And it wasn’t like I had a boyfriend who would get mad or anything, Ryker was clearly not the loyal type, so what did I have to lose?
If anything it might do him some good to see that other men wanted me. It might get back at him for taking Tawny and not me tonight…not that I would have jumped up to volunteer my first dance at a motorcycle club.
“Thirty minutes,” Mel said. “You should come back stage and we’ll get you ready.”
My nerves were shot as we walked down the hallway to the dressing rooms. Inside there were three girls left, each had done a couple sets already and were getting prepared to go out and work the floor. They made more doing lap dances in the VIP room than they did on stage any time. Forcing one of them to dance again meant they would lose loads of money in dances and creating relationships with clients.
Mel pulled out a skimpy schoolgirl outfit and knee high leather boots. I laughed and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“You’ve got that perfect tiny innocent look, we’re going to use it to our advantage,” she explained.
“I might kill myself in those,” I replied pointing at the boots.
“They’re not that high and they’ll help support your ankle. I’ll do them up tight.”
“So I’m more like some Goth catholic school girl kicking ass in her army boots?” I asked.
“Exactly. Now let Tricia here put your hair in ponytails while Maria does your make up.”
I pulled the skirt and blouse on, Mel laced up the boots and the other girls got to work making me look the part.
They were very encouraging and gave me pointers on how to stand or how to avoid looking at any of them without making it too obvious.
I was a bundle of nervous energy by the time we got to the stage door. Cindy finished her number and bounded off with her G-string full of bills. She stopped and looked at me and laughed. “It’s about time you started earning real money. Break a leg!”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” I mumbled as Mel shoved me onto the stage and a Nine Inch Nails song started to play.
Chapter Seven
I stood for half a second with my eyes huge and staring at the bright lights. I hadn’t realized how many there were surrounding the stage. It made it easier though. I could barely make out the crowd with them blaring down on me.
The song continued and I tried to imagine I was at home dancing by myself. I let my hips sway gently to the beat and closed my eyes as I lifted my arms and began to twirl and gyrate towards the end of the runway.
“Bring me a beer, sugar tits!” somebody yelled, the crowd laughed and I wondered if it was one of the guys who regularly gave me trouble. I was starting to regret my decision and didn’t know how I’d go back to waitressing now that I had broken that barrier and come on stage.
I looked out from under my lashes and was amazed to see how enthralled the majority of the audience was. They were watching my every move with the same looks on their faces as when Tawny was on stage.
I swayed my hips again and picked up the pace as the song progressed.
“I want to fuck you like an animal,” the lyrics swelled in my head and I started to get lost in the music.
“Feel you from the inside,” the song continued and I tugged at the top of my blouse and teased the button. I pulled at the knot on the bottom and spun around, letting my pony tails swing as I danced.
I undid the blouse and pulled it down over my shoulders, swung my hair and drew it off slowly down the length of one arm and then the other.
The guys in the crowd clapped and whistled. I heard a few cries of, “Sexy,” and “Take it off.”
It was oddly empowering. I had assumed I’d be too embarrassed to do something like this, but when you had an entire club of hungry men staring at you like they wanted to devour you, it made you feel sexier than ever.
I could see how girls like Tawny became addicted to it.
I shimmied at little more and shook my ass as the song ended and blended into another one, one of my favorite Beyoncé tracks.
I fell right into the rhythm of the new song and got caught up in the lyrics with my thumbs hooked in the waistband of my little plaid miniskirt.
“Getting bodied,” I sang along and swiveled. I could feel my ponytails sweeping my shoulders as I flung my head around and got energized by the beat.
I pulled at the elastic waist of the skirt and started to slide it down over my hips. I was surprised to look down and see bills of all denominations showering down on the stage as I slowly teased them with the skirt.
I caught a motion out of the corner of my eye and turned to find Ryker standing on the stage behind me with a look of pure rage in his eyes.
“Put this on,” he said, holding his black leather jacket out to me.
“I’m working,” I hissed angrily. “Get off the stage.”
“Yeah buddy, get off the stage!” some guy in the crowd yelled.
Ryker whirled and sought out the guy. “Anyone has a problem with me shutting this down, you’ll have to fucking deal with me. You hear?”
The music stopped and the club was quiet. You could hear a pin drop. I could hear my pulse rushing in my ears.
“Ryker, leave her be!” Mel yelled from the stage door. “God dammit, you’re going to ruin my business.”
“I’ll pay you triple what she’d make you tonight, but never put her up on stage again. What the fuck were you thinking? She’s not a dancer,” Ryker growled and laid his jacket over my shoulders.
“I am dancing and I’m good at it,” I retorted but didn’t shrug his jacket off. It felt nice; it smelled nice. And deep down there was some part of me that loved the fact that he was so jealous he’d stormed the stage.
I couldn’t let him know that though.
“You’re good at it because you have tits and an ass,” he said and grabbed my hand. “These losers will do anything to see it bared.”
He tugged me along the runway towards the stage door. I looked back and said, “What about my money? I earned that!”
“Leave it,” he growled, “you don’t need the money you earned by whoring yourself.”
“I do need it,” I wailed and tried to resist him dragging me off stage.
“If you need money, just fucking tell me. But I won’t have you selling your ass for it, understand?” he replied.
I struggled a little more until he bent down, picked me up and put me over his shoulder like a sack of flour.
“Where are you taking me?” I squealed and kicked.
“Somewhere you can clean up and get into normal clothes,” he replied and stalked down the hallway towards the dressing room. “And then we’re going to dinner. Like normal fucking folks.”
Mel shrugged her shoulders in defeat as we passed and Maria raced up the hall to the stage where she would perform and collect all my money.
At that point it wasn’t even about the money, it was more about my dignity and the fact that he’d dragged me off the stage and ordered me to get dressed.
And the fact that I liked it. And wanted to obey him.
Feminism be damned, my primal inner woman was responding to him like I’d ever thought possible.
I was his without him even needing to declare it.
Chapter Eight
“You can wait in the hall,” I said in a snippy voice after Ryker set me down in the dressing room.
“So you’ll take your clothes off for all those horny loser, but you won’t change in front of me?” he laughed.
“Pretty much,” I replied.
“You’re a complicated woman, kitten,” he grinned. “I like it.”
“Get out,” I snapped and waited until he had left the room before I slid the little skirt off and began undoing the laces on the boots.
I now had time to process what had happened. I’d been doing well but Ryker had dragged me off the stage.
I was humiliated, he’d treated me like an idiot who didn’t know what she wanted in front of all th
ose people. He’d acted like he owned me simply because of what, he saved me one time and sent me a few presents?
I might be a lot of things, but I wasn’t cheap. I couldn’t be bought off with a few trinkets.
Then why was my body so slow to feel that spark of anger this situation demanded? I’d been so jealous at the thought of him with Tawny that I’d made the choice to dance in the first place; maybe that’s why I mostly felt relief.
And victory.
He’d come back for me.
I pulled on my regular clothes, covering up the tiny red panties and bra that I’d worn that day anyhow. I’d had it in the back of my head that somehow Ryker might see them.
And from his reaction it seemed I hadn’t been so far off after all.
But still my stubborn side refused to let him know I was flattered. I was angry more than anything, so that was the side he was going to see.
I opened the door and found Ryker leaning up against the wall with one eyebrow raised. “You done?” he asked.
“I might be done for good if Mel decides to fire me,” I said, ignoring his hand that he offered to me. I shoved his jacket back at him and walked ahead.
“She’s not gonna fire you, kitten,” he said with a confident smirk that irritated me and made him even hotter if that was possible.
“How do you know that?” I demanded and whirled around to face him, my eyes blazing.
“Because she ain’t gonna fire you if I tell her not to,” he informed me.
“Did you think about that when you dragged me out of there like I was a child?”
“I wasn’t thinking at all,” he said.
“Then why the fuck did you do it?”
“Because I couldn’t stand the thought of every loser in the club getting a look at you, kitten,” he growled and stepped towards me. “The thought of their eyes on your body made me lose my fucking mind.”
I glared up at him but saw absolute sincerity in his eyes. “What does it matter to you? Maybe I get off on dancing for strangers,” I challenged him.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he replied in a low tone. “I want you for myself. I want to take you out for dinner, get to know you better, and then fuck you senseless. I want to taste you and feel you and own you.”
My heart was pounding so fast I thought I was going to pass out. I stared up at him utterly speechless. My mouth opened and I managed to squeak out, “Well let’s start with dinner. I’m starving.”
He laughed and I loved the way he looked with his mouth curled into a smile. I loved the sound of his voice and his laughter.
“Not before this,” he said, serious again. He brought his hand to the back of my head and pulled me towards him. I tilted my face up and he leaned down, his mouth crashing into mine.
His was no gentle hesitant kiss. He wanted me and he wanted me to know it. His mouth covered mine and his tongue was everywhere inside me at once. It claimed my body as his the moment he touched me.
I moaned and felt myself drawn towards his like some kind of magnetic energy. I couldn’t keep away even if I tried.
He reached down and put his hand under my ass, cupping it and pulling me closer yet.
I straddled his thigh and ran my hands up his back to cling to his broad shoulders. The leather jacket he’d been carrying dropped to the floor and my purse on top of it.
We didn’t care. We were too caught up in our own shared moment to notice anything going on around us.
He broke the kiss, rested his forehead on mine and said, “Damn, kitten. Damn.”
“I know,” I replied breathlessly. The intensity wasn’t just one sided, he felt the same thing that had almost knocked me to my knees.
“Are you getting back out there or are you leaving?” Mel’s raspy voice broke through our little bubble of lust.
I jerked away from Ryker and looked at her, forcing myself to focus on her and not the maelstrom of emotions and sensations that were whirling inside of me because of the gorgeous man who had just kissed me like no other.
“I’m leaving,” I said. Ryker grabbed my hand like were dating and gave it a little squeeze.
“She’s coming with me,” he added, staring down at Mel as if waiting for a reaction from the older woman.
“Make sure she’s on time tomorrow,” she said squinting up at him. “Bring her in by five.”
“Will do, Mel,” Ryker replied. He bent down and picked up my purse and his jacket. He slipped the jacket on me and I was practically swimming in his scent as he zipped it up the front. He handed me my purse and said, “I’ve got a helmet for you. We’re taking my bike.”
“I’ve never been on a bike,” I said hesitantly.
“With moves like yours, you’ll be a natural,” Mel laughed and continued down the hall to her office.
“Let’s go, kitten,” Ryker said, taking my hand and leading me away. “The night is still young and I want to know everything about you before making you mine.”
I swallowed hard and felt the cyclone of desire and fear sweep through me again.
But I followed him.
Chapter Nine
Being on the back of his bike was intoxicating. I felt so tiny on it, and I clung to him for dear life as he navigated the city streets. The bike vibrated between my thighs and I buried my face in his broad, muscled back.
He pulled up in front of a pretty nice Italian restaurant and parked his bike. The Valet took our helmets and we strode in like we owned the place.
We were seated at a nice private table with an incredible view of the water and city lights.
“How do you know about this place?” I asked, looking around in awe. It was definitely out of my normal budget.
“A friend owns it,” he said with a smile. “Order anything you want, but if you like pizza it’s the best you’ll ever have.”
“I love pizza,” I said as I read the menu. I would stick with his suggestion because I didn’t even know what most of the things were. I was a good old pasta kind of girl, but these had romantic sounding Italian names and I was afraid I’d accidentally order something horrible and be forced to eat it in order to not offend Ryker.
So pizza it was.
He ordered a bottle of red wine too and I couldn’t hide how impressed I was when the waiter uncorked it and Ryker tasted it to approve it.
He poured us each a glass, looked into my eyes and said, “To new beginnings.”
“New beginnings,” I echoed and we clinked our glasses together.
I sipped the rich, buttery wine and watched him over the rim of my glass.
He was brutally exquisite. He was everything I’d ever been attracted to in a man with more. He had this undeniable spark of power that clung to him. Everywhere he looked he surveyed it as if it belonged to him.
And he looked at me often.
“Tell me everything there is to know about Margot,” he said as he sipped his wine and swirled it around in his mouth before swallowing. I watched his lips as he did so, drawn in by the sensual shape and the pleasure he took from his drink.
“I’m boring,” I told him. “There’s not much to know. Small town, over protective family. Ran away from home when I was old enough that they couldn’t put out an Amber Alert.”
He laughed. “How old are you?”
“I’m twenty one. I did a couple years of college before I decided to find myself,” I said.
“Just a spring chicken,” he smiled.
“Why, how old are you?” I asked, feeling a little bristly. I’d always been told I was too young to make my own decisions, and now it angered me when people assumed I was too young for certain things.
“I’m twenty eight,” he said with a grin. “Old enough to know a few things, but not old enough to know better.”
“I know better but I often make the wrong choice anyways,” I laughed.
“Oh really?” he asked with his eyebrow arched. “Like coming out for dinner?”
“No, not that,” I replied. “Like getting on stag
e. I feel like such an idiot now that I thought about it. I must have looked like such a fool.”
His eyes grew dark and the table was suddenly serious. “Not at all,” he said quietly and took my hand, his gaze never leaving mine. “That’s what angered me, kitten. You looked so god damned good up there that I couldn’t stand it. I wanted you all to myself.”
“You’re just saying that,” I replied and blushed. I looked down at the table where our hands were linked and felt the strangest sensation that this was right, this was the way it was supposed to be.
Our dinner arrived and as promised it was the most delicious pizza I’d ever had in my life.
Ryker fed me little nibbles off his piece and I couldn’t help myself, I reached for a couple more after I’d done my first.
“I love a woman with a healthy appetite,” he said as he watched me eat.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“It means you’re not shy. You’re willing to dive in and take what’s yours,” he replied. “As you should, by the way. A woman like you should never hesitate to claim your right.”
“You seem pretty confident in that,” I said, “but what if I don’t feel it? What if I feel too shy to grab what I want?”
He thought for a moment, stroked the back of my hand with his finger and said, “Then it’s my job to make damn sure you know what you’re worth. You need to feel how valuable you are, and then maybe you’ll learn to take what’s owed to you by life itself.”
I took another bite of pizza and reflected on his words. I hoped that for me too, to find the courage to grab life by the balls and take what was mine.
Maybe I should hang around Ryker a little longer just so some of his courage rubbed off on me.
The rest of our dinner was filled with laughter and sexual innuendo. The one thing that I noticed about Ryker unsettled me though.
He never told me about his past. He seemed even more guarded about his life than I was and it made my mind race as to why. Why did he seem to sidestep details about his youth and where he’d come from.
Three Way, the Novel Page 3