She and Stef walked back out, probably to try to get a couple more private dances before they clocked out. I was almost sure they missed the easy money that came from doing a couple extras they were rumored for before management had changed hands at the club.
“You know I wouldn’t—“ Maryanne started to say the moment we were alone again.
“He’s not mine, honey.” I smiled tightly. “Jonas Porter is more than free to pay for whoever he wants in a private room.” My jaw clenched as acid filled my mouth.
I’d never been a jealous or possessive woman when I’d dated in the past. Not that I’d dated all that much. There had been two kinds of men in my past. Nine out of ten times, they felt too intimidated by what I did to get out of their own head before letting whatever we had implode or straight up ghost me.
Then there were the kind who got off on it. Like it was some kind of achievement for themselves, something for them to brag about. They didn’t take you seriously, and most of the time, they weren’t nice and nothing more than a distraction while you wasted your time. It had been over seven months since I had gone on a date and even longer since I’d had someone to burn off some stress with.Maybe that is my problem? I need to get laid.
“You know he only wants you,” she said softly, like she couldn’t help herself.
“That’s not?—“
“If he’s working when you’re not here, he stays in in his office, going through the books and whatever else he does. He doesn’t step foot out on the floor, much less watch the stage like he does when you dance,” she boldly interrupted. I blinked.
I wasn’t stupid. I’d known it had taken guts on her part to speak up and share that with me. Our eyes locked for a long minute while I studied her closely. Maybe the sweet girl next door wasn’t as much of a scaredy cat as I’d assumed. She was as Jonas’ first hire.
“You noticed that?” I ignored the way my stomach woke up with flutters. Maryanne simply shrugged before breaking eye contact to mess with her hair as she kept getting ready.
“It gets boring sometimes. Especially during the days.”
“Why are you–– Never mind.” I shook my head.Don’t get involved. Don’t ask questions. Anddo not, for the love of god, make any new friends. Not at the strip club, of all goddamn places. I’d learned my lesson a million times before.But what about your friendship with Jade or Opal? They wouldn’t stab you in the back like the others had in the past.Again, Jade must have rubbed off on me. “You know the real money is at night, right?”
“I know.” She didn’t bother to look at me or elaborate on her situation. It was kind of annoying. Her curling iron paused. “But sometimes I can’t work the night shift. And the morning shift is still better than working at a gas station.”
“I get that,” I muttered, ignoring the way I wanted so badly to ask why. If I opened that can of worms, I knew I’d somehow find myself getting way too involved. Nope. That was not for me.
Jade and Opal were enough friends for me. I didn’t need any more. I stood and headed to my locker, taking out a cute little blue outfit I had hand-sewn while thinking about Jonas. Not that I would ever admit that out loud to him, or anyone for that matter.
Nope. I didn’t get involved
“Do you really just read in the Kitty Room?”
“That’s not its name.” I rolled my eyes as I got dressed. Modesty wasn’t really a thing for me after years of getting paid to take my clothes off.
“You know that no one else ever steps foot in there, right?” My fingers stalled in my hair. “It’s a space he made only for you,” Maryanne continued. I tried to bat away the warm fuzzies that came to life and settled low in my belly at the fact. Again, it wasn’t the first time someone had mentioned that to me. I broke eye contact and stared at myself in the mirror.
My dark brown eyes stared back at me as I tried to calm down the quickening in my chest.No one else steps foot in there. A space he made for you. Jade had just been on me about this at the gym two mornings before, when she told me that she was asked to help with the books and would be dancing a little less on stage now.
Which, good for her.
I was proud of her.
She was brilliant and would have made an incredible accountant if it hadn’t been for her asshole ex messing up her plans. She was too good to be on a stage dancing for dollars. Jade was brilliant and had always been meant for more.You could do more, a soft voice encouraged inside my head. I chewed on my bottom lip. My eyes caught on the shoes I’d put on the vanity, shoes I’d designed and made myself.
I shook away the thought. I wasn’t like Jade. I wasn’t the exception.
Still… my thoughts drifted to the man who had slowly started making me believe that maybe I was different.Special.My mind spiraled for a moment, thinking about our time together, those blissfully quiet calm hours I got to spend around Jonas. My lips twitched upward like they always did when I not only thought about him but that first time I’d walked into what everyone liked to call the Kitty Room.
I couldn’t lie. Not to myself.
When I’d stepped into the private room, my breath hitched at the man on the couch. Jonas Porter was a large man. Muscled and broad chested, not to mention he was over six feet tall. The man looked like he was made more for a football field as a defensive lineman than a boardroom. Which, according to Google, he’d mastered both.
He was handsome as sin, smart as a whip, and way too good for me. I was a dancer who liked to design pretty things. He’d never see me as anything more.
“Whatever,” I muttered under my breath.
At the end of the day, it didn’t matter if he’d made the place for me or if I was just the first of his weird little obsessions. I was someone he liked to keep company with, and that was it.
