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"Hit it!" he called to the DJ The ed to the "Bad Boys" theme froyrating his face off

What to do now? Dimly, she heard Cat scream her name, "Come on Lace, don’t be a party pooper!"

Party pooper indeed Easy for her to say when she hadn’t been accosted at work and kidnapped like solass and a half of chane Maybe it was the enthusiasm of the crowd Maybe it was a release of the stress that had been ever-present the past few ed to not leap to her feet and run out of the place screaic Mike ca her in the air His face was pressed against her stoe Cat’s screa level, and the whole place was electric with energy It wasn’t fun, exactly, and there were about ten atory or the dentist maybe, but even she could see the hu was over and she was deposited back into her chair, she was s Okay, so the part where he’d flopped his reat, but the crowd reaction was fun, and if she could wriggle out of these cuffs and get her hands on another glass of chaht not be a total bust A few seconds later, two beefy guys dressed as Roladiators cae

Officer Steele strutted over, grinning "Did you have fun?"

Yes, I truly appreciate having yournuptials, sir "Yes, thank you" She griave herself a h, and laughed as he unlocked her and then pointed her in the direction of her friends She kept her gaze trained on the walls as she went, focusing on the photos of beefcake past plastered all over the eye contact with any of the patrons who’d just witnessed her huroup of ladies ca her back She’d barelynight when Courtney walked up, with a tentative s"

Lacey took it and fanned her boiling cheeks before sing a big sip

"I think you’re going to have to keep it coet over this one"

"You know this wasn’t ht?" Courtney’s heart-shaped face was scrunched orry as they weaved their way to the round lacquer table where Cat had been sitting a second before A couple ladies patted her back and wished her luck as she passed, and she sestured to a chair, and Courtney sat "Listen, Cat and I have been friends for twenty years She’s been dragging me into her crazy our whole lives, so I know exactly who the mastermind was"

Courtney‘s face collapsed with relief "I was afraid you’d be ive us Plus, she said it was on your bucket list to come to one of these clubs"

Lacey narrowed her eyes "Wait I don’t have a bucket list Cat is the one who--"

"I made you one," Cat said as she bustled across the checkered faux tiles with three shot glasses full of pink liquid "Like four years ago You’ve already crossed eighteen things off it" She set the glasses down and held her hand up for a high five Lacey skipped the high five, glaring at her instead

"You made me a bucket list?"

"Yep" She sat down and chair danced, not even having the grace to look contrite

"You realize that a bucket list is a list of things a person wants to do before they die, right? It’s not supposed to be a list of things Cat thinks you should do before you die"

Cat shrugged her slim shoulders "Six of one, half dozen of the other"

"No No, not really," Lacey began and then thought better of it What difference did it le life and their lives together as single besties If Cat wanted to spend it with her in a kitschy strip club, she was going to make the best of it The hard part was over She’d taken her lickings--albeit under duress--and now she could sit back, have a few drinks, talk with her friends, and ignore the gyrating over, she could talk to Galen about the issue she’d been putting off for so long now The only thing that would have been left on her real bucket list, if she’d had one

She shook off the suddento drink thelasses "Down the hatch," Lacey said, and they drank That shot was the first of many, and by the tis, Lacey ell and truly drunk

"So who else is colasses in front of her She’d drunktrack

"No one, why?"

She leveled Cat with a frown "You said I’d be letting people down if I didn’t co, re to the strangerson you Not to mention old Officer Steele and Thor"

She reapplied her lip gloss casually, and Lacey tried to le her, but it never cah it, and now she was pleasantly buzzed and having a great tiave up with a snort and sluht by the black hood on the corner of the table

She picked it up and shook it out to see itWhat’s that uess so"

"Where did you even get it?"

"Rafe letShane about our plans We were just going to go to the dollar store to get a cheap mask, and he offered to let us use his stuff" Cat scooted in closer and looked around before whispering so loud, anyone anted to listen would have heard her anyway "He came back with all kinds of stuff Restraints, a hood, the blindfold, you should’ve seen it all"

Rafe was a friend of Galen and Cat’s boyfriend, Shane He was a detective at their local Police Department, so the cuffs made sense But the hood?

"Why would he have all that stuff?"