Meant for Me (A Second Chance standalone) by L.P. Dover

was still kind of
new, but business was getting stronger every month. I was searching for people
to join my team and there was something about Claire’s angelic face that caught
me.”
    “Not only was she beautiful, but she had the brains as well.
After an hour of listening to her talk about business classes, I offered her a
job to assist me in the books and the management side of things at the club.
Later on, when she got comfortable working with me, she told me about the injury
that hindered her dance career and made her turn down her position at Julliard.
So, needless to say, not long after that the summer goddess was born. She was
the highlight of those hot summer nights.”
    “And it wasn’t stripping,” Claire answered quickly. “I tried
to tell you in the hall because I knew that was what you were thinking.” Jake
burst out laughing and clapped his knee, but I didn’t find any of it funny.
Sighing, Claire rolled her eyes at him and continued, “There weren’t any
strippers here when I worked. I’m assuming there still aren’t.”
    “There’s not,” Jake claimed, regaining his composure.
“Believe it or not, I didn’t want any here. Claire did what she was good
at and she looked good doing it … fully clothed.” Pursing his lips, he glanced
at Claire and observed her for a moment, pondering. “Perhaps, since you’re
here,” he began slyly, “we could bring in the summer with a performance from
the summer goddess?”
    Claire’s eyes went wide and she stared at him, frozen, the
room silent. At least until the loud knock on the door broke her out of the
trance, making her jump. “Come in,” Jake shouted.
    The door opened and Tyler stuck his head in. “Hey, boss, I
needed to ask Claire if I could steal her man for a bit.”
    Claire glanced at Tyler and then quickly to me. “It’s up to
you. I’m fine if you want to go. I’ll just catch up with Jake and be down there
soon okay?” She smiled and nodded toward the door. “Have fun and don’t get into
any trouble.”
    I didn’t want to leave her, but it was looking like I had no
choice. I was interested to see what Tyler wanted anyway, and I was also
itching to get into the club to look around. Claire leaned over and kissed me,
and in her eyes she was telling me to be careful. To reassure her I’d be fine,
I squeezed her hand before meeting Tyler at the door.
    Jake called out behind me, “I’ll make sure no one puts the
moves on her when we come down there. You look like you could put a hurting on
someone.”
    Before shutting the door I turned around, glancing back at
Claire then to him. “You have no idea what I can do.”
    Then I shut the door.
     

     
    I followed Tyler through the hall, down the winding
staircase, and out into the heart of the club. “Do you want a drink?” Tyler
asked.
    “No thanks,” I grumbled, “but I do want to know what the
hell you want.”
    Tyler chuckled and looked at me over his shoulder. “You
know, when you told me your name I knew I had heard it somewhere. It just so
happens that I figured it out, well, thanks to Google.”
    “Really, well what might I ask did you find?” I asked.
    If someone looked up my name, my history with fighting in
the UFC would be the first thing they found. The rest of my life was
temporarily hidden, so there was no record of me being in the police force or
that my permanent residence was in North Carolina. Replacing my true life was a
history of two years in rehab, one year in anger management classes, and the
rest gambling my way through life moving here and there.
    Tyler grabbed his beer from the bartender and beckoned for
me to follow him. Finally, we came to a stop outside of a closed door and he
turned around, smiling. “What I found, Mason Bradley, is my opponent for
tomorrow afternoon. Once I saw a video of you fighting, I realized I had
watched you fight before. I can’t believe I didn’t know who you were.”
    Crossing my arms over my chest, I said, “Yeah,