Page 1 of Stripped

CHAPTER ONE

I swayed to the beat of the music and smiled. Lights flashed. The crowd hooted and whistled. I ran my hands over my waist and reached behind my back for the clasp of my bra. I slid the straps down my arms and dropped it, allowing my breasts to swing free to the cheers of the, mostly, male crowd. I slid, back to the pole, into a squat that had my quads lighting up with pain. It was my seventh dance of the night, because we were short-staffed, and I was really feeling it. The lust rolling off the crowd overshadowed the pain somewhat, and energy pulsed through me. A guy on the edge of the stage flashed some bills, and I crawled over to him and let him slip them into my garter.

I made my way back to the pole and wrapped one hand around it, lifting my feet from the stage and swinging myself around. My arms shook and I stifled a yawn. Even the lust flowing from the crowd wasn't keeping my excitement up. I slid back down the pole and pasted on a bright, fake smile. When I'd been a little girl, dreaming of being a dancer, I'd never imagined taking my clothes off while I did it, but I'd taken pride in my exotic dancing. I'd allowed it to feed my need for creativity and movement. In the past year, though, it had become harder and harder for me to find any enthusiasm for it.

The song ended and I waved to the crowd as I hopped off the stage. I could have walked back behind the curtains, but I had work to do and the lust flowing through that room was too much to resist. I stepped into it like I was stepping into a warm bath. I sighed as the good feeling surrounded me, pumping me up. If I had more than a quarter siren blood, my eyes would be glowing red. If I was more than a quarter siren, like my mother and her mother had been, I'd be at risk of becoming addicted to the lust, of needing it to get through the day.

Alice handed over my bra and a dress too tiny to be worn anywhere other than a strip club. “Aren't going to take your break, boss?” she asked. My club, The Booty Carousel, was small and the staff was smaller, especially in the off-season. All the dancers doubled as waitresses, working in lap dances when required. As the owner, I often had to dance and wait tables, because I rarely had a full staff or the money to pay them.

“I'm good,” I said. “I saw Zara giving a lap dance, so I'll make sure her tables are covered.”

Alice nodded and headed toward the stage for her own dance. I slipped on my bra and the dress in the shadows next to the stage. I had no qualms about nudity, but it's best to keep the goods somewhat covered when I'm among the crowd, otherwise it's too much temptation for grasping hands and wandering assault convictions. The bouncer, Zed, preferred to save his energy for the gym and I preferred to keep the drama out of my club.

I checked Zara's tables and got them what they needed, before heading to my own section.

“Sissy.” Charlie, bald pated with gray hair at his temples, stepped up beside me. He knew my real name, but he always used my stage name at my club. “Looking good up there tonight.”

I smiled at Charlie, a regular who tipped well and kept his hands to himself. “Thanks, Charlie.”

On the stage, Alice was twisting and shaking her hips. She was a terrible dancer, but she had the face of an angel and the biggest natural boobs I'd ever seen. The crowd loved her and she moved with a confidence she'd lacked when she showed up at my door begging for a job. She had a dream of opening a bookstore in town, but the bank had turned her down for a loan. I'd convinced her to save her money and find a new town to open her business in. A town that wasn't run by blood-suckers.

“Needed a break from all that paperwork?” Charlie asked. He was a good guy, thrice-divorced with a bad habit of blowing all his money on women and booze. He was also the mayor of our fine town, Aspens Whiten. The bloodsuckers let him keep the job because he was agreeable and easily distracted.

“You know it,” I said. It wasn't exactly a lie. I did enjoy a break from paperwork, but mostly, I didn't think he needed to know about the club's staffing issues or financial problems. I patted his back and signaled Carly, who was tending bar between her dances, to make him his usual. “I'll bring you a drink, on the house.”

“I'd rather have a free lap dance,” he said with a wink. That wink was not accompanied by a lecherous perusal of my body or any real intent, so I didn't take offense.

“I'd like a weekend on a tropical island with a personal cabana boy, Mayor, but we can't all get what we want.”

“Ain't that the truth,” he said, his ubiquitous smile fading.

“Everything okay?”

He focused on me and his smile returned, but it didn't reach his eyes this time. “Leopold is complaining again.”

I bit my lip and considered my words carefully. Leopold was the top bloodsucker at the moment and the power had gone to his head more than a little bit. A select few humans, like Charlie, knew that Leopold and his coven were vampires, but most believed they were wealthy business-people who had an interest in the town. The conspiracy theorists thought they were mobsters. Leopold was looking for more money and more influence and The Booty Carousel had become his favorite target. I'd never paid the bloodsuckers dues before, certainly not in the form of a night with any one of my dancers, and I wasn't about to start now. All you had to do was look around at my club, the peeling paint, the linoleum that had been brand new in 1966, and the shabby-chic aesthetic of the furniture to see we weren't exactly raking in the money, but Leopold seemed to think I could squeeze money out of nothing. I might think it was all a ruse to force me to turn my employees into his personal brothel, but I'd never seen him without a woman on his arm, so that didn't make any sense either.

I put a hand on Charlie's shoulder and led him to a quiet corner. I had tables waiting, but tourist season had ended with the first snowfall, and the regulars were used to waiting.

“What's he asking for now?” I knew how the bloodsuckers worked. It wouldn't be enough for them to hassle me, they'd threaten Charlie to get him to put pressure on me, too.

“He wants a health inspection of your club.” Charlie scanned the room as he spoke, watching for anyone who might be listening. “Scheduled for a very specific time.”

“When?” It was a favorite vampire tactic of the previous vamp leaders: schedule a health inspection of a business and make sure it failed by planting evidence.

“Tuesday at four.” Roxy brought over the mayor's beer and he took it from her, his hand trembling. “If you do anything…”

“It won't come back on you,” I said. “We're closed on Tuesdays, but we're rarely empty. I train newbies here or catch up on paperwork. Sometimes my dancers practice here.”

Charlie nodded, but he couldn't manage a smile. “I've lived in this town my whole life, raised three kids here. I never thought…” His words trailed off, but he didn't need to say more. He'd facilitated the vampire rule of the town, charmed at first by what he thought were good, civic-minded people, realizing too late they were bloodsuckers only interested in what they could gain. The world might have learned about vampires for the first time fourteen months ago, but the Aspens Whiten town council had known for almost a decade.

“You mentioned moving to Tempe to live with your oldest—”

He waved a hand and grunted in annoyance. “They don't want me intruding on their lives. Truth is, I was a shit father and I've been a shit mayor. I walk away now, I might as well light the match on this town myself.”

I doubted there was anything Charlie could do to improve the situation in Aspens Whiten, but when he started spewing truth like that, I knew there was little point in arguing with him. He wasn't wrong. Not about any of it. “I'll keep you in the loop, Charlie.” People in bars talked and people in strip clubs talked more. I'd always shared what I could with him and he'd done the same for me. “Want me to call you a cab?”

“Nah,” he said. “I could use a walk tonight.”

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