by Claire Adams
“Oh, shut the fuck up. I was just trying to make a point,” I said as I walked around to the driver’s side door and climbed into the vehicle.
I watched Chase out of the rearview mirror as he swore to himself before he decided to get in the vehicle. There was an obvious high level of agitation between the two of us as I drove away from the hotel and toward the airport.
All of us brothers had the ability to fight pretty down and dirty when we wanted to. Since Chase was the youngest, he often got the worst of the fighting because we all picked on him the most. When the five of us all got together, though, I would say George got picked on more than anyone. George was the oldest and had just turned 40 years old. He had a wife and two teenage kids and lived a boring life. We often teased him about that. Nathan was pretty low key, and he and I had a lot in common. He worked the private security. Jeremiah, or Jere, was by far the least picked on of our group. Jere was a famous actor, and we always wanted to hear what he was up to and all his starlet stories.
I’d be happy to get rid of Chase, Jordan, and the damn dog as soon as possible. But I wasn’t especially happy that I’d still have to work with Roxanne. She already was distracting me, and I could only imagine how bad things were going to get when the situation got dangerous. But at least with Jordan and Chase gone, I could control the investigation a little better. At the moment, there were just too many people involved and trying to give their input. Sometimes, less is more. Having a bunch of people around trying to give input on the case didn’t seem to be helping much.
We dropped everyone off at the airport and said our goodbyes and then we were on our way back to the hotel. Both Roxanne and I chose to stay silent for the ride. There wasn’t much for us to talk about. We were both stuck working together and there wasn’t much we could do about it. Roxanne had a pretty sweet deal – all she had to do was help me find Ana and she’d get $250,000. I was the one who would have to do all the hard work.
Our silence continued as we made our way into the hotel and for the elevator for the ride up. It was awkward, but mostly because I kept looking at her tits. They were so close to popping right out of her shirt. It was like she purposely teased me with them. She leaned back against the wall so her chest pressed out even farther.
I felt my body involuntarily react as I remembered her sitting on top of my lap and the feeling of her tits in my hands. I remembered how hard my cock was as she stroked up against me. For as much of a pain in the ass that she was, my body did love the feeling of hers up against me. In any other situation, I might have considered inviting her into my room, but we had to work together. Plus, she wasn’t the type of girl I wanted to have in my bed, anyways. I liked the smart women, the ones who could hold an equal conversation with me. Being a stripper, I doubted Roxanne and I would have much to talk about.
I held the door and let her go ahead of me as we made our way down the hall. Her room was right next to mine and I waited for her to get the door opened before I went into my room.
“Goodnight,” I said as I walked into my room.
“Night.”
We both went our separate ways, and I was glad to have some alone time in my room. It had been a horribly long flight into town the day before and a long night out at the club the previous evening. I couldn’t wait to get into the shower and take care of the hard cock I was sporting. A long hard cleaning in the warm shower was just what I needed to get my mind off of Roxanne.
I threw my clothes off and started the shower, but just as I was about to step in, I heard a knock at the door. It wasn’t the main door, though – it was the door that was between my room and Roxanne’s.
With a towel wrapped around me, I tried to hide my erect cock as I opened the middle door.
“Yes,” I said.
Her eyes widened as she looked at my bare chest, and I finally felt vindicated for her not chasing after me. The look she had at that moment said it all – she wanted me. Roxanne wanted me bad.
“I’m starving. Can I order something to eat?”
“You have a quarter of a million dollars and you're asking me?”
“Chase has to set up a new bank account for me to make sure that Stephano doesn’t have my information. He said it would be a few days before he could even deposit the fifty thousand dollars.”
“Sure, go ahead and order some food.”
I started to close the door and she put her hand out to stop me.
“Do you want me to order something for you, as well?”
It actually seemed like a pretty nice thing for her to offer. As much as I didn’t like her, I was starving and I certainly could use some food.
“Sure, a burger and fries would be great. I’m going to hop in the shower, and then I’ll come over.”
I closed the door behind me and made my way into the shower. I had some business I wanted to take care of and it required some alone time.
My shower lasted a little longer than normal, but it felt great to get some relief from the sexual tension that had built up inside of me since the night before. I could still feel Roxanne’s ass as it rubbed up against me and I wanted to get that feeling out of my memory. Or at least, get my mind to think about something different for a little bit.
I dried off from the shower and then made my way to my bed to grab the clothes I had set out.
“Jackson, are you coming?” I heard Roxanne say as the door between our rooms swung open.
It was too late to hide and there wasn’t anything to cover up with as I stood about four feet away from the bed. My naked body was exposed for her to see.
“I’ll be right there,” I said as I stood confidently in my nakedness. I watched as her eyes dart down to my cock while a smile flashed across her face. She was frozen in place as she drunk in my body. It was nice to see the admiration in her eyes. “Take a picture, it will last longer,” I teased.
Then without notice, Roxanne pulled her phone out of her back pocket and flashed a picture of my completely naked body!
Chapter 4
ROXANNE
He’s naked.
Logically, I knew I should look away. I shouldn’t have been staring at his bare naked body like I was, but I couldn’t stop myself. Every muscle of his body was chiseled and firm. His cock was slightly hard and definitely sizable. I wanted to fall to my knees and wrap my lips around him, and I would have done it, if he weren't such a jerk.
Flashing a quick picture of him was just for fun, and I wouldn’t have done anything with it. Well, maybe a little playing under my sheets that night after dinner. But when Jackson started to run toward me to get the phone, I did what any normal person would do. I ran and hid in my room.
It was funny how serious he was about having his picture taken. It wasn’t like he was some sort of celebrity or anything like that. I had fun with him and hid my phone in my bra as I tucked myself behind the chair in my room.
I couldn’t stop laughing as he came over and stood above me and held his hand out like I was just going to hand over my cell phone to him. Didn’t he know how much those things cost? I surely wasn’t about to give it to him just because I took a picture of him naked. I’d rather just delete the damn thing and move on.
The serious look on his face said that he wasn’t amused at all by what was going on. Although, I suspected that he always had a serious look on his face. I had yet to see any sort of humor or even personality in the man.
“Give me the phone,” Jackson said firmly.
It scared me the way he said it. He didn’t see any humor in the situation at all and stood over me like he would have dragged me out from behind the chair if I hadn’t done as he asked. He was calm, but so firm in his statement that I held the phone up from where I was hiding near a chair. He stood only a few feet away from me in all his nakedness, and I watched as he ripped the phone open and pulled the battery out. He crushed the rest of the phone under his foot.
“Jesus Christ. Why did you do that? I would have deleted the picture.”
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“I don’t care about the damn picture. Stephano could have you tracked by the GPS in your phone.”
“Well, I haven’t missed work yet, so I doubt he’ll care where I’m at. If I don’t show up tomorrow, then he’ll care.”
It was ridiculous that Jackson thought destroying my phone was a good idea. At that point, Stephano didn’t even know I was gone and if he was trying to call me and I didn’t answer, it would send more of a red flag than anything else. But it was clear that there was no arguing with Jackson. He had decided that he was right about everything and no one else ever had an opinion that mattered.
“You dance again tomorrow?”
I was still on the ground near a side chair and Jackson was still naked standing over me. There was no way to avoid looking right at his cock as it swung in front of me. Jackson didn’t seem to care at all that he was naked. But I figured with a member the size of his and a body like he had, he really didn’t have anything to be ashamed of or hide.
“Yes, I dance tomorrow. Do you want to go get dressed so we can eat? Or are you just going to eat like that?”
Suddenly, Jackson realized he was standing in front of me naked and he turned to go get his clothes on. He didn’t bother to shut his door and before I had made it over to the table where the food was laid out, he had returned with his sweatpants and t-shirt on.
It was sickening how delicious he looked, even in sweatpants. His big muscular body filled out all of his t-shirt and his legs filled out the sweatpants. I hated that I was so attracted to him and I fought off the thoughts the best I could. There was no way I was going to fall for a guy like him. He was way too uptight for my taste.
For the last few years, I had vowed not to date anyone. I didn’t want to be with a guy that knew I was a stripper. I wanted to save my money and start my own hair salon, and then I would meet a nice normal guy. Someone who wouldn’t have to know about my past. There was just no way a guy could look at me and love me if he knew what I had been doing for the last few years.
Sure, guys said that they didn’t care. But the second a girl got up in the middle of the afternoon and did her hair and makeup for her stripping job, suddenly her boyfriend hated it. They girls who had boyfriends were constantly fighting with them and I had yet to see a guy who could truly handle the job.
I did not want to meet someone who was interested in the lifestyle I currently had. I hated my lifestyle. I didn’t want to be a stripper any more than most of the other girls. But the fact was that I got paid extremely well and had fought my way up to a high level of independence within Stephano’s organization. Giving that up to help find Ana was a huge deal for me and had me feeling very uneasy about my future.
It had taken Chase giving me a financial out to finally give up my lifestyle, but I still wasn’t free from it. Jackson knew that it was my lifestyle and Stephano really had no idea I had left the business at all. I could still show up to work as normal and hopefully, get some more information on where Ana was. It was going to be hard to lie to Stephano’s face. I knew how good he was at catching liars.
I was scared to death about what the next day would bring. Stephano would have no problem killing me the second he knew I was looking for Ana. I had worked really hard to gain the independence I had from him, but I had seen many women before me who had made really poor decisions. If a woman mouthed off to him or even one of his men, there was no telling just how angry Stephano would get. His mood was dependent on what else was going on around him.
“Thanks for ordering the food,” Jackson said as we sat at my small table.
I poured us each a glass of wine and we ate in silence. It wasn’t an awkward silence, though. We both just didn’t want to talk to each other. Jackson was a manly man, the kind I really did like to go after. His quietness was odd, though. He seemed like he had plenty he wanted to say, but was restricting his talk. I really didn’t mind that much. I was exhausted and some quiet time was exactly what I needed.
As I watched Jackson eat, I wondered what his lips would feel like on my body. He seemed very well experienced in the realm of women and I estimated he could make me cum in less than five minutes. I bet he had dozens of women on the side who he called when he was in a particular town. The women probably didn’t mind at all because simply being with a beautiful specimen of a man like him was enough for them.
I shook my head as I tried to get the thoughts of Jackson touching my body. I couldn’t let anything happen between us. I didn’t want anything to happen between us. We were working together. I needed to stay focused on the job in front of us and not think about Jackson…or his lips…or his hands on my body. Thinking about those things would only serve to distract me.
For as much time as I spent in the strip club, I didn’t bring any of the guys home. I didn’t bring guys home, at all. I didn’t want to sleep with some scumbag that liked to screw strippers. I knew I was a stripper, but deep down I felt like so much more than that. I felt like I should go to business school or some other type of college. I wanted a career that I could be proud of and stripping certainly wasn’t it.
In my spare time, I read books on business and starting a salon. I read up on accounting and payroll. I read any book I could get my hands on that had something to do with running my own place. Because that was the goal, at least that was what I could think of for the time being. I wasn’t dancing just to dance. I wanted to have a life someday. I wanted to have a real life.
“This is some good wine,” I said as I felt it rush through my veins. “I don’t think I’ve had a drink in over a year.”
“Really?” Jackson snickered under his breath.
“Yes, really. Just because I strip doesn’t mean I’m some whore that does tricks or an alcoholic.”
Right as the words left my mouth I regretted them. I was comfortable in confrontation and I went right there whenever I felt like someone was looking down on me. I should have waited though and I shouldn’t have acted like that with Jackson, it was unprofessional.
“That wasn’t why I laughed. I laughed because I have at least one drink pretty much every day. I couldn’t imagine going a whole year without drinking.”
“That seems like a problem to me,” I said with a smile as I tried to calm the tension between us.
“Don’t go getting all sarcastic with me. I’m trying to be nice,” Jackson said as he stopped eating and just looked at me. His sly smile melted my agitation and I decided to try and be nicer to him.
His eyes were dangerous. I felt it. Not just dangerous to other people – he was dangerous to me. I felt safe around him, and I felt myself putting my guard down. I certainly needed to be careful how far I let him into my life. The danger wasn’t from harm he might do to me, the danger I felt from Jackson was my wall coming down. The wall I kept up around me was the only thing that prevented all my emotions from spilling out like some silly girl. I didn’t have the luxury of emotions and I couldn’t let Jackson break through that barrier.
“Sorry,” I said in a lame attempt to apologize.
I was comfortable with sarcasm around guys. Anything that was necessary to keep them at a distance. I couldn’t even let in the nice guys I had met outside of work. There were two sides to me and neither of them made sense to the other side.
When I was at the club, I could seduce any man. I knew exactly what he wanted and I knew how to get him to want me so badly he would do anything for me. I was vibrant and seductive on stage. Then off stage, I was intimate and real with the guys. Many of them came back every single night I worked and waited for a chance at alone time with me. They liked to talk. It seemed weird and yes I took their money, but a lot of them just wanted to talk.
Then, there was the person I liked to be outside of work. I dressed conservatively, and I spent time at the local bookstore. I loved to cook and watch cooking shows on television. The people at my gym all knew me by name and thought I worked as an investment consultant. It still made me laugh to think of how the front des
k girl had told a guy I was an investment consultant when he asked what I did. Of course, I never corrected him.
“I’m going to head to bed, catch you in the morning,” Jackson said as he went to his room.
“Would you mind if we left the door open? I would feel safer.”
I saw a bit of surprise cross Jackson’s face, but he just smiled. Underneath the brooding muscular surface, I suspected there was a really nice man there. It was probably buried really deep underneath, but I could tell he was a good guy.
“I can do that. Goodnight.”
“Night.”
After I had cleaned up a bit, I slid into bed and let myself finally relax. It was easy to relax with Jackson on the other side of the wall. He made me feel safe. It was nothing that I was going to tell him, of course. But just having him there with me made me feel like everything was going to be just fine. I really hoped we would find Ana safe and sound and that this job we had taken would turn out well for the both of us.
Sleep never came easily for me, but on that night, I hardly remember closing my eyes before I was totally in dreamland. Well, at least, my version of dreamland. I had a corrupt mind that often went back to horrible memories while I slept. It was something I had fought with throughout the years and had never really been able to get under control.
Having Bull around had helped me, though. I knew he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me while I slept, so I always fell asleep better with him around. But it was interesting to find out that my body had the same reaction to having Jackson around.
My dreams weren’t that of fairytales and happy endings. When I dreamed, it was more like nightmares filled with familiar people from my past. Some nights were better than others, but most ended with me in a fit of screams and my loyal Rottweiler calming me down.
I felt the man’s hands around my throat. It was hard to breathe and I wanted to scream for help. His grip got tighter and tighter and I reached to my own neck to try and pull his hands off of me. It was such a familiar moment. I had played it out in my nightmares over and over again. But on that particular night, I couldn’t seem to get his hands free from my neck.