Tough Guy: A Hero Club Novel, Jamie Schmidt [best books to read now txt] 📗

Tough Guy

Jamie K Schmidt

Tough Guy is a standalone story inspired by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s Cocky Bastard. It's published as part of the Cocky Hero Club world, a series of original works, written by various authors, and inspired by Keeland and Ward's New York Times bestselling series.

Tough Guy is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2020 by Jamie K. Schmidt and Cocky Hero Club, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the authors’ imaginations. Any resemblance to actual persons or things, living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Editor: Jane Haertel, Crazy Diamond Editorial

Photo Credit: DesignRans

Formatted by: Megan Ryder

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My sister lives to ruin my life.

That isn’t fair. It’s not her fault our dance instructor called me fat and awkward, and our parents funded Lisa’s training instead of mine because I had a better head for business.

So when Lisa went off the rails after her injury, it naturally came to me to track her down. The trail starts at the Spearmint Rhino —an upscale gentlemen’s club five minutes off the Las Vegas strip, where a group of hot Aussie soccer players are having a bachelor party. Hello, Chance Bateman! My sister still wears his jersey as a nightgown. However, Lisa's trail goes cold at Dalton’s, which is owned by a world-famous bouncer, Miles Carvello—six feet four inches of muscle, tattoos, and swagger. Combined with his intense green-eyed gaze, Miles makes my insides sizzle. I’m just not sure if Miles Carvello is the reason she’s hiding out or not. Danger seems to surround him.

How does a former Broadway hoofer wind up in Vegas as a stripper? I don’t know, and no one will talk to me because I’m an outsider. Miles thinks I’m too much of a prude to do what needs to be done.

I need to find my sister. She’s in trouble. I can feel it. I keep running into the bachelor party as well as Miles around town while I'm out searching for her. And while all of them are a good time, they're not getting me any closer to finding Lisa. And I've got a terrible feeling that her time is running out.

I don’t remember Jackie Mitchell’s sister. Just another stripper with baggage in a long line of them. But Jackie? Damn, she’s the real deal. I don’t want to get distracted. I need to shoot this club into the stratosphere. I owe it to my uncle’s memory not to let the gangsters win. But she oozes sensuality that reminds me that I should take time to enjoy the finer things in life—like her long, toned legs wrapped around my shoulders.

However, the demons of my past are pushing into my future. If they’re going after my employees, as a way to get to me—they picked the wrong guy to mess with. And if they touch Jackie, all bets are off. I’ll put them in the ground—and to hell with the consequences.

Tough Guy takes place a year before the events of Cocky Bastard and features a few appearances by our favorite Aussie soccer player, Chance Bateman, before he meets the love of his life, Aubrey.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Epilogue – One year later

Cocky Hero Club

More Books by Jamie K. Schmidt

Chapter One

Jackie Mitchell

My feet were killing me, and my cheeks hurt from grinning so hard. I aced the audition and got the part. Sure, it was only a minor part in the ensemble in an off-Broadway play, but my dream was finally going to come true. I was going to dance professionally. After four years of college and another four years of being the business manager of my much more talented sister, Lisa, I was free to pursue my dream at long last.

When my phone rang and I saw it was my mother, I almost didn’t pick up the phone. She was going to harsh my groove something fierce. I was about to put the phone back into my purse when she called again. She was retired. She could do this all day. I, on the other hand, had to get back to the Zimmerman Agency and make up the time that I’d spent in the audition.

“I can’t talk now,” I said, navigating the busy Manhattan streets with ease. “I’ve got to get back to work.” There was a bite in the air and it smelled like snow. Shivering, I zipped up my parka and tugged my knitted hat down over my ears.

“You need to drop everything. Get on a plane to Vegas and find your sister.” My mother’s voice was shrill with hysteria. I rolled my eyes. Just a typical Monday.

“No, I really don’t,” I said. “Lisa is an adult. She’s going through a rough patch, but she’ll be fine.”

“She should be back here in New York auditioning.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her about the part I just got, but I decided I wanted to feel the glow of success for