Killing Fear by Allison Brennan Page A

it, he would go through the roof.
     
    Robin left the gun range an hour later with renewed confidence. She could defend herself if she had to.
    Before she left, Hank said, “Robin, you should consider hiring a bodyguard.”
    “I don’t need a bodyguard.”
    “What about added security for the club? What about the people who work for you? Glenn is a sadistic killer. He wants to hurt you, and the best way to do that is hurt those around you.”
    Like he did last time.
    She cleared her throat. “Can you recommend anyone?”
    Hank flipped through his Rolodex and came up with a card. “Take it, I have more. Tell Mario I sent you.”
    The card was blank except for MEDINA SECURITY and a phone number.
    “Thanks.” She pocketed the card and left.
    She ran some errands, then went to the club. What else could she do? Sit home and do nothing but be scared? She certainly couldn’t paint with the fear and worry consuming her.
    Today there was a private lunch at the Sin. Laughter and good humor emanated from the special dining hall. That was the way the game was played at The Eighth Sin. Leave your problems at the door and have a good time.
    The atmosphere was sexy, the allure was sensual, but no stripping, though she allowed it for private bachelor and bachelorette parties. It was all image. All on the outside. The public persona.
    Much like her. Few saw the real Robin McKenna. That was the way she wanted it. Needed it.
    Screw the men in her life. Seriously, what did she expect from them? First her father got her mom pregnant and told her to have an abortion because he didn’t want to pay for a kid. Then her first college boyfriend who, when he found out she was a stripper, brought all his friends to watch her perform. And did she give the performance of her life, before breaking up with him. The problem was that word traveled fast and just because she was a stripper, the guys on campus thought she’d be an easy lay.
    She’d become a stripper in the first place to pay for her college education. Her first week on campus she’d answered a casting call for dancers in a school production. She’d gotten the part, but the rehearsals conflicted with her schedule and she reluctantly backed out. The production’s dance instructor, Brandi, told Robin that she moonlighted as a stripper and thought Robin would fit in at RJ’s. “And RJ pays well. You do your job, you get paid a helluva lot more than waitressing at some grease pit.”
    At first, Robin didn’t think she could do it. But she found she had a knack for putting on a show. For creating an image that she wanted people to see. She put up necessary shields to protect her from the catcalls and the letches, and she danced so well she made great tips and RJ was happy. Or as happy as the sour old man could be.
    Robin kept her two lives separate after that first boyfriend humiliated her. She never told the guys she dated what she did, and since she was in college they didn’t always assume she also had a job. The lack of honesty bothered her, but her heart needed to be protected. In her childish fantasies, she believed that when she fell in love, when someone loved her, it wouldn’t matter that she was a stripper working her way through college.
    She’d kept the secret from Sean for over a year. They were in love. He proposed when she was a senior in college and he was a pediatric resident at a local hospital. He loved her, said he loved her, and wanted to marry her. So she told him the truth.
    “Slut.”
    She could still hear him whisper that word with such hatred and disdain.
    She pushed back the tears. What had she expected? She’d taken her clothes off in front of men for money. Money to pay for college and help support her mother, but as Sean pointed out so crudely, she could get a different job that didn’t require her showing horny men her tits.
    How could love turn to hate so fast?
    Sean had been the last man in her life for a long, long time. Until she opened her