Stripping Their Hearts Read online

  “Been looking for you.” He smiled with his already rotted out teeth and red-rimmed eyes. His red hair that was sticking straight up and thin frame made her laugh uncontrollably at first. The man frowned as she giggled and snorted at him. “What the fuck?” he yelled and she laughed harder and bent over.

  “You look like that Muppet ‘Beaker’, have you seen it before, because seriously, I think they made it for you.” She laughed and leaned back against her counter.

  “Are you kidding me?” he screeched and stepped forward into the small space. “I just said I have been looking for you and you think of that. Lady, you got a screw loose, I have no clue why Jimmy B wants to talk to you but he does, crazy ass muther fucker. Now, stop your laughing and let’s go,” the skinny man said, pulling a gun from behind his back and motioning to the door.

  Kit’s eyes narrowed, she did not appreciate being held at gunpoint, and since she had no idea who Jimmy B was, she wasn’t going anywhere. Don’t get her wrong, Kit wasn’t stupid, if it had been one of the guys she was hiding from, she would have been scared shitless. But seriously, this scrawny little dude looked like he was one puff away from frying his last brain cell and a toddler could handle a gun better than him.

  With a roll of her eyes Kit stepped forward and grabbed the gun from the man’s hand. “What the…” he stammered as he looked at her in shock.

  “You should never point a gun at someone,” she yelled. “I have had a shit night, and truthfully, you being in my space, even though this is not my real space, really pisses me off. You could seriously hurt yourself with this, and me, and I appreciate that even less. Now, get your ass outta here and tell Jimmy whoever, if he wants to talk to me, he can do it like a normal person, not with a gun toting crack head who would likely shoot his own foot off by accident.”

  The man stepped back, his mouth opened and shut just like the Muppet ‘Beaker’ used to do, and she smiled and shook her head. Damn, if this wasn’t the topping on the cake, her day just kept getting shittier, and to be honest she was over it.

  “Go on now,” she growled and pointed the gun at the man. “Get out.”

  “But that is my gun,” the man whined and she grinned.

  “Now it’s mine,” she laughed and shook her head again. “Let this be a lesson to you.”

  “A lesson, lady, I don’t need a fuckin’ lesson, I need my gun back. You don’t just take a man’s gun, it is not cool,” the man yelled.

  “What is your name?” Kit asked.

  “Why?” the man asked grumpily.

  “’Cause a normal person would introduce themselves when they meet,” Kit snapped.

  “Lady, I don’t give a shit who you are. Jimmy B said go to this place and bring me back the woman. Now I been sitting here for like three hours waiting. I was getting tired, that is probably why you got the drop on me, and took my gun, ‘cause I was relaxed. But seriously, you do not need to know my name,” he said.

  “Yes I do,” Kit argued and pointed the gun at him again and said, “What is your name?”

  “Jonesy,” the man said with an eye roll.

  “Well, Jonesy, I am tired and crabby, I am pretty sure I am going to get my period in a day or so ‘cause my feet feel bloated and hurt so now is not a real good time to be messing with me. Tell your boss thanks but no thanks. Now, you have about thirty seconds before I pick up the phone and call the police,” Kit said and glared. “And I know your name so I can make sure they can press charges against the right person for attempted kidnapping, breaking and entering, and carrying a concealed weapon.” Kit grinned then reached for the phone and waved it at the man who cussed then ran for the door.

  She heard it slam then she walked into the hallway and locked it, pulled a chair and braced it under the door handle and turned. The little shit had not come in through the door, she thought, the tape was still there. Walking to the windows, she found the one with the broken latch and moaned. Damn it, now what the hell was she going to do, her sleazy landlord didn’t care about stuff like that. She rolled her eyes and sighed. Looked like she was going to make a trip to the hardware store tomorrow as well. Thank goodness, her mother had made her learn how to fix stuff around the house.

  As she wandered back into her small bedroom she thought briefly on who the hell Jimmy B was and why he wanted to talk to her, something else for her to worry about. After the last month though, nothing was affecting her anymore, and the only ones who truly put the fear of God into her were the men from the FBI whom apparently were working with terrorists. Common criminals didn’t even show up on her radar when it came to that, because she was a shades of gray girl.

  *****

  “She is gone,” Tank said into the phone. He had gone to her house and her neighbor told him that a month ago she had come back, locked everything up, stopped her mail, and took off. When he pressed further, the older woman said she didn’t know anything other than she was scared.

  “What do you mean she is gone?” Harper said calmly into the phone.

  “Gone, her neighbor said she came by, told her if someone came around asking for her to tell them she was out of town indefinitely and told her to stress she had not spoken to her other than to say goodbye,” Tank said.

  “But,” Harper said.

  “Boss, gonna keep looking to see what is going on, but I have to report to the Task Force too. Remember that, the real reason I am down here,” Tank said slowly.

  “Yeah, I just wanted to have that over with. I mean he did a lot for us and I wanted him to finally have peace,” Harper whispered.

  Tank knew exactly what she was talking about. The Commander was a good man, and seeing him risk his life and then lose it for the guys of Team Ten had been hard on all of them. They needed this final thing for closure, and Tank was going to make sure he fulfilled their wishes.

  “I will get it there, I promise. Let me check in with Sonny and I will see if he can help me as well,” Tank said.

  “Fine, keep me updated though, if I need to send someone down I will,” Harper said then he heard her giggle. “Your brother’s name is Sonny, that is so hot, when am I gonna get that recording?”

  “Sexual harassment, boss.” Tank laughed.

  “He doesn’t work for me, so it is legal, jeeze.” Harper laughed and hung up the phone.

  Her husbands needed to put a leash on her, Tank thought then got back on his bike. Time to report in, then he would have the weekend to go to the game before he actually had to start. Damn, things weren’t going to go as planned, he could feel it.

  *****

  Sonny walked down the hallway with a grin, his brother was here, it had been a long time, he thought and walked through the swinging door that led him to the front of the Task Force office.

  He missed his brother, and was glad they were going to have a chance to catch up and see each other for a few weeks. He needed someone to talk to about the way he was feeling. Recently he had become discontent with his job, not that he didn’t love what he did, it was the politics that went along with it that pissed him right the fuck off. If he had to listen to his commander tell him one more time that he had to do things by the book he was going to scream. Life was fucking messy and nothing ever happened that was by the book, if it did, this would be a perfect world, and we all know that this wasn’t a perfect world.

  Something was going to have to change, and he figured it was going to have to be him. After hearing about what went down with his brother and friends, Sonny had been pissed he hadn’t called him for backup, that is what they did, helped each other out. However, it did give him the insight into the new company Tank worked for, and he had some questions, besides, he was missing not having any family around anymore to hang out with. Being undercover sucked when you had nothing to go home to.

  “Hey,” Sonny said when he spotted his brother.

  “Brother,” Tank said and smiled. They did the one armed man hug then Sonny turned and led him back into the offices.

  “So, th
e commander wants you to report in then we are free for the weekend. I got tickets to the game, box seats, then the guys want us to go to Lodo to meet up with them at the bar,” Sonny said quietly and Tank nodded. It was like that between them, they could be apart for a year, and when they came back together, it was like not one day had passed.

  “We need to make a brief side trip to find someone though,” Tank said and his brother paused.

  “Who?” Sonny asked. “Philly is not in town is she?”

  “No, and don’t get me started on our wayward sister, she is another issue we need to discuss,” Tank said. “No, my boss needs me to deliver a letter to someone, only when I went by her place she had dropped off the map, need to find out where she went.”

  “No problem, you go see the commander, what is the girl’s name? I will run it and see if I can find any info out,” Sonny said and walked to the far end of the room pointing out offices and people as they went.

  They talked a bit more about how things were going; just really surface shit, then they reached the largest office in the room. Sonny pointed to the man and said, “There he is.”

  “Cool, Katherine Steppe is the woman’s name, if you could find out where she works that would be great,” Tank said and turned, he didn’t notice his brother had frozen in place at the mention of the woman. But when he felt his brother grab his arm and pull him away from the door he knew something was up. “What?”

  “Katherine Steppe is the woman we have been looking for, a witness we think. She is a court reporter for the City of Denver District Court. We had a tip from someone that she heard something she wasn’t supposed to and the men we are investigating are currently looking for her, like hard. So far, they haven’t found her and neither have we. She is off the grid, man, and when I mean off the grid I mean way off, we just got some intel on her this morning, was going to check it out tonight anyway, you can tag along,” Sonny said and Tank frowned and looked down to the ground and closed his eyes. He knew this wasn’t going to go smoothly.

  “You gotta be kidding me. Things don’t happen like this, nothing comes this fucked up and simple all at the same time. Fucking Harper, she is going to get on that karma kick again,” Tank muttered and Sonny frowned.

  “What?” Sonny asked.

  “Seriously, this shit is fucked up. Now Harper is going to be like, ‘it is the will of the universe’, stuff. Damn it, she doesn’t think anything is a coincidence, and this is gonna feed that whole shit,” Tank said frustrated.

  “Uh, I have no idea what you are talking about, bro, but seriously, it sounds wacked, so go and see the commander, and I will be in my office, come on back and I will brief you on what we know,” Sonny said and Tank nodded.

  Chapter Three

  Jimmy B was a mid-level mob boss who had seen Miss Kitty dancing on the one occasion he had to enter into the strip club he provided protection for. The little pissant who ran the place thought he could skim off the take and Jimmy set him straight. But once he caught sight of Miss Kitty, he wanted more, and Jimmy didn’t like taking no for an answer.

  So when his weasel told his second in command that Miss Kitty wasn’t prepared to come and see him, he had been pissed. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that when he first saw her, he knew she was something special. She wasn’t a regular stripper who jumped at the first chance to attach themselves to rich men. No, she had class, and Jimmy wanted that type of class in his life. He was going to have it too, he thought and looked around the club. This led him back to the dive strip club to make his intentions be known to the woman of his dreams in person.

  “Tommy, when does she go on?” Jimmy asked from the best seat in the house, according to the idiot owner who had joined him.

  “She will be on in thirty minutes, sir, but I have to tell you she is real popular, that one. Miss Kitty is our most sought after dancer, we have picked up in our customers by thirty percent since she came on board. Now, I don’t want to have to tell you what would happen if we lost her, if you know what I mean,” Tommy said snidely.

  “No you, little pissant, I don’t know what you mean,” Jimmy said calmly.

  “Well, if I lose her, I am gonna take a big hit. So maybe we can work out a deal you know, if you want her to be your woman and all like the guys were saying. I mean she works for me, so maybe if you want her to stop working, that you will give us a pass on the weekly bill, you know, since I am gonna give her up and all,” Tommy said.

  Jimmy pursed his lips like he was thinking about the offer the slime bag was giving him. Little fucker had no clue who he was dealing with, that much was obvious. Maybe Jimmy B had been too lenient lately, because it seemed like more and more little punks thought they could make deals with him. It was getting out of control, he thought and looked up to the door when two huge men stepped inside. Shit, if they didn’t have ‘Fuzz’ written all over them.

  “Tommy,” Jimmy started and the stupid idiot just kept on talking.

  “I don’t want to give her up you know. I mean we have a relationship established, she would stay if I asked her to.” Tommy grinned and looked at Jimmy, he was trying to sell one of his girls? This was too much.

  “Police are here,” Jimmy said snidely.

  “What?” Tommy said, jumping a little then turning around and looking at the door. “God damn, Felix, he is working the door, he knows better than to let two cops in here without calling me first. Damn it, now I have to go and see what the hell they want.”

  Jimmy watched as the pudgy little guy shuffled over to the twin beasts and began to talk. He wanted to roll his eyes because Tommy certainly didn’t know how to play his cards close to the chest, the fool was blabbing about something, and it had better not be about him, he thought and took a drink of the whiskey in front of him.

  The lights dimmed while Tommy was arguing with the two large men, and the music began to play. Jimmy grinned, it was her music, he thought and looked to the center stage and his mouth began watering when he saw her leg come from behind the curtains. Tonight was going to be her last night up on that stage, Jimmy laughed, she had way too much class for this.

  “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy” came over the speakers and his girl stepped out from behind the curtains. Shit she was gorgeous, he thought then looked at the two policemen who were standing with Tommy but no longer looking at the little troll, no, they were looking at his girl, shit.

  *****

  Tank heard the music; he actually liked this song so he glanced up to the stage and his breath caught in his chest, holy fuck.

  A leg appeared, and he stared at it, perfect was the only word he could use to describe what he was seeing. Elegant, long, muscular, and perfectly toned. Then the rest of the woman appeared and you could have knocked him over with a feather when he saw the angel in front of him. Red hair cascading down her back, on top of her head sat a red sparkly cowboy hat, and she wore the matching outfit that barley covered her tits and ass. It looked like a bikini with fringe all over it. Then she wore boots, and of course they were red, and sparkling, damn. It was hot, and Tank felt his brother tense beside him, when he looked to the side, he saw his eyes were riveted to the stage and the woman.

  She swayed and gyrated to the beat of the music like she had been born to dance to this song, it made him appreciate Team TEN’s ranch right about now because he would totally volunteer for her to ride him. The small man before them kept jabbering but neither of the men paid any attention to him, how could they with her dancing like that.

  She strutted to the pole and grabbed it with her hand, with a wide sweep she swung herself around, making all the men who were watching suck in their breath, mostly because they wanted to be the one to catch her if she lost her grip, at least that is what Tank was thinking.

  From there she did some intricate moves on the pole, which included her using her upper body strength to pull herself up to the ceiling and then flip over so she was upside down. Once she accomplished this, the hot angel opened
her legs and did an inverted split and swung around in a circle, wow she was limber, that was the only thing he could think of, the rest of the blood that should have been in his brain had traveled south and was currently in his cock, which was growing painfully quick.

  Finally, the hoots and hollers around him broke through the haze he and his brother had been in apparently. Damn, she was hot, he thought, shaking his head. Finally, he looked back at the little pudgy man in front of them who was grinning and rocking on his heels as he looked at a slick man who looked like a Capone wannabee sitting in the corner.

  Sonny hit his arm with his elbow and Tank only nodded. “Sorry, boys,” the little man burst out. “It seems Jimmy B has first dibs on Miss Kitty, so it seems your trip has been wasted.”

  “Miss Kitty?” Sonny said, smiling and putting a hand to his mouth, trying not to laugh aloud. Who the heck was he talking about?

  “Yes,” the man said. “Miss Kitty, Katherine, the one and only cowgirl on the stage. You boys are too late.”

  There was a stunned silence as the two large men stared from the woman who had both of their blood boiling and the man who looked like a creeper. Shit, their witness was the woman on the stage? was the only thought that made it through his mind before the crowd erupted around him and things got a little bit dicey.

  *****

  Kit was in her own world when she danced, she had to be, or else she would be horrified at what she was doing in order to make some money. Thank goodness her mother had the foresight to put her in dance when she was younger, she had loved it. When she grew up Kit realized it was a perfect way to keep in shape so she had taken classes at her gym. She had been excited for the Zumba, but when they actually had pole dancing as an exercise, Kit had signed up.

  Made it a hell of a lot easier slipping into this role when she went on the run, although dancing with a bunch of middle-aged women who giggled incessantly was a lot different than dancing for a bunch of horny old men who threw money at her.