Emerald Eyes

Chapter 5 - The Longing

Siobhan is the female embodiment of natural beauty. She's petite with soft curves and a body that I'm sure most men have a hard time looking away from. Her hair is a natural blond and her eyes a striking blue. Except, where I'm soft-spoken, she's hard. She reminds me a little of my mom that way, but she actually turns out to be pretty nice, helping me change into another outfit and doing my makeup.

In the twenty minutes I spend warming up with her, I learn that she is twenty-three and has been a dancer for the past two years. She doesn't say anything about who got her into the club or divulge any obvious fear about working for the Irish mafia. Not that I expect her to blab right away.

In the meantime, I put on my best smile and try to act my age for once. When the other dancers file into the dressing room I quickly realize that this might not be as breezy as I anticipated. I can imagine how competitive this industry is, and that most of the clubs are just like being back in high school. Between the dirty looks and catty comments, it's quite obvious I'm considered enemy number one at the moment. This isn't helping my chances of getting any information from the girls, but my main concern is getting close to the Albanians. I need to know firsthand what happens to the women who entertain them and what they know of the recent abduction.

I leave to the spare room, mumbling something about retouching my makeup, but I leave the door ajar so I can peek through the gap.

When a tall brunette with bronzed skin and a statuesque body starts running her mouth about me, I ignore her. She says something about me just showing up out of the blue, not paying house fees. Then she moves on to the big guns. She props her hip against the vanity and starts rapid firing.

"Did you get a look at her?" She snaps her gum. "And that ridiculous English accent. Exotic dancer my ass. She's as newbie as they get."

A couple of the other girls snicker, and Siobhan clears her throat. "Mackenzie..."

"Mackenzie" doesn't stop. In fact, she takes things up a notch. "Is Liam on crack or what? Hiring this human version of period cramps."

Oh, hell no. She did not just call me that. I'm out of the storage room and in her face before I can stop myself.

"What did you just say?"

Before I get a chance to carry through, Siobhan tugs me away and takes me across the room to cool my jets. I've never been a hothead, but I couldn't help myself. I might have ruined everything. I needed this stupid stakeout, and like it or not, I needed these girls to trust me.

"Don't worry about her, honey," Siobhan says.

"Human version of period cramps," I mutter."They're just jealous because word got around that you're Liam's girl." Siobhan raises her delicate brows and leans a little closer, talking in a whisper. "He told all of his crew who'll be raiding the Westbrook Park warehouse that there's a strict hands-off policy in effect for you. These guys won't even look at you now."

I know exactly why Liam did it. Because he doesn't trust me. These guys are territorial of their women by nature, but I don't think that's what's going on here. They are also protective as hell of their brethren.

I glance back at the other dancers, who are all stealing little looks my way. "So that's why they're all pissy with me?"

"Yep." Siobhan nods. "Some of these girls have been pulling out all the stops to get what you just did in like five minutes."

"I didn't even do anything."

"Don't shoot the messenger, honey." She holds up her hands. "I'm just sayin'. You should probably watch out for Mac. She's got it bad for him, and she can be a real bitch."