. You aren’t going to sue me, and you’re not going to sue that little dancer who brought you to your knees, either, you get me?” He hit him in the kidneys this time and let the guy fall.
“Okay, okay,” he cried out, hands over his head. “It’s over, it’s done. I’ll forget about her.”
“Not just her, you little bastard. If I ever hear of you and your little casting couch scam again and I will make sure you’re never able to piss without a doctor’s help. After today, you’ll still be in one piece, but if you ever set foot inside any of the Vancouver nightclubs again, that’ll change. In fact, it might be best if you just leave town, period. You hear me?”
Raisen looked up at Val, his pain-filled eyes begging. “Okay, I’ll go. I promise.”
“Good.” Val smiled grimly and hit him again and again, letting his rage fuel his strength until the bastard was a pitiful heap on the floor.
35
J
oey felt like an idiot.
A stupid, ignorant, desperate loser. She’d known when she went into the Raisen Production office that something was off. There was no one else in the office and no dance space. Big hints that something wasn’t what it seemed, but she’d pushed on, determined to prove to herself that she was more than a second-class dance instructor who shook her ass at night for nothing.
She’d needed that video gig. Needed it to keep her spirit going, to keep the dream alive. Sammie was well on her way to having her dream coming true, and she’d only been chasing it, really chasing it, for less than a month.
Plus she had a great man who so obviously cared for her.
Jealousy is an ugly thing, and something Joey normally prided herself on not feeling, but the night before she couldn’t stop it from rising in her throat when Mike had turned her down
again
, and it was stuck there now.
He’d called her before he’d gone to bed, but she hadn’t answered. He’d called three times before Joey had left for her audition, and when she got home, after she’d taken a hot shower and crawled into bed, Sammie had told her that he’d called again.
“He really wants to see you, Joey,” Samair said, bringing her a cup of chamomile tea. “I think he knows you’re mad at him after last night.”
“I’m not mad.”
“Then why won’t you return his calls? He might be just the thing to make you feel better right now.”
“How would you know?” she muttered. She hadn’t meant to say it, but the words were out her mouth before her brain had engaged.
Sammie gave her a sharp look, but spoke carefully. “I don’t
know
. I just thought maybe if he came over he might help you feel better.”
“I don’t want to see him.”
A guilty look flashed across Sammie’s face and Joey’s gut rolled. “Sammie?”
“He sounded really desperate when you were in the shower and I told him we were home for the night. He didn’t say anything but I got the feeling he was on his way over.”
She groaned and buried her head in the pillow. “Damn it, Sammie. Why didn’t you mind your own business?”
There was no response except the shifting of the bed as Sammie got up to leave the room. Joey’s throat tightened and she forced herself to swallow. She didn’t mean to hurt her friend. She just couldn’t seem to stop the words from tumbling from her lips.
Wiping away the tears that had started to leak from her eyes, she got out of bed and went to the kitchen. “I’m sorry,” she said to Sammie, who was quietly putting the dishes away. “I’m just feeling a little out of sorts after this afternoon and I took it out on you.”
Sammie turned from the cupboard and met Joey’s stare. “I think there’s more to it than that.” She planted her hands on her hips. “You want to tell me what’s really got you upset?”
Before she could stop herself, her resentment swelled and the words started pouring out. “Everything is always so fucking easy for you. It always has been and it always will be. You complain about your family not letting you be you, but your brother was at the party last night, totally supporting you and helping out. You lose your job and end up with your dream career; you find your boyfriend fucking around and you end up with a man ten times better who will do anything for you. It’s just not fair!”
Sammie stepped forward, placing her hands on the breakfast bar that separated them, and leaned closer. Joey saw hurt and anger in the blue eyes that were swimming in tears, but she spoke softly. “My life is far from perfect. My family still has secrets, and one fashion show is only the first step in my dream career. As for Val, he’ll only do anything for me if it involves getting naked.” Samair shook her head. “But this isn’t about me, it’s about you. It’s about you being scared to let anyone close. Especially a man. Have you ever realized that the reason you’re so determined to get Mike to sleep with you is because you use sex to keep people away from your heart?”
“I don’t use sex, I enjoy it,” Joey spit out. “And it’s a damn good thing, too, because it seems to be the only thing that will help me get what I want out of life.”
“Now you’re talking shit.”
“What do you know? You’re the one who men want to be with. You’re the one they’ll throw partites for, or beat up men for. Not me. I’m the one they want a lap dance from.”
“Val didn’t beat up that guy today for me, honey. He did that for you.”
“He was only there for you. Him and his friend. Only you would show up with
two
knights in shining armor. I’d be lucky to get one.”
Samair threw up her hands. “That’s enough! Can the fucking pity party, Joey! I don’t know if you’re PMSing on top of the rough day or what, but you are so far out there that you could spit on Mars. Open your fucking eyes. Val and Karl were there because you called
me
. Mike doesn’t want a lap dance from you, and you can bet your ass he would’ve been there to kick the shit out of that bastard today if you’d called him. But you didn’t. Do you even know why you didn’t call him?”
Discomfited, Joey shrugged. Some of what Sammie said made sense. “Mike doesn’t want anything from me.”
“I think you know that’s not true. I think you know, deep down, that this guy might be the one for you, and that scares you stupid.”
Before Joey could say anything else, the door buzzer rang. Sammie went over and answered it. When Mike’s voice came over the intercom she stared at Joey with raised eyebrows. “Well? Should I tell him to go away, or are you going to give him, and yourself, a chance at what might be a good thing?”
Joey nodded and tried to speak. Her mouth opened but only a squeak came out. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Let him in, please.”
Sammie pushed the button to let Mike up, then grabbed her jacket off the hook by the door. She opened the door and spoke over her shoulder. “I’ve got nowhere else to go, so I will be back tonight, but I’ll give you a few hours alone.”
Then she was gone.
Joey knew she’d hurt her best friend, and she wanted to go after her, but as she stood frozen, staring at the doorway, Mike filled it.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.” She ran a nervous hand through her hair. She was wearing bright blue pajamas with little white bunnies all over them, no makeup, and her hair still damp from her shower. If the sight of her didn’t scare him away, he was a bigger idiot than she was. “Come on in.”
He closed the door behind him. She turned away, going to sit on the love seat, knowing he would follow.
“What’s going on, Joey?” Concern made his green eyes darken as he sat down next to her. “Why’d you walk away from me last night and why won’t you return my calls?”
She debated what to say. She didn’t want to tell him about the audition fiasco and have him see her for the fool she was, but she desperately wanted to curl up against his massive chest and let him comfort her.
Instead, she straightened her spine and looked him in the eye. All or nothing. “I want to know what’s wrong with me. Why you don’t want to have sex with me? I know I don’t look so good right now, but you’ve seen what I have to offer.”
“That’s what this is about?” He scrubbed a hand over his face and glared at her. “I thought you were sick or hurt or something, and this is because I want it to mean something when we make love?”
“When we make love?”
“I thought I made it clear to you that I didn’t want to just fuck. Not that that doesn’t have it’s place, too, but I really like you, Joey, and I thought you liked me, too.”
Confusion hit her and she ducked her head. “I do like you.”
“Then why are you in such an all-fired hurry? I’m hoping we’ll be together a while, so we can take things slow, do things right.”
She shifted her weight, inching closer and trying to ignore the urge to climb right into his lap.
“Joey, it’s true you’re beautiful, and so sexy you make me hard with nothing more than a smile. But you have more to offer than a hot body or just looking good on my arm. What makes me want you is
you
. You’re always so full of energy and laughter and life. Your obvious love of life is what makes you special. Not your face or your body, or even the way you dance.” He shook his head, his eyes just a little sad. “I think you’re special, and you deserve to be treated that way. Don’t you?”