Page 2

I pull my phone from my pocket and check my banking app even though I already know what is there.

Fifty-seven dollars and fourteen cents.

I stare at the numbers on my screen until they start blurring. I blink hard, but the burning behind my eyes only gets worse.

Logan steps closer, but I hear him before I feel him, the soft scrape of his shoes dragging against the floor and then the rustle of his jacket as he moves into my line of sight.

“Hey.” He takes my phone from my hand before I can stop him, locks the screen, and places it facedown on the table. “Don’t look at that.”

I close my eyes and try to get my heart back to normal but it keeps beating way too fast, each thud pressing against the tightness in my chest until even taking a full breath starts to hurt.

The room feels smaller than it did only thirty seconds ago, and I can suddenly hear everything at one. Every sound seems too close, like somebody has turned the volume up on the entire world.

“Hey, hey,” Logan’s hand close gently around my wrists. “Look at me,” he says. I open my eyes and his face swims in front of me, going in and out of focus whenever I blink. “Good. That’s it. Take deep breaths.”

I drag air into my lungs while Logan’s thumbs move slowly over the inside of my wrists. He then pulls me into his arms, and for a second, I remain stiff against him, but when he places one of his hands between my shoulder blades and begins rubbing slow circles over my back. I sag against him and press my face into his shoulder.

“You’re okay,” he murmurs against my hair.

I’m not but I don’t tell him that. Instead I close my eyes and concentrate on the feel of his solid familiar arms around me, the warmth of his body against me, and the steady movement of his hand over my back. For the first time since I walked through the club’s front doors, something inside me begins to loosens.

Logan has always been good at calming me down. He keeps his arms around me until my breathing evens out and the room returns to its original dimensions. Only a few seconds later, somebody knocks on the dressing room door.

I pull away from Logan as the door opens.

“You’re up,” Stacy says as she steps into the room. She’s already dressed for the floor, looking comfortable in less clothing than I’m wearing. Her gaze moves between Logan and me. “Are you ready?”

“He is,” Logan supplies before I can answer. “I practiced vigorously with him.”

Stacy wrinkles her nose. “Is there anything you can’t turn suggestive?”

Logan grins but gives no response. He opens the door, music pouring in before we all step out.

The hallway ahead is dark, lit only by strips of warm gold light running along the walls, and the music grows louder with every step we take. Soon, the bass is no longer something I can only hear. I can also feel it vibrating through my chest until it becomes difficult to separate its rhythm from the frantic beating of my heart.

For one brief moment, I seriously consider turning around and telling them I changed my mind.

Then I remember the fifty-seven dollars and seventeen cent in my bank account and my feet keep moving.

Stacy kisses my cheeks and leaves to continue her shift. At the end of the hallway, I can see the curtain and the edge of the stage beyond it, washed in pale light, and I can already feel the heat coming off the spotlights even though I am not near it yet. My mouth goes dry and my knees feel suddenly weak.

I try to calm myself but it makes me become more aware of the dampness beneath my collar, the knot in my stomach, the faint trembling in my fingers, and my pulse jumping in my throat.

I barely hear Logan behind me when he says, “You’ll kill it.”

That’s not likely, but I’ll definitely try my best to have a stab at it.

I swallow and stare through the narrow opening in the curtain. It’s just one dance., that’s all. One dance that is technically an audition to determine whether I possess what is required to become a stripper. More importantly, it is my one chance to get a little financial stability since my master’s program has made normal working hours impossible.

I roll my shoulders once and step through the curtain.

Chapter

Two

ALEX

For a second, all I can see is white as the spotlight hits me directly in the face. I blink several times until the room slowly comes into focus, starting with the stage and the tables closest to it, then the rest of the club stretching into the darkness beyond.