Page 77 of Awakened by Sin

“I have, actually.”

“Can you dance like this?” Kiki asked, fingering her shift dress.

Carmen gave her a deadpan look that made her grin. “Rock You Like A Hurricane” hit the speakers, and her shaky control snapped. Kiki’s delighted laughter followed her as she shoved her way through the crowd. She hopped on a table to get on the main stage. The men cheered excitedly, thinking she was a housewife gone crazy. Two strippers paused in their twirling to stare and then smile in welcome when they recognized her. She strutted down the runway as if she owned it. Technically, she did, but the men watching her didn’t know that.

She got down on her hands and knees and prowled across the glittering stage, very aware that she was giving everyone a great view of the scrap of white lace masquerading as underwear. She crawled toward one of the dancers who hung upside down. Carmen rose to her knees and grasped handfuls of Mercedes’s hair and leaned close. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw men crowding around the stage to get in position to see their lips touch.

Mercedes eyes sparkled with mischief. “Hey, chica. Where you been?”

“Around.”

“Those are bomb shoes.”

“I know, right? I got them at The Look,” she said as she stroked her hair. “How are the kids?”

“Good. Barry’s gonna be happy to hear I saw you. He’s been worried about you.”

“Tell him I said hi,” Carmen said before she kissed her.

Mercedes accepted the kiss eagerly and slid her tongue into Carmen’s mouth. Carmen was happy to discover that Mercedes penchant for sweets hadn’t changed. She found a hard caramel candy and took it for herself and felt the brush of money around her thighs. Their mouths parted, and the men went wild when they saw tongue.

“Have a great night,” Carmen said.

Mercedes’s eyes flicked to the money littered over the stage and grinned. “I already am.”

Carmen winked and tossed her hair as she slid over the dollar bills to an empty pole. Her mini dress slithered over her sensitive skin. She blocked out the roar of the crowd and soared with the amazing guitar solo. She arched her back and saw a captivated audience watching her. She smiled and imagined that the money that rained over her were flower petals. She rose slowly, using the pole as leverage with her ass out. She paraded around the pole and licked it, which made the men go crazy. One show of tongue and men forgot their names. She felt alive, desirable, and invincible.

“Man in the Box” by Alice In Chains saturated the club in sex and fantasy. Carmen moved slowly, sensuously. Men weren’t here to be impressed by tricks but liked to imagine they were the pole. She made her movements jerky and sluggish to match the song. She absorbed the energy of the crowd and let it fill the emptiness inside her. She lost herself in the music, lights, and pulse of lust. It coated her as surely as the sweat that slid over her skin. She swiveled her hips, played with her hair, and stared boldly at the men lining the stage to be near her. The power she felt being on stage made her feel as if there was a sunburst in her chest. Here, she ruled. Here, she knew who she was. Here, everything was simple. She was a woman in charge of her sexuality, and these men were her slaves, here to worship their fantasy in the flesh.

Songs transitioned, and she let her body take over. She forgot about the audience unless a man tried to take the stage and was immediately restrained by the security working overtime tonight. She partied her ass off and enjoyed teasing the onlookers with slow kisses and caresses by the other dancers. She had her back against a pole and had Taryn kissing a path up her legs when she saw a familiar face in the crowd. She stiffened, and Taryn stopped on her upper thighs and patted her butt.

“Okay?” Taryn asked in a muffled voice.

Even as she hoped her mind was playing tricks on her, the crowd parted again, and she saw him. Angel leaned back against the bar, watching her. He wore a white shirt tucked into well-fitted slacks. His belt buckle caught the light as he shifted when they made eye contact. A smile curved his mouth, and he shook his head chidingly. His presence intruded on her adrenaline high.

Taryn rose and kissed her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said.

Taryn prowled to the edge of the stage and humped the stage to the absolute delight of the crowd. Carmen didn’t move her eyes from Angel. What the fuck was he doing here? This was her haven, her business … not that he knew that. This was the second time in a matter of days that she ran into him. Shouldn’t he be doing gun battles in the ghetto, not watching strippers dance in a gentlemen’s club?

Angel raised his hand and beckoned with one finger. He did not just … He did it again. He crooked his pointer finger at her as if she were a naughty child or a dog. Who the fuck did he think he was? She didn’t have a keeper. She was a free agent. She called the shots, not some Roman, even if he was the new crime lord.

Carmen grasped the edge of her shift and lifted it over her head. The outbreak of cheers, hollering, and shouting overpowered the music. She dropped the silk shift on the stage and faced Angel in her white lace lingerie set, which she had been waiting to reveal at the perfect moment. The moment she picked it out today, she knew her night would end here. The tulle cups embroidered with a silky floral pattern were utterly feminine and more suited to a bride’s wedding night than a stripper stage. Her demure outfit stood out among the neon, animal print, or solid red or black the other strippers wore. If the men looked hard enough, they’d see her nipples through the sheer fabric. She put her hands on her hips and raised a brow at Angel. He couldn’t touch her. This was her territory, her power spot. He was just passing through.

Angel dropped his hand. She was too far away to decipher his expression, but she didn’t fucking care. She could do whatever she wanted. His opinion didn’t enter into the equation. She climbed the pole and let muscle memory take over. She hugged the pole with her legs and twirled slowly. Time passed, and her muscles protested, but she blocked it all out. She hadn’t felt this empowered in years.

She was twirling upside down with only one leg holding her weight when she caught sight of Angel again. This time, he sat in front of the stage, hands steepled as he watched her with laser focus. She straightened and revolved slowly until she reached the stage, which was littered with money. She landed on her knees and rotated her hips as she faced Angel. Men jockeyed for position on either side of him.

Angel rose and took two steps to reach the stage. He held out a hand. When a guard tried to push him back, Angel said something that made the man back off. What the hell? She considered ignoring him, but she had a feeling he was seconds away from leaping on stage to fetch her. She slipped on her dress before she prepared to scoot over the edge, but Angel grabbed her arm and yanked her off, along with a handful of bills. Instead of setting her on the ground, he carried her to the bar with her clamped to his side. He set her on a stool and faced the crowd of men.

“Get lost,” Angel said.

Some of the men dispersed, but a respectably large group remained. She could practically hear them panting for a chance to taste or touch. She had been the best dancer for a reason. Most girls didn’t want to be on the main stage since they didn’t make many tips, but it was the only place Carmen could dance where the bouncers could control the crowd. Most dancers made the most money in the VIP lounge or from lap dances, but she excelled on stage, the ultimate fantasy come to life. Despite the precarious situation, she was fucking giddy. Her arms and legs felt like jelly, but she was so fucking jazzed. She still had it.

Two men sidled up beside Angel. She recognized them from Gavin’s security team. The trio knocked some sense into the last of the lust-dazed men. They turned away and shouted for lap dances.

She grabbed a twenty-dollar bill clinging to her leg and slapped it on the bar. “Drinks?”

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