Page 2 of Bonded By Christmas
I worked at three different clubs over the course of a little over a year before coming to the conclusion, stripping just isn’t for me.
Working in the scent bar is a whole lot more fulfilling, anyway.
I tend to see the same clients on a regular basis, and it allows me to really get to know each one of them. It’s something society has needed for a while, but clinics popping up is a new thing. Back before there were laws to protect it, private services actedlike any other facet of sex work, at least from what I’ve heard from some of the omegas who did house calls back before the laws caught up.
Okay, maybe it’s not exactly like sex work, because it’s more about a pheromones exchange than sex, but what we do is, at the very least, sex work adjacent.
It’s up to the employee to decide which ways they’re comfortable transferring those pheromones, and the laws now protect our right to do that however we see fit, so I feel accurate categorizing us under the sex-work umbrella.
My second favorite part of my job is that I can do it in my pajamas.
The top perk is helping alphas who otherwise would decline mentally, but being able to wear comfy clothes while I’m working is definitely what gave this gig a leg up on stripping. Well, that and the fact I was born with no rhythm. And damn, did I try to make dancing work.
I took lessons from the other girls, watched a ton of videos, and put my all into it.
Ultimately, it wasn’t meant to be.
I’m happier now, anyway.
My first appointment is with a married couple named Dan and Mark. They started coming to see me three months ago, and they’re one of my favorite appointments. They haven’t met their omega yet, but I hope they’ll one day find the perfect person to complete their family.
Until then, we hang out once a week, snuggle on the treatment table, and talk about bad reality TV or whatever chaos went down at their jobs since I’ve seen them last.
Or like now, they make out while I pretend I’m not the third wheel.
Whatever.
It gives me hope seeing two people so in love that they can’t keep their hands off each other. Even if I’m stretched out between them.
Okay, so it’s a little awkward, but I get paid either way. Also, I think it’s cute that they get so warm and fuzzy inside just from being around my pheromones.
Mark stretches an arm over my torso, wrapping his fingers in Dan’s beard.
I snort, preparing to climb down the bed to get out of their way. “Well, if I’m not needed, I’m just gonna go…”
They pull back, and Mark pats my stomach, laughing. “Sorry, Lacey.”
“Do you have plans for Christmas?” Dan asks.
I shrug, glancing between them. “Not really. Christmas Day is one of the few the clinic is closed, but my mom is on a cruise to celebrate her three-year wedding anniversary. I’ll probably order Chinese food and refuse to step outside in this abysmal weather.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Mark frowns. “No other family close by?”
“Not really,” I say, but it’s kind of a lie. I do have a stepbrother. He lives less than twenty minutes away in the house his dads lived in prior to meeting my mom. Once our parents bonded, his dads stole my mom away, and Wilder inherited their mansion. The parents moved to Miami, and while I went to visit them last Christmas, this year they’re on a world cruise. “It’s fine. Honestly, I have serious plans to binge-watch Hallmark and not leave the house.”
“If we weren’t going to Utah, we’d have you over for Christmas dinner,” Mark says.
“I do make a fantastic honey-glazed ham,” Dan says, patting my hip. “Are you sure you’ll be okay? No one should have to be alone for the holidays.”
I laugh.
They’re very sweet.
I’m actually really happy on my own, at least most of the time. Sometimes it gets a little lonely not having a big family to celebrate holidays with, but it’s what I’m used to. It was always just me and my mom when I was growing up, so I think I got used to the solitude.
When I was seventeen, she met her pack. They bonded right before I turned eighteen, and I was forced to spend two awkward months living with Mom and her three new husbands. Luckily, they’re very generous guys. They helped fund my first two years of college and even paid for my first apartment. Though, I think that was simply to get me out of the house. They were used to having an empty nest, and I was clearly cramping their style.
The four of them wanted to be able to enjoy their newfound bonds, and I wanted to not have to worry about seeing things my eyes never needed to see.
