The Billionaires Crazy Stripper

02

There’s a slight buzz in my bones as I twirl around the pole. My eyes are barely open so everything looks fuzzy but I don’t care. You wanna know why? Because I have a lot of alcohol in my system and I feel like I’m the wings of a bird.

I hear the whistling and hooting of the men surrounding my table but that doesn’t really matter. Not when there's so much going on in my life at the moment when I’m just trying to f*****g survive one day after the other.

I climb the pole, wrapping my legs tight around it as I spin, spreading backwards as I move my hands sensually over my body, trying to ignore the events of everything that has happened this morning even though it’s practically impossible.

I woke up with a hangover, not new but a more intense hangover which is insulting considering the fact that I’m almost always drunk— and throwing up into the toilet like it’s my first rodeo, which it’s not. But when I’m scrubbing the toilet again to make sure it’s perfectly clean, I realize that the way I feel sick isn’t just the alcohol, it’s the fact that I watched a man got shot and didn’t go to the police.

And also, I needed a cigarette.

When I was done, I smoked and called my partner. Liam is a perfect boyfriend, honestly, but he hated when I was hungover and he made it clear that he didn’t wanna talk to me in that state so he hung up. It sucked, it really sucked, so I got a cup of black coffee to sober up and call him again, because I wasn’t in the mood to be alone before I got visited by a man called Mr Vance who claims I stole a watch.

Mr Ward’s watch.

And the man needs it back.

Of course, I said no but he made it clear the police could get involved, which means he knew that I didn’t want those animals involved in anything. They have some sort of beef with me, which is one-sided by the way— and said for my sake, I should go back to the same room we were at in the club and wait for Mr Ward.

I did come to work.

But I’m not going to make it easy for the bastard.

I twist, spin, arch backward until my hair brushes the stage, then I slide down slowly. The music pounds heavy bass through my veins, and for a second, I can almost believe I’m free, flying until I open my eyes and find him right in front of me, his eyes staring into my soul as he smiles.

My heart instantly races, my breath almost hitching though I try not to show it. Alarms go off in my head as I place my legs back down, landing a split before I stand back up, backing the pole as I make hip circles around it, turning slowly with each one.

And he follows me.

His blue eyes never leave me a second. The hairs on the back of my neck stand as I try to close mine, trying to ignore his gaze but that only makes it worse because closing them makes it feel almost as if he’s right on stage with me, his hand around my throat as he chokes me—

A hand grabbing my feet rips me back to reality as my head snaps to the man who’s grabbing it. He looks drunk, too bloody wasted with drool dripping out of his mouth. My eyes snap around us, but the bouncers are nowhere in sight and I’ve been yelled at too many times for giving them a black eye so i can’t kick him in the face. “Let go, you bastard,”

But of course he doesn’t. Disgust riles up my throat before he yanks on me. It’s fast, and my head almost slams on the ground before I hear a scream. His hold on my hand slightly loosens and I take that as an opportunity to scramble away as I stare at the sight of me in front of me in horror.

The drunkard in question has a knife stuck into his palm.

My eyes move to him. Mr Ward has his eyes on me, like they haven’t left my face for a second. And his hands are behind his back.

Like it’s a message.

Like he wants me to know what he just did.

The music still hasn’t stopped, nor has anyone paid any attention to us. I even begin to think all of this is in my head until the bouncers finally arrive. And they don’t touch him. Instead, they grab the man with the knife still in his hand and drag him away.

Leaving me alone with him.

There’s a strange emotion bubbling in my belly now. It’s not anxiety. I know anxiety, and he’s an animal. But this one… this one is different. It’s like I’m pressed in between two walls, and they’re closing in… and I can’t breathe, I can’t run, I can’t leave.

And all I can see is him.

He comes closer. I want to run but my body can’t seem to move. He stops when he’s around the stage, his eyes still on me like he can’t bear to look away before he says, “You see what you made me do? This would not have happened if you went to the room like I told you to,”

“f**k you.”

I don’t know when the words leave my mouth, but it doesn’t give the effect I want. Instead, the smile on his face spreads even wider. My chest is heaving now as he tilts his head, like he’s amused. Like I’m some sort of entertainment instead of a person losing her damn mind. “It seems you’re tired of acting like you aren’t scared of me.”

“Quite the opposite actually,” Shut up, Aurora. “You disgust me. Acting like you don’t have f*****g self control. And the watch? Really? Fortunately, I haven’t sold it so if you want it, come take it back,”

“Where is it?”

“Take it out of my ass first.”

His smile doesn’t move. It just stays there. The kind of smile that shouldn’t belong to anyone sane. And for a moment, the club noise fades again. The laughter, the music, the lights…everything slows until it’s just the two of us in that flickering red haze.

My pulse is in my throat, so loud it almost drowns his voice when he finally speaks, “I’ll have to punish you for your… stubbornness, but not now. Now, I have somewhere to be. Please, await my visit. And, take it out of your ass and sell it. Preferably to me if you desire, Vance will sort of all this out,” Then he turns around and walks away.

And for some f*****g reason, I’m dripping in the space between my legs.