Expiez: Redeem Your Blood Lust (5 page)

Chapter Five

The evening progressed smoothly. After a couple drinks, Julia's skunk eye for Angel diminished, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. In fact, Angel became increasingly talkative the more drinks she had, and Kate was quite the snarky jokester.

An hour and a couple trips to the bathroom later, the bar started to pick up. It wasn't long before the stripper pole began getting some use. Apparently Julia's skunk eye was transferable, because the current girl working the pole had it out for Angel. Every ass shake, spin, dip, and undulation was accompanied with an icy glare directed at her.

For the most part, she was ignored. But every so often, Angel would glance her direction and then roll her eyes in an exasperated sort of way.

"What did you do to her?" Clare finally asked.

"Nothing. Although, I guess I caught the eye of a man she was interested in. She told me all about it in the bathroom earlier. For a while I was pretty sure she was going to hit me. Or try."

"Why didn't you do that…thing you do?" Kate wondered. "When you calm people down. Like you did at
Luxure
a couple weeks ago."

Angel flicked a glance toward the woman finishing up her pole dance. She tried to smile but it came out as a smirk. "Not worth my energy." She said it with all the contempt of a sixteen-year-old girl.

Clare and Kate joined together in laughter. Julia's smile was reserved. Later, Clare was going to have to shake her out of her bitch cocoon.

"I think you need to show her up a little," Kate said. "I've seen what you can do with an aerial hoop. Pole can't be that different."

"I'm sure it isn't."

"Then I say school her."

Clare had heard about Angel's acrobatic prowess through Julia. It was something she definitely wanted to see. She joined Kate's call to arms. "Oh my God, yes. Please. I had to endure five minutes of that girl's ass in my face. The least you can do is show her what's up."

"It's so unprofessional…"

"Who's going to know?" Julia finally cracked the seal on her lips. "Besides us? No one from the Community comes down here. You know that. I'd actually like to see what you can do on the pole, too."

"All right," Angel said after a few more badgering pleas. "But no one breathes a word." She looked at each woman in turn.

"Absolutely."

"Of course."

"About what?"

A folded paper napkin in hand, Angel stepped onto the stage and began to wipe the pole down. Clare had seen strippers do it between sets before, so she was pretty sure there was a valid reason, but it looked like Angel was removing the previous dancer's funk—both figuratively and literally.

And quite thoroughly, too.

It took no less than ten cleansing swipes before Angel seemed satisfied. After tossing the tattered napkin into a nearby trashcan, she turned her attention back to the now gleaming pole. Gripping it above her head with her left hand, she grabbed it low with her right, fingers pointed down, and pushed into the metal.

"What's she doing?" Clare asked Julia.

"Probably testing her grip," Julia replied. "Whatever she's planning, it's going to be impressive. No doubt about that."

"Sweet!"

Angel released the pole and did a quick roll of her shoulders and discrete stretch of each arm. She smoothed her shorts and hair before resuming the split grip on the pole and lifting the entire length of her body into a horizontal line.

Clare was pretty sure she was going to catch a few flies the way her mouth was hanging open. "Holy shit!" she finally gasped out.

After chilling in the horizontal line for a few seconds, Angel slowly pulled her body into a vertical line, and then dropped her toes until her legs were parallel to the floor. Separating her heels until she maintained the most perfect straddle split Clare had ever seen, she hooked a knee around the pole and then…let go. After that her body curved into a position that made Clare wonder if her spine was made of gummy worms.

She twisted into a series of beautiful poses, incredible splits, and feats of impossible strength, while the bar went bat-shit crazy. When she finally released the pole, the bar broke out in applause, Angel gave a little bow, and then stepped off the stage.

She fell into her chair and ducked her head. "That was horrible of me," she said behind a beaming smile.

"Are you kidding?" Clare said. "If I could do that I'd be pole dancing on everything. Street signs, playground equipment, random men…"

"It was amazing," Julia concurred. Kate joined the approval.

"I really shouldn't show off like that."

"Yes you should." It was Kate.

"Well... Thank you. It was fun."

"So, when are you installing a pole in the studio?" Julia asked.

"I suppose I could add one for cross training." Angel's tone was professional but her face was wistful. Obviously, she really had enjoyed her polecrabats.

"I'd totally take your class!" Clare said. "Although I don't think I could ever manage half those positions."

"I am a contortionist. I can do some pretty unnatural things with my body."

"I bet your boyfriend loves it."

Angel's grin was sly. "He's appreciative."

Kate was suddenly overcome by a fit of giggles that didn't seem to want to go away. She buried her hands in her face. "Oh my God," she cried into them. "Detective McCoy! I can't think of him like that."

"I can."

"Clare!" It was Julia. Angel just smiled proudly.

"What? He's hot. It's not like I'm ever going to sleep with him. I mean, Jesus, I probably look like dog food compared to this." She gestured toward Angel, whose smile instantly dropped. Clare knew enough about Angel to recognize a lecture about how all women were equally beautiful was headed her way. "I didn't mean anything by it," she said quickly. "I know I'm hot. You're just hotter."

Angel opened her mouth to reply, but Darus' sudden appearance at the table silenced her.

Clare stared at him. She couldn't believe it. Of all places to run into Darus! Nor could she believe the squirming in her guts telling her she was excited to see him.

If she thought he looked fine the other day, he looked extra fine today. Actually, fine didn't begin to describe him. He wore the most mischievous expression on his handsome, angular face, as well as a kickass pair of suspenders, a white button up shirt, and some sweet jodhpurs with tall boots. With her leather, buckle up corset, short bustle skirt, striped hose and Victorian boots, they matched perfectly.

The evening suddenly got a lot more interesting.

* * * *

For the first hour or so Kevin staked out Angel and crew, nothing out of the ordinary happened. The girls attracted quite a bit of attention, but none that seemed suspicious. He watched in amusement as a woman performed an angry bump-and-grind routine on the stripper pole near their table. A cat merely marking her territory and he dismissed it. He then watched in awe as Angel responded with her own pole dance. Her grace, beauty, and sensuality made it difficult for him to focus on anything but her.

When all he could think about was her naked, in the pose she'd twisted into, in his bed, he forced himself to look away. It was then that he noticed a blond man watching the scene as well. He wasn't the only one, Kevin noted as his gaze swept the crowd, but there was something about the unwavering focus of the man's gaze that set off his
spider
sense.

Keeping the man in his peripheral vision, he turned back to his charges. Angel had stepped off stage and the ladies were laughing and appeared to be having a good time. The stranger continued to stare, even though Angel was no longer
performing.
That really piqued his spidey sense.

He started for the man, ready to figure out who the hell he was when he spotted Darus heading right for the ladies, a cocky-ass grin on his face.

Ah, shit. What was that bastard up to?

He'd turned from the blond stranger for no more than a few seconds, and when he turned back the man was gone.

* * * *

"Did I see you working the pole?" Darus asked Angel, the grin on his face growing with every passing second.

Her face blanched, turning her fair skin a colorless white. "Darus, please don't—"

"Let our fellow Sangs know what a dirty little minx you are? I wouldn't dream of it." He winked at her and then turned his attention to Clare, skipping past both Julia and Kate like they weren't there.

He looked her up and down, his expression appreciative. "Have any tricks
you
want to share?"

"Not for you," she said as snottily as possible, hiding her smile behind a bitchy expression.

"No worries. I'd settle for being a fly on the wall."

"You know, I've seen you out at the bars three nights in a row, don't you have a job?"

"I'm a writer. Being an alcoholic is a job requirement."

She couldn't help it and laughed. "Well, since I'm not exactly employed at the moment, it's one of mine, too."

"No," Julia burst in, giving Clare a harsh look. "You're not doing this."

"Doing what?"

She turned to Darus. "You need to leave. You are not welcome here."

And Clare thought Julia's skunk eye for Angel had been hateful.

"Of course." He tipped his hat to them, his gaze lingering on Clare before he exited the bar.

"That was unnecessary," she said once he'd gone.

"Yes, it was."

"No, I agree," Kate said.

Julia turned to her. "Look, I know you think he saved you by coming forward and telling Slade about Lohr, but that tiny act of decency doesn't begin to excuse what he did in the past."

"Darus is trying to change," Angel told her. "He's a better man now."

"Please." Julia snorted. "You can't see the bad in anyone. It's like you have a permanent pair of rose colored glasses attached to your face."

"I don't think seeing a person's potential is a bad thing."

"It is in this case."

"Everyone deserves forgiveness, as well as a second chance."

"No. They don't. Not Darus." Julia looked at each of them in turn. She didn't seem to like what she saw. "I can't believe you guys! He killed a woman! Left her on the street for dead! And then bragged about it!" She directed her angry gaze at Kate. "And it wasn't like he told Slade about you out of the goodness of his heart."

"Julia…"

"No, she should know," she said to Angel before turning back to Kate. "He only spilled the information to benefit himself. He used it as a negotiating tool to force Armand to let him come back to
Luxure
. He didn't give a shit about what happened to you."

"I doubt that's true," Angel said, more firmly this time. "Darus' attitude is a front. Nothing more. He isn't a bad man. He makes bad decisions, but—"

Both of Julia's hands jerked up. "Enough! I don't care. I don't want him around me and I sure as hell don't want him flirting with my little sister."

"I really don't need you to tell me who to flirt with."

"Yes, you do. Everyone knows why you're in New Orleans, Clare. That extra heavy foundation is doing a piss poor job of covering your split lip. Obviously, your taste in men is lacking."

For the first time in a long time, Clare wanted to punch her sister.

"I know you're upset." Angel's words floated on a layer of calm. "But maybe if you get some air, you'll have a fresh perspective—"

"I know," Julia interrupted, her tone short and crisp. "Maybe I can cry on Detective McCoy's shoulder. Would that be all right with you?"

"If that's what you feel you need."

"No." Julia's smiled dripped with fake sweetness. "I can cry on my own man's shoulder, thank-you-very-much. I don't need to borrow yours."

And now Clare knew why Julia had dagger eyes for Angel.

Julia turned to her. "Let's go."

She held up her glass. "I still have a full drink."

"You're kidding."

"I'm not. You don't have to go, you know."

"I think I do." Yanking her purse off the table, she turned and shoved her way out of the bar.

* * * *

Darus had to clamp his lips tightly together to get out of the bar with saying something snarky to prove to Julia how shitty a person he really was. Like the other night, he wasn't sure why her open hatred of him bothered or surprised him.

The only reason he kept his mouth shut was because Julia was Clare's sister. If he had even a millimeter of a chance of getting to know her better, he needed to put on his best behavior boots and talk out of his ass.

Stepping onto the sidewalk, he walked right into Detective McCoy. He'd actually run into the man a couple of times now that he and Angel were apparently a couple and Darus' attempt to redeem himself meant he went to her studio a couple times a week.