Slow Burn (24 page)

“Well, burlesque is an art form,” said Axel.

“It is?”

“Mostly the clothes,” he admitted. “We did have some variety shows here, like traditional burlesque shows. But they weren’t as profitable as the straight-up stripping, so I discontinued them.”

A waitress came over to our table. She was a little bit more dressed that the girls on stage. She had a tiny skirt on under her corset, instead of just a thong. She was carrying a bottle of champagne and two glasses. “Hi Axel,” she said when she arrived.

He smiled at her. “Sometimes you gotta go where everybody knows your name.”

The waitress winked at him as she poured our champagne.

“I thought you were going to law school,” I said. “Why are you investing in strip clubs?”

“
Gentleman’s
club,” he said.

“Whatever,” I said.

“I switched to business,” he said. “My dad said it was just as good, and I don’t have to go to law school now. I might get an MBA, but that’s not nearly as much time as the hassle of getting a law degree, you know?”

I shrugged. I changed my major a lot. In Thomas, I’d been majoring in English, but I’d already been through theater, graphic design, history, and elementary education. “I guess so.”

“You don’t like it,” he said.

I was watching one of the girls on stage. She was hanging upside down on the pole. “How do they get those corsets off?” I’d worn a corset before. They were made up of about thirty hooks and latches. They weren’t easy to remove.

“Oh, that’s the best part,” he said. “The girls help each other take them off. It’s our claim to fame.”

I nodded. Right. I took a drink of my champagne.

“Your turn,” he said. “Tell me what the heck you’re doing showing up at my door again.”

I sighed. “I need a place to crash for a little bit.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Couldn’t make up with the boyfriend, huh? Did he pick his baby mama?”

For a second, I didn’t know what he was talking about. Then I remembered that the last time I’d seen Axel, I’d thought that Griffin and Beth had a relationship.

“Actually, that turned out to be a misunderstanding,” I said.

Axel took out a bag of coke and a small mirror, brazen as you please, and began cutting up lines. “Really? That’s interesting. I did some checking after you ran off a few days ago, Leigh. It’s the strangest thing. You’ve been missing for months. So has your father.”

My heart sank. He was starting to ask too many questions. “Look, Axel, I can’t really talk about this.”

He leaned forward. “Is it illegal?”

“No,” I said. “Not exactly.”

“Too bad.” He worked on perfecting his lines of blow. “So, how long do you need to stay with me?”

I chewed on my lip. That was a good question. I really had no idea. Until the guys from Op Wraith found us and killed Axel as well as me? I needed a plan. “I guess I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

He offered me the mirror. “Sounds like you’re in trouble, babe. Do a line. It’ll make it all better.”

“No thanks,” I said. I remembered the way I’d reacted to it before. It was too much. I couldn’t risk it ever again.

He shrugged. “Fine. More for me, then.” He sucked up the white powder through a rolled up bill. He leaned back, his eyes closed. “Leigh, you don’t know what you’re missing.”

I did know, though. And I was afraid of feeling it again. I liked it too much. I clasped my hands together in front of me.

Axel grinned a Cheshire Cat smile at me. “Are you in trouble?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I think I am.”

“And you need me to help?”

“Yes.”

He laughed. “I’m like Prince Charming, then.” He bent down for another line.

Prince Charming? I surveyed him, his cocky smile as he wiped his nose. His expensive clothes, his well-groomed fingernails. Maybe he was a kind of prince, but he was a spoiled one. Still, he was the only thing I had right now. I did my best to smile. “I guess you are.”

He leaned across the table. “Do I save you with a kiss?”

God. Why was he still harping on that? Axel and I had messed around a lot, but we’d never been serious. I didn’t think he actually liked me. Besides, he was in a room full of half-naked chicks, and he was a rich guy. Certainly, he could find someone else to kiss him.

But what would he do if I didn’t acquiesce?

“Axel,” said a male voice behind me.

I turned. It was a man I’d never seen before, probably in his thirties.

“Hello Daniel,” said Axel. To me, “Daniel’s the manager here.”

“Got a minute?” said Daniel. “I want to run a few things by you.”

Axel got out of the booth. “Sure thing.”

I giggled, flopping down on a plush couch. “What’s this place?” The room was covered in mirrors. It had a thick, red shag carpet.

“It’s a VIP lounge,” said Axel, shutting the door after us. He handed me the champagne bottle.

I took a long drink, the fizzy liquid making fizz of my brain as well. I was a little drunk. “Does that mean I’m a VIP?”

“Definitely,” said Axel, settling down next to me. He threw an arm over my shoulder.

I gave him the champagne. “Well, good. Because I feel very important.”

He drank. “And well you should, Leigh Thorn. Well you should.”

I leaned back against one of the mirrors. “Oh, Axel, I missed you. I really did.”

He nuzzled my neck. “I’m glad to hear you say that.”

I pulled away from him, annoyed. If I hadn’t been so drunk, I might not have done it so abruptly, but all the champagne I’d poured down my throat had completely annihilated my inhibitions. “Why do you have to do that? Like you’re trying to put moves on me?”

He took a thoughtful drink of champagne. “Well, I suppose because I want you.”

“Oh,” I said.

He set the champagne down. “You don’t want me?”

“Not really,” I said. It was true. Even though I was drunk and lonely, I had no desire to have sex with Axel. It used to be that the combination of those two things was all I needed to be ready to go with any likely partner—as long as he was relatively attractive and easy to get along with. But for some reason, I didn’t feel like that right now.

“Ouch,” he said.

“Sorry,” I said. “It’s not because of you or anything. I mean, you’re exactly the same. But I’m—”

“Right. You’re not doing coke, and you’re still hung up on that dude you were crying over last time.” Axel sucked in breath through his nose. “You’re different.”

I didn’t say anything. Everything was starting to spin.

“It’s only that I missed you, too,” he said. “You were different than a lot of the other girls I’ve been with. With you, I was pretty sure I didn’t matter.”

“What?” I said. I tried to sit up straighter.

“It was refreshing,” he said. “You weren’t... clingy.”

“Seriously?” I said. “You like me because I’m not into you?”

“I like you because you’re wild and crazy and willing to try anything,” he said. “Well. You were. You’re different now. Like you said.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said. “I’m a big boy. I can handle it.” He gave me the champagne bottle. “But it does cause a little bit of a problem for you.”

“Problem?” I set the bottle down on the floor. “I don’t want any more of that.”

He stood up, surveying himself in one of the mirrors. “Well, you wanted to crash with me.”

“I thought you said that was okay,” I said.

He shrugged. “I don’t mean to sound selfish, babe, but what would really be in it for me?”

My jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious. You’re not going to let me stay with you because I’m not sleeping with you?”

“It’s not like that,” he said. “I just made a decision based on a faulty assumption. Now that you’ve given me all the data, I’ve concluded that it just doesn’t seem like a prospect that interests me.”

Great. I buried my face in my hands. “You jackass.”

He laughed. “Sometimes, yeah. But you always liked that about me.”

I lifted my face. He was grinning. I took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, fine, I’ll sleep with you, just don’t—”

“No, don’t be silly, Leigh. I told you it wasn’t like that. I don’t want you to sleep with me if you don’t want to. What would be the fun in that? I can find willing girls easily enough.”

“So, you’re going to kick me out.”

“You’re so dramatic,” he said.

I wanted to cry. I really did. But that feeling from before came back—that numb, frozen feeling, like I had no real emotions. So I only got to my feet. I stumbled a little. I’d had a good bit of champagne. “I have nowhere to go and no money, Axel.”

He raised his eyebrows. “You really are in trouble.”

I shook my head. “You really are a jackass.”

“I don’t see the problem, babe. Your dad isn’t my dad. I know he doesn’t have
that
much money. But he wouldn’t let you starve or live on the streets either.”

“He’s dead,” I said. I thought I’d cry then. Admitting that would make me cry. But nothing happened. I was ice.

Axel winced. He took a swig of champagne. “That’s tough.”

“And you still won’t help?”

“Well, you see,” he said. “That almost makes it worse. Because now you’re a charity case. If I let you stay with me, you’d probably never leave. You don’t have any money at all?”

“No,” I said dully. He was right, though. He was horrible, but he was being honest. I had nothing to offer him, and I would burden him if I stayed with him. “Please, just one night. In the morning, I’ll figure out—”

“Nothing’s going to be different in the morning,” he said. “You’re still going to be in this pathetic situation.”

“You’re going to make me sleep on the street,” I said.

“I’m not making you do anything,” he said. “I’m just not taking you home. Your life is your business.” He considered. “I guess you’ll have to get a job or something. That’s what people do, isn’t it?”

A job? Like I could just— I looked at him sharply. “You could hire me.”

“Hire you?”

“At your club,” I said. “You could do that. It wouldn’t hurt you.”

“You want me to hire you? Doing what?”

“Stripping, of course,” I said. I could make enough money in a week to get out of here. It was a good idea. It wasn’t exactly a classy idea, but what did I care? I didn’t mind guys looking at me. I was good at being the center of attention. And it would give me a goal. For the first time since the pick pocket took my money, I felt a tiny bit of hope.

“What do you know about stripping?”

“What’s to know? I mean, I have to take off my clothes.”

He considered. “I guess you’re good at that.”

“Fuck you.”

He laughed. “So touchy all of the sudden.”

“Look, you obviously want to see me naked anyway,” I said. “It’s a win-win, isn’t it? I’ll even give you a lap dance.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “All right. We can try it. There’s generally a fee that girls payout to the club for working, but I’ll front it for you. You pay me back after your first shift. I’ll also front for the clothes you’re going to need. You pay me back for that too.”

“Of course.”

He slid his hand behind my neck. “And I
am
going to want a lap dance.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll make sure I get right on that once I’m working.”

“No,” he said. “Right now.”

I shut my eyes.

“Consider it your audition.”

I forced myself to smile. “Fine. You got it.” Axel was such a dick. I sort of wished he was dead right now. But I took a deep breath, because if I was going to be a stripper, I was going to have to get used to playing nice with guys I didn’t like.

Okay, okay. How did you give a lap dance exactly?

Maybe I didn’t have to start in his lap. Maybe I could work up to that. I backed up against the far wall, my back against the mirrors. I closed my eyes. I could hear the music of the club in the background. This would be like dancing anywhere, right? Just feel the music?

I started to sway my hips.

“I’m waiting here,” said Axel. “Thus far, I’m not impressed.”

I really did hate him. “I’m a little drunk. Give me a second to concentrate.” I leaned my back up against the wall, my legs still out. I swung my hips in a wide circle, so that my butt brushed up against the wall. I closed my eyes again. I didn’t need to see Axel. I needed to get this right.

“Better,” he said.

I wished he’d shut up. I reached up and unbuttoned the first button on my shirt.

I slid down the wall, my back arched, my eyes still closed. When I got all the way down, I opened my eyes and fixed him with my sexiest stare.

He didn’t laugh. That was saying something.

I rocked away from the wall and planted my hands on the floor. Languidly, I moved so that I was in a crawling position. Keeping eyes contact, I crawled towards him slowly, like a cat.

He licked his lips. “Not bad, Leigh.”

I stopped in front of him. On my knees, I bounced up and down as I unbuttoned the rest of the buttons on my blouse, slowly, watching him the whole time.

He swallowed, eyeing me with interest.

I pulled my shirt over my shoulders, leaving it on the floor. I was down to my bra now.

I climbed up to straddle him, grinding into his pelvis, rubbing my body against his.

He caressed my hips.

“I don’t think you’re allowed to touch strippers,” I said.

He dug his fingers into my skin.

I pulled away, scrambling to my feet. “That’s enough, Axel.”

He curled his lip. “You’re not done.”

“You broke the rules.”

I swept my shirt off the floor.

“Hold on,” he said. “Don’t stop. I promise to be good.”

“Just... do I get the job or not?” I said. “Try and be a decent human being for once in your miserable existence.”

“Ouch. Babe, that’s harsh,” he said.

“You deserve it,” I said.

His gaze flitted over me. I was still holding my shirt, but I’d brought it up against my body so that it was covering me a little bit. “Tell you what, Leigh. Take of your bra, and I’ll help you get a job at my gentlemen’s club.”

“What does it matter, Axel? It’s not like you haven’t seen my boobs before.”

“Not in a while,” he said. “Not like this.”