Chapter Three

Shade pov

"Will you shut up if we come?" Hunter snaps at Dylan who keeps prattling on about a "guys night." The man's as loyal as they get and a hell of a sharpshooter but he talks non-stop. He's been trying to get us on to come with him to the Black peony for years.

"Sure dude." Dylan answers distracted by something on his phone. "Tonight's the perfect night." He exclaimed face lighting up. "They just posted that a new dancer's on the stage tonight. Let's go check her out." He bounces in place like an excited over grown puppy.

Jeremy shrig8 not against going. He's the more social of us and can stand Dylan's incessant chatter. I'll go if the others do, I don't really care either way.

Hunter makes a show of looking pissed, which he does most of the time. He rarely smiles anymore. He mostly works and keeps to himself.

Ryder looks to me and I give him a shrug that says it's up to the others. He's the unannounaced leader of our group. Though we try to be a democracy, Ryder's the one who makes the split decisions if there's no time to discuss. I can see the thoughts churning in his head, always calculating. He's probably thinking that going with some of the younger wolves, and one or two of the pups, to the strip club will strengthen our bonds with them and strengthen the pack.

"Alright, let's go." Ryder nods to the park9 lot and Dylan squeals jogging to Jeremy's truck.

I make a mental note to check up on Allison while we're there as a throw a leg over my bike and start it up. Ryder's bike is parked next to mine and he nods before disappearing down the road. I follow behind Jem's truck before gliding up next to the passenger seat where Hunter sits looking glum. Breezing past them I ride next to Ryder brining his competitive side into light. Our motorcycle pick up speed as we compete to reach the clubs parking a lot first. I beat him by a corner. Ryder glares at me as he turns his bike off and grumbles something about it needing an upgrade.

"Don't blame the bike, you're only as good as you drive," I teased as Jem parks next to us. Ryder lunges for me wrestling my head under his arm and ruffling up my dark hair. Shoving out of his grip I stumbled away chuckling.

The light are dimmed and takes a while for a guard keeping the crowd at bay to recognize us. His black immediately strengthens and head dips in respect as he let us pass.

We're led by a waitress in high heels and a short black dress to one of the tables that sit front and middle. Two pups and give of the other wolves our age sit there, drinks in hand. They make room for us and people rush away to get our order.

Closer by nine inch nails blasts through the speakers as a girl in a red lace set moves around the pole. I sink into my seat, eyes locked on her as she dances. She's absolutely stunning. The way she hits every beat and comes alive to the rhythm. As if they're one and the same. It doesn't hurt that her ass is fucking perfect. I'm not normally a fan of places like this but I'd come here every night just to see her.

Anger rises unbidden as I noticed every other guy in this place watching her every move. Hunter's glower is gone replaced by absolute awe. Jem's drooling and Ryder's leaning back hit thumb resting against his lower lip.

Dylan stops one of the waitresses carrying our drinks and asks "who is she?"

The waitress looks up at the stage and smiles wide. "She's made quite the entrance, hasn't she?" She muses as she appreciates her new colleagues moves. "Lexie. Her name is Lexie." She added before walking away.

Lexie. I nicknamed a friend that once.

Alexa.

Her name strikes a chord in my chest in my chest which echoes through my head. I try not to think about her, but sometimes the sky reminds me of her eyes or I imagined I hear her a laugh in a crowd and I can't help but remember. Then there's the songs that none of us listen to anymore.

They come on the radio and Ryder changes the channel. Sometimes, when I'm alone, I torture myself by playing them over and over again. I have a feeling Hunter and Jem do the same. She broke something vital in all four of us the day she took her fathers diary and skipped town without even leaving so much as a note. Hunter became obsessed with finding her and I don't think he ever stopped searching. Not even when Ryder ordered us to stop. I don't think Ry could take coming up empty again.

The music shifts and the crowd goes wild, begging the dark-haired woman in red to stay on stage. U + Ur hand by pink starts playing instead and I catch a bright smile as she stripper spins. Her red painted lips move along to the lyrics as she lets loose. She gradually lowers herself into a crouch in front of our table. Falling to her knees, she skims her fingers up her thighs, over stomach and above her head. Flipping her hair in a circle her knees slide apart and she places her hands on the ground and leans forward giving our table an eyeful of her chest. One of the pups jumps forward and tuckes a dollar bill into the strap of her bra. She winks at him and straightens on her knees rolling her body to the beat.

Her eyes flutter open and locked with mine.

Everything stops. The air in my lungs dissipates. My muscles lock and I can't hear a thing.

Lexie.

She's here. On stage. Stripping. My lexie is dancing on stage in her underwear being watched by over a hundred men.

She's here.

Lexie.

My lexie.

"What did you just say?" Ryder snarls. His black eyes are furious. Jem and Hunter are all staring at me. Jem's expressions is sad, worry shining in his grey eyes. Hunter's face is a carefully blank not an emotion shows on his features.

I look at my friends. The fear of being wrong, of my eyes betraying me. Creeps in. But I'd know those eyes anywhere. It's her. I know it is. "Lexie. She's here."

My own feelings are reflected back at me in their faces. Shock and hope mixing in their eyes.

"Where?" Hunter snaps back first. He turns in his chair searching the room for her famili6 ashy blonde hair. His gaze is frantic, the way he snaps his head around desperate.

I tilt my chin at the stage in front of us. "Up there."

Their brows furrow as their expressions start to fall with disappoinment. All they see is a grown dark-haired woman. But as they look closer at her face, they noticed what I did. Jem's gaze falls on her stomach as his face lights with hope. He's looking for the tiny round birthmark that sits right above her navel.

"It's her." Jem turns back to me a choked laugh bubbling out his throat. Right there, above her navel is the mark.

I take in the black and white flowers tattooed over her right shoulder. The delicate leaves end right beneath her key bone and it seems to climb behind her shoulder too. A black lily climbs its way up the side of her left hip. The same lily in white is wrapped around yhe the black one snaking down it.

I remember the day she got her first tattoo. I kept telling her that she could squeeze my hand as hard as she wanted too. That it'd be over quick and anything else I could to reassure her she could handle the pain. When the needles pierced her skin, she didn't even flinch. She sat there gazing stead8 at me not moving a muscle. She said it fucking tickled. Jem had groaned and nearly broken the bones in Hunter's hand as he got his first. But she took it like a pro.

The word thats marring all of our skin burns where it sits over the elbow pit of my left arm. My fingers trace the letters over the fabric of the black shirt I wear. Knowing them my heart.

Ryder's voice snaps me back to reality. He's waved a waitress over. "We want a private dance with Lexie." His tone brokers no argument making the waut8 shuffle her feet.

"I'm sorry, sir, it's her first night I don't know if she'll do private dances tonight." She responds, eyes wary.

"Then find out." Ryder bites through clenched teeth. The womam scurries away on her high heels while Ryder turns back to Lexie. His fists are clenched and shoulders tight as he fights the urge to pummel the man who slips a dollar bill into Lexie's thong.

"She's a stripper." Huntet stated talking to himself more than us. He stared at her in disbelief pain twisting his features and worry darkening his forest green eyes.

"Not anymore." Ryder growls eyes never leaving her.

We've all dreamed of her. Of seeing her again. Of getting her back. Wondered what she looks like now. Where she's been and what she's doing. If she's okay. If she'll ever come back.

Now here she is. Hair dark and dancing in a fucking strio club. Doing a great job at it too. This isn't her first time on stage. I wonder if this is how she's gotten by all these years. How young she was when she had to resort to stripping to survive. 

Not that there's anything wrong with the profession but there are establishment that are wrong. Worry over what else she may have done to survive. All of it leads me back to the question it always does:

Why did she leave?