Mind Play (Bennett Sisters Book 3) (14 page)

Butch pulled her c
loser to him underneath his arm
,
encasing her in his protective hold.
Claire glanced up at him and smiled before she blew a bubble with her gum and popped it with her finger as she passed the bikers. “Aw
,
baby, why did we have to get out of bed to come here? We could have finished the
fifth
of vodka we have
back at the house
and had a better time,” Claire
whined
.

Butch glanced down at her
. H
is tight expression relaxed into a grin of approval, but even still
,
he kept his arm secure around her shoulders
.

“I promise we’ll only stay for a little bit. You know I
love watching you dance
. I bet they
even
have a pole on the dance floor
,
and you’ll feel right at home.”

Claire wondered if he was acting or if he’d actually said that to a date in his past. The though
t
made her smile.
She’d seen the bikers undressing her with their eyes
,
studying her with a intensity that made her want to flee back to her
little
secure world
.
Claire
lifted her chin and kept walking, staring down the strangers with one raise
d
brow
almost in a dare
as she went.
She could pull this off knowing that
Butch
was with her
but doubted that she’d had the nerve
to even walk in the door
had she come by herself.

She
’d do anything for the safety of her family
,
and up until now she
’d
had no idea what to expect.
Butch swung the door open and pulled her behind him
until they crossed the threshold, when he resumed the stranglehold he had on her shoulders. Claire con
tinued to pop her gum and leaned
into his
embrace
.
The musky room
reeked of
stale
beer
and
cigarette smoke
,
almost making her gag
. There was a group of men arguing over a game of pool with money sitting on the
smooth
green velvet, several more leaned up against the bar talking, and a few hunched over as if straining to hold their heads up. A group of
women
stood around the dance floor,
some dressed identical
ly
to her and others dressed in
tight
leather
,
presumably
waiting for a different song. A slow melody drifted to her ears from the speakers stashed around the floor. Couples were in the middle of the dance floor gyrating and swaying to the slow rhythm
, hands roaming all over
each other’s bodies
as they rubbed intimately against each other
with not a care of who
witnessed the slow sensual moves.

Butch dragged her to t
he bar, lifting her
around the hips
and plant
ing
her on a stool. The bartender
distributing beers
looked their way
and gave a quick nod
before slowly walking over. “What can I get ya?”

“We’ll have two beers, whatever you have on tap
,
” Butch replied pulling
out his wallet and handing over some
cash
.

Claire wasn’t much of a beer drinking
,
but she would play along.
The thought of ordering a class of wine would draw t
o
o much
unwanted
attention her way.
Beer tended to make her headache
s
worse. She’d mastered putting up a wall around her mind, blocking out everyone’s thoughts. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have been able to do her fundraisers
,
and to be honest, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what these people were thinking.

Several of the women and men were staring at her as she sat on the stool with her legs crossed. She wanted desperately to reach down and pull at the hem of the dress
in an attempt
to cover
up
more of her
exposed
legs but knew that the move w
ould be
futile. She concentrated on not fidgeting as she
raised her brow and
stared down their looks, trying to prove she
belonged.

The bartender returned with their
beers
,
and Claire stopped herself before she took a napkin to wipe at the rim. She looked up to find Butch watching her like a hawk, probably waiting for her to make a mistake
to
haul her out of there
. Claire put the glass to her lips and threw her head back, choking down half of the beer
in one long gulp
. She’d held back her wince from the bitter taste and smiled when she was done, wiping the dripping liquid from her lips with the back of her hand.

“Nice and cold
,
baby, just the way I like it.”

Butch nodded and smiled back down at her. “I’m glad you like it
,
baby
. W
hen you finish that one, I’ll get you another.”

Claire placed her palms on Butch’s chest and rubbed it. “You’re so good to me
,
baby
.
I’m going to have to return the favor.” She
ran her hand
up
his chest
to his neck and pulled him down to her lips.
His hand
went to her hair
,
tipping he
r head for a deeper kiss as his other landed on her bare leg and slid it up under the edge of her hem
.

He pulled back
and stared
, his blue eyes darken
ing
. “Keep that up and I’m going to drag you home and tie you to our bed, sugar.”

Claire tried to keep her hormones in check, but the way he was talking
and the feel of his hands on her bare skin
made her want to jump off the stool and pull him out the door. She shook her head. They needed to find the guy and get the hell out of there. She wasn’t sure how much more she could play around
without losing her mind and succumbing to the man that knew how to play her like an instrument
. Claire pulled him back down and kissed his cheek
,
whispering in his ear
,
“Do you see him?”

Butch straightened and glanced around the bar
,
immediately recognizing the man that Sam had described. Butch nodded to where their
target sat alone at a table on
the far side of the bar. His head
was
nodd
ing,
and his eyes closed
,
and then
he
straightened in his chair long enough to do it again
. If they were going to get their answers
,
they needed to do it now or they’d have to wait until he sobered up and find him again, and that wasn’t an option she was willing to take.

She scooted off the stool and silently mouthed, “Just
follow my lead
.”

Claire’s open palm connected with Butch’s face
,
and she screamed
,
“You bastard
!
”

His palm went up to his cheek
, rubbing the spot she’d struck that was
turning redder by the minute. “What the hell was that for?”

“You’ve been staring at that brunette sinc
e we walked in the door.
You don’t want to show me any attention, then I’ll get it from someone else, you
asshole
.
” Claire
grabbed her beer and
stumbled away from him, glancing back over her shoulder and wink
ing
as she made her way to the man sitting by himself.
She swayed on her feet, not because she couldn’t walk in her heels,
but trying to
present the illusion
of being drunk.
She plopped down at his table and blew a bubble, popping it with her finger. “Can you believe him?”

The drunk sat up straighter
, h
is glazed eyes trying to focus on her and what she
was saying. “Believe who
,
darlin
’
?”

Claire down
ed
the rest of her beer and again swiped at the liquid
from
around her lips. “My no good boyfriend
over there
. He’s been eyeing
every woman in here but me
since we walked in
the door
.” She tilted her head to the dance
floor, not caring which women
the drunk might think she was talking about. “
I should have known he was full of shit the way he was bragging all night that
he was going to take me home and
make me pass out from pleasure
.
The asshole probably can’t even get it up.
”

The drunk grinned. “His loss
,
darlin
’. W
hy don’t you come home with me?”

Claire gave
a
small smile.
“I
don’t even know your name
,
big guy. I might look like a slut, but I don’t sleep with strangers.”