“Can women even go in there?”

“Sure. And there’s probably a bouncer at the door right now and maybe security. If somebody bothers us, the staff won’t put up with it. Not that anyone will bother us. They’re here to see the dancers.”

“I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“You were the one who said we needed to go by Gems and ask about the bartender. Hopefully we’ll get some information we can use and leave.”

She was right. It was the logical place to look. We weren’t doing anything illegal, and Neely Kate seemed to think it was safe. “Will anyone be dancing in there?”

Neely Kate looked at the scattered cars in the parking lot. “Probably.” She opened her door. “Look, I can do this on my own. Just wait here, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I watched her walk across the parking lot, waging an inner war. We’d go in and out. Easy cheesy. But what was Mason gonna say if he found out?

It took me no more than two seconds to figure out what he would say. He knew we were looking for Dolly, and I’d promised to stay out of danger. He’d want me to stay in the truck . . . but Neely Kate was my friend, and I didn’t want her to go in there alone.

“Neely Kate! Wait up.” I climbed out of the driver’s side and hurried toward her. “I’m coming.”

She hugged my arm. “Thank you.”

“But I’m leaving at the first sign of trouble.”

“Fair enough.”

She led me to the front door and stopped. “Let me do most of the talkin’, okay?”

“Fine by me.” She’d proven herself to be a great interrogator in the past, and she’d know what questions to ask in this situation.

“Okay, then follow my lead.” She opened the door and strutted in, stopping in front of the bouncer.

He eyed us both up and down.

A grin spread across Neely Kate’s face. “We’re here to apply for the job.”

Job? I tried to keep my shock from showing—not that the guy at the door was paying any attention to me.

He waved to the doorway at the opening of the short entryway. “Mud’s who you need to talk to, and he’s in the back. Just have a seat at a table, and someone will come out and find you for your interview.”

“Thanks,” Neely Kate said, strutting through the opening with a swagger she didn’t normally possess.

I followed her, trying not to freak out over the fact I was not only about to walk into a strip club, but I was there for an interview.

We entered a bigger, dimly lit room. A bunch of mostly empty tables and chairs were arranged around a long stage against the back wall. A pole was at its center. A couple of guys sat in chairs by the front, drinking beers as they watched the girl dance on stage. Only I wouldn’t call it dancing, and she wasn’t dressed in anything I would have expected. She had on a black bra with silver spikes all over the cups, paired with a G-string that barely filled the gap in her crack and rode high on her hips. A band of fabric was wrapped around her hips, and her bare buttocks hung out, but it was what she was doing with the pole that grabbed hold of my attention and wouldn’t let go.

I stopped in my tracks, staring as she grabbed the pole behind her with her hands and started gyrating her hips.

Neely Kate captured my arm and tugged me over to a table. “Don’t look so shocked. They’ll never buy that we’re here for a job.” She looked me up and down, then pushed me into a chair. “Then again, maybe they’ll like it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Dolly likes to play the innocent act. But that only works for a few months before regulars figure it out. That’s part of the reason she switched to here. Plus, Mud promised her more customers for lap dances.”

My eyes just about fell out of my head. “Lap dances?”

“That’s how you make the real money. You dance on the stage to give them a taste, and then they pay you for a lap dance.”

The girl on stage had hooked her leg around the pole and was spinning around—upside down, no less. I couldn’t stop staring, even though all I wanted to do was look away. “Tabitha said Mud would like me. That he liked the unusual girls. What’s that mean?”

She studied me for a moment. “I have no idea.”

“Is Tabitha a stripper too?”

“An exotic dancer,” she corrected. “And yes. She got Dolly the job at the Bunny Ranch.”

A redneck-looking guy wearing jeans and cowboy boots came out of the back door and headed straight for our table. “Are you the girls who are here for an interview?”

“Yes, we are!” Neely Kate replied just a little too eagerly, even for the man sent to fetch us.

The cowboy led us down a long hallway and stopped in front of a door with a sign that said, simply enough, Office. “He’s waiting for ya.”

“What are you waiting for?” a gruff male voice called out from inside. “Get in here.”

Neely Kate walked into the room and looked him square in the eye. “I’m here about a job.”

She was still partially blocking the entrance to the room, so I leaned forward to glance over her shoulder. A middle-aged man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth was sitting at a desk covered in papers. The small office was covered in old paneling. It felt familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. I certainly knew I’d never been here before.