by Kat Mizera
“The guys all recognized you,” he said quietly, sensing what she was about to ask.
She groaned.
“Well, Ryder and I recognized you. I’m not sure about Jude and Vik…” He let his voice trail off because she looked upset. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was a secret.”
“It’s not a secret.” She huffed out a breath. “It’s just, well, personal. I’m a college student, captain of the hockey team, and hoping to get into the business world when I eventually get my bachelor’s degree, so I don’t want people to have preconceived notions about me. It’s not fair and almost never accurate.”
“I can tell the guys to keep it quiet. We like to party, but no one is out to hurt anybody, so if I say it could have implications on your career going forward, they won’t say anything.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
Her eyes met his and he was startled at how light they were. There was a vulnerability to her he’d never noticed before and he wondered how he’d missed it, since they’d hung out plenty of times. It may have had something to do with him discovering she was a stripper, but his gut told him there was more to it than that.
“No problem. Come on, let me walk you out to your car.”
He walked down the hall beside her, and they went out a door he hadn’t even realized was there. You could barely see it from the outside, but it led to a small, fenced-in parking lot that was separate from the main one where customers parked.
“Thanks for walking me out,” she said. “Usually security does it, but I’m annoyed with them right now.”
“No problem at all.”
She stopped in front of an older, lime-green Jeep, and Logan smiled, putting a hand on the frame. “This must be fun to drive in the summer.”
She grinned. “It is. She’s my baby.”
“She?”
“Yeah. She’s badass.”
“Like you.” He grinned back.
“So—” She cut off abruptly, her eyes darting behind him. “Logan!”
Logan swung around, catching the guy coming up behind him around the middle and throwing him down before he could take a swing.
“What the fuck, man? Leave her alone.”
“You can’t have her! She was mine first.” The guy was red-faced and angry.
“She says she’s not, so you need to get out of here before we call the cops.” Logan had his hands on his hips as he looked down at the guy.
“Cassie, you okay?” One of the bouncers from the front door came jogging around.
“Can you get this clown out of here?” Cassie asked him. “I had someone walk me to my car, and he’s still making a nuisance of himself.”
“All right, Bob, let’s go.” The bouncer picked the guy up and nudged him toward the customer parking lot. “You know you’re not allowed back here.”
“But she loves me!” Bob whined.
Logan rolled his eyes as the bouncer led Bob away. “Do you put up with this a lot?”
“No one’s ever jumped on stage before, but yeah, guys try to wait for us by our cars pretty often. Usually security keeps them out, but they can just climb the fence. It never used to be so busy, but it’s picked up in the last year. A couple of girls have come over from the Crazy Horse, saying it’s so busy there’s too much competition, but one of our dancers just left and went there, so I don’t know.”
“When I first turned twenty-one, two years ago, I was there like every other night. But now we have a few places we like to hang out that are more mellow. Mostly we hit the strip clubs when we’re on the road, if we have a night off. Our new backup goalie, Viktor, had never been to any here in Anchorage so we offered to bring him. I chose this place because I figured it would be more chill than the Crazy Horse.”
She smiled. “Surprise.”
“It’s all right. I’m glad I got to see you dance, though. That flip thing you did on the pole was amazing.”
“I did gymnastics for years until I got too tall,” she said. “I’m five-ten, and you don’t see gymnasts that height. But the hockey keeps me in shape, and it’s fun incorporating the gymnastics into my routines. Just between you and me, I can’t dance for shit, but between the pole routine and then just ripping off my clothes, I don’t think guys care.”
Logan swallowed. He hadn’t noticed any dancing, either. All he’d seen was her gorgeous body, the muscles in her legs as she twirled around the pole, and then a pair of the best tits he’d seen in a long time. Until Bob-the-douche-canoe had ruined it for him. But, obviously, he wasn’t going to say that out loud. She was his friend, not some stripper hookup, and anyway, he didn’t sleep with women he was friends with.
“Well, I should go.” Cassie pulled out her keys.
“Okay.” He hesitated. “When, uh, when does the team play again?”
“My team?” She looked startled. “Um, we always play Friday and Saturday nights.”
“And you go from hockey to here?”
She nodded. “Weekends are when we make the most money, so when we have home games, I leave straight from the arena. When we’re out of town, sometimes I have to take Fridays off, depends on how far we’re going, but we don’t travel much.”
“That sounds hard, playing hockey and then having to dance all night.”
“It can be, but I’m used to it. But this coming week is going to suck. I have to work Tuesday and Wednesday from noon to eight. My manager tripled my base pay, which is ten bucks an hour, to sort of make up for the loss in tips since days are dead, but he said I could study if it’s quiet, which is usually against the rules. Coach’ll be annoyed, but he knows this is how I eat, so if they need me here, I have to.”
“I understand.” He reluctantly closed the door as she got into her Jeep, unsure why he had a sudden urge to ask her if she wanted to get a drink or something. But he couldn’t do that. His friends were waiting for him inside and he didn’t ask out women he hung out with anyway. It was a hard and fast rule for him.
He wasn’t interested in a relationship at this stage of his life, so he didn’t date girls he might actually like. And he liked Cassie a lot. Well, it was more complicated than that. He liked her as much as you could like an attractive, smart, hockey-playing woman who shared a lot of mutual friends and interests. But their schedules didn’t allow them to spend much time together, so he didn’t know her that well.
And that was the problem. He suddenly wanted to know her and that hadn’t happened to him in a long time.
3
Day shift sucked. Cassie sat in the back of the club at a table with her statistics textbook open, notebook beside it as she tried to do the homework problems. She didn’t have trouble in school beyond not having time to study, but she was taking three classes this semester, which was the most she dared to take while working full-time and playing hockey, and it was exhausting. Statistics, to date, was the toughest class she’d taken, and she was glad to be getting it over with.
The day shift was long, though. She’d only danced once yesterday and made a whopping fifty dollars, not counting her hourly pay, but since she didn’t do lap dances, it cut down her money-making potential. She’d told management that up front. She’d serve drinks and do her routine on stage as many times as they wanted per shift, but she wouldn’t do lap dances. She’d had to draw the line somewhere, and that was it. It wasn’t a moral decision but had more to do with her personal comfort level. Nudity was allowed and encouraged here, and since too many men had no restraint when it came to a naked woman wiggling her vagina in their faces, she simply couldn’t do it.
She’d probably make a lot more money if she did, but she’d go back to waiting tables at regular restaurants if that was the only option. Luckily, her pole dancing got so much attention, once management had seen her do it, they’d agreed to her terms. She’d been offered a ton of money for lap dances in the last two years, but she always refused, and this day-shift gig was mellow, so it hadn’t come up.
She was so absorbed in prob
ability distributions and random variables, she jumped when someone sank down beside her.
“Hey.”
“Logan.” She blinked for a moment, trying to morph back from statistical studies to stripper mode.
“Any chance you could get me a light beer?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.
She was about to ask him why when she spotted the day manager eyeing her, and she quickly got to her feet. “Um, sure. Sixteen- or twenty-ounce?”
“Sixteen. I have to pace myself.”
“Be right back.” She stuck her pen in the book and closed it and made her way to the bar. She ordered his beer as she tried to figure out what he was doing here. Usually, the team had practices during the day, unless they were traveling or had a game, so having him there at two o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon was weird.
She put his beer down in front of him and he put a twenty-dollar bill on the table.
“Whatcha readin’?” he asked. “Statistics?”
“Yup.” She didn’t know whether to sit down or remain standing since she was technically working now that there was a customer.
“Can’t you sit?” he asked after a moment, glancing up at her. “I just thought I’d have a beer on a rare afternoon off and remembered you were here.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m just not sure how management feels about my friends coming to hang out.”
He pointed to the beer and the money. “I’m paying for your time. I’d rather not ask for a lap dance, but I will if it helps.”
Her face felt a little warm as she shook her head. “I, um, I don’t do that.”
He squinted. “You don’t do lap dances?”
“No. I serve drinks and do my pole dancing routine. That’s it. I told them if lap dancing was mandatory, I was out.”
He frowned. “I thought that’s how you guys made most of your money?”
She shook her head. “Not me. I make a ton on stage, and then when I come out and serve drinks, they over-tip because they loved my routine and want to talk to me.”
“I didn’t think lap dances were optional, but that’s cool you don’t have to.” He frowned. “Can I ask why you don’t?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. Stripping wasn’t my first choice in how to work my way through school, but my friend Dana told me how much money she was making, well over a thousand dollars a night on weekends, and there I was scraping by with my hundred-and-fifty-dollar weekend nights. But when I thought about lap dances, it kind of creeped me out. It’s better here than some of the other places, but as you saw the other night, there are plenty of weirdos out there, so wiggling my private parts in the faces of strangers is…scary.”
“Makes sense.” He sipped his beer. “I don’t think I could do it.”
“But you have no problem with women doing it to you?” She cocked her head as she met his gaze.
His blue eyes turned thoughtful. “You know, lap dances aren’t really my thing. I won’t lie and say I haven’t done them, because I have, but at the end of the day, I’m not sleeping with a stripper unless we meet somewhere outside of the club. Like, I don’t go to strip clubs to get laid. I absolutely enjoy watching a gorgeous naked woman dancing on stage and a half-naked woman serving me drinks. But I pay for that privilege. I’m a huge tipper, and I don’t touch or do anything I’m not supposed to do. Lap dances are a tease and, to be honest, if you’re wiggling your stuff in my face, I want to touch you and enjoy what you’re offering. For me, what it boils down to is the woman. If she is comfortable being naked on a guy’s lap without doing anything else, that’s none of my business. The only issue I would have is if the woman were being forced to do something like that.”
“I can’t speak for everyone, but I know a good number of strippers at this point, and most of them are here willingly and happily because we make so much money. There are a few who have drug habits to feed and do more than strip, do just about anything for money, but while that’s sad, there’s only so much you can do. You can’t save everyone, and not everyone wants to be saved.”
“That’s true. I bet there aren’t many strippers going to college, though.”
She smiled. “You’re wrong. I know of four personally. I’m the only one here right now, but there was someone else I knew at school who worked here. That’s how I found out about this place, and she brought me in when I told her I used to do gymnastics and was pretty athletic.”
“Oh, wow. I guess I never thought about it. Does that make me a douche?”
She chuckled. “Nah. That makes you honest. But you’re thinking about it now, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then I’ve done my job.”
They were quiet for a minute as the other dancer, a woman who used the name Pebbles, got up on stage. Logan glanced up for a moment but then turned back to Cassie, as if studying her intently.
“Damn, it’s dead in here,” he said, finally looking back up at the stage. “I feel bad for you guys.”
“Feel worse for her. I’m getting a bonus for doing this; she works for ten bucks an hour and probably less than fifty bucks a day in tips.”
He grimaced. “That’s awful.”
“She gets Friday night shifts since she works Monday through Thursday during the day. The other day-girl works Tuesday through Friday and gets Saturday nights. There’s a third day-shift girl, and she works odd shifts to fill in wherever they’re short since they want two girls here at all times, but she twisted her ankle, so she’s out for a bit.”
“Will you keep working days?”
She shook her head. “I better not. I can’t afford to miss classes and practices. They know that, so I hope this is it. I made fifty bucks yesterday. A slow weekend night for me is closer to five hundred.”
“Wow, that’s a big difference.”
“Usually, the girls with kids work days so they’re home at night, but for someone like me, this isn’t good at all.”
“Well, I’ll try to add to—”
She shook her head. “That’s not necessary, Logan. It was nice of you to come hang out today, but we’re friends and it feels weird for you to be giving me money.”
“I’m tipping you for bringing me a beer.”
“A beer that would cost a third of the price at the local pub you usually go to.”
“Yeah, but if I go to those places, I don’t get to talk to you.”
Their eyes met, and something flickered in his she hadn’t seen before. Attraction? Maybe. She wasn’t sure, but it was interesting because Logan was always the life of the party, the guy who never dated the same woman twice, and the biggest player on the Blizzard. But having his eyes fixed on her like this was unlike anything she’d experienced before, and she suddenly felt extremely exposed. And it had nothing to do with how little she was wearing.
“Well, I have to study, but if you’re going to throw money around, go throw some at poor Pebbles—I don’t think she’s made anything all day today. It’s slower than usual, even for day shift.”
“Will do.” He got up and ambled toward the stage, grinning at Pebbles and sticking a bill in her garter.
Cassie tried not to stare at how firm his ass looked in a pair of black jeans or the way his biceps bulged through the fabric of his long-sleeved T-shirt. He was a spectacular specimen of male athleticism, and though she kept her distance in general, having him come to see her today did weird things to her. Butterflies tickled her stomach whenever he looked into her eyes, and while she walked around half-naked all the time, she’d never wanted to be dressed as much as she did now.
It had nothing to do with being embarrassed; she’d stopped thinking about nudity as something taboo a long time ago. Hell, there had been a Halloween party several months ago where a group of them wound up skinny-dipping, including herself and Logan, so they’d already seen each other naked, and it wasn’t a big deal. But that had been at a party, and this was somehow more private. Something about being at the club together made it intimate in a way t
hat was uncomfortable, and even though she’d been stripping for two years, this was the first time she’d ever felt self-conscious about her job.
Logan came and sat down again, ordering another beer and simply hanging out. A few guys had come in now that it was almost five o’clock and people were getting off work. Local factory workers and lumberjacks would stop by before going home, and if she was going to make any money today, this was the time. Except all she really wanted to do was sit and talk to Logan.
She put her books away since study time was over now that it was picking up, and she looked over at the day manager, who held up both hands with his fingers splayed. That meant he wanted her to dance in about ten minutes. They didn’t have a strict performance schedule for the day shift, but she tried to dance once around five thirty and then again at seven thirty, just before the night shift came on. There hadn’t been a five thirty dance yesterday because there was only one guy in the place, and he’d been half-asleep in his chair.
“I’m going to have to dance soon,” she told Logan. “How long are you going to stay?”
“I’ll stay until you get done if you want to go get a burger or something.” There it was again, that strange but interested look she didn’t understand. He’d never flirted with her before, even though they’d gone out in groups and hung out on more than one occasion. Hell, he came to watch her play hockey, too.
“Um, sure,” she said slowly. “But I can’t stay out late. I need to sleep tonight because I run on very little sleep on the weekends.”
“Yeah, we have a game tomorrow, so I’ll be in bed early, too.”
She smiled. “Okay, then I’ll be back in a bit.” She sauntered away, wondering if he was watching her the way she’d watched him before.
4
Watching her retreating figure as she walked into the back, Logan checked her out as if it were the first time all over again. Her firm ass, muscular thighs, and the sexy curve of her hips were spec-fucking-tacular. It made no sense that he was suddenly intrigued by her, because they’d partied together more than once, and after the Halloween skinny-dipping incident, he’d seen her naked before the other night here at the club, too. He’d noticed how beautiful her body was, of course, but the night of the party, he’d brought a date and hadn’t really been paying attention. For some reason, he hadn’t paid much attention to Cassie at all beyond occasionally hanging out in groups.