"Hey, Badger," I said lightly, brushing past him and heading through the front door.
I didn't stop as I walked inside, heading straight up to my en-suite for a hot shower, tossing my wet, borrowed shirt aside followed by my shorts and cap before stepping in.
I took my sweet time getting dressed in a cute blue sundress and drying my hair before I emerged from my room, And when I made my way back downstairs, I found Fox waiting for me in the kitchen, his jaw ticking and posture tense as he twisted a cell
phone in a shiny pink case between his fingers.
I hopped up to sit on the breakfast bar in front of him, smiling sweetly as I crossed my legs and balanced my toes on the stool beside his.
"This isn't working," he said slowly, his gaze staying fixed on the phone in his hands as I reached out and took an apple from the fruit bowl.
"Don't tell me you're dumping me again, Fox?" I asked with a pout. "Though I can't say I'm surprised."
"Don't talk like that," he muttered.
"Why? Because you've decided you want me back in your life now, so I'm just supposed to forget how disposable I was to you the last time you decided I was too inconvenient to keep around?" I took a bite of my apple and he watched me like he was dying to take a bite too.
A knock at the front door interrupted our glare off and Fox pushed away from me before heading off to answer it.
“We found your truck down by the beach, boss. It’s back in the garage,” a gruff voice said while I stayed where I was, eating my apple and kinda wishing I’d driven his stupid truck straight into the sea.
“Good,” Fox replied before slamming the door again and stalking back in to resume his place sitting beside me at the breakfast bar.
“You’re not even gonna thank that dude?” I questioned and he gave me a flat look that said I was crazy.
“If anyone else stole from me like that I’d cut a piece off of them to teach them a lesson,” he growled and I had no doubts that he meant it.
“Well please don’t take a boob. I’m pretty fond of them and-”
“Do you take anything seriously?” he snapped and I just shrugged, taking another bite of my apple.
“It’d be pretty serious if you cut off my boob.”
The corner of his lips twitched the tiniest bit and I smirked as he huffed out a breath, twisting the pink phone in his fingers again.
“I guess if you chop me up it’ll be even easier to throw me away than it was the last time. You could put me right in the trash and let the garbage guys take me and then-”
“Stop,” he commanded.
“Why? Because it makes you uncomfortable to talk about the time you ruined my life and then forgot all about me?” I challenged.
Fox leaned back in his chair, swiping a hand over his face as it looked like he was choking back against the desire to turn this into a real argument and I had to wonder why.
"I...got you a phone," he said, shoving the shiny pink thing at me, clearly deciding against plunging into that minefield.
I took the cellphone and inspected the pink case. There was a mermaid on it in a seashell bikini top with a little purple dolphin beside her.
"Did you steal it from a twelve year old?" I asked, arching a brow.
"That was the only case they had in the shop," he replied, his lips twitching. "I bought it after I spoke to Chase and he told me that you were okay and you were with him. The guy in there set it up for you. I want you to take it and check in with me regularly so I know you're safe."
"You're letting me go?" I asked in surprise.
"No," he snapped. "I'm just giving you some more freedom. Apparently, it's not okay for me to lock you up all the time." He scowled like that made no sense to him and I couldn’t help but stare at him, wondering where the hell he got off thinking he could just do whatever the fuck he liked all the damn time.
"Wow. You're actually insane, aren't you?"
Fox shoved his stool back so hard it crashed to the floor and stood in front of me, pinning me in his glare.
"Don't push me right now, Rogue," he growled, making the hairs along the back of my neck stand on end.
"I'm curious, Fox, do you want me to be afraid of you or are you just trying to make me bow to you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes over my apple at him. "Because you really shouldn't forget that I'm a dead girl walking. I've survived the worst things life has ever thrown at me and I'm still here. There's not much left that I'm afraid of these days. Least of all you."
Fox frowned at me and then swiped a hand down his face like he was trying to scrub the anger right out of his body.
"Chase and JJ seem to think that if I keep on trying to protect you the way I am you're gonna run for good one of these days and I...well, I don't fucking want that. So, if you promise to check in and stay close then I'm not gonna keep locking you up and forcing you to run from me," he said, watching me closely to gauge my reaction.
I was so surprised by that that I just lowered my apple to the counter and gave the phone another look. "So it's a leash instead of a cage?" I asked with a frown, trying to decide if I should be jumping at this and clinging on with both hands or ramming my new mermaid phone up his ass.
"I've got you a car, too. It'll be here tonight or tomorrow."
"I didn't ask you to get me anything," I pointed out and he huffed irritably.
"Just decide Rogue. The car and the phone or locked doors?" he snarled like I was the one being unreasonable here. Psycho.
"I'll take your shit then," I said, hopping up and forcing him to move back to let me escape. "Better that than being stuck here with you twenty-four seven."
He scowled, his eyes like a dark and dangerous forest I kinda wanted to explore, but I also knew I’d end up eaten by a tiger if I did.
I moved around him to go sit out by the pool and the shattered remains of the barbecue and he didn’t object. This was either a win or a cleverly disguised trap and as I sat flicking through my new phone in the sunshine, I quickly figured out which.
There was some pretty carefully disguised tracking software installed on the device which probably explained why the phone was out of the box. I almost hit delete on it before getting a better idea. If Fox wanted to know where I was at all times, then he could have fun chasing me around town and wondering what the fuck I was up to.
Game on asshole. I'm gonna make this fun.
I t was ladies’ night at Afterlife and a crowd of women were currently drinking in the bar, waiting for the show to start as they fiddled themselves under the tables at the thought of seeing their favourite stripper dancing just for them. Well, at least that was what I assumed they were doing.
I sat in my seat in the dressing room, my feet up on the surface before the mirror which was ringed with bright white lights.
"I'd face fuck you with a balloon so good baby," I spoke on the phone. "I'd work that air-filled latex fucker down your throat again and again until it popped, do you think you could handle that?"
"Yes," she moaned. "I could take it all the way, Bobby."
"Say my full name," I growled, nodding in thanks to Estelle as she placed a coffee down in front of me.
"Bobby Inflatable," the woman purred in my ear and I groaned loudly, drawing the eye of my co-dancer Adam beside me who looked confused as fuck.
She started moaning louder and louder and I cursed internally, needing to draw her back and long out this call. My voice was too damn sexy for my own good.
"When you've got my balloon good and wet, I'll flip you over beneath me, and push the bouncy little devil up your as-" A click sounded on the line and I stopped talking as the automated message rang in my ear.
"This caller has used their ten minute package. Please stay on the line."
I pressed the speaker phone button as some weird ass orchestral music sounded and I tossed my cell down beside my coffee, stretching my arms above my head as I yawned. Come on Juicy Latexdream351. You know you wanna pay for those extra minutes.
But it looked like I'd finished her too fast and the call died a moment later. Damn, I'm too good at fetish phone sex to make decent money out of it.
"Is your girlfriend into balloons?" Adam asked, his brow pinching like he'd never heard of such a thing. I'd heard of all the things though. Nothing surprised me. I'd once had a girl pay to baste me like a turkey and tickle my giblets. The gobbling part was weird, but I was kinda getting into it by the end.
"No, man. First rule of Stripper Club, you don't have girlfriends. But you make sure every girl in the room thinks they’re your girl." I smirked. "I was just making some quick phone sex cash."
"Oh right...I don't think I could do all that phone sex stuff," Adam said, rearranging the army pants he was wearing which matched mine. It was his first night dancing in the show and the sweat on his brow said he was nervous as shit. But the kid was a natural if he could just get out of his own way. And I'd trained him up personally, so obviously he was going to be a fucking star.
"Yeah well, dirty talk is my second language," I said with a shrug. "Sadly they don't teach it on Duo Lingo, but I'm a self taught master. If you ever want some lessons, give me a shout."
He chuckled, flattening down his wavy blonde hair and I pushed out of my seat, knocking his hand away and shoving my fingers into his thick locks. "Oh Adam, the girls here don't want you looking put together. You're not going on a date with Nancy Drew. You're going to tease a bunch of horny women and you need to live on in their fantasies after tonight so they come back next Thursday, and the following one and the one after that." I messed up his hair and he eyed me in the mirror with his large grey eyes which were going to get a lot of seats wet in the club tonight. Estelle was going to be working overtime to clean them after.
I handpicked my dancers and the moment Adam had walked in to audition, I'd gotten dollar signs in my eyes. The problem was, I hadn't been banking on him being such a holy Joe. Pretty boys like him usually had experience with teasing women, but from what he'd told me, he'd only gotten really hot in the last year. He was twenty two and had broken up with his girlfriend who he'd been with since he was sixteen. So I was dealing with a one pussy wonder who'd had his self esteem ripped out by a rich bitch who’d replaced it with a whole lot of doubt. She was from the upper quarter and he was from the lower. It was all that star crossed bullshit I had no time for, and oh-what-a-surprise, she'd chosen Daddy's trust fund over him in the end. So he'd shown up here because the guy had nowhere else to go and had experience in dance because said bitch girlfriend had encouraged him to learn so she had someone to practise her Latin ballroom bullshit with. Bitches were nice like that.
Now he had no money and his parents lived in Mexico and called once a year so I'd taken him under my wing because well, ker-ching. But also, I knew what it felt like to be kicked to the curb and have your whole life pulled out from under you. I'd also hooked him up with a room in an apartment that my girls Cherry and Kitty shared. It was only a matter of time before one of them showed him the art of decent pussy and he forgot all about Miss Too-Good-For-Him. I'd suggested he invite her fancy ass down here in a few months’ time and watch him lead a show where a hundred girls screamed his name and begged to suck his dick. Karma was a cunt. And I was her wily sidekick.
"So what's rule number two?" Adam asked, looking hopeful.
"Huh?" I frowned.
"You said rule number one was no girlfriends, so what are the other rules?"
"Oh right." Definitely hadn't been making that shit up on the spot. But I guess I could share my own rules. "Well, rule number two is no fucking the clients in house. This isn't a brothel, but..." I leaned in close to whisper in his ear. "You wanna make a little extra cash on the side then you can make arrangements in the bar."
He gave me a nervous look in the mirror. "I dunno if I could..."
"Trust me, when the offers start rolling in and you get hungry enough for the money, you'll be tempted. So it's best to set your limits now."
Texas dropped down into the seat on his other side, his dark skin glinting with baby oil and his huge muscles straining against the military uniform he was squeezed into. "We talking rules?" He grinned like a puppy dog. "I don't fuck anyone over forty five."
"That's because you're an idiot," I pointed out, rubbing some almond oil onto my arms – it cost more but I preferred the smell of it and it made my skin all kinds of soft too. "The older the gal, the more money they have."
"I think with my dick, you think with your bank account," Texas said with a shrug.
"So you just do it for fun?" Adam asked Texas curiously.
"Yeah, when you realise hot pussy will pay for good dick, you'll also realise you might as well spend all your free time fucking for cash."
"Yeah and when you realise hot pussy will pay more for better dick, you'll be stealing Texas's clients out from under his nose just like I do." I winked at the big guy and he glowered at me, saying nothing because he knew it was true.
Adam laughed, smiling at me and I swear there were little stars in his eyes. "So what's the third rule?"
I snorted, clapping him on the shoulder. "Always wear a condom, bro. Always, always. Double wrap, triple wrap if you have to. Just never take one of those bad boys off. If you need one, I keep a stash here." I reached over to my dresser and pulled out the drawer, revealing the organised rows of condoms of every variety.
"So you never take one off?" Adam asked and I guessed Miss Money Tits had probably been on the pill.
"Never," I said seriously. "You can catch an STI on the breeze in this place. Especially when Texas is sitting this close."
"Fuck you," Texas drawled, but he was smirking.
The music dropped to a low, thundering beat out in the bar and the audience started screaming. That was our cue. Adam and Texas got up and we met Ruben and Olly by the stage entrance, handing us our hats and I put mine on. The Saints by Andy Mineo started playing and I gave Adam an encouraging nod before leading the way out onto the stage, pulling my hat low as screams rang in my ears.
The stage extended out into the audience and I marched out to the very front of it to the music while the guys lined up behind me in perfect synchronisation. As the beat dropped, we all saluted and tossed our hats into the crowd to a round of screams. The green lights swung around, illuminating the eyes of every thirsty girl in the club and I grinned cockily as I danced, loving the feeling of being the centre of attention.
My body moved to the music, every grind and thrust of my hips bringing more girls closer to the stage until they were crushing one another to try and reach me. On the next beat, we all tore our shirts off and Adam's got stuck on the final button so I ripped it off for him, serving us screams of approval. Note to self: play up to that shit.
The other dancers all started pulling girls up from the crowd and I hunted for my own victim, my gaze catching on rainbow hair beyond the swarming women at the stage and my heart pounded harder. I smirked as my eyes locked on Rogue who'd apparently shown up to watch me dance. How the fuck did she get out of the house again?
I lifted a finger, beckoning her from the back of the room. She wore a ripped denim skirt and a hot pink tee that was tied up to show off her midriff. She was talking with Di who was bartending tonight in a sparkly bikini and she rolled her eyes at me, sipping her beer. I jerked my head in a command and she shook her head in refusal, but bit her lip in a way that got my dick hardening.
I grabbed the hand of a girl in the front row, tugging her onto the stage and flipping her around in front of me while I wrapped my arms around her waist. I didn’t even notice if she was blonde, a brunette or fucking bald as she squealed in delight. My gaze was locked with Rogue’s as I ground against Miss Nobody’s ass in time with the music then pushed her back down into the audience.
Another girl grabbed my hand and I tugged her up onto the stage, lowering her to the floor face down and falling over her, grinding on her body to the beat. She laughed as I rolled her over, rolling my hips into hers so she could f
eel every inch of my hard on which currently belonged solely to Rogue. My eyes snagged on hers again and I wanted to claim that it was lust and maybe a hint of jealousy pouring from her eyes, but it also could have been me hoping for that.
What did she think of me now I was all grown up and could have every woman in this room sighing my name in less than a minute? I’d always wanted to be a man, but back when I was a kid that was because I’d wanted to have the balls to claim Rogue, kiss her right, fuck her right. I’d just been a virgin who’d failed hard when I’d actually built up the nerve to try and kiss her. It was still one of the most embarrassing moments of my life and I wasn’t sure if she’d even realised what I’d been trying to do.
I leapt back to my feet, waving the girl off stage as I backed up to join the line up of dancers and we moved in perfect time as the beat built to a warring crescendo. The audience wouldn’t be getting the full package this early in the show, but as we finished the routine, all of us tore off the Velcro secured trousers to reveal the tight fitting American flag underwear beneath that did nothing to hide our boners.
Women screamed and my gaze hooked on the big guy sitting at the bar with dark rimmed glasses on his face while he was clapping enthusiastically. Everyone just called him Tom because he only ever drank a Tom Collins. I guessed he was gay as he was only ever here when me and my troop were dancing, so I made sure he was let in the door because his bar tab could probably have put a few of my girls through college. Not that most of them had any plans for that. But they could definitely buy themselves a top-of-the-range shiny vibrator or ten courtesy of Tom.
I saluted in time with my co-dancers and we jogged backstage, my head buzzing with the high.
I clapped Adam on the shoulder and he beamed at me. “Fucking perfect,” I called over the still screaming crowd back in the bar as we headed into the dressing room to change for the next dance. Jessie’s voice carried over a microphone as she filled in the time with some dirty jokes and a spin the wheel game where the top prize was a hundred dollars.
My heart was pounding wildly and I realised for the first time since I’d started this line of work, I was actually feeling one percent nervous about dancing out there, knowing Rogue was in the audience. There was still a piece of that too-nice little kid living in me that I needed to suffocate with a pillowcase and kick in the head. I wasn’t a boy, I was a fucking man. And I wanted more than ever to prove that to her.
Sinners' Playground Page 29
