Page 28 of Triplet Tease

“If we get to be too much, we won’t keepyou as a prisoner. You’ll be free to leave and go home at anytime.” He grinned and looked exactly like Eton when he did so.

“The club does arrange for dancers to dodoing outcalls. There’s a fee to the club, and you have to arrangeit with my manager.” I bit my lip. It sounded an attractive offer,but I couldn’t see that it would be worth my while. Even as awaitress, I earned good money at the club. I’d end up having anight off and not earning as much.

“Fine. Do you want to take me to themanager?”

I didn’t move.

“As for the fee… I’ll settle whatever theclub needs, but what about your fee? You’re the hot new dancerhere, so you keep the two hundred I’ve just given you. How muchmore do you need to make it worthwhile to give a night to us?”

My mind raced. I hadn’t a clue what Iexpected to earn. The figure Gill had suggested seemed like a dreamnumber.

“Is four thousand dollars enough? I don’tcarry that sort of cash in my pocket, but I will transfer it intoyour account immediately if you let me have your details.”

Four thousand dollars! Fuck!

I hadn’t thought of these guys as having thatsort of money sitting around to spend. It just went to show youcouldn’t judge a man by his patterned shirt.

“Right. Four thousand. If you wait here, I’llget my manager.”

“I’ll wait.” He sat down again, and thelast thing I saw as left the room was that cheeky grin.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ETON

My brothers had warned me that I wouldn’tlike Derry. They were right. And I liked Liam even less. I wouldn’ttrust either of them as far as I could throw them, not one inch.

Mindful of the fact that many states have lawsprohibiting the ownership of primates as pets, along with federallaws against bringing in exotic animals from abroad, these guysdidn’t acknowledge any of these issues. They didn’t ask where welived or whether we could provide a good home to the animals.

If I were going to buy a pet, I’d check outthe supplier very carefully.

As it was, I had no intention of placing anorder for any kind of animal with some shifty dudes I met in a lapdancing joint. The aim of the meeting, for me, was only to check outwhether these dudes did do this business. I wasn’t even sure whatwe’d do with the information. We had a tipoff while we were inEcuador that led us to Derry, but I wasn’t sure we had enoughinformation for the police to act on.

Liam stressed that any pet can be expensive tolook after and that vet bills could be horrendous. That made me smileand exchange a glance with my brother. But the references to moneyseemed aimed at finding out how much we might be willing to spend.

The bottom line was they would deliver whateverwe wanted to any address in the USA. Each animal would cost thousandsof dollars, and there’d be a special deal for us buying three.There would be an upfront deposit of fifty percent, but they couldn’tbe pushed on the details until we were ready to make the deposit.

“I don’t want to push you. You place theorder when you’re ready,” Liam said when he passed me hisbusiness card. “But I have had someone cancel, so I have someleeway to do you a good price if you place the order now.”

“Can I get back to you tomorrow?” I asked.“I’m not sure we’ll be ready to take the little creatures toosoon.”

“No problem. Get back to me whenever you areready. It’s just that I have other people who are also eager forbabies, so they might be gone.”

He hadn’t even specified the species, so Ihad my doubts about his claims. I had the impression that Liam didn’tknow his marmoset from his macaque. This was not a man to sellanimals. At least Derry had a little more common sense, but he wasjust the go-between.

We were as good as done and I had Liam’sphone number when his gaze shifted to the stage, and naturally, weall looked in the same direction.

I just about stopped breathing when Irecognized one of the two women writhing at the front of that stage.

“Hold on, guys. I know this girl. This is herfirst night, so I’m curious to see how she does.”

“She looks good so far,” said Derry.

“Which one?” asked Finn without giving awayany clue that he recognized one of the strippers.

“Red hair, blue dress,” Liam snapped. Helooked on with his mouth hanging open. “You are now witnessing herfirst-ever dance,” he added.

“She’s smoking hot,” Finn said. For amoment, I wondered if he recognized her before I realized he wasplaying along rather than admitting we know her.

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