My arrogance is not lost on me.
“You know, I think I’ll just take off.” I jut my thumb towards the parking lot. “I don’t need to cause anyone any more grief.”
“Maddox, I wasn’t saying—”
She gets cut off by the door opening. Out walks the girl who’s been haunting my dreams lately wearing yoga pants and a hoodie with that blond mane piled on top of her head. She’s just as fucking sexy in the oversized getup as she is with nothing but a G-string.
Her eyes lock on mine. In the pale glow of the moonlight, she looks like a damn angel.
She looks like salvation.
Delaney looks between us. The corner of her lips twitches as she fights a smile. “I’ll see you later, Madsy,” she says, tossing a wave as she walks away.
“See you, Delaney,” I call out while keeping my eyes on the unknowing vixen. Because that’s exactly what she is. She has no idea what she’s doing to me.
“You waited for me?” she whispers, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“Come with me,” I tell her, ignoring her question. “I’ll get you back to Bastian and Verity’s.”
“Can you not tell them about this? Please.”
My eyes narrow as I remove the distance between us. I’m curious why she thinks Bastian doesn’t know, but I’m more curious why she wants it to be a secret. And I need to be near her. “Why is it a secret, cher?”
“Why would I want anyone to know about this?” Her cheeks turn the color of cherries as she drops her gaze to the ground. “It’s degrading and demeaning.”
“Not saying I agree with you, but why do it if that’s how you feel?”
“The money,” she shrugs. “When my husband decided to toss me out, he tossed me with a lot of debt and no income.”
“That doesn’t make sense. How can he leave you with nothing?”
“Well, it’s easy when he already had everything before we got married. I mean,he gave me a little money, but it barely made a dent in my debt. My parents have money, but not enough to handle all of my student loans and medical bills.”
Finally, unable to stand her looking so ashamed, and going crazy to touch her, I gently grip her chin, tilting her head up to meet my eyes. “Quinn, there is nothing wrong with working here. Stop feeling ashamed for doing what you have to. Even if you didn’t need the money, there’s still no shame. Do you think those girls in there are all doing this for the money? I can guarantee a few do it because they want to. Because they love to dance and love their bodies. It’s just expression like any other form of art.”
She gives a wet chuckle as a tear spills past her lashes. “I’m not sure too many would agree with you. I can guarantee my dad wouldn’t.”
I nod with a laugh of my own. “That’s not because you’re doing anything wrong. That’s because no father wants to think of his daughter naked. Much less naked with an audience.”
“You won’t tell them? Bastian and Verity? I just can’t stand the thought of them knowing I do this. Not yet.”
Then it occurs to me. “Quinn, what name did you give them when you started here.”
“I gave them my name. Why?”
“Aww, cher, I can guarantee you Bastian and Verity already know you work here.”
Her eyes grow wide as saucers as the blood leaves her face. “H—how?”
“Because, pretty girl, Bastian knows the name of every person that works for him.”
“But I don’t—are you saying that—”
“Yeah, cher, Bastian owns this place. Well, him and his friend.”
She covers her face with her hands in mortification. “Oh, God.”
“He doesn’t care, Quinn. If he did, you wouldn’t be here. Verity has worked here before too. Not on this side, but this is where they met.”
