“If you’re in to him like that.”

“She’s talking about you,” I stated.

Tan grinned and answered, “I wouldn’t, no. I have pretty girl genes to protect.”

TaShay laughed from the back.

I said, “That’s interesting. But you would do him for the money?”

“I mean, how many girls wouldn’t? Let’s take a poll,” she asked me.

I said, “But what if he wanted to boss you around and tell you how to do it?”

“Oh, well, we would have problems with that.”

I wondered how serious she was about staying in control, and I was interested in testing her willpower on that. I also wondered how she had slipped past Paula’s radar. Did she play a good girl around TaShay’s family or what?

WE ARRIVED at the West Hollywood nightclub slightly after ten, and there was already a line outside.

“Oh, shit, this place is poppin’ off early!” TaShay commented.

I looked at the line of twenty-somethings eagerly waiting to get in, and I was immediately turned off by it. I hadn’t been made to wait in line for a party in years. I was a special invited guest at most of the parties I went to.

“You think you can introduce yourself to the guys at the front door and get us in ahead of this line?” TaShay asked me. We drove around the corner from the club in search of a parking spot.

I didn’t want to try anything extra to get us in if the end result would be a failure. At the same time, I would look insignificant if I didn’t at least attempt something. So I came up with a plan.

“I’ll see what I can do,” I answered them.

We found our parking spot halfway down the block and climbed out of the car to walk back to the club. When they stepped out, both girls were dressed casually in blue jeans, attention-getting tops, high heels, and small purses. In fact, we all looked good together and that strengthened my simple plan.

As we walked back to the club, I noticed that the girls walked slow on purpose to whisper comments and giggle behind my back. I could only imagine what they were giggling about.

Yeah, they’re asking for it, I told myself.

When we rounded the corner and got closer to the club, TaShay asked me again, “So, what are you gonna do?”

“Wait on the side for a minute while I talk to the guys at the door,” I told her.

“Okay.”

As soon as we approached the front entrance, I walked up beside one of the three bouncers dressed in all black. I said, “I’m in a bind here, brother.”

He looked at me and asked, “What’s the problem?”

“You see these two models over here?” I moved just enough so he could see past me.

He peeped them both and nodded. With their heels on, TaShay and Tan both had the towering height of runway models.

“Yeah,” the bouncer told me.