Always There

Chapter One Hundred and Eleven

I reach up to ruffle his hair and Jordan rolls his eyes at us.

"Thank God I'm an only child. Brotherly affection is disgusting," he mutters.

"You're starting to sound like Bryce," Mateo replies in a sing-song voice.

I can't help but to laugh and finally relax for the first time since we stepped into the club earlier this evening.

Movement at the front of the room catches my eye. I look up to see the heavy velvet curtain separating our private room from the rest of the club being pulled open by someone from outside of the room.

A tiny girl slips past the curtain and gently pulls it closed after her. She has the longest caramel-brown hair I've ever seen, and she seems to be using it to hide behind as she stands shyly in the doorway.

All of the other girls working at the club have been wearing nothing but lingerie, all in various shades of red. Whether they've been twirling around metal poles up on the stage, balancing trays of drinks and food and carrying them to customers, or walking those same customers back into private rooms with cheeky smiles on their faces, they've been in red.

But this girl isn't wearing red. Not really, at least.

She's wearing cherry blossom pink.

She brushes her long hair away from her face and gives the room the biggest, brightest smile I have ever seen.

My heart stops beating.

"Hi, I'm Alex," she says, her voice sweet and a little timid. "I'm here to take you to your table before the show starts. After the performance, I'll be taking care of you all for the evening."

Her huge hazel eyes scan the room, but when they reach me, she gasps audibly.

Whatever eyes in the room weren't already on her are certainly on her now.

I shoot up from my seat and cross the room in long strides until I reach her.

Once there, I open my arms wide. I let her be the one to make the first move, to decide whether or not she wants to touch me tonight.

She looks up at me with those big brown eyes and then she hurries into my arms and buries her face into my chest.

"Blossom, Blossom, Blossom," I murmur against her hair. "Whatever am I going to do with you?"

Her small fists bunch into my suit jacket. "We can talk later. I can get us some alone time. But you have to wait until after my performance."

My eyebrows furrow and I pull back and gently take her face between my hands. "Your performance?"

She bites her lip. "What do you think I do here?"

I can't help but to glance down at her outfit. "Well, it's pretty clear that you're a strip—"

Mateo pops up beside me. "Lexi? What are you doing here?"

Jordan pops up at my other side. "Uh, did she not just say her name is Alex?" he asks in bewilderment.

I hold a finger to my lips to quiet the two of them. "Alex. Alexandra. I'm assuming she doesn't want to use her real name in a place like this. For privacy reasons. Let's not ruin it for her."