“Cole,” he said.
“Cole the Ripper? That’s the best you could come up with?” I laughed nervously.
“Just call me Cole.”
“Okay…” I let the word trail off.
He continued to watch me, his handsome gaze unnerving.
“What did you want to talk about?” I looked away and fidgeted with the bottom of my underwear. This man before me, Cole, had made me cum without even letting me see his face. He knew me intimately, yet I just now found out his name.
“You’re going to be my partner permanently.”
“Huh?” I glanced up and noticed his eyes were fixated on my worrying fingers. I stilled them instantly.
“You’re going to be my partner.”
I frowned. “You already said that. At the door.”
“I know.” His fists flexed at his sides. I took another step back.
Why did I let him in?
A distraught look spread across his face before he masked it. “We’ll need to come up with some routines.” His eyes darted to my chest. Unbidden, my nipples hardened painfully.
I found myself nodding. “Yes.”
“Tomorrow night. After closing. Though I fear we’ll have to wing tomorrow night’s performance like we did tonight.” His voice sounded rougher than moments before. He took another step forward, only this time I didn’t retreat.
Wing it?
I opened my mouth to tell him just how I would not be winging it with him again. I still planned to call Luke Masterson, Rapture’s owner, and dispute the new pairing. I’d been working there for too long for them not to give me some sort of courtesy opt out on this. I’d never complained once. He would understand. He had to. I couldn’t work with the sexy man standing before me. I’d worked with some of the hottest men to ever grace the planet, but never had I been around someone like Cole. Even now, standing in my loft, his face a mask of coldness, after he’d had me fuck a piece of my own shirt in front of a crowd of people, I wanted to drag him against my body.
You don’t even know him.
Which was exactly why this pairing was a horrible idea. The realization of what day tomorrow was surfaced in my mind. A rush of relief flooded me, when moments before I’d felt exactly the opposite. “Tomorrow is the third Saturday of the month.”
“So?”
“So, I don’t dance the third Saturday. I entertain at Rapture X after closing hours.”
His brows furrowed and his fists clenched audibly, this time staying closed until the knuckles turned white. “You mean you fuck at Rapture X.”
I narrowed my gaze, anger sparking under my skin. “Yes, I get fucked. What’s it to ya?”
“Who’s gonna fuck ya? Huh?” He took three long strides, backing me up against the wall.
“What difference does it make?” I’d never fucked Shawn before, but he had worked up at Rapture for the last year and had even married Kara, one of the bartenders. They’d both been eager for him to take Vic’s place at the party. A crazy concept for me, though I guess ten grand for an hour was something they didn’t want to pass up. I couldn’t imagine being with someone knowing they were going to fuck someone else, for money or not. I would castrate any guy who tried, which was why I didn’t date other strippers, or really date at all. No relationship ever worked out, at least not for me.
“Who?” His face hovered only inches above mine.
“Shawn.”
“The guy that’s married to the bartender?”
I nodded my head.
He shook his as if the revelation was surreal. He seemed almost normal in that instant, a serious contrast to the man I’d been exposed to all night.
“Do you want him to fuck you?”
I didn’t. Why would I? Even when I fucked Vic every month it hadn’t been because I truly wanted the sex with him, it wasn’t because I craved his body, no matter how sexy he was. I did it for the money. The occasional orgasms he gave me were coincidental and had nothing to do with my reasoning. I wasn’t about to tell Cole that. Who was this guy anyway, to barge into my life and demand I tell him anything?
I lowered my lashes and pouted my lips subtly. “You bet.”
A torrent of emotions tore across his face. A feral sounding noise came from deep within his chest. He smashed my body back against the wall, pressing every inch of himself against me. His long hard cock speared at my belly through his jeans. I went utterly wet between my thighs.
“You’ve fucked him before?”
“No,” I whispered staring at his lips.
What would he taste like?
I hadn’t kissed anyone in such a long time. Vic and I never kissed when we fucked. It was an unspoken rule, and the few guys I’d kissed in the meantime were boyfriends that hadn’t lasted long and even then it had been more than a year since I’d even bothered trying to date anyone. Not to mention the complications of Kevin, the ex who’d ruined me for everyone after him.
“But you will tomorrow night.” He traced his fingers up my arm. “For money.”
The last words left his lips like they were dirty. He took a step back. The cool air of my loft assailed my skin making me shiver uncomfortably.
Prostitute.
That’s pretty much what he was calling me. My anger resurfaced. “I didn’t ask for your opinion, or for you to come here. You’re a stripper after all, you do take your clothes off for money just like I do, Ripper.”
I stepped around him. I half-expected him to stop me, and pin me back to the wall. He didn’t, and I felt slightly disappointed. “Clearly us working together isn’t a good idea since you don’t seem to approve of the other work I do for the club.”
I reached the door and opened it for him. A clear message for him to get the fuck out. Cole walked slowly to the door. His big body moved effortlessly across my gray carpet. The image of him there amongst all of my things imprinted itself on my brain and a strange feeling swam around in my chest. I shook my head, ignoring it.
“You didn’t seem to mind working with me tonight.” His shoulder brushed against mine as he stepped out the door. “And you dropped this on your way out.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sparkling silver earring. I snatched it out of his hand and slammed the door in his face before he could see the heat stain my cheeks. At the distinct sound of chuckles on the other side, I pressed myself against the door and peered out the peephole, some sick part of me hoping to catch a glimpse of his smile.
Four.
“What do you mean he no longer owns the company? That doesn’t make sense!” I shouted into my phone.
The other customers in line at Creamy Café inched away from me, some of them shooting dirty looks my way. I was tempted to give all of them the finger, especially with the way my day had been going. I’d tossed and turned in bed after Cole left my apartment the night before. Sleep hardly found me, and when it did, I was restless. I continued to wake up tangled in my silky sheets, sweating, with images of Cole’s naked body swimming through my mind. I’d dreamed about putting his thick cock between my lips and sucking him to the back of my throat.
I wonder what his cock looks like? I never got to see it since he didn’t strip completely the night before, but I was curious and my dreams proved it.
Is he circumcised?
I hoped he was. There was just something about a long, hard, circumcised cock that made my pussy clench with desire.
“Yes, ma’am. The paperwork was finalized over two weeks ago,” Luke Masterson’s assistant replied.
“What the hell? How am I just now hearing about this?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, how can I get hold of Rapture’s new owner?” I stepped up to the counter and put my hand over the phone speaker. “Large caramel latte with extra caramel.”
The female high school student on the other side nodded her head and took my debit card.
“I can’t give that to you,” said the lady on the phone.
“Why t
he fuck not? I have an issue that needs to go straight through him.”
“Ma’am, this is family environment. Please take any personal phone calls outside,” said a voice from my left.
I glanced over at the short middle-aged man wearing a headset and a tag on his shirt that said manager.
“Fine.” I shoved my card back into my wallet and snatched my coffee from his hand.
“Any questions or concerns need to be taken up with Jimmy Rogers. He has the number to the new owner,” the secretary told me.
“Fucking seriously? Why didn’t you just say that to begin with?” I hung up the phone.
“Ma’am—”
“I know, I know, I’m going.” I didn’t even turn to look back at the manager who was no doubt storming toward me. I pushed the glass door open and walked outside. Just as I clicked on Jimmy’s name in my contacts, my phone dinged signaling a new message.
Speak of the devil.
Angrily, I slammed the door of my little two-door Honda Civic. The chill of the night air brushed against my skin and I immediately pulled my sweater tighter. It was just after two a.m., I was running late for tonight’s Rapture X party, and I’d managed to get no help with my predicament. Jimmy’s text had been a group message to all of the dancers making us aware that he had to go out of town for a family emergency for tonight’s party, but the show would still go on as planned. I’d called him repeatedly after that.
He can’t just ignore me. This is serious! I won’t be paired with that man. I refuse!
It was no use. He never answered and even Patricia, his assistant, had proved impossible to get ahold of. At least I don’t have to do a show with him tonight. And there will definitely be no practicing. The thought of repeating what we’d done on stage behind closed doors fired explosive feelings in my abdomen that made my body shiver, and not from the cold.
My heels clicked against the pavement in the employee parking garage located in Rapture’s basement. The Rapture X party was always held on the very top floor of the exclusive club. It was a vast ballroom fitted with expensive and luxurious decorations that one would expect to find in a palace instead of a strip club. Moving from the lower floors to the upper-most floor was like stepping from one world into the next, from black glittering walls with flashing lights to crème colored couches and marble floors.
Just as I was about to reach the lobby doors, a strange feeling fluttered across my skin. It was the feeling I only got when someone was watching me. I glanced around. The garage was full of cars, but I didn’t see anyone else. I bit down on my lips and quickly pushed through the doors. The warmth of the lobby surrounded me.
You’re just imagining it.
I took a deep breath. Kevin, my ex, had followed me for a long time, or stalked me, would be the better word. Eventually he had stopped, I assumed, when some other helpless soul had fallen under his radar. I still felt the sting of someone watching me every now and then. And those fears would come back, bubbling under my skin, sickening me. Just forget about it. You haven’t seen Kevin in over a year.
I pressed the button to call the elevator. I glanced down at my bare legs and stilettos. I usually didn’t dress until I got to the club, but tonight was an exception. I’d fallen asleep when I got back home from running errands and slept straight through the alarm on my phone. Needless to say, I’d taken about a two-minute shower, half-assed my make-up, threw on a tight black dress, and pinned my hair up. I’d lucked out that this month’s theme was “Billion Dollar Sex” instead of something ridiculous like last month’s futuristic Avatar theme. Vic and I had to spend nearly the entire day getting ready which included having our bodies air-brushed with blue paint. This month, pinning my hair up and slapping on some red lipstick nailed the part.
A bell dinged and a light came on over the elevator just before the doors opened.
“…but didn’t you see the way she reacted to him? I can’t wait to see what she does this time.”
“Do you think she will show—” The chatter of the two women on the elevator came to a screeching halt when their gazes turned to me. I recognized one of them as Matilda, the chick who’d swallowed Jimmy’s load the day before, and the other was one of the cocktail waitresses whose name I didn’t recall. Both were wearing red dresses that hugged their figures.
“Oh, hey, Jewel.” Matilda plastered a smile on her face and stepped off the elevator. “You look nice.”
I wanted to claw her eyes out, not for the fake compliment, but for the fact that I knew her and the other girl had been talking about me. Chill out. They didn’t even say anything bad. My conscience clearly thought I was ridiculous. Yeah, but even they noticed my reaction to him.
“Y’all leaving?” I managed to keep my feistiness inside. After all, Matilda was the one on her knees with Jimmy’s pathetic cock in her mouth for fifty fuckin’ bucks. The girl obviously had it hard enough as it was. The two shared a knowing look. I frowned.
What’s going on?
“No way, we wouldn’t miss this for the world,” the cocktail waitress chimed in. Matilda elbowed her and the girl coughed into her hand.
“See ya upstairs, Jewel,” Matilda said before they hurried off.
What the hell?
The elevator doors closed and then I was traveling up to the fifth floor. When the door opened my mind was still swimming, but luckily Shawn was standing in the lobby dressed in a suit flanked by his wife and chatting with two men I didn’t recognize. Kara chattered away with the two as if they were at any normal social function and she wasn’t about to watch her husband fuck another woman. I pulled my phone out of my purse. We only had about ten minutes until we were supposed to go on.
Why is he still out here?
Usually Vic and I would meet in the dressing room and go over anything specific we were planning on doing, or if there was anything we needed to discuss before it started.
Shawn probably doesn’t know that’s what you usually do.
I made my way across the plush lobby. Shawn’s green gaze caught mine. “Hey there, Jewel. What are you doing out here? I figured you’d been in back.”
I smoothed a smile over my face to keep the small group from seeing how confused I was. “I came to fetch you.”
“Me?” He frowned and glanced at Kara.
“Yeah, we only have ten minutes.” I pulled out my phone and indicated the time.
Shawn blew out a breath and shook his blond head. “Jimmy, that asshole.”
“The new owner should fire him,” Kara chimed in.
Huh?
“Okay, wait,” I said. “What are y’all talking about?”
“Sales were so good last night that Jimmy changed the schedule.”
Anxiety mingling with arousal washed across my body. I knew what he was going to say.
Fuck.
“He said he had already talked to you about swapping me for the Ripper when I talked to him earlier and that you were cool with it. I believed him,” he said bashfully.
A man on Kara’s right piped in. “Hell, I think we all believed it after last night’s performance. That’s the only reason I bought tonight’s ticket. Hella expensive for being so last minute.”
I turned to look at the older patron. He was one of the two who’d been chatting with Shawn and Kara.
“Never seen any performance like that before. Can’t wait to see what the Ripper has in store for you tonight.” He chuckled, and for the second time that night I wanted to claw someone’s eyes out.
“I’m so sorry, Jewel. We thought he told you. I should have known he wouldn’t.” Kara patted my arm.
I shook my head, barely hearing Kara’s sing-song voice. “You’re going to be my partner permanently.” Cole’s words from last night rang in my head. All day I’d thought to avoid him, to get out of the situation. I didn’t like not being in control, and I’d known that I could just call Masterson and get it taken care of. Even though that hadn’t worked I’d been relieved to know that I got to avoid him
at the club because of my late night performance…but no.
“I tried to get in touch with Jimmy today, and he never returned any of my phone calls.” I sighed. “I guess this is why.”
“Did you hear we have a new owner?” Kara asked.
“Yes, do you know who it is?” A flicker of hope sprung to life. If the new owner was here tonight, maybe I could get him to change it back to Shawn.
“Nope.” She shrugged. “I heard it was a woman though.”
“A woman?” I frowned. I hadn’t expected that at all.
“That’s what everyone is saying,” Shawn said.
Great.
The flicker of hope immediately dashed away. Everything had fallen apart and I was right back where I was before with someone else in control. I didn’t like it one bit…or do I? My body certainly did. The g-string I had on was already soaked, the damp material rubbing against my pussy lips.
You can still get out of this.
I turned away from the little group and headed toward the elevator. The doors were shut. Just take the stairs. The stairwell was nowhere near as nice as the festive lobby, but more like a concrete parking garage. I’d made it down one flight before I really contemplated what I was doing. I’m running? I’d never run from anything in my entire life.
My dad had kicked me out of the family. He quit on me, I didn’t quit on him. My mom did the same. She left me at a young age with a father who didn’t choose to start parenting until I was already an adult and it was too late. I’d taken care of my gran on my own for the last three years. Performing at Rapture X gave me the resources to take care of her without having to beg my dad for money. All the while I’d stayed away from the busted relationship with Kevin that had brought my life spiraling down to begin with. I’d done it all without complaining, crying, or running away when things got complicated. And boy are they complicated. If I didn’t perform tonight, Jimmy would use this as grounds to fire me…and now that there was a new owner, it might just happen and there would be nothing I could do about it.
Before I could think twice I turned and raced back up the steps as fast as my heels would allow. I pushed through the thick metal door and promptly slammed into a hard muscular chest. I jerked back just as strong hands gripped my arms.
Drowning in Rapture: Rapture, Book One Page 3
