“Goodnight,Nashville,” she smiles as she walks around the couch.
“Hey, that’s Sprinkles to you.”
Her laugh is sweet and kind of throaty and it makes my gut clench. When she’s gone, I face the giant screen TV and study my reflection. My cut is hanging on the back of the chair in the corner, I’m wearing a dark shirt and jeans, but kicked off my boots when I came in. My hair is a little on the scruffy side and my face could do with a shave.
I’ve never had a woman turn me down and I’ll admit, in my younger years I played up to that shit. I can’t help but sit here and wonder what a woman like Charley could ever see in a guy like me.
The way she has been living, and the desperation to dance and earn money tells me one thing about her. Coming from Woodside, that tells me a whole lot more and intrigues me.
I’ve always been a geography buff. That shit enthralled me when I was a kid. I loved reading maps. I kinda hate GPS systems, they’ve taken away the fun of reading a map.
Woodside is in the Bay Area and is one of, if not right up there, as one of the most expensive places to live on the west coast. I met a guy once who came from Woodside, he was fucking loaded, like serious money.
How did she go from that, to this? Obviously she didn’t want to tell me and I won’t ask. I could easily get Blaze to look into her for me, I’m not going to do that either. All I can do is hope she finds what she is looking for.
I’ve never felt any real connection with a woman before, never really wanted to get to know one, or been worried about them.
As fun and light as I kept things tonight, my eye never went too far from that bandage on her hand. This odd sense of protectiveness is growing for her, and I don’t have a clue how to deal with that.
Charley is different to other women I’ve been around. She isn’t trying to impress me, or anyone else, she hid the fact she was in a bad place and was doing her best to make it work. She doesn’t like taking help… And yet, she hasn’t left my place.
Maybe I make her feel safe. That scares me and thrills me in equal measures.
There are a lot of reasons to back off and leave her be. Stupidly, I don’t want to.
Chapter Twelve
Charley
The last three days have been hard work but I’ve loved every second of it. When I’m not working my shifts, I’m practicing in the private room, or doing the routine for the big private party with the others.
Ellie came in to watch me do a dance where I stripped. She could have brought someone else, but she didn’t. It oddly felt like I was dancing for my life dancing for Ellie. She’s been working alongside us all in the rehearsals as she’s taking a part and I’m in awe of her.
She told me I was too good to dance here, I’m not sure she realizes she is even better. I would love to get to know more about her, find out how she ended up here, but that would open myself up to questions and I don’t want to get caught in that trap.
It takes a lot to impress her and my heart soared when she said I’d exceeded her expectations but she still had me dance for a bigger audience first. I had a set last night, one dance, on one of the smaller stages.
Even though my heart was pounding, I got up and did the dance, took off my top and imagined it was Callum watching and no one else. Which probably wasn’t a good idea, but it worked.
Both Ellie and Beast were watching. Ellie didn’t go into too much detail, but she did have to talk Beast around.
Every time I see him now, all I can think about is me saying he is like a bear and Callum saying he’s a beast in the sack. Whatever Ellie did, it worked and he let me dance, he even told me in not so many words, that I did a good job.
“Are you nervous?” Lily asks, watching me dust some of the highlighter the girls all wear over my collar bones.
“I’m excited.”
She beams a smile. “Good. These private parties usually are a blast and the men are so rich, they literally give you hundreds in tips.”
That’s good to know. The more money I can save, the easier it will be when I have to move out of Callum’s place. He might say I can stay indefinitely but he isn’t always going to want me around.
What if he wants to bring a woman home? That thought makes me feel sick to my stomach. I will never admit it, either to myself or anyone else, I really like him and imagining him with some other girl hurts.
He’s never given any indication he sees me as anything more than a friend, or employee, or house guest. Well, except for when he got hard when I was dancing, that’s biology though and it's not like he acted on it.
“Okay ladies, ten minutes,” Tami shouts. “Everyone is here, having drinks, enjoying themselves and ready for the show.”
The girls cheer. It’s nice to see them happy about it. Not a lot of people would understand, they look down on strippers, but most of these women have a story. Lily has shared some of hers and she does tend to gossip a little so I know about some of the others, like Karin had to quit because she found out she was pregnant.
