Leah was somehow regretting agreeing to help Aubrey, she hadn't realised what she was getting herself into. She was now sat in LD, Shane and Reneè's Gentlemen's Club...
"I'm surprised you called me, Aaliyah" Shane said, pouring a glass of champagne for Leah as she sat on small bar stool opposite him.
"Why are you calling me Aaliyah?" She laughed slightly, nervously playing with her hair.
"Aaliyah? That's what you said your name was" he scoffed.
"Oh...yeah it is! It's just everyone calls me Liyah, it's weird hearing my full name" she forced a smile. She'd forgotten that when she initially met Shane, she did tell him her name was Aaliyah and she had practiced with Aubrey and Baka to use the name Aaliyah as an alias.
"I know what you're here for" Shane cleared his throat.
"Really?"
"Yeah...this is probably the hottest club in Toronto. You want a job, right?"
"No" she flashed a smile at him. "I just couldn't stop thinking about you when we met, I acted hard to get but you're an intimidating man, Shane" she pulled herself up to sit on the bar counter.
"I don't hear that a lot" Shane smiled, resting an arm on Leah's leg, causing her to flinch and try to play it off.
"Aw, I wouldn't have expected that" Leah patted his hand.
"I'm glad you're not here for a job, you'd be surprised about how many bitches come up here, just to use me for a job or some sort of connect" He spoke with pure anger in his voice.
"What? Really? That's fucked up" she shook her head, trying to seem sympathetic. "I'm not like that, I didn't even know that you run this place until now"
"I believe you, you give off a trustworthy vibe" he smiled, flashing the two gold teeth in his mouth. Although Shane was a middle aged man, it was evident he did take care of himself.
"So I've been told" Leah said, sipping some of the champagne in her glass. "I wanna know more about you"
"Really?" Shane chuckled. Shane had what they called, 'verbal diarrhoea'. He was very self centred and narcissistic. He loved being the topic of conversations, this often landed him in a lot of trouble...
"Yeah, I'm interested. You must be a very interesting man, running this club all by yourself"
"Oh nah, I'm the only one that does the work but you've got LD and Renee that run this place too. Of course they're never here. LD just comes here to-" Shane began to speak then stopped. "Where in Canada are you from, again?"
" Mississauga" She lied.
"Oh cool" Shane nodded.
*45 minutes ago*
"But you guys, what if he doesn't tell me anything? Why's he going to trust a random woman who blew him off, paying attention to him now?" Leah anxiously spoke. She was on FaceTime to Baka and Jahron.
"You think he's not gonna talk? You're pretty with a fat ass, that's a hood niggas dream" Jahron chuckled.
"You guys think I'm pretty?" Leah smiled.
"Not relevant right now, Leah" Baka said. "Anyway, listen to Jahron"
"Look Leah, all you gotta do is be nice to him. He's a lonely man, he'll start talking real quick. Plus, he's in LD's shadow, that can make a man very jealous...he'll talk even quicker"
*
"Uh, yeah...proceed" Leah smiled.
"All LD does is come in to collect money, Reneé comes in occasionally. But it's usually me"
"Why is it only you?"
"It was a business plan the three of us had, but eventually it became my own plan. LD's always loved this place but why he stopped dealing with this place. Probably because he started having these young niggas go out and do jobs for him, majority of the time he's not here. He's gone now but he'll be back in a couple weeks as usual"
"What about Reneé, doesn't she help?"
"Reneé just wants to be a mom and shit now, she doesn't care for this place that much" Shane shrugged.
"That's kinda...sad. It's not fair you do it all by yourself"
"Yeah, but I got used to it. I used to be jealous of LD, man. Don't get me wrong, that's my brother. I'd kill a nigga for him, but he's his own worse enemy. This guy could have everything and he'd still throw it away"
"Everything?"
"A wife and kids, he didn't treasure them though, I've always wanted that"
"It's not too late" Leah laughed.
"At 48?"
"Hugh Hefner got married at like 80, you're good" Leah smiled. She was starting to feel bad, she wasn't expecting to meet such a nice man.
"Yeah, well I would've had that if I went about things differently in life. I went to jail. I did a whole bunch of shit"
"You shouldn't let it define you, I was a stripper at 18. Had to provide for my family" Leah said, she was once again feeding him the lies she had been told to.
"Word? That's crazy"
"I know, but, you know...we all make mistakes" Leah looked on.
"That's not a mistake, you had to hustle. Props to you" Shane raised his glass to her.
"Thanks, I appreciate it" she nodded. "Continue telling me your stories, I'm interested"
"I gotta be sure you're not a cop" Shane chuckled.
"I'm not" she laughed, patting her self down to show him there was no wire.
"Aight, I believe you" he laughed. "Let me give you an example of LD being his own worse enemy"
"Go ahead"
"A couple months ago this nigga comes into town, was supposed to be at work here. He said he had a dinner or a meeting to go to, no one hears from him till the next morning. He's on the phone screaming about nearly a mil being stolen from him"
"A mil? Where the fuck do you keep a mil?" Leah forced a laugh.
"That's what I said...turns out he left it at his warehouse, he was too paranoid to leave it at one of the safes here in case on of the dancers took it"
"But there's more security here, right?"
"Exactly, more security and more of his goons to protect it. He's real stingy with money unless it's for his kid"
"Can't blame him, I guess" Leah shrugged.
"I guess. But, he managed to find the guy that did it the other day. Guy owns a restaurant in Toronto or something, he got the drop from this lil kid he has working for him"
"That's helpful" Leah took a sip of champagne, trying to process everything.
"Right, but heres the thing. LD did this guy dirty a couple years ago, framed him and this other guy for drug trafficking and all sorts of shit. I guess the figured it out and they're after him"
"Surely LD can take them on though?"
"Probably not, LD isn't as big as he was a couple years ago. Knowing him, he'll get someone to kill them off or something. He didn't come back into town for about a month though, so if they retaliate or even if they don't, he'll probably plan something"
"That's crazy man, how old is LD"
"He says 35, but it's more like 44"
"He can definitely take those guys on then, do you ever get involved with his- you know?"
"I try not to, I used to. With the whole framing those guys, I did but I felt bad, man, they got a lot of time. They were only young boys too"
"That's sad, but it takes a brave man to recognise his faults"
"True" Shane smiled to himself. "I mean, if he needs me I'll go and here him out but I rarely take action anymore"
Leah spent the rest of the night with Shane collecting information. She was even starting to like his company. Her loyalty lied with Aubrey and the rest, but she felt wrong lying to him like this.