Heart of a Stripper (7 page)

“Don’t sit there and act like you’re smart.” He barked. “You’re not good for anything but lying on your back.”

Nevaeh looked up to him as she gripped the pen she had in her hand. She fought back tears as he kept tearing into her, chipping away more and more of her soul.

“You’re a whore just like your mother. Don’t think I don’t know
that you sneak out of the house. You’re never going to amount to anything but a slut.” He bit.

“You don’t know anything about me.” She whispered.

“I know plenty.” He insisted. “You think making a little money from selling your body is going to help you? You’ll never amount to anything just like your mother.” He growled.

“My mother left, and did a hell lot better than you!” she shouted, shooting to her feet.

“But you won’t, she left you behind because she never loved you.” He snapped.

Nevaeh fell silent as his words tore through her like acid.

It was true.

Her mother didn’t only leave her dead beat father behind; she picked up and left her behind too. Things had gone to shit since the day her mother disappeared. Her father became
more of a drunk, and worse it seemed.

“At least she got away from
you
.” She bit through gritted teeth.

“But you won’t!” he shouted back handing her, before going into her room and slamming the door behind him.

Chapter Six

Mitchell
stretched as he stood up. He had stayed late to work on new material for the teachers to use as proficient work tools. He knew how to get into the kids’ head better than anyone because of the time he spent with them. He even took tons of suggestions to keep the kids involved with their own education. Being bored at school just wasn’t an option for him, and he wanted his kids to know that. The happier they were, the more they would learn.

Looking at his watch, he saw it was well after seven. Kate had called him and told him she was out of town on business, so that meant he had the extra time to work. Grabbing his things, he scrambled from the office and did his usual routine. After seeing that everything was locked properly, he hustled outside.
It was raining profusely and more than chilly. He stopped as he saw a person curled up near the steps. Blowing out a breath, he slowly walked over.

“Is everything ok?” he asked, hoping the person wasn’t a maniac.

Seeing as how the sun had set early, and the person was in the shadows, he kept his distance. This was more of a scene from a movie and it sent a chill through him. Peering a little closer, he realized it was a young woman.

“Miss—are you ok?” he inquired again.

The female looked up and his heart dropped as he saw who it was.

“Fine.”
Nevaeh sniffled looking up to him, just showing her eyes.

Walking closer to her, he saw that the left side of her face was bruised. He immediately rushed over to her and fell to his knees.

“What the hell happened?!” he asked, pulling her arms away from her face.

He saw her upper lip
was busted as well and anger shot through him. She was draped in his coat that he had lent her, obviously trying to stay warm.

“Nothing.”
She insisted, as more of her tears fell.

“What happened? What are you doing out here?!”
Mitchell pushed.

“I didn’t have anywhere else to go.” She sniffled.

“Come on.” He replied, standing up before taking her by the hands and gently pulling her up. “I’m going to take you to the hospital.”

“No! I’m fine!” she shouted
, wobbling as her knees gave out.

He caught her
, and scooped her into his arms. He’d be damned if he left her alone. She was not fine, despite everything she was saying. Sure, she was strong, but she was still a woman. The only thing he could think of was the strip club. In his head, he was convinced that something must’ve happened there.

Carrying her to the car, he put her in the passenger side and closed it before jetting over to his side. Getting in, he
skid off out of the parking lot. The drive was quiet to say the least as he drove on what seemed like an endless road. He wanted badly to know who had done something like that to her, but he didn’t want to bombard her with questions, leaving her to be overly overwhelmed. After a few more minutes of silence and her sniffling, he folded. He just had to know.

“Nevaeh tell me what happened. Please.” He pleaded sympathetically.

“Nothing.” She replied wiping the tears from her eyes, as she looked out of her window. Wiping her tears seemed redundant because more had fallen faster right after.

“Nevaeh
, you can trust me. Do you want me to take you home?” he asked looking at her briefly.

“No!” she shouted looking over
t him and he saw fear dredge up in her eyes.

“I’m sure your parents would want to know—”

“No, they wouldn’t.” she replied shaking her head, as he glanced back at the road. “My mother left me behind.” She muttered, and his heart sank as he heard the despair in her voice.

“
What about your father?” he pushed. “I’m sure he’d—”

“He
doesn’t
care about me.” She bit.

“I’m sure that’s not true.
” He responded.

“You don’t even know him.” She grumbled still looking over at him as he stopped at a red light.

“He’s your dad—”

“He’s the one who did this to me!” she shouted, as her tears fell once again.

Mitchell gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles went white. He let out a stifled breath as he glanced over at Nevaeh. Seeing the bruises on her face had sent shockwaves through him. There were things about her that he realized he would have never known had he not found her. On the surface, it just seemed like she was the girl next door that had it all. The looks, and brain, but decided to throw it away to make money. Granted, that had changed the night before when he dropped her off at the crumby apartment she called home, but he never thought it was this bad.

Without saying another word, he drove off as the light turned green.

“Where are you taking me?!” she asked nervously sitting up right.

“
Relax, I’m taking you home with me.” He insisted.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she relaxed in the leather seat she was sitting in.

“I don’t want to be a burden.” She whispered, feeling pathetic.

“You’re not a burden. You could
never
be a burden to me, so I don’t want to ever hear you say that to me again. I’m going to take you home with me to make sure you’re safe, and I don’t want to hear another word about it.” He responded.

Pulling up to Mitchell’s home, Nevaeh was amazed. He lived in a penthouse about forty-five minutes from the school. The view was amazing to say the least. She could see the mountaintops as they stretched into the dark clouds. She was drenched from the rain, and so was he. They scurried into the house, and she removed her shoes at the door. He watched her and smiled. No one had ever done that, he always had to stress it to Kate, but she was always too bothered to listen. So he constantly had scuffs and scratched from her high heels on his floor.

The walls of his place were black, and the moment you walked into the living room, there were huge windows that stretched from the ceiling to the floor on just about every side. He had white couches with black backs sitting perfectly around the room. In the center of the room, there was
a block round fireplace. It was something she’d only seen in magazines. Sure, she dreamed of living in something like that, but knew the odds of ever fulfilling that dream were slim to none.

Walking over to one of the doors, she looked the windows and saw his square pool that could fit a whole party. There were huge beautiful black looking lanterns dangling from his ceiling. He was definitely doing
well for only being twenty five.

“It must be nice to live here.” she replied spinning around to him. He had watched her as she took in his things.

“I guess.” He shrugged pulling off his soaked suit jacket.

“You guess?” she asked wide eyed. “You’re loaded
, and live in nearly every person’s dream!” she scoffed as he sat her down on the stool at the bar in the kitchen.

“My
father’s
loaded. Do you really think I could afford this if I lived on my salary alone? I wouldn’t even be a principal without him.” he replied annoyed, raising an eyebrow at her.

She could tell he was uncomfortable with talking about money.
He grabbed a first aid kit from underneath the bar and walked back over to her. Opening it, he pulled out a few cotton swabs and dabbed her lip, cleaning the blood from it. Grabbing another cotton swab, he covered it with antiseptic before pressing hit back to her lip. She winched in pain and he grimaced before blowing it for her. The split on her lips was bad, but didn’t need any stiches.

Sorry.” He replied looking down into her eyes as she carefully watched him.

“At least he supports you.” She insisted, changing the subject as her teeth began to chatter.

“Not exactly.”
He insisted, putting the things away before pulling off his socks. “My father wants me to just like him, and since I’m not, he barely respects me.”

“Sorry.” She chattered.

“It’s fine.” He smiled fakely. “How about you take a nice warm shower, while I find you something to wear?”

“I don’t want
anything
of your girlfriend’s.” she protested as he walked her upstairs.

“Um, ok. I can see what else I have. You just go wash off.” He replied
, showing her the guestroom she was staying in that had its own bathroom.

Going into his room, he
grabbed a long t-shirt of his, and sat it in the bed for her along with a towel. After that, he went back into his private bathroom and stripped before taking a shower himself. After getting dressed in his pajamas, he headed down the hall to her guestroom. She was sitting on the huge canopy bed, looking nervous. He knocked lightly on the door, even though it was already open.

“You alright?” he asked walking into the room with her.

She nodded, as she sat with her legs folded. He sat beside her on the bed and examined her bruises. He was sure she had probably done the same thing in the bathroom. He saw the bruises stretched alongside her neck, and disappeared somewhere on her back where the shirt covered her up.

“You know you can watch a movie or listen to some music. While you’re here, this room belongs to you.” He smiled brushing her long black hair behind her ear.

“I don’t want to intrude more than I already have.” She retorted, shaking her head.

“What did I tell you about saying that to me? Do I need to tickle you?” he asked with half a smile.

She snorted as she looked him in the eyes. He thought she was absolutely beautiful. Her hair was curly from being wet and she looked amazing in his boxers and t-shirt. Erasing the image would be impossible. All he wanted to do was crawl in bed and kiss her sorrows away, but he had to many morals for that. He didn’t want her to think he was preying on her in her vulnerable state. Especially since it was now obvious that she had “daddy issues”. It made sense why she went for older guys.

“What am I five now?” she smiled
breaking into his thoughts.

“No, but that got me to see your gorgeous smile.” He insisted.

“Well I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but this is nothing new to me.” She replied.

Those words slammed into him like a knife into his gut. Just to know her father was an utter bastard enraged him. He wanted to stalk to the guy’s house
, and knock his teeth down his throat. The thought entertained him for a brief moment.