Page 22 of Ruthless Protector

He gave me a steady look, gaze moving over my face, hair, but again like he was assessing, not being creepy. “You’re an attractive girl. My clientele come in here to look at pretty girls, they’re not judging you on your moves,” he said, saying similar to what Fay had. “You have a look, an edge. And I like the pink hair, makes you stand out. I think you’ll do fine. We’ll get you up on stage, see how you do, and go from there.”

On stage? Of course, I knew this was what came next, but still, I thought I might throw up.

“Steph!” Raul called to one of the other dancers. She’d been swinging around the pole on stage when I walked in. She had fiery red hair, and fine features. I tried but couldn’t decide on her age, maybe mid-twenties, possibly a little older? She was wearing a red sparkly G-string and a tank that she’d put on to cover her bare chest after she’d finished her set. The woman was beautiful.

She came straight over and grinned at Raul. “What’s up?”

“Get Willa something to wear, will you? I’m giving her a trial this afternoon. Give her some pointers, make her feel welcome.”

“Will do.” Steph turned to me. “Okay, honey, let’s go.”

My eyes, that I knew were as big as saucers, shot back to Raul. “Now? You want me to dance right now?”

He shrugged. “Unless you got somewhere you need to be?”

I didn’t. Tilly didn’t finished school for another three hours. I glanced around the room. I had no idea so many people spent their lunch breaks at strip clubs. It wasn’t packed, but there were still a lot of people here, especially for lunchtime on a weekday.

Could I really do this? Could I get up there and dance? Take my clothes off in front of everyone.

Raul gave me a knowing look. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Willa. Do this or don’t, it’s up to you, honey.”

But it wasn’t up to me. I had no choice. I needed money, and I needed it now. Trent had texted last night, reminding me what was at stake if I didn’t get him his cash. He said I had a week. That if I didn’t cough up some dough by then, he was going after visitation. Tilly had just started to settle. I wouldn’t let him use her like that, only coming back into her life to get at me, throwing her world into a tailspin all over again. He’d been in and out of her life since she was born. I wasn’t going to let him do that to her again. “No. No, I’ll do it now. Now’s good.”

“You’ll be fine,” Raul said, patting my shoulder, then excused himself and headed toward a bunch of guys who had just walked in. Taking a deep breath, I followed Steph through the dimly lit club, the music throbbing through me, as we headed out the back to the dressing room.

“You didn’t know you’d be dancing today?” she asked me.

I shook my head. My jaw seemed clamped shut and I was having trouble opening it.

“It’s going to be all right, I promise,” she said. “All you need to do is move to the music. It’ll get easier.”

I drew in a deep breath, but the nerves only increased. “Really?”

“I promise.” She smiled. “You have a kid?”

I nodded. “My niece.”

Steph opened a drawer and pulled out a Pepto Bismol-colored bra top and a matching G-string. They still had the labels on. Thank God for that.

“These will work great with your hair.” She smiled, wide. “I don’t have any kids, but I can guess how hard it is. Raul’s great to work for and he looks after us. Coming here was a good decision.”

I nodded again, not feeling good about anything right then. “I hope you’re right.”

“We’ll keep it simple for your first dance, okay? Put these on and you can borrow one of my dresses.” She pulled out a tiny black bit of fabric.

She told me the best way to take it off on stage, and that I could keep my back to the audience when I took off my top if I wasn’t comfortable, so they didn’t actually see my tits.

“Do you need to shave?”

My brows shot up. “What?”

“Your bikini line,” she said on a soft chuckle.

I felt my face heat. “Oh, no. I’m, ah, all good.”

“Excellent. Get these on and we’ll get you out there. The sooner you get this first dance over with, the better you’ll feel.”

Steph left to do something and I shakily got dressed.