by Mia Archer
And with that the girl faded back into the crowd around us. Like a wise Yoda in a stripper outfit who came to dispense knowledge then disappeared to be one with the Force when she was done.
Yoda in a stripper outfit and stripper heels. Now there was a funny thought that was more and more unpleasant the more I thought about the nitty gritty details of that particular image.
Jasmine wanted to see me, but she might not act like she was happy to see me. Now there was some crazy advice. What did it mean?
I figured there were two things that could be going on here. Either Jasmine really did want to see me but she was still reluctant to say anything because she was still mad about the argument, or she didn’t want to have anything to do with me and this Tara girl was trying to fan the flames by telling me something that would get me to act exactly how I shouldn’t act around Jasmine.
The thing that finally decided me was I figured Tara probably wasn’t clever enough to be that clever. After all, the last time we had an argument she’d gone right to trying to punch me out. There was no subtlety there.
Maybe it was wishful thinking, but I wanted to believe she was telling the truth.
“And that’s it for Cinnamon. Coming up next on the main stage is none other than Jasmine!”
Well then. The DJ’s announcement made it clear that whatever was going to happen was going to happen pretty damn soon. I shivered and looked up to the stage. All the lights had gone out but I knew she was going to be up there soon. She was going to be doing her dance and swaying and showing off that body that she showed off to a lot of people at work but that she reserved just for me where it counted.
In the end that’s what really mattered. I got jealous thinking of what she did for a living, but the honest truth was she reserved her heart for me and that’s all I cared about. Other people could see her body and enjoy looking at her, but I was the only one who got her body and soul.
Assuming I could fix this royal fuckup I’d made of things by being jealous in the first place. Why did I have to be such an idiot?
The lights came up and the music started. The curtains in the back parted and she stepped out looking just as beautiful as I remembered from the last time we saw each other.
Maybe even more beautiful than the last time we saw each other. After all, that time had been bittersweet because I figured it was the last time we were going to see each other. This time around I was suffering from withdrawal so just the sight of her was enough to set my body shivering.
And so I followed the siren call of the dance beat she swayed to and moved up to the middle of the stage where she was sure to see me. It was time to see if I could salvage the mess I’d made of things.
22
Jasmine
I could feel that something was different from the moment I stepped out onto the stage. Maybe it was a sixth sense. Maybe I picked up something out of the corner of my eyes without realizing it.
Whatever it was, I was hit with the certainty that she was out there somewhere. I don’t know how I knew she was in the club. It seemed impossible since I’d made it pretty clear I didn’t want her coming back to my job the last time we talked to each other even if I hadn’t come out and said it.
But I knew. I’d been thinking about calling her ever since that conversation with Tara. How crazy that a conversation with Tara of all people would lead me to trying to patch things up with Taylor, but there you had it.
I stepped out onto the stage and I shivered from my head down to the tips of my toes. The shivering threatened to throw me off balance. It was hard enough trying to keep my balance dancing in these heels on a good night, and with the added distraction of wondering where Taylor was it became next to impossible.
I walked out to the pole and surveyed the outer crowd first. It was next to impossible to see anything out there since it was so dark around the edges of the club and there were lights beating down on me ruining any night vision I might’ve had.
Still, that’s where she’d been hiding the last time she came to the club. I figured if she was out there somewhere tonight then that’s where she’d be. Only it was too dark out there to really see much of anything. The clients out there were all indistinct shadows.
Damn. I looked to the people around the stage. I saw a couple of regulars out there who were always good for a couple of bucks, but then my eyes landed on the center of the big round stage and I stumbled and fell on my ass.
Great. Not only was Taylor out there in the crowd. She was right there in front of me and the first thing she saw was me falling on my ass because apparently my brain couldn’t handle looking at her and dancing around in stripper heels at the same time.
Fuck.
I stared at her. Locked eyes with her. She smiled at me hesitantly and then held up a single dollar bill and arched an eyebrow.
It felt like that moment stretched on for an eternity, but I knew it could only have been a couple of seconds. When reality reasserted itself all around me the song I was dancing to hadn’t gone too far.
I knew because I’d been dancing to this song nonstop for the past six months since I started working here to make a few extra bucks and discovered I could make more here in a night than I did in a week at any other job I took.
I stood. My feet were wobbly. I looked back to the DJ booth and he did a little circular wave with his finger as though I was supposed to get on with the show, but he could bite me.
There were more important things out there than money right now. Far more important than the percentage he took from all the dancers. He could get a percentage of the one buck Taylor was holding up.
I walked over to her. There was no pretense. No sexiness. No sultry fake seduction. It was just me, a girl and not a performer, walking across the stage to see the girl of my dreams.
Even if it felt a little crazy to think of her as the girl of my dreams.
I knelt down in front of her.
“What are you doing here?” I shouted to be heard over the music.
“I was an idiot and I can’t stop thinking about you!” she shouted back. “Can you ever forgive me?”
Well then. That was awfully straightforward and to the point. I figured there would be some long drawn out conversation we had out here on the middle of the stage while people looked on and got a little pissed off that I wasn’t giving them the show they were hoping for.
Only I didn’t want that long drawn out conversation. She’d admitted she was an idiot. She admitted she couldn’t stop thinking about me. I couldn’t stop thinking about her, and…
“I was an idiot too,” I said. “I’m sorry I pushed you away!”
Yeah, it was weird having this conversation half naked while music pumped all around us at an almost deafening decibel level, but what could you do?
Again I thought the conversation might go longer than that, but Taylor had other ideas. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me towards her, and I suddenly didn’t care that I was up onstage. That there were guys all around who paid for the illusion of getting to spend a little time with me. Who might get the wrong idea if they saw me making out with someone who looked like a customer.
I didn’t care about any of that because I felt the familiar sensation of Taylor’s hands wrapping around me and pulling me towards her as they rested on the small of my back. I wrapped my legs around her as I fell off the stage and for a wonder she was able to hold me up.
Damn. The girl must work out or something.
And then we were kissing. It was a perfect kiss. It was a kiss that was full of all the raw energy that passed between the two of us when we first got together. It was a kiss that was filled with the desperate longing we’d both felt as we were separated from each other.
In short it was one perfect kiss in the middle of my work, and with that one perfect kiss I knew that everything was going to be okay. Sure we’d have to work at things, that’s what relationships were about, but in that moment I knew it was all going to be all right.
I’d like to say that people burst into applause after that. That the clients were understanding of their show being interrupted and the DJ put on some schmaltzy love tune or something, but that would be too far from reality and the business I worked in.
“Jasmine, you going to get up on stage?” he finally asked through the mic. I stopped and looked around. Realized that the people around the stage were looking at us with more than a little irritation.
“I’ve got this,” someone said from the side.
I expected Tiffany, but I turned and saw Tara disentangling herself from someone she’d been giving a lap dance and stepping up onstage. Almost immediately the guys around the stage turned from frowns to smiles.
I guess they didn’t care who was up there onstage taking her clothes off as long as clothes were coming off.
I mouthed a “thanks” to Tara and took Taylor by the hand. It was time to head to one of the back rooms for one hell of a private dance.
Want More?
Want more? Keep reading for sample chapters from my book Secret Lover! It’s the tale of a forbidden romance between TA and student. If you liked Stripped you’ll enjoy Secret Lover!
Also by Mia Archer
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Will small town life pull a budding relationship apart or bring them closer than ever before?
Anna and Erin were the best of the best looking for fun in their geeky game of choice, but they’ll discover there’s a thin line between love and competition!
A holiday in the biggest amusement park in the world. A princess in hiding. A band geek who’s about to get the surprise of her life. What could go wrong?
Claire and Allison are star-crossed lovers who get a second chance at their five year reunion!
Student and teacher. The ultimate forbidden romance, but sometimes forbidden can be so much fun!
Two girls in love. A family who doesn’t understand. An illness that could tear them apart.
Night Terror is the greatest villainess in the world, and she has to find a way to defeat sexy new superhero Fialux. Oh, and she’s totally in love with her new archenemy. What could go wrong?
Secret Lover
1
Keri
“Come on Keri. All I want is one little dance. Just like it used to be. Is that too much to ask?”
I pushed Simone away and looked around the booth for someone to come to my rescue. Melissa took a drink, but it was obvious from the way she was smirking as the cup went up to her lips that she was just as amused by my precarious situation as everyone else sitting around the booth.
I looked to Barb for a save, but she looked at me over her glasses and shook her head. She might not exactly be happy that we weren’t an item anymore, but we at least got along. I guess getting along with each other didn’t extend to her giving me some sympathy when I was stuck in a situation like this.
“Look Simone,” I said. “We had some fun together, but…”
Her face softened and she reached out to stroke my cheek. I blinked. Not the reaction I was expecting.
“I know,” she said. “You’re still fragile after what happened. I’m sorry I pushed you.”
I took a drink of my own and figured it might be easier to go with this. Sure my grandma dying right in front of me at the mall was an excuse, but I was never one to not take advantage of a convenient excuse when it came along.
I’m sure grandma would’ve appreciated me using her death like that. She always had a twisted sense of humor, after all.
“Sure, that’s right,” I said.
To be honest it was a convenient excuse that wasn’t all that far from the truth. I thought back to that moment at the mall and quickly pushed it out of my mind. It wasn’t a pleasant memory and I wasn’t going to relive it here when I came out to have fun with some of my friends.
“We’re so sorry about that,” Melissa said.
For a surprise it sounded like she meant it. There were times when I didn’t think there was a sincere bone in her body, but damn did she look good in a pair of tight shorts.
I looked down at my drink. Spun it around a few times and watched the booze inside swirling around a little behind the glass turning. For a moment I was back in that mall. Watching her fall.
“I should have been able to do something,” I said, low enough that I was pretty sure it couldn’t be heard over the music blasting.
They could all read lips well enough though. It was a skill you had to pick up if you were going to have a conversation in this place.
“There was nothing you could do about it,” Erica said.
She reached out and put a hand on mine. That earned an irritated sniff from Simone and a look from me. If she thought this was the time to move in then she had another thing coming. I might be emotionally distraught, but I wasn’t to the point of making a bad decision like having another try with her.
Getting thrown out of her apartment in nothing but a towel in the middle of winter had been enough to sour any chance of a romantic relationship even if we were still friends.
I looked down again. Normally when something like that happened I would’ve crawled into a bottle for a few days to try and forget the world around me, but I’d decided to do something else with the recent tragedy. Something constructive. Something that would make sure I was ready the next time something like that happened.
I was reluctant to announce it to my friends around the table though. I knew how they’d react and I wasn’t looking forward to it.
“What’s going on over here tonight?”
I tensed at that voice. What the hell was she doing here tonight of all nights? What the hell was Tanya doing at this bar of all bars? She knew I came here all the time. I was the one who introduced her to the damn place, after all, so why was she coming around here after she made it clear she didn’t want anything to do with me?
“Tanya!” Erica said.
A couple of other girls at the table smiled at her, but Simone frowned. She wouldn’t be too happy to see Tanya since she was well aware I’d been with Tanya before I ended up getting with her.
I’d been with a lot of girls at this table before ending up with Simone, but that was neither here nor there. On a campus this small you had to work through a friends group if you played for the same team.
At least that’s what I told myself.
“So nice to see you Tanya,” I said as I turned around to face her.
I don’t know who she thought I was sitting there with everyone else at the usual booth. I don’t know why she looked surprised when I turned around and locked eyes with her. More than anything I didn’t know what the fuck she was doing here when we’d made it absolutely clear that I got this place in the breakup.
Not that it was even really a breakup. More like we had a couple of good weekends which is more than most girls got with me and then Simone caught my eye and the rest, as they say, is history.
“Keri,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see you here. I figured you’d be off canoodling with the slut.”
“Hey!” Simone said, turning around and letting Tanya know she was right next to me as well.
&nbs
p; “Oh wonderful, she’s decided to join us,” Tanya said. “Did the two of you really have to ruin things by coming out here tonight?”
“You’re just jealous that you’re not with Keri,” Simone said, a look of supreme satisfaction on her face as she said that.
I looked away. I didn’t want her to see that I was cringing. Tanya seemed to pick right up on it though.
“You should watch yourself Simone,” she said. “You’re gloating right now, but it won’t be long before you find yourself in the same boat I’m in.”
Simone glared at her and wrapped a protective arm around my shoulder. Or maybe that was a possessive arm from the way she pulled me closer. I’m sure the wheels were turning and she was thinking about all the other girls I’d been with and then dropped and wondering if she was next in line.
I knew she was next in line. I couldn’t help it. What can I say? I lost interest fast. I was all about the chase and I was okay with that even if some of the girls I dated weren’t.
“Are you going to sit down with us Tanya?” Erica asked.
I stared daggers at Erica. Not that it did a damn bit of good. She hit me with a wide smile that told me she’d done that on purpose.
Damn. I was starting to feel like I wasn’t with friends so much as I was with a den of vipers. And Tanya sliding in next to me was viper in chief as she grinned and scooted in close. That earned her a sharp look from Simone, but she didn’t say anything.
