“See you out there.” I winked and waved before she disappeared into the bathroom area of the dressing room. I checked out my reflection one more time before stepping out onto the floor, and immediately, that feeling I had been feeling for the last month washed over me. My body felt hyperaware of someone watching my every step.
It’s your overactive imagination,I told myself and hoped I’d believe it. I glanced around trying to see if maybe I’d catch someone, but the men who looked at me smiled like they wanted me to approach them or like they were nervous as hell.
No one looked out of place.
I neared the bar to grab a bottle of water just as our DJ thanked Sparkles for her dance and introduced Kitty. I ordered my water and watched half of Kitty’s set as she twirled and spun about on the pole before moving down the stage and giving men who were tossing bills in her direction a good view. For it being a Wednesday night, the Velvet Leopard was a lot busier than usual.
“Convention,” Romy, our gorgeous brunette bartender, shared as if she had somehow read my mind. “Doctors of some kind, I think.”
“Fun,” I mumbled, making her snort.
Doctors and businessmen could sometimes be worse than frat boys on some kind of road trip or holiday break. Kitty and Ginger liked to say it was a power and ego trip. I shook my head and shrugged,
“Hopefully, they feel like spending money.”
“So far, looks like it.” Romy pointed at the stage. Sure enough, green littered the stage below Kitty’s feet.
“At least there is that.”
“You up next, babe?” I nodded, feeling kind of rude as my eyes skimmed the floor. I couldn’t shake that feeling. “Dancing to something new?” she asked, making conversation.
“Yeah. Some song by The Neighbourhood calledDaddy Issues.” I grinned, and she giggled.
“Love it!” She chuckled, but her laughter died as she looked off towards the booths. “Hey, have you noticed—“ she started to say, but a gentleman walked right up to me, and I slipped into work mode.
“Hey, handsome, how are you?” I asked, purely on instinct. Muscle memory was crazy. Something that just a year ago would have made me skin crawl or make me stutter now was easy.
“I’m good, beautiful.”
“Nice.” I winked and was about to take a step forward to get back to the stage, when his hand reached out and the pads of his fingers gently skimmed my wrist.
“Any chance an old man like me could buy a pretty girl like you a drink, darlin’?” I could feel Romy staring at us, probably weighing whether she needed to intercede or not.
“Well, aren’t you sweet.” I smiled and wondered if the man was buying it.
Not that he was bad to look at. He was older, probably late forties, early fifties, with light blue eyes and tanned skin that said he worked outdoors and came from a generation that didn’t live and breathe the importance of sun protection. The lines at the edges of his eyes hinted he liked to smile or laugh a lot. He was tall, but then again, since I stood at five feet, almost everyone was taller than me. He was lean and fit, obviously took care of himself.
“I can be a lot of things.” He grinned wolfishly, wantonly looking me up and down.
“I’m good for now,”—I lifted my water bottle—“but maybe something later? After my dance.” I pointed at the stage.
“Well, honey, I’ll be watching,” he said, and somehow, I didn’t flinch away from him. He wasn’t bad looking but not my type.
Not that I had one.
I waved goodbye to Romy, who looked at me like I’d somehow impressed her, which considering how far I had come, she probably would be. I’d hated interacting with patrons out on the floor when I’d first started as a waitress.
But I blew the guy a kiss and made sure my hips had a little extra sway with every step I took. I’d quickly learned to make sure to leave them wanting a little more. It paid off on the stage and in the private rooms when they wanted lap dances. ROI—return on investment. I almost wanted to roll my eyes at myself. This wasn’t how I’d thought I would use my almost degree, but hey, nothing you learned was ever a waste!
TWO
LUCAS
The mahogany shook beneath my fist, but I ignored the pain that splintered its way up from my hand to my wrist after smacking it on table. He’d touched what was mine. The animal inside me growled, pissed and seeing red. The only thing that stopped me from getting up and taking the trash out was the fact my girl had already been on her way back towards the stage when the asshole had started to talk to her.
Who did he think he was, talking to what was mine?
I forced my fingers to stretch out and rolled my neck, my gaze pinned on the bar. The old man was still looking at Jade. He even adjusted his cock, probably hard at the sight of her. And even though I wanted to kill him and any other man in the club who had the privilege to look at her, who could blame him?
