12
Sable
Istood outside for longer than I needed.
Something kept me from opening the door, walking into the club.
Some days were always harder than others.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like my job, but after last night, the way that man had run from the room?
Yeah, maybe I was feeling a little more raw and vulnerable than normal.
What I wasn’t expecting was to open the door, stop dead in my tracks to see the man in question sitting and talking to my best friend at the bar.
I pulled out my phone to check the time making sure I wasn’t late, though that wasn’t unheard of, but I was there a whole hour before the club was due to open.
So what the hell was he doing with Victor?
“Hey Victor?” Maybe if I ignored the guy, he’d vanish so we could pretend the night before hadn’t happened.
“Sable, come and meet my new friend.”
The man stiffened as Victor’s hand landed on his shoulder. He looked between the two of us like a deer caught in the headlights. If Victor wasn’t careful, the guy was bound to get up bolting again. My fragile ego wouldn’t be able to handle that again.
Instead of answering the question, I made my way behind the bar grabbing a bottle of water before joining the two men on the stools. As much as I wanted to sit next to the man who was my current fascination, I didn’t want to push him again, so I sat next to Victor instead.
“Why are you letting people in, Victor? Won’t Henry get mad?”
Victor snorted a laugh before taking a drink of his beer. “He’s never told me I couldn’t, and honestly, this guy looked like he needed some help.”
That was when I took my first look at the man next to Victor. He still looked fucking good, but he was different today. His energy was lower, his smile didn’t meet his eyes, and there was also the matter of the nasty bruise that was blossoming on his chin.
“Oh my God. What happened?” I was off the stool, next to him faster than I realized what the fuck I was doing. His face was warm under my palms as I lifted it to inspect the damage.
The crazy part was that he was letting me touch him. I wanted to do more than hold his face. It was terrible that this adventure into checking on him had shifted so suddenly into checking him out. I ached to run my fingers over the fine stubble on his chin, feeling how soft his hair was.
“Uhh...” he coughed. I dropped my hands, realizing that I probably shouldn’t have grabbed him without permission. Especially after what happened the night before.
“Jesus. I’m so fucking sorry.” I backed away but didn’t get too far before he stopped me by grabbing my wrist.
Shit, his hands were huge around me and a shiver raced down my spine thinking of all the inappropriate things those hands could do to me. That thinking needed to stop because he was obviously hurt and wasn’t completely comfortable with me.
The smile he gave me this time felt a lot more genuine and sent warmth spreading through my limbs, starting from where he touched my arm.
“Yo—you’re okay. I appreciate that you were worried.” The man’s face turned a shade of pink. I wanted to hold his chin again to feel the warmth on my fingertips.
I chewed on my bottom lip as we kept staring at each other. This should have been awkward, but I couldn’t bring myself to pull away from his grasp. Well, that was until Victor cleared his throat, drawing our attention back to him. I pulled my arm to my chest as if I’d been burned.
“He’s got a point, man. What happened? You didn’t tell me anything other than you weren’t in trouble,” Victor said, resting his elbows on the bar as he watched the other man.
This was the ideal time to ask him his name since I wasn’t talking to him as a dancer or in a client capacity, but once that threshold had been crossed, I couldn’t go back to it.
The man laughed, rubbing at the bruise on his chin as he rolled his eyes. “Fuck, it’s going to sound really dumb.”
“Try me.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Nothing could surpass the way my mother would put her cigarettes out on my arms and legs or the way she’d slap me for no reason other than breathing in her direction.
His eyebrows raised as he looked at me, maybe surprised that I was still engaging in the conversation, but I was invested now.
He shook his head but said nothing as he picked up his beer and took a sip.
He kept his eyes on me the entire time—a hot lick of desire raced through my body because I liked the way he was looking at me.
Like I was a meal he was ready to devour.
He was a lion that had been denied food for a week and just had a juicy steak dropped in his pen.
“Got into an argument with my dad. I work for the guy. He didn’t like what I had to say.”
My eyes widened at the statement because if anyone understood what it was like to have a parent hit them, it was me. Though this man had to be older than me. How the hell was he still letting this man touch him?
“He hit you?”
The man held his hands up in surrender. “I said it was stupid. What twenty-eight-year-old lets his dad just punch him in the face? The worst part is that I’ll still show up for work tomorrow like nothing ever happened because the place would go to shit if I don’t.”
I looked over at Victor, who was watching the man with just as much interest. Not many people knew about my history, but Victor did. He had to know that the subject of an abusive parent would be rough for me, but it also meant that I knew all the right things to say.
“You know it’s not your job to save his business, right?” I said it so carefully because it was dangerous to let people know that sometimes. Most people didn’t want to acknowledge that they had a way out of an abusive situation.
He laughed again, but it lacked humor. “Trust me. I know that it’s not my job to save it, but it’s what I love doing and there’s still that huge part of me that feels pride in what I do there.”
“Look, uh...” This was the moment.
I needed to just put my big boy panties on and get the fuck over it, and ask him what his name was.
There wasn’t any hope of a repeat of last night.
I had a rule about that, even if we hadn’t touched.
Repeats led to feelings. The last thing I needed was for someone to get attached to me in this business.
Sure, I dated on the outside, but that differed from the people I sold my body to.
There was something about taking money from someone and having it turn into more.
The man’s eyes widened as he pushed his hand in my direction, as if I needed to shake it or something.
At that point, we were well past formal greetings.
We’d seen each other’s dicks for fuck’s sake.
Hell, we’d seen each other come. “Orion. God, I feel even more stupid that I haven’t told you that before now. ”
In order to humor him, I took his warm palm in mine, shaking it, letting the zing of whatever it was forming between us spread through my limbs.
The feeling needed to die, however, because after what I went through with Anthony, I needed time to reestablish myself.
To learn how to stand on my own two feet again.
“It’s nice to meet you, officially, Orion.
” His name rolled off my tongue like melted butter.
Like it always belonged there. I was always meant to be saying it and I did my best to shake off that thought, but we still hadn’t let go of each other’s hands again.
Victor noticed, because of course he did.
He laughed at the two of us before he grabbed the empty beer bottles off the bar top carrying them back behind the counter.
“Well, as much fun as it is to watch the two of you, I've gotta get this place ready to open. Orion, you’re welcome to hang out, but that one needs to get backstage and get ready.” Victor said as he nodded at me.
Shit. He wasn’t wrong. I was running low on time for warmups and getting ready.
I looked at Orion and Victor before carding my fingers through my hair. I wasn’t normally this much of a mess. Today had to be a special exception because of the new apartment issue and then seeing Orion at the bar when I came in…
Instead of continuing to stand there like a damn idiot, I ran to the back. Maybe it was a little rude to leave without saying anything to either Orion or Victor, but I was behind.
The moment I was backstage, I leaned against the wall holding my hand to my chest. I’d touched him.
I knew his goddamn name. Fuck, I was so screwed when it came to this guy because if he asked me for a repeat of last night—I didn’t have it in me to tell him no.
What the fuck was that. I’d never had that sort of instant connection with anyone.
Not even with anyone I’d actually had a relationship with.
It took time to build that kind of spark.
I shook my head because there wasn’t time to think of that shit. I needed to focus on my performance that night. Keep my head in the damn game.
Justine came around the corner. She was always there well before anyone else. I wondered why she got there so damn early. There were times that she even beat Victor into the bar, and the man practically lived there.
“Hey, there you are. You okay?” she asked.
I smiled, shaking my head. “As fine as I’ll ever be. I think I just met the love of my life.”
We both laughed because there was no way I would have met my forever person in a place like this. Justine was one of the lucky ones. Her boyfriend was more than accepting of her career choice and never made her feel less than for expressing herself the way she saw fit.
Making our way to the dressing room, I tried to refocus. It was so fucking hard to do when I could still feel Orion’s stubble under my fingertips.
Orion.
Fuck. The name fit him perfectly. He had that otherworldly thing going for him. Or maybe it was just my current unhealthy infatuation with him.
“Love of your life? Must have been some amazing dick. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you refer to anyone that way,” Justine said as she sat at the vanity next to me.
I rolled my eyes. If only. Sure, I knew what the guy’s dick looked like, but I hadn’t gotten any personal experience with it. He bolted the moment I tried to even get close. Could I even say I knew what it looked like when I’d been at least fifty feet away?
It was big.
There was no way to hide that if his hands were anything to go by. His cock was longer than the length of his fist, and his hand was so damn huge when he grabbed me.
A shiver raced down my spine as I imagined that thing drilling into me.
Okay. Maybe I needed to stop fantasizing about the guy after just getting to really talk to him for the first time. And finding out that his father had hit him. I hated that I could relate to him like that. Weren’t parents supposed to love you? What a load of shit.
“Not everything is about sex. Come on, Jazz.” I pulled out my makeup and applied some dark liner around my eyes. I didn’t use a ton of it, just enough to highlight my features.
She laughed, rocking back on the stool she was sitting on. “So you’re telling me you’re madly in love with the man and you don’t know if he can take you to pound town or not.”
“Eww. Don’t ever say that again.” I dropped my eye pencil on the vanity and stared at Justine.
Her laugh turned into an all-out cackle. “Really? You’ve not tried the goods?”
I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. “Look. I don’t know. There’s just something different about this guy.”
“That stunning beef cake that was sitting at the bar?”
My eyes widened. “Did you see him?”
She nodded vigorously. “Do I have eyes? Shit, Sable. He’s fucking gorgeous. But a customer?”
I slouched in my seat. “It bothers me. Trust me. I don’t know.”
Justine placed a hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “I’m not here to judge you, but be careful if you cross that line. He’s coming in here for a reason, and I don’t want to see you get hurt again. You’re worth so much more than that.”
The lump in my throat was hard to swallow around as my eyes burned. I wouldn’t cry. That was so stupid. It was great that my friend was looking out for me, but I knew my limits. Maybe.