Page 73 of Broken Dreams

“I want to show you that this is a completely different work environment than where you came from,” she says sincerely. “No one is allowed to touch you. My guards will break fingers without blinking and get away with it. The police and I get along very well, especially with the new chief of police in office.”

“This interview is a two way street. It’s as much of a way for you to learn about the club and what’s expected, as well as to make sure you’re the right fit for the job,” Augustine says. "How long have you been dancing?”

“Ten years for me and sixteen for Quinn,” I say, not loving that I’m speaking for her, but she squeezes my arm to say that it’s fine. “I learned because of her. She needed someone to dance with, and I needed something to do.”

I guess I did have anxiety, I just learned to mask it. It’s weird to have that kind of self discovery in the middle of an interview, but here we are. Dancing with Quinn to help her do the same helped.

It was the one thing Bret turned a blind eye to, because it meant Quinn’s muscles were loose enough for whatever she had to do that night. It also helped me stay in perfect shape as eye candy.

“Alright. I think we’ll do some nights where you two dance together, and try some separately,” Cerenity muses. “Sometimes, we organize dances with the entire team of dancers and open the night that way. You’ll be taught the steps in advance, and there are rehearsals. Now, though, take the dance floor over here and show me what you can do. I’ll throw on some music.”

Quinn nods, biting her lip at her shoes. She spent a lot of time barefoot or in sky high heels. My shoes aren’t the best either for dancing, and Augustine notices our hesitation as Cerenity goes to turn on music.

“Take them off,” he says with a shrug. “The floors are really clean right now, especially the dance floor since no one’s been on it yet. We just cleaned the club from top to bottom.”

Nodding, I pull off my shoes and socks, and Quinn does the same. Taking my hand, we walk to the pretty checkered dance floor that could be from an earlier time frame in history. Instead, it works with the ambiance of the club.

Sky HighbyMilkman comes on, and Quinn and I grin at each other. We’d heard this song often at the club, but only now are we learning the names of our favorite songs. Rejoining the world is surreal. There are so many potholes along the way, but there are also fun things about it like music.

We just let the notes take over us, and my footsteps match hers as we dance. I turn her when it feels right, and her hips move in a mixture of seduction and joy. This is our happy place.

It doesn’t matter how I learned to dance, it’s always been untainted for me because I had never been the focus point for Slick Dreams’ clients, on a pole or stage. By the same token, Quinn managed to keep dancing in a bubble away from clients because no one was ever allowed to touch her while she danced.

The music ends as she drags her fingers over my chest, and I dip her over my arm. Her body lines are clean and pliant, fully warmed up from dancing this morning. Her smile is wide as I lift her back up and we turn to face our own little audience.

“Holy shit,” Duncan rasps. “That was amazing.”

“You two can definitely move for being self taught,” Cerenity says with an impressed nod. “Can you follow along if you’re taught a dance?”

“I won’t know what the different kinds of moves are called,” I admit. “I can follow along, though. That’s how I learned from Quinn.”

Quinn nods in agreement, and Cerenity purses her lips as she crosses her arms over her chest.

“Duncan explained a bit about your speech, or lack of it, Quinn,” she says as delicately as possible. “I’m going to make sure you have a micro tablet with you when you’re not dancing so you can always communicate, okay? Leave the tablet with the person who helps you into the cage, and then they’ll return it when you’re done. This way you don’t have to worry about where to put it while you’re dancing.”

“Everyone deserves a voice,” Augustine says, and I swear I just fell in love with my bosses.

Accommodation isn’t always easy to find, and they just accepted Quinn’s muteness so easily. I hope she’ll find her voice again. I love the sound of it.

“Let’s get your paperwork filled out,” Cerenity says, motioning toward the bar. “Do we need to be flexible on your last names?”

“I’m dropping off paperwork that gives Quinn and Linus the last name Kelly today. It’s one of our stops,” Callum says. “The more layers of protection we can give them, the better. Quinn also went by another name at the club, so that should help too.”

“Good,” she says, nodding.

She leads us through the paperwork, and Quinn and I fill it all out. Half an hour later, we’re done. Duncan and Callum are going to make sure the legal name change is backdated by the judge who’ll approve this.

“Can you start in two days?” Cerenity asks. “I usually would give it a little more time, but I know what your background is so a criminal background check is pointless, and I am a little light on dancers.”

“Yeah, we’re in,” I tell her eagerly. Quinn nods enthusiastically. We’re ready to work.

“Perfect, we’ll see you then. The uniform for that night is a mesh bodysuit for women with black shorts you can move in and fishnets underneath it. Black ballet flats for men and women, because it’s easy to move in them. There will be times you’ll need heels, Quinn. Linus, you’ll be in a mesh fishnet shirt and leather pants.”

That’s easy enough.

Saying goodbye, we walk out, and I take a deep, cleansing breath.

“That was so much better than I expected,” I admit.

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