Page 55 of Blood Revealed

“You left the ride?”

“Carver would understand. What made you decide not to go?” he asks. He’s definitely stumped, all right.

“Youwantme to go?”

“Fuck no. But you sounded like you were doing it no matter what I thought.”

“I love you, Raif. There are times I’ll need to push an issue, but this just didn’t seem like one of them. I decided, since you seemed so upset, that I wouldn’t go back to stripping. Though going back to minimum wage is going to suck.”

“Why would you need to go back to minimum wage?” he asks.

“Stripping is all I’ve done for seven years. You know I have a limited education. What else am I going to do? If you think I’m staying home to be your ‘little woman’ you’ve got another thing coming, buddy.”

He outright laughs. “My Han, a ‘little woman?’ If that was what you wanted, I’d take care of you, no problem. But I know you. Let me talk to Elise. You’ve been there, been helping the other dancers for years. They trust you…”

“I don’t want special favors, babe.”

He stares at me incredulously. “Han, what’s the purpose of fucking a Lord, aside from getting to play with my world-famous dick, if you don’t take advantage of special favors?”

We both laugh and I twist to hip-check him. “World-famous dick,” I mumble. “You’re an ass.”

“Yeah, but I’m your ass, baby.”

That he is.

And because I’m not going back to dance tonight, Raif takes his time getting me reacquainted with his legendary dick, as if I’d forgotten any vein or ridge of skin in the short time he was gone.

Although I’ll never tell him—I mean, I don’t want him to get an even bigger head—I’m glad he’s home. I missed my human body pillow. My biggest cheerleader. My best friend.

After three days of unemployment, I got the call from Elise. As the club GM, she decided to create a position for me. I never expected a position just for me, but I wasn’t about to turn it down, either. My new job title: Dancer Liaison. It’s my responsibility to take care of the dancers specifically. Basically, it’s what I’ve been doing for years, only now I get paid for it to keep me off the pole.

I’ll miss the applause. But Raif’s happy and I’m happy because my hours have normalized, not needing to stay at work until 2:30a.m.I’ll be out by 11:00 every night. Today, Elise asked me to come down to the club early because they’ve had ads up for a new dancer to replace me. Not to toot my own horn, but there was a reason I made the tips I did.

Oh, and bonus, depending on how good the new girl takes to my training, my income shouldn’t go down. Which means I’m training her like my wallet depends on it because I’ll get a cut of the nightly take above what I used to bring into the club as the headliner. Hell yeah.

With Raif at work, I take my Jeep down to the club. Chet, the daytime bouncer, is on duty. The club opens at lunchtime. Though you want to be a primetime dancer. That’s when the real money exchanges hands. He has a crewcut. Only about 5’9, Chet’s as wide as he is tall and it’s all muscle. I think the dude lifts weights with his neck.

“Hey, Chet,” I say, patting his arm as he opens the door for me.

“Hey, sweetheart. How’s it going?”

“I’m here to help Elise interview a new dancer. Should be fun.”

“No one dances like you,” he says.

I playfully swat at his shoulder. “Don’t let my husband hear you say that.” Chet’s face turns ashen green. It doesn’t matter that the man has at least fifty pounds on my husband; they all know not to mess with the Lords.

Elise sits at the table closest to the stage when I walk in. “Girl, I think we got a good crop of talent to go through. It’s gonna be hard.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it.” And I am. A good crop means bank for me.

I order a Coke Zero on ice from the bar and take my seat next to Elise. “Okay, Reggie,” Elise says. Reggie is the club’s daytime sound guy. “First up is Nelly Grace. Fingers crossed,” she says.

The music begins and Nelly Grace strides onto the stage. She’s—whoa!Gorgeousdoesn’t begin to cover it. Her dancing could use a little polish, but the brunette beauty has a quality that we find admirable here. Namely a sweet face and big tatas.

“She could work,” I tell Elise something that she can clearly see.

At the end of her dance, I catch a glimpse of the next dancer, who sneers at Nelly Grace as she leaves the platform. I don’t like that at all.

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