I'm In Love with A Stripper
DISCLAIMER - I DO NOT OWN THE VAMPIRE DIARIES OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS I ONLY OWN THE STORY PLOT!
THANK YOU for the reviews! Y'all are dolls! It motivated me to update quickly, so I hope this is to your satisfaction!
Love S xox
Chapter 2 - Very Berry Hibiscus
Bonnie managed to hail a taxi with an understanding driver, although she didn't quite know what he understood as he kept giving her funny looks. Either he thought she was creeping out from a bad one night stand because of her baggy clothes clearly designed for a man or she was a boxer, with that cut above her eye and the faint shadow of bruises forming matched with her – or - rather- Damon's baggy clothes, it wouldn't be an outrageous conclusion to jump to.
When she got out of the Taxi she ran towards her apartment building and quickly ran up the three flights of stairs, across the hallway and turned left until she reached her apartment and pushed her keys in the lock.
Standing in her apartment, Bonnie reached for the cookie jar full of money and pulled out a few notes before throwing her dress and boots in a white laundry basket.
She headed back downstairs, out of the door and handed the money to the driver who smiled and said thank you for the tip.
Bonnie then made her way back up to her apartment more slowly, taking the elevator and not the stairs.
Bonnie walked over to her door and locked it behind her, she then proceeded to turn on the kettle and peel Damon's clothes of her body before placing them in a bag to take them to the dry cleaners as she didn't have any energy to wash them herself.
The kettle boiled and Bonnie poured the water before adding sugar and opening the coffeepot. Finding not even a trace of coffee, Bonnie slammed the lid back on and huffed. She forgot to go shopping again! Oh well, she was going to have to go back to Upper West side Manhattan to do her dry cleaning, she might as well get some coffee from a café.
Pouring the cups content down the drain in her kitchen, Bonnie looked around, her living room was clean and tidy as usual, from the navy blue sofa to the lampshade that stood by her favorite reading chair, to her grey carpet and basic coffee table, all was spick and span.
Bonnie didn't have much, but she made the most of what she had, the living room was of regular size for an apartment in Harlem and the same could go for her kitchen and dining area. But her bathroom and Bedroom were big, they were a nice spacious size and she managed to fit a big double door wardrobe, a chest of drawers, a vanity table and chair and a nice queen sized bed in her room that was a neutral jade green color.
Her bathroom had the basics, the bath tub, the shower, the toilet, the sink and the cupboards along with the nice floor to ceiling window that offered enough light so she didn't have to waste electricity.
Turning on the faucet to the shower, Bonnie walked back into her bedroom next door and opened her chest of drawers that was placed opposite the bed. She picked out something to wear along with underwear and reentered the bathroom.
Finishing drying her body after her shower, Bonnie brushed her teeth and fell lethargically on her bed with a towel tightly wrapped around her body and another one wrapped around her head, thinking about the events that lead up to her being 'rescued' by the handsome stranger.
Elijah requested she meet with one of his clients that evening and that she had to wear something tight and red.
The middle-aged pervert was disgusting; he kept eyeing her up and ogling her boobs and bum like they were something out of the ordinary.
He was rough and hurt her more than once, but finally it was over and he drove her back to Harlem, where he tried it on with her again once he parked a few blocks away from her apartment, but she kicked him and told him to stop to which he shoved her against the inside of the car door and knocked her unconscious.
He must have gotten really panicky when she didn't wake up because the last thing she heard as she drifted in and out of consciousness was tiers squeaking and her lifeless body being pushed out of the car and falling on the cold hard pavement with a thud.
The lump in Bonnie's throat wouldn't disappear as she felt tears rolling down her smooth cheeks, she had paid Elijah $450 which meant that she was indebted to him by quite a lot still, So she had no other option than to keep doing this until she was able to settle her debt which also meant that she would be at Elijah's beck and call until she could give him every last dime and nickel back.
Willing herself to get up, she moisturized her body and pulled on her clothes, looking around her room, she felt like she was going to accomplish bigger things one day, bigger than she had ever dreamed.
Going into her wardrobe that was placed against the wall adjacent to the chest of drawers and opposite the vanity table, Bonnie picked out some shoes and left her apartment to head into upper west side Manhattan.
At quarter past three in the afternoon, Damon was furiously typing up a proposal when he heard the doorbell ring out.
Pushing his seat back, Damon got up and walked to the door.
As he opened it he couldn't help the feeling of triumph as he saw the caramel beauty at his doorstep holding two bags: a Starbucks bag and a plain white one.
His eyes watched her movements very carefully as she smiled lightly and held out the Starbucks bag.
"Sorry about my little disappearing act, I just needed some time." The girl told him, she seemed fresh, she had definitely showered, he could tell by the slight dampness of her hair and she was wearing a pair of basic skinny jeans that looked anything but basic on her sculpted legs, a white sleeveless chiffon blouse and a pair of black papier Chelsea ankle boots to match. She looked so different; almost unrecognizable as she pushed her white framed aviator sunglasses up into her hair. She had also redressed the wound on her forehead with a transparent plaster.
"Don't worry about it, I understand completely." Damon responded as he moved aside to let the young woman walk into his home.
"Oh and here is your trackies and T-shirt you lent me, all washed and dried and very much appreciated!" Bonnie said as she turned to the stunning man.
She felt her breath hitch a little as his gaze penetrated her, almost like he was trying to x-ray her with his eyes.
"That's my favorite T-shirt, thank you for bringing it back." Damon said in a low voice that had her feeling like she was going to faint.
Bonnie just nodded solemnly as she followed him into the kitchen, he was wearing a black T-shirt which hugged his toned torso magnificently and he was also wearing a pair of blue denim Levi jeans and black socks.
Bonnie rested against the breakfast bar and placed the bag down on top of it and began pulling out its contents.
Damon watched as she did this, pulling out one regular no foam caramel flavored coffee and the other one a transparent cup filled with a pinkish liquid and crushed ice.
Bonnie placed the transparent cup in front of Damon and looked up at his face as he studied the cup and then placed his gaze back on her.
"What's this?" Damon asked with amusement in his voice.
Bonnie squinted and twisted her mouth before replying. "Like you don't know, its Very Berry Hibiscus, probably your obsession at the moment." She gave him a knowing look before she pulled out a packet of Asiago & Cheddar Bavarian-Style Pretzels.
Damon kept his smirk on his face despite being completely thrown off by the young girls intuition, how did she know? He was seriously racking his brains trying to think of how this girl knew that he loved this drink.
"Enlighten me." Damon demanded as he continued to watch her, crossing his arms over his chest, Damon sat on the stool beside her.
"I saw the three empty boxes of this in your recycling bin last night when you patched me up, I put two and two together and got four." Bonnie told him, this alone spoke volumes about this mysterious girl, she was very intuitive and seemed to be very aware of her surroundings.
Damon raised his eyebrows and Bonnie cocked her head to the side with a coy smile playing on her features.
"So you sussed me out in two minutes flat, I'm impressed normally I'm the one who has powers of observation, deduction, and knowledge of social engineering coupled with genius to help read a person, but you have out witted me, for now."
Bonnie brought her cup of coffee to her lips and took a small sip.
"Well, obviously I'm not that observant as I didn't even catch your name." Bonnie confessed, she wondered if this man had a name that matched his appearance, something with a subtle air of power, a dominant name, a name you could never forget.
Now Damon really was impressed, she also realized that they hadn't exchanged names yet, talk about two great minds thinking alike.
"Damon, and you are? Let me guess a name beginning with a K, or a B, I'm thinking nearer a B." Damon held out his hand for the beauty to take as she looked at his hand and then placed hers into it, instantly liking his cool textured hand against her warm one.
Damon felt how soft and delicate her hands were, she was tiny, doll like, almost so small he was afraid if he shook too hard it might break her petite form.
"Hmm, you are correct, the name is Bonnie, how did you guess?" She asked and she tugged on his hand and then let go as she watched as it fell to his side.
Damon smirked, he was always correct, it seemed young miss Bonnie was underestimated by him, he couldn't figure her out, unlike most women, he just had to look at them and he could tell what they were after; Money, sex, drugs, drink etc. But Bonnie, nope, he couldn't even place one piece of her life together, it was like she had no tell.
"There is one thing you always need to know honey, I'm always correct." Damon said and earned a snort from the woman he now knows as Bonnie.
"Well Damon, the same goes for me, I scored a perfect GPA of 4.0 in senior year, what did you get?" Bonnie asked as she placed a pretzel in her mouth a took a bite out of it, Damon observed and felt aroused by this action, she was so innocent, she didn't know how sinful she looked.
"A wise man once said: 'Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.' I highly agree." Damon told her, never taking his eyes of off her full lips, which made Bonnie slightly uncomfortable.
She cleared her throat. "You know your Albert Einstein, it's my turn to be impressed now." Bonnie realized Damon wasn't going to stop staring at her so she too coupled his stare.
They continued to size each other up for at least fifteen seconds when Damon's phone began to ring.
He fished through his jean pocket and brought the phone out as he observed the screen name.
"Sorry I have to take this, its work." Damon told her and she nodded, still eyeing him carefully, not done with her evaluation of him.
"Mason! How did the Keller – Simmons merger go?" Damon asked, an authoritative tone bellowing out.
"Right, that's fantastic! I'm glad you finally made the deal a success, I told you we weren't wasting our time." He continued, walking over to the big window at the other end of the kitchen.
Bonnie turned her head to watch him; his back turned to her. Damn he had a nice back, she thought to herself although somewhat annoyed at her subconscious mind.
"And the numbers are right? $76 a share, not $62?" Damon asked, Bonnie continued to observe the handsome man.
About two minutes later Damon was done with his phone call and turned his attention back to where he last saw Bonnie sitting, although she seemed to have disappeared.
Walking over to the second lounge room located behind the second kitchen doors, he found Bonnie looking through the bookshelves.
"Interesting collection you have here, from Mark Twain, Anne Frank and J K Rowling to Stephanie Meyer. I see some John Steinbeck in here also. Impressive." Bonnie praised with her back to him.
To say Damon was stunned at her impeccable hearing would be correct. He crept into the room without so much as a floorboard creaking; her back was turned away from him so he didn't think she would have known he was behind her. But this girl was becoming more and more unpredictable.
"I will let you in on a little secret, I believe in vampires, maybe not those pussy ass vampires in twilight, but the supernatural are well hidden." Damon teased.
"Well now that I know your dirty little secret I will carefully remember it and use it against you." Bonnie told him over her shoulder, still eyeing the books on the shelf.
"How did you know that I would be home right now and not out at work?" He asked suddenly changing the topic.
Bonnie thought for a few seconds before responding.
"I guess it's because I left at 8:30am and all business men that I know are early risers, plus I didn't see any indication of smart shoes or bags near the hallway when I left so I just assumed." Bonnie answered him, back still turned.
Damon looked down at the floor, thinking about the things that occupied the space in his bright hallway.
The white detailed table in the hall had a pretty White pearl bowl placed upon it with keys in it. There were various prices of mail and leaflets littered on the table and there was a coat hanger with a few of Damon's most used coats hanging up. But other than that, that was it.
Damn she was right!
"Say something." Bonnie spoke up, bringing Damon out of his thoughts.
"You intrigue Me." as soon as that came out of Damon's mouth, Bonnie spun around to face him.
"I intrigue you?" Bonnie questioned, crossing her arms.
"Yes you intrigue me, you seem so sure, that's normally Me." he told her, copying her stance.
"Well I'm just observant, nothing special about that."
"No, it's something more than that, I can't put my finger on it, and I don't know why." Damon frowned, upset that he couldn't read this girl like all the rest.
"Something like what? Like the fact you have so many questions for me but you don't know how to ask?" she asked him, face void of any emotion.
"What were you doing in Harlem?"
"Wow you really don't waste anytime do you?"
"No, now are going to answer?" he squared quite quickly.
"Ok, so I live there. Now ask me what you really want to know, like about my choice in leather, I know your really wondering." she shot back.
"Fine, why were you dressed like that?" Damon asked her somewhat hesitantly.
"Have you never watched pretty woman? You know why I was dressed like that." she told him, not embarrassed.
Damon honestly didn't know what to say to that, she was so straight forward it was refreshing.
"How old are you?" Damon changed the subject again.
"Seventeen, and you?" Bonnie now walked over to the sofa that was set opposite the bookshelves.
"Guess." Damon challenged her, he couldn't believe that she was only seventeen years old, didn't she have a family?
Of course he couldn't say he was any different, when he was seventeen he was only getting to his feet with his new relationship with the one woman he could say was the only one that has ever cared about his wellbeing.
"Well your definitely over twenty three, anyone with an interest in John Steinbeck books who didn't have to endure them in school would have to be. So, reveal, how old are you exactly?" Bonnie spoke as if she wasn't a seventeen-year-old, but as if she was older, she spoke with wit yet elegance, never bordering rudeness yet her words could sting.
It was crazy; she was so impossibly ready with come backs that Damon was amazed that she could keep up with him. Normally people just laughed at his jokes or surrendered to his attack of words because they didn't want to annoy or aggravate him knowing how hot-tempered he could be.
"Close, I actually just turned twenty six."
"Twenty six, never would have guessed." Bonnie said in a dull tone.
"Yes you would have. Seventeen is pretty young to be doing whatever it is you do, shouldn't you be in school?" Damon was curious, he just couldn't help it, ever since he knew his grandmother she had told him to always question what he didn't understand.
Bonnie played with the edges of the expensive looking lampshade on the side table next to the sofa.
"I finished high school, graduated last month, I turn eighteen in two weeks, youngest in my year, they thought it would be stupid to put me in a lower year. I'm the special exception." she informed him, rolling her eyes and raising her voice pitch as she said the last sentence.
"What about college? Is this your full time job?" Damon asked not holding back as she did the same.
"Do you even know what I am? Or are you making assumptions?" she sassed, she was in a grumpy mood now, he was asking questions and that was fine, but the whole college thing made her somewhat unexplainably annoyed.
"Fine then, tell me what you do." Damon felt at ease with her, she wasn't snooty or touchy, she said what she thought and damned the rest. Of course he knew she was an escort, she wouldn't have been dressed like that last night otherwise.
"I'm a stripper, amongst other things." there she said it, as simple as day, ok she wasn't being totally honest by saying 'amongst other things' but hopefully he understood.
"I know." he told her, making his way to join her on the sofa.
"What do you do then? Something to do with MA, something that requires you to use the gift of the gab, you influence people." Bonnie narrowed her eyes as she thought, Damon sat beside her, shoulder to shoulder.
Damon turned his head to face her, inches apart.
"How did you figure that?" he asked, looking deeply into her beautiful eyes.
Bonnie didn't shy away; she focused her gaze on him and continued. "I heard you on the phone and you just seem like the type that can make a living out of talking."
Damon thought that he could intimidate her by staring her down, but no such luck.
"I'm a merger and acquisition lawyer but I deal in the literary sector for now, like representing the author towards publishing companies, I build good relations between them." Damon did in fact have to use his persuasive talking for his job; three out of five days he spent working from home and the two other days he went into his office.
"Hmm, so have you ever thought about writing your own books? I mean seeing so much literary genius must get you inspired right?" Bonnie asked, his job sounded amazing to her.
"Thought about it, yes, gone through with it, no. I like reading but writing isn't my thing." Damon cocked his head to the side. "But something tells me you find solace in typing words or are you more of a pen and paper kind of girl?" He had her now, just by the faint twinkle in her eye he knew she had more potential than strutting and sliding down a pole.
"Pen and paper is always more relaxing for Me." she told him.
He raised his eyebrows and continued to look at her while she got up and wondered back to the bookshelves.
Damon got up from his spot on the sofa and stood directly behind Bonnie.
"Do you have no understanding of personal space?" Bonnie could feel his breath on the crook of her neck.
Damon was standing so impossibly close to her that he could feel the curve of her ass on his upper leg, dangerously close to his hardening groin.
"Understanding? Yes. Respect? No." Damon followed her eye line; she was scrutinizing a first print of a vintage Jane Austin novel.
Damon reached out to take the book of the shelf, purposely brushing against Bonnie's back.
"I inherited this from my grandmother, she was quite a collector." he told her.
Damon picked the book of the shelf and Bonnie turned around to face him.
"Your grandmother had excellent taste." Bonnie mentioned and Damon picked up the past tense of the sentence.
"She still does have excellent taste, she lives out in West Hollywood, Los Angles. She left all of her possessions and money to me, but she still has a lot of her own obviously." Damon was still holding the book, running his eyes over the cover.
"Well I hope she continues her collection because it's pretty epic!" Bonnie beamed, she had never seen such a collection of first edition novels before and Damon just seemed as if it were something so common; well maybe it was to him.
"Well she has loads of free time to spare, so I guess so. And speaking of free time... What are you normally doing at this hour?" it amazed Bonnie at how quickly Damon managed to change the topic to something more random, he also intrigued her but she wouldn't admit that to him.
"Probably at the YMCA center, it's salsa class today and I'm teaching, but since someone else has taken today's class it seems I'm free." Bonnie loved to dance, it was her thing and her work out and she found teaching others soothing.
"Hmm, stripping requires a type of dancing skill I suppose, but salsa? Never would have thought." Damon said sarcastically and smirked.
Bonnie just smiled, not offended in anyway.
"Oh yeah, salsa, the waltz, ballet, ballroom, Charleston and the occasional barn dance." Bonnie smirked now and even though she wasn't lying, it was fun to play along with whatever game Damon was playing.
When Bonnie was eight she joined all dancing clubs available at school, she enjoyed them so much and really found her confidence within herself as her skills progressed.
"So what else do you do? Take me through a day in the life of Bonnie." Damon backed up and walked back into the kitchen with Bonnie in tow.
Settling back on the breakfast stools at the counter Damon watched as Bonnie took a careful sip of her coffee.
"Well what do you want to know?" Bonnie played with her straw as she asked Damon.
"I want to know everything." he took a sip of his drink and inwardly smiled; this girl really knew how to please him and she wasn't even in his bed. Well she was but not in that way...
"Monday I go to a homeless shelter and help out, Tuesday I help out at the pet home, Wednesday I'm a beautician, Thursday I run dance classes at the YMCA and Friday I do nothing. Is that it Mr. Nosey pants?" Bonnie raised her eyebrow.
"That's a lot of things that keep you occupied, so when do you do the stripping?" Damon asked wagging his eyebrows with a flirty look.
"Why you wanna come along?" Bonnie winked.
Damon was slightly taken aback by this because he had never known someone so straightforward.
"I mean I wouldn't say no if you asked." Damon admitted with faux sincerity.
Bonnie just laughed; it was weird thinking that a mere twenty-four hours ago these two were complete strangers and now they were joking like old school friends.
"Right your turn."
"What do you want to know?" Damon asked getting closer to Bonnie.
He just didn't know boundaries. He was constantly invading her space like it was no big deal. Bonnie couldn't decide weather it was sexy or annoying.
"Everything. It's only fair since I told you." Bonnie smiled triumphantly.
"Right, when I was sixteen I came to live with my grandmother in Manhattan, I had never met her before but I knew she was loaded. She had an amazing mansion, too many cars and possessions from all over the world." Damon smiled thinking about the first time he met his grandmother, she was so disbelieving that he was her grandson, she was so feisty and had fire. Definitely a woman to be reckoned with.
"What about your parents? Had you not been living with them?" Bonnie asked, Damon's grandmother sounded like a sweetheart and Damon, well she couldn't make a judgement just yet.
"No." Damon looked away, he cleared his throat and placed his empty cup in the bin.
"No? What's that supposed to mean?" Bonnie followed Damon's movements; he seemed so distant from the conversation now.
"No as in I wasn't living with them." Damon turned his back to Bonnie and she understood that this might be a touchy subject for him so she just picked up her bag and cleared her throat.
"Well I can see that you were probably working and lunch break is over for you so, I just wanted to say thank you for everything last night and see you around Damon." Bonnie walked out of the kitchen and down the hall to the front door.
Damon didn't turn around but he did hear her footsteps receding, and with great hesitation her followed her, jogging quickly to stop her before she left.
"So what time am I going to see you tomorrow?" Damon asked with unwavering confidence.
Bonnie's movements paused as she turned around to face him.
"Sorry, what?" Bonnie asked not sure what he was getting at.
Damon stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled. "Well you said on Fridays you do nothing, so I assumed that was an invitation for us to meet up." Damon smirked and Bonnie rolled her eyes.
"You know for a lawyer you do an awful lot of guess work, that can't be good for your clients right?" Bonnie put her hands on her hips and questioned.
"Actually, it did my career wonders. People like someone with confidence in charge."
"Yeah ok. Well nice meeting you Damon. I hope you have a great life." Bonnie remarked and opened the front door.
"You didn't answer my question." Damon now moved closer behind her.
"I don't know what your getting at pal but let me just make one thing clear, contrary to popular belief, I wont jump your bones because you have this hero complex radiating out of your every pour." Bonnie said with utter vindication, she wouldn't allow herself to be treated like she was with Elijah's 'clients' just because Damon may feel like she owes him for his heroic actions last night.
"Woah there shorty, I didn't ask nor imply sex was involved, I simply thought about hanging out. But my mistake, your a bit of a temperamental one, aren't you?" Damon bit out, he didn't like the fact that this girl was basically accusing him of pestering her for sex.
"Well what do you expect me to think? You do me a favour and then decide you want to 'hang out' with me? With most guys that's a code." Bonnie retaliated.
"Honey lets get one thing straight, if I want sex, I don't need to pay for it and second I'm not most guys. Don't make that mistake again."
"Or what?" Bonnie crossed her arms over her chest and defiantly asked.
"That's for me to know and for you to dot dot dot... Now do you still want to hang out tomorrow or are you too busy doing nothing?" Damon asked with a feeling of pride pushing through.
"That depends on what you want to do." Bonnie said subconsciously, if she hadn't heard herself she wouldn't believe she had said those words, it was so out of character for her to want to hang out with someone that infuriated her.
"I feel like tomorrow may be a good day to get lunch at that new Italian place, if you feel like it, you can meet me at 1pm in 8th and central." Damon had the day of tomorrow and he didn't feel like staying cooped up inside, so why not spend his afternoon in the company of a semi stranger?
"Well we shall see then, won't we." Bonnie smiled and opened the door, as she crossed the threshold she looked back and Damon felt his male anatomy jump to life.
"See you tomorrow Damon." Bonnie winked.
So this chapter was very bamon oriented, the story will have many 'just bamon' chapters even with the introduction of some fantastic characters next chapter.
Until next time,
Love S xox