Page 14 of Strip for Me

Twelve

KAIDEN

“Goodnight, Ellie,”I say, watching as she leaves the living room after we finish eating. I force myself to look away from her perfect ass, her slim waist, and her soft-looking brown hair. I don’t think I’ve been attracted to any girl like her before, and she is the only girl that is so far off limits to me. I can’t have her, and everything from her little smiles, the unusual way she speaks anything she thinks, and her soft-looking lips are drawing me in.

I glance over to see Dominic looking at her in the same way I am, with desire.

“She is something else,” I say, and Dominic gives me a sharp look.

“Come on, even you have to admit you’re jealous of Andre right now,” I say, and he just grunts as an answer. The last girl that lived here was his ex-wife, and that was a disaster. It started with just little things, her wearing next to nothing as she walked around the house. Then, it was her walking in on us in the shower, and eventually, she kissed Todd. Then, she told Dominic that Todd was lying, when we all know he wouldn’t lie about something like that. She did, eventually, admit to it and said she loved us all. Now, it wouldn’t have been that bad, if shewasn’t sleeping with two of the other guys from our work. Fuck knows who else she was sleeping with. Dominic said they had been arguing a lot about her spending all his money and going out and getting drunk all the time. Kissing Todd was just the icing on the cake, and they got a divorce. Dominic hasn’t trusted women since, and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen him have any interest in anyone.

“The last thing we need is to confuse her, you need to stay the fuck away from her, man,” Dominic says, and I shrug. I wish I could say I could stay away from her, but I can’t. I know way too much about her past as it is. Her ex-husband is accused of burning her home down that she got in her divorce, and the charges against him were dropped yesterday. I don’t know how he got out of it, but I bet it’s something to do with the fact he’s a lawyer. I couldn’t find out why they got divorced, but I’m fucking happy she left him. It looks like she’s just having a hard time getting on her feet, and being pregnant must be stressful. Even if nothing happens between us, I’m still going to help her get her life sorted and the start of that, is getting her a new job. Then, we can work out everything else.

“Andre may have gotten her pregnant, but they aren’t together. It’s her choice, don’t you think?” I ask, and Dominic takes his glasses off. I watch as he squeezes the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

“Look, she’s pretty and sweet. I get why you like her; I won’t lie and say I don’t feel something for her too, but . . .,” he stops to make sure I’m listening to him as he gets my eye contact.

“Ellie needs to build a relationship with Andre, he looks at her the same way as we do, and they’re having a baby together. Don’t think with your dick and get in the way of that,” he says and stands up.

“It’s not my dick that’s thinking about her. Well, it is a little, but it’s more than just lust,” I say, being truthful with him.

“You’re not the only one,” Dominic says before he storms out.

Thirteen

ANDRE

“She ran,”I tell Todd who nods as he pulls a yellow shirt on. The sight of Ellie watching me with such an expression of shock and disgust is not something I want to remember. I knew she wouldn’t take it well. I pick my phone up as it beeps.

Kaiden- Ellie has accepted the job and is cool with the stripping.

“You gotta see this man,” I say and chuck my phone at Todd. He reads it and chucks it back.

“So, she wasn’t that disgusted,” he says with a low chuckle.

“I’m surprised,” I tell him, and he nods in a silent agreement. I don’t know how Kaiden managed to convince her to take the job, or how the hell he convinced her to come back here after she ran out. Kaiden has a way with women, we all do to a certain extent, but somehow, he can make women do whatever he wants.

“Have you told your aunt about Ellie and the baby?” Todd asks, and I shake my head thinking of my Aunt Mel and how I’ll have to tell her in person. It’s not something I’ll tell her over a phone call. She is the only blood family I have that stuck around from when I was a child. I know she wanted me to live withher, but she’s in a wheelchair and couldn’t adopt me when I was younger. My aunt needs a lot of help and has a live-in nurse who helps her. Mel had a serious car crash when she was twenty-four, and it messed her up. Not only did she lose both her legs, she had to have many operations to cope with the internal damage. I know she’s in a lot of pain still, and there is little else the doctors can do to help her. She is getting too old for any more operations, being that she’s now sixty-four. I’ve offered to move her into the house we have. The house is big enough, and my parents left it to me in their will when they died five years ago. It’s the only thing I ever got from them, but Mel said she wants her own space.

“No, I’m going to see her soon, and I might take Ellie, if she wants to come.” I add in the last part as an afterthought.

“I’m out for the day, got to go and babysit my sister’s kids,” Todd says. I feel bad for him at times because Todd has three sisters whom he looks after. One of them has two kids, and her husband walked out on her recently. She is struggling, so we take turns babysitting when she needs it, so Todd doesn’t get too stressed out.

“Need any help?” I ask him. I need some sleep, but it doesn’t matter.

“Nah, man, this is your night. You need to get some real sleep,” he tells me.

“You’re up, Todd,” Louie shouts from the stage. Louie is one of the more experienced back-up dancers and can easily do a few dances on his own. Louie does a lot of the private dances that we don’t do and more of the dances where he pulls women up onto the stage. I glance back at Todd, who’s dressed up like a firefighter and doing a dance that the girls all love.

“Good luck, man, there are a few hen do’s tonight,” I laugh, and he grimaces before stomping out of the room. Man, I lovethe hen do’s, the women always drink a lot and spend a lot, but Todd can’t stand them.

I walk out the side door and to the private bar we have backstage, and next door to the office we use.

I open a beer and sit down on one of the sofas as I look at my phone. I don’t even have Ellie’s number, something I need to sort out.

“Hey, Andre,” a female voice says behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts of Ellie. I groan mentally when I see the bubbly blonde walking over. Fucking hell, I thought Todd had talked to his sister about coming back here. Todd’s sister, Cleo, is a stunning woman, but I would never touch her. She must have snuck in because if Todd saw her in the tight, red dress she’s wearing and the matching, red heels, he would have lost it.

“Cleo, you should leave,” I say, and she ignores me as she sits right next to me. I’ll give her one thing, she is persistent. I don’t know how many fucking times I’ve told her I’m not interested. She keeps coming back.

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