‡
Chapter Nineteen
“Tuck your other leg around the side!”
Harper grunted as she slid down the pole at Wet Wanda’s, landing with a thud on her ass. This was her third session with the girls there, and this was her last. Tonight, she would be dancing for money, and she had to at least fake her way through this. “This floor hurts,” she winced as she stood on shaky legs and rubbed her bottom.
“Maybe the best thing for you to do, honey,” Wanda told her, “Is to make use of the floor. Crawl around on it, arch your back, stick your tits out, swing around the pole, but don’t try to do anything drastic. You don’t want to hurt yourself.”
Harper snorted. “Is that your way of saying I’m clumsy?”
“That’s my way of saying you need to do what works for you, otherwise, you’re not making any money here tonight. Work with what you have, and make it work for you. You have an amazing body, show it off.”
If that’s what would work, then that was exactly what she was going to do.
*
“Are you absolutely, positively sure that Cash isn’t here tonight?” Harper asked B and Meredith as she snuck in the back door at Wet Wanda’s.
Both B and Meredith had called in favors with Wanda, and she’d agreed to let Harper have two nights. Harper hoped with everything she had that it would only take two nights to get the money she needed.
“Did you bring me stuff to wear?” she asked B.
B held up a clothing bag and what looked like a makeup bag. “I gotcha covered. You’re not going to know who you are when I get done with you.”
Harper hoped like hell no one else knew who she was either. Cash had received his papers that told him how much his fine was going to be, and after seeing it was more than two month’s rent, she knew she was going to have to do something drastic. He was going to try and plead, because they couldn’t afford to lose their insurance, but things would still need to be paid for, and they’d both come to an agreement that he wouldn’t do the Trail again. They couldn’t take that chance.
“Fix me up,” she told them, trusting them completely.
“We’re gonna have so much fun.” B grinned.
*
Harper gave herself a once-over in the mirror situated in the dressing room. The skirt she wore was short, the heels she wore were high, and the shirt she wore was tight. B had done her makeup smoky and her hair was “jacked to Jesus”—or so Wanda had said as she’d given her a thumbs-up.
“What’s your song?” B asked.
“Song?” This was all such a new experience to Harper, she had no idea what the other woman was talking about.
“You know, your song. The one, the minute it comes on, makes you want to give anyone around a strip show? Every woman has that one song. Mine is ‘Porn Star Dancing’. Can’t even explain it, but when I hear it, I want to shake my ass and get paid for it.”
Harper went through her mental database of songs that made her want to get up and shake her ass. It took her a few moments, but then it dawned on her. “‘Rocky Mountain Way’, but the Godsmack version.”
“Hell, yeah, now go out there and make some money!” B gave her a high-five and went to give her request to the DJ working that night.
It was easy for B to say; she had made a living showing off her body for a long time. Harper never showed hers to anyone except Cash, but she thought about how far the money would go. She would be able to buy Christmas gifts, maybe put some back in savings. She knew this wasn’t something she would do all the time, but especially with the ticket and the fees, desperate times called for desperate measures.
She looked out over the crowd and gasped. Cash was not supposed to be helping out tonight, but she could see the back of his head, and she wondered what he would do if he caught a glimpse of her. So deep in her thoughts she hadn’t even heard them introduce her, B pushed her so that she stumbled onto the stage. Harper had never been in this situation before, and she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to act or respond to the catcalls from the men in the audience.
“Go for it,” B yelled at her. “Look at Cash, and go for it.”
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, not sure she could look at Cash. It embarrassed her even more to know he was in the crowd and still hadn’t turned around yet.
Walking further out onto the stage, she decided that if she was going to do this, she was going to do it right. It was easy to pretend she was dancing for Cash, and she was in good shape—it was nothing for her to grab onto the pole in the middle and swing around on it, attempting to do moves she’d seen other women do before in movies.
She watched the back of Cash’s head as she came to a stop and stood in the middle of the stage. She teased the crowd, suggesting she was going to take off her shirt. The whistles of approval and the dollar bills thrown on stage were enough of an incentive for her to keep going. She took the skirt off, winking at one of the guys in the crowd and moving her head this way and that, letting her hair obscure her vision. It was easier that way.
She dropped to the ground and crawled towards where Cash stood, shaking her chest and letting the men in the front row get a good look at her covered tits. Slowly, she approached Cash, and when she got close enough, she snaked her arms around his torso, pulling him back against her.
The crowd went insane as she kissed his neck, letting her tongue snake out and grab the taste of him.
“What the fuck?” he yelled, turning around.
She wished she had a camera to capture the look on his face when he saw it was her grabbing him.
“Surprise.” She grinned, but it was shaky, she was scared of what he would do. Instead she grabbed hold of the dollars being thrust her way.
It took less than a minute for him to determine what the hell was going on; she could see it in his eyes as he put two and two together. He glanced at Drew, Drew nodded, and then Cash scooped her up in his arms.
“Wait,” she yelled, arms flailing out. “That’s my money! I earned it!”
“They’ll get your money.” He spoke in her ear, his voice deep, his tone rough.
Well that was good, but she had no idea where they were going until he turned down the hallway. With complete clarity she saw they were heading to one of the boom-boom rooms. “Cash? What are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to be here tonight,” she questioned.
“Oh, baby, it doesn’t matter why I’m here. What matters is that you are in so much trouble.”
For once in her life, Harper Stillwell was speechless, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
‡
Chapter Twenty
“Cash,” she breathed harshly as he took them into the room, kicking the door shut with his foot. “I was doing this for a really good cause.”
“Good cause, huh?” he asked, running his hand up her body, palming her throat and pushing her chin up so that her head rest against the door. “What I saw was you showing a roomful of men what belongs to me. Normally I’m not possessive.” He turned her around so she faced the door. “But this ass is mine.”
She felt the sting of his hand against her covered cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she apologized, looking at him over her shoulder. She could only see half of his face; the rest of it was masked in darkness. The room wasn’t lit particularly well, and she figured that was done on purpose.
“You should be.” He trailed a fingertip from the clasp of her bra down her spine to the edge of her underwear, toying with the fabric. Without warning, he pulled the fabric down to her knees and pushed her body against the door, trapping her between it and his strong chest.
“What can I do?”
He could tell by her heavy breathing that this was a new experience for her.
“Be honest with me.”
“I can do that.” He heard her swallow roughly.
“Did you like being on stage out there? Shaking those tits, shaking that ass, crawling on your knees in front of all those people? Did yo
u like putting on a show?” He grabbed hold of her breast from behind, teasing her nipple with this finger and thumb, twisting it almost roughly.
Harper had promised honesty, and she knew she had to give it to him. If she didn’t, she knew he wouldn’t let her go, he wouldn’t let her lie. “Yes.” She groaned as she tilted her head back.
He buried his face in her throat and his other hand in her hair, yanking back roughly on it. “I know you did; I can tell just by the way you’re breathing.” He abandoned her nipple and ran his hand down her body, to the center, running his finger through her slit. “I can tell by how fucking wet you are.”
“It was you.” She groaned. “I knew you were there; I wanted you to turn around and see me; I wanted to dance for you.”
Well this was new. Pulling back from her, Cash glanced around the room and spotted a chair. He walked over to the chair, sliding it to the middle of the room. Once seated, he got his cell phone out of his pocket and turned on the same music she’d been dancing to earlier. “Well, love, this is your lucky night. We have a room, and this song is on repeat. Dance for me.”
His cock stiffened as he saw her ass start to sway.
*
Harper leaned her forehead against the door, wondering if she had this in her, if she could really do what he was asking. She wanted to, in a bad way, and this Harper—the one who’d taken a strip club stage—was different than the Harper she normally was. For one night, she’d let this Harper out to play. Bending over, she used the door for leverage as she took the panties at her knees completely off her body.
Using her hands, she walked herself back up the door. She arched her back, sticking her ass out.
“Yeah baby, shake it,” Cash encouraged, clapping.
Turning around, she leaned fully against the cold steel, shaking her head from side to side, letting her hair fly. Harper had never felt anything like this before. She felt sexy, wild, free, like she could be completely without judgement in this room, with this man. Reaching behind her, she unclasped her bra and made a big production about dropping it before she made her way over to where Cash sat.
She leaned down, pushing his knees apart as she did a dip and roll there, making sure her tits rubbed up against the hard tent of his cock. She smiled a knowing smile at him, loving the heat in his eyes as he watched her. Her fingers reached down and made quick work of the buttons at his crotch, and then it was a flurry of fingers and material as they divested him of his pants and boxers.
Harper squealed as he snaked his hands around her body and palmed her ass, bringing her down on top of him. She straddled him easily, using the height of the high heels she wore to give her leverage as she sank down onto his hard length. Her mouth attacked his neck, holding on tightly to his shoulders as he helped her pump up and down against him.
“Cash, fuck,” she gasped as he tilted her lower body, causing the head to bump her clit each time he slid out and back in.
“I know. God, do I know.” He groaned, using his hands to tip her back on him, encouraging her to lean back against his thighs.
It was hard to keep her balance, but Harper did, shrieking with pleasure as Cash leaned over and captured a hard nipple in his mouth. He worked that flesh as hard as he worked her against his cock.
Her thighs were cramping, but she knew there was absolutely no way she was giving this up. “Don’t stop,” she begged him, unclasping one hand from his shoulder and moving it down his body. His T-shirt covered where their bodies were joined, and she growled as she tried to get to her clit.
“I won’t,” he promised. “But you gotta get there, babe; I’m almost there.”
She grasped the edge of his shirt, pulling it, hearing the seams rip…and then there was no barrier. Her index finger worked hard against her nub as the rest of her body worked hard against him.
“Ride my dick, Harper.” He breathed heavily against her, digging his fingers into her ass. “Ride it, Harper; fuck yourself on me and come. As soon as you go, I’m gonna go.”
The permission was what she needed. She thrashed against him, listening to the sounds in the room, the song in the background, the slapping of their sweat-covered bodies together, and the creaking of the chair. Combined with his length and her finger, they were enough to set her off, and she groaned loudly. Her body convulsed this way and that; she had no idea how she didn’t pull a muscle.
“Goddamn, Harper, so fucking hot.” Cash groaned, burying his face into her neck. “Here I go.”
Minutes later, she lazily clasped her arms around his neck, trying to get her breathing under control. She moaned as he withdrew from her. “I can’t feel my thighs.” She laughed.
“I think you gouged my back, but babe, I’m gonna wear that like a badge of fucking honor.” He chuckled, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head.
“Maybe I’ll have to dance for you more often.” She cracked open an eye, taking in the relaxed look on his face.
“Anytime, sweetheart, anytime. I will gladly be the recipient of your lap dances.”
‡
Chapter Twenty-One
“I need help.”
Harper glanced up from her laptop. Remy stood in front of her, a look on his face she couldn’t quiet place. “What’s up?”
“What am I going to get Cash for Christmas?”
She was struggling with this as well. There were wants and needs, and she knew with Cash’s arrest, they would be facing some pretty hefty fines once all was said and done. She was worried about what they would do.
“I have no idea, Rem. I’m having problems with that too.”
Remy huffed and had a seat on the couch opposite her. There was no longer a pillow and blanket out here; Cash was now completely back in their bedroom. There was absolutely no doubt that they had gotten back the relationship they’d once thought they’d lost.
“I want to get him something.” Remy pulled his feet up on the couch. “He’s done so much for me. I’m not stupid; I know he could have left me. He could have just let mom and dad have me and not thought twice about it.”
“Do you really think your brother would do that?”
It hurt Harper to even think of that—of not having Remy in their lives.
“I hoped he wouldn’t, but I never knew for sure, not until the final paperwork was signed.”
This was an insight she’d not ever had into Remy’s mind and how it worked. She’d had no idea he’d been worried. Stupid maybe, but she’d always assumed they’d kept most everything from him and he’d lived a somewhat oblivious life.
“Well I’m glad he didn’t. Getting and keeping you is what brought us all together, Rem. I wouldn’t give that up for anything. I know we went through a rough time—all of us, but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I hope you know that.”
Remy’s head bent down. “I know, and I try not to be a burden on you two. That’s why I want to get Cash a Christmas gift he’ll love.”
“Whoa, whoa, you’re not a burden on us.”
The kid leveled her with a glare she should have gotten from his brother. “I know it’s not been easy having me. I cost money and time.”
“Stop that shit right now.” Harper couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Now you’re comparing us to your parents, and we are not your parents. Things are not easy, but nothing worth having ever is, remember that Rem. We all have to work hard for what we get. It’s not going to be handed to us. Don’t expect that, and you’ll be fine.”
“Please don’t tell Cash I compared him to my dad.”
She couldn’t help herself, she giggled. “I won’t, but please know there’s nothing more the two of us want than for you to be happy and for us to have a happy family unit. I love you, Rem.”
“I love you too, Harper.”
They were hugging when Cash came through the door.
“What’s going on in here?”
“We’re trying to figure out what to get you for Christmas,” Harper explained.
“So yo
u’re hugging it out because I’m so hard to buy for?”
Her heart thumped harder as he rounded the couch and came to sit next to her. He put his arm around her waist and slid up to her, letting her snuggle against him. Since their night in the boom-boom room, they had become more open with each other, deepening their relationship. If anything had come from their time apart, she knew it was that.
“Kind of. You are pretty hard to buy for.”
He leaned in, kissing her head. “Then why don’t you two take the money you were going to spend on me and buy something for yourselves.” I’m the one who fucked up and got arrested.
“No way.” Harper pinched his stomach. “I worked hard for that money and had to go through a lot to get it.”
He licked his bottom lip, dipping his head so that he could whisper in her ear. “You also got me hard working for that money.”
She blushed, hoping Remy didn’t see it. “Okay, so I’m going to throw something out, and you two let me know what you think.”
Both of them gave her their full attention. “How about we get one big gift? You know, a family present?”
They were quiet for a moment as they rolled the idea around in their heads. She could see them thinking of the pros and cons. Finally, Remy spoke up.
“Can we get a TV? The one we have kind of sucks.”
Both of them laughed. “Dude.” Cash playfully glared. “A TV is a TV; you’re lucky we have one. When I was younger, we didn’t.”
“We barely have one, it’s so small,” Remy argued.
“He does kind of have a point,” Harper agreed with the youngest of their family. “It is pretty damn small.”
Cash looked back and forth between the two of them, wondering if this was really want they wanted. “You both want to buy a TV? Are you absolutely sure?”
“Yes!” Remy shouted.
“I’m good with it if you are.” Harper looked up to him for the final answer.
“Alright, then I guess tomorrow we go TV shopping.”
Immediately Remy jumped up. “How big of a TV can we get? How much money can we spend?”
In Tune (Red Bird Trail Trilogy Book 3) Page 7