4. Sienna

4

SIENNA

I stayed in my car for most of the night, but people were coming in and out so often that it became impossible for me to keep up with who was where. By four in the morning, I just gave up and went home. If something went down, I'll have to deal with it later.

My phone alarm goes off, and I force myself to get out of bed. When I look over to the side, I see it's only eight in the morning. I could sleep for a little while longer, but I won't. Even though I work from home, I never let myself sleep in, no matter how badly I might want to. The only times I do is if I'm sick and I call in to take an official sick day from work. My bosses don't understand why I'm so diligent with my duties when everyone else in the company never is. That's just the way I am. I like my routine, and I like to be known as reliable.

Slowly, I push myself out of bed and trudge over to the shower. A nice brisk shower is just what I need to wake up. Until the moment the spray hits my face, I'm pretty much on autopilot. It's only when I feel the water sluicing off my body that I perk up a bit.

I work from home as a hospital clerk billing auditor. Basically, I'm a glorified medical coder. I go through all the doctors' notes and make sure they are charging the insurances correctly. It's boring, and most of the time I've finished my daily tasks well before lunchtime, but it does allow me to do more in my personal time. Not that I have many friends or people I need to check up on. I'm a lifelong introvert. The one time I tried to become the life of the party ended up bad for me. There's no amount of therapy in the world that'll erase that trauma.

Quickly, I finish my morning routine, pull out a Greek yogurt from my fridge, and power up my workstation. There are fifty cases I need to get through today. This would normally take any other worker well until five p.m., but for me, I'm sure I'll be finished by no later than one. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm really good at my job.

The morning buzzes by in a blur. The only time I peer away from my computer screen is when I have to go to the bathroom or when my head hurts from lack of food. By midday, the small Greek yogurt I had earlier is long gone from my system.

Stretching my head from side to side, I get out of my chair and make my way to the kitchen. I reach out to open the fridge door, and a small twinge of pain pulses in my wrist. I look down but don't see a bruise or anything like that.

It's the same wrist Lash grabbed when he stopped me from going for my knife. I didn't want to say anything, mostly because I'm sure he's already got a huge ego, but I was impressed that he was able to figure out I was carrying a weapon and that he was secure enough in himself to give me pointers. I'll be sure to use that for next time.

Lash is bad news all the way around. I don't know much about the MC lifestyle, but I know that the Enforcer is basically the worst of the bunch. He's the one they call when they need to get their hands dirty. He's the one to run away from. So why is it that I'm standing here in front of my fridge like an idiot, thinking about him?

"Stop it," I snap at myself before blowing out a heavy breath and reaching into the fridge for something to eat. I pull out a bit of leftover Chinese and, without putting it into the microwave, I grab a fork and start digging in. It's not the most nutritious meal, but it still tastes good to me.

All last night while I sat in the car, I stewed about the fact that he basically told me I either had to leave or fuck him. I know the crowd of people I hang around, but that doesn't mean I'm some easy floozy. I bet I'm the only person to ever tell him no.

Just thinking about that fact is enough to put a smile on my face. I like the idea of being able to put that big man in his place.

My mind drifts back and forth between the women I was there to watch over last night and Lash. Unfortunately, I'm thinking more about Lash than the girls themselves. All I can do is hope that everyone got out okay. I wonder if any of them took him up on his offer for a good time.

Suddenly, my appetite is gone, and I have to push the day-old Chinese food away from me. It was obvious that he wanted someone to spend time with last night. If I told him no, who's to say someone else didn't tell him yes?

My cheeks flush, and now all I can think about is who Lash might have shown a good time last night.

"Dammit!" I curse myself and push away from the counter I'm leaning on to pace the small kitchen back and forth. I'm not upset that another woman might have taken him up on his offer. I'm upset that he might have offered another woman the same deal.

I'm jealous. Of some dude I don't know and, based on our interaction yesterday, someone I can't stand. It's the most ridiculous emotion I've ever felt.

Scoffing at my own ridiculousness, I walk back over to my desk and pull up my work. I don't need to be thinking about Lash. What he does in his free time has nothing to do with me. I'm a free woman. I don't want to have to worry about any man and what they might do when I'm not around.

Doing my best to push him out of my mind, I focus on the spreadsheets in front of me. Lash can fuck whoever he wants; I just don't want to know anything about it.

***

Sunset.

This is when I really come alive. It's when I can fully dive deep into my passion.

I'm not like every other woman. I don't paint, read poetry, or get excited about shopping. No, what I love is to walk the streets with the throwaway men and women who are on the street. Everyone else sees them as less than, but I know that the majority of these people are just down on their luck. I do whatever I can to make their time on the street as safe and comfortable as possible. I don't have any extra money, but I can at least give them some hot meals when I have them or supplies—whatever I come across. Getting donations from people is hard, so I use whatever extra money I can scrounge up to get what I need for the people on the street.

For the most part, everyone is really grateful. I've been walking and helping these people for a little over two years, and so far I’ve only had one bad experience.

I turn the corner to walk down the block that leads to the strip club. I don't see the usual girls, but I'm sure they are either in the club or with johns already for the night.

I go into the club. Prince, the club bouncer, doesn't even stop me anymore.

"Si-Si, how you doing tonight, girl?" he asks as he pulls the velvet rope to the side to let me inside.

"Oh, you know, same old, same old." I shrug and walk by him. The velvet rope at the front is nothing more than a facade. There's nothing in this strip club that would need protecting from the outside besides the girls on the poles. All the furniture inside is either torn or stained beyond recognition. More than half of the lights don't work, which leaves the performer on stage with only half a spotlight. There's hardly any bottles in the bar section, and there's no cover charge to get in. It's not surprising that the place is nearly always packed with the lowest of the low when it comes to clientele. I look up at the stage and see Sunshine with her long blond hair as she works the pole and focuses all of her attention on the few people who are flinging singles in her direction.

I inhale deeply and instantly regret it. It smells like someone has thrown up recently. The smell makes my eyes water. I know I'm going to have to get used to it for the days to come because the owner of this place would never willingly get anyone in here to clean. I swear one day I'm going to catch something just from being in here.

Sunshine glances up in my direction while flipping up on the pole. As she slides down, she gives me a wink, and I nod my head in her direction. All the girls know I'm here to help, so when they see me, they are usually nice unless one of them is having a bad day. I don't take it to heart when they roll their eyes at me or flat-out ignore me.

I make my way through the crowds of men and head straight to the back where I know the bulk of the girls are waiting to either get on the floor or to go up on stage.

Before I can reach forward to part the curtain that leads to the employee area, a man I've never seen before steps in front of me.

"Oh, you must be new here. I'll take you for a ride. What's twenty dollars get me?" he asks and leans forward, giving me a brave smile. I cringe backward as I see the incredible decay and smell the severe halitosis that comes from his mouth.

No wonder he thinks he needs to buy his love; why the hell would anyone find him attractive when he can't even be bothered to take care of his own personal hygiene?

"Hmm, let me see, twenty will get you a swift kick to the balls." I give him a sarcastic smile and tilt my head to the side, waiting for him to get the point.

"Ouch, no way, baby. I'm not into that BDSM stuff." His eyes open wide.

"Aww, that's too bad. I've got a new set of whips and chains in the back; I thought you could be my first victim...oh wait, customer." I take another step forward, and this is enough to send the man running away.

I roll my eyes at the man's back. It's so easy to expose people's insecurities. I don't mean to be such a bitch all the time, but it's just so easy.

I turn back to the velvet curtain and pull it back. The locker room is full of girls either doing their makeup or playing dice in the corner. Money is being slammed on the ground, and I see a few people shooting up in the corner. When I first came to this strip club, it was such a culture shock to see these things happening, but now I'm used to it. As long as they stay in their lane and don't try to force me to do anything, what they do is none of my concern.

"Sienna, long time no see." Milly smiles wide at me, and I shake my head at her. I saw her last night at the party. I even told her goodnight when she left at something like two in the morning. She was walking bowlegged, and I could only assume it was because she had a good time.

"Yeah, fancy that." I look around the room, and instantly it feels like a weight is being lifted off my shoulders. They're all here. Thank God.

My eyes settle on the back of the room where I see Uni at one of the makeup stations. She's not doing her makeup; instead, she's looking in the mirror at me. When I catch her eyes in the reflection, she picks up a concealer that is clearly at least two shades too dark for her, trying to act like she wasn't just staring at me. She can't hide things; she doesn't have a good poker face.

I make my way over to where she's sitting and kneel next to her. I sit back on my haunches, desperate not to let any part of my body touch this dirty floor. Who knows what the hell is on it?

"Hey girl, everything okay?" I ask her, not wanting to seem like I'm pressing her too hard.

"Yeah, everything is fine." Uni answers me a little too cheerfully. I know this girl since she was fifteen years old and fresh on the streets. I ran back into her last year when she started working at this club. We've always had a good rapport with each other. That's why it bothers me so much that she seems to be hiding something from me.

"Uni, you don't need to lie to me, you know that, right?" I tilt my head to the side, trying to get her to look at me instead of the mirror. Finally, after staring away from me for a few seconds, she turns to look at me.

"Yeah, I know. I just know that you take things to the extreme sometimes, and I don't even know if anything is wrong."

"How many times do I have to say it, girl? Nothing is wrong. They are just off having a good time." One of the other strippers barks out, but I don't pay her any mind. Now I'm completely focused on Uni.

"What are you talking about? What's going on?" I grab hold of Uni and stand to my full height to look down at her. I want to know what's going on immediately.

"It's probably nothing, Sienna, really." Uni tries again to get me to drop it.

"Let me find out for myself." I reply.

"Fine, it's just Lia and Max didn't show up this morning. They always work the block, but tonight they didn't show." Uni rushes out her explanation, and I rack my mind trying to think about when was the last time I saw either of them. They were both at the party last night.

"You mean no one has heard from them since they went to the party yesterday?" I look around the room and am met with silence.

"They're just off on a bender or something. You know how those types are." One of the strippers calls out before she walks out of the back room to do her set on stage.

It was a distinct possibility that she could be right, but there was even more of a possibility that this could be my worst nightmare. Some of the girls could be missing right as I watched them.

"Don't think too much into it, Sienna." Uni tries to console me, but I'm not going to be deterred. I want to know where the two of them are. And I want to know now. That means I have to go back to the last place anyone saw them. I'm going to have to go back to the Chrome Creed Clubhouse.