Out of Nowhere (Balls and Brawn Bodyguard #4)

12. Chapter Twelve Dex

Chapter Twelve: Dex

E xiting the bypass, Dex merged into the downtown Redding traffic. Trend was located in the industrial district, the club having been renovated out of what was once a warehouse for synthetic materials. Ten minutes later, Dex gave his name to the bouncer at the front, as the owner had told him to do, and walked into a cavernous room with mint green, baby blue, and white bulbs flashing on and off in a continuous stream up and down the wall. The edges of the tables were lit up in the same colors, as well as the outline of the bar, exits, and restrooms. The wall behind the bar alternately flashed blue and white outlines of cocktail glasses. A dance mix of popular songs pounded over the speakers, and, on the other side of the room, a sizable crowd gyrated on the dance floor.

Dex had worn the flowered shirt because that seemed like the most conservative out of all the choices, but he’d paired it with the shiny pants and ankle boots, and both Colt and Kris, who had been in the kitchen when he’d come downstairs, had assured him he looked great. Colt had even said he looked hot . God, he’d be happy if he just didn’t look ridiculous.

He’d read the content of the folder West had given him three times. The owner of Trend , David Hendrix, requested that Dex and Seo-jun not talk to him in sight of anyone else in case the vandal was watching. Dex took a moment to text him when he arrived at Trend, letting him know that Dex would be walking around, getting the lay of the land, and that he’d be there with his partner the following night.

Heat ran up Dex’s neck. His partner. He liked the sound of that, and not just in a work-related way. He couldn’t wait for Seo-jun to get home.

Already crowded, the club was loud with music and conversation. Men and women sat at tables, drinking and talking. Dex wandered into the hallway, noting the two restrooms and a door marked employees to the right of the emergency exit at the end of the hall. Two men stood kissing against the wall, oblivious to Dex as he passed them. One of the restrooms was marked Men and one Co-ed. Peering inside each, he saw that the co-ed bathroom had doors on all the stalls while the men’s room only had a couple of stalls and mostly urinals.

According to Hendrix, most of the vandalism was occurring in the co-ed restroom, more than likely because there were more stall walls to write on. At least a couple of times a month the cleaning crew found homophobic slurs written in black permanent marker there . One would assume that the person writing the derogatory terms was not gay, so the question in Dex’s mind was, what were they doing in a gay club? Camera footage from the hall hadn’t been helpful because people were constantly going in and out of the restrooms all night long.

Most recently, someone spray-painted slurs on the dumpsters at the back of the club. Dex returned to the main room and walked outside and around the building. The night air was cool after being in the crowded club. Dex stepped onto the strip of land behind the parked cars and looked around. Groups of people got out of cars, laughing and talking as they walked across the parking lot and into the building. A trio of drunk young men stood outside, leaning against the brick wall, probably to cool off. One of them kept yelling, “Slay! Slay!” as another exaggeratedly sashayed back and forth on the sidewalk.

Turning his back to the portion of the parking lot lit by utility lights, Dex eyed the two steel, front-end load dumpsters taking up the back corner of the lot. Turning on the light on his cell phone, he flashed it over them, noting where the vandalism had been painted over by management.

“Hi,” a male voice said so close to Dex that he jumped. “Sorry. Thought you heard me walk up.” A bearded man around the same height as Dex—just under six feet—took a step back, hands in the air. He looked to be around forty and was wearing a white T-shirt with a green shirt open over it, dark jeans, and boots.

“I’m Raheem,” the man said, looking Dex over appreciatively.

Dex nodded to him. “Dex. You startled me.”

“Sorry again. You come back here to smoke, too?” Raheem asked.

Unable to think of another reason to be standing in the dark behind the club, Dex nodded. Then, seeing Raheem glancing at his empty hands, he said, “Then I realized I’d left my cigarettes at home.”

“Here.” Raheem offered the pack, and Dex slid one of the slim Marlboros out and placed it between his lips. He wasn’t a smoker, but surely he could fake it. He’d watched Tom and his mother smoke for years. When Raheem lit Dex’s cigarette with his lighter, Dex sucked on the filter until the tip glowed orange in the darkness. In the brief glow of the flame, Dex saw that Raheem had a hawkish nose, heavy dark brows, and a few gray hairs in his beard and mustache. He wore his hair shaved close to the scalp.

“At the risk of sounding cliche, do you come here often?” Raheem asked after lighting his own cigarette.

“Not too often,” Dex said. “You?”

“This is my third time. The place attracts all ages, and I like that about it. I love to dance. What about you?”

“If I’ve had enough to drink,” Dex said honestly, forcing himself to inhale when he puffed on his cigarette so he wouldn’t look like a rookie. Unfortunately, he inhaled a little too deeply and fell into a coughing fit. Eyes watering, he glanced at Raheem. “I don’t smoke often,” he admitted.

Raheem nodded and took a long drag off his cigarette, blowing the smoke out of his nose. “Besides dancing, I come here to hook up. Last weekend I went home with a guy who was hung like a horse. You top?” Suddenly, he was standing much closer than he had been a moment ago, arm brushing against Dex’s.

Dex used the excuse of turning toward him to speak to step away. Thinking fast, hoping Raheem was a top, he said, “No. I’m a total bottom.”

“Oh, I’m vers, so that’s cool. I could totally fuck you.” His eyes wandered over Dex in a way that was just short of invasive.

Swallowing, Dex tried another lie. “I’m, uh, here with my boyfriend. Or, I was, but he just got an emergency call. We drove here separately. I thought I’d have a smoke before I left.” He held up the cigarette.

“You two monogamous?”

Really?

“Very,” he said. Was Raheem being serious, or could he tell Dex was lying and was pulling his chain? Dex told himself it didn’t matter what Raheem thought, but Dex had always hated turning people down, afraid of hurting their feelings. He once went out with a girl for an entire semester in middle school for that very reason.

“Too bad. Was it a bad emergency that made him leave?” Raheem asked.

Dex puffed away on the cigarette, using the time to search his mind for something plausible.

“No. It was…work-related.”

“He a cop?”

“Yeah.” Shit. Dex hadn’t meant to say that, but what other job has emergency calls at night? “Er, that is, he works security at a local nursing home. Someone broke in. I mean, the alarm went off, so he went to check it out. Probably nothing.” Fuck, Dex hated lying. He was so bad at it. “Well, it’s been nice talking to you, Raheem. I’m going to go check in with my man.”

Dex winced as soon as he turned his back to the guy. My man?

He should leave the club since Raheem was watching, but he’d done what he’d come to do anyway. He knew the lay of the place, and he’d seen the bathrooms and the exits. Whoever was vandalizing the dumpsters was probably coming out of either the fire exit or the employees exit.

On the way back to the mansion, Dex thought about his conversation with Raheem. A lot of guys probably went to clubs to hookup. Dex wasn’t sure he could do that. Just meeting someone and deciding— Hey, let’s go somewhere and fuck— and then, after getting each other off, saying goodbye to them. On the one hand, Dex had to admit it sounded kind of exciting, but on the other…well, he didn’t think he could be that casual with a complete stranger. He was so new to the gay scene. The night he’d gone to a club with his friends, he’d been so nervous, he’d had to drink to loosen up. He barely remembered the sloppy blow job he’d gotten from his dance partner before his friends located him and took his drunk ass home.

The next night, he’d be going to Trend with Seo-jun. Even though it was for work, Dex couldn’t help but be a little excited about it. He hadn’t been sober long enough the last time to observe Seo-jun in the club scene. Had he danced? Hooked up in the dark hallway the way Dex had? Dex wasn’t sure he wanted to know.