From the private areas in the back, Belle could hear them announcing the last call for drinks and last song for lap dances. She had been with Mr. Gold the whole night, dancing for him, moving her body seductively to the music's rhythm while he watched her with hunger in his eyes. Some possessiveness was there too. Belle didn't know this, but Mr. Gold was falling for her. He placed an invisible claim on her, and anytime she was in the club, Dakota belonged to him.

He handed Belle back her bra adorned with gems and rhinestones. "I know this is the last song, but how about instead of a dance I buy you a drink?"

That didn't sound like a bad idea. Belle was enjoying her dance just as much as him, but she became parched from all that moving on top of him. "Sure."

They left the private area together, while jealous watchful eyes followed them. Zelena couldn't believe that Belle stole her regular from her. The girls of the Rabbit Hole worked by a code. You're not allowed to take someone's regular, no matter the circumstances, and the veteran girls always had first dibs on the men who had the deepest pockets, and Mr. Gold's pockets were endless.

At the bar, he pulled out her chair for her. He then placed his suit jacket around her shoulders. The club was a lot cooler now that there were fewer people, and most of the girls were in the locker room changing their clothes to leave for the night.

"Two please." he ordered.

The bartender prepared their cocktails and placed them on square napkins in front of them. Gold took a sip of his drink while Belle hesitantly looks at her glass, shifting its liquid contents around.

"Is there something wrong with it?"

"Checking for drugs. I've seen this happen all the time on SVU."

"Sweetheart you just saw me order it. Are you assuming the bartender is working for me and I slipped you something?"

She knew Mr. Gold wasn't that type of man. She just had to be sure. Belle was living a more dangerous lifestyle, and she needed to be more careful of her surroundings, but maybe she shouldn't believe everything she saw on television.

"Sorry, I just had to be sure."

Mr. Gold could understand her plight. She was a beautiful woman, any man would want her, and any pervert would stalk her. Which only made him worry more. He felt the need to protect her, she was new, and any prowling man would happily take advantage of her naivety.

Belle takes a small sip of her drink before turning to him. "So tell me about yourself, what makes such a powerful man like you have a need for young destitute strippers like myself?"

He chuckled. Belle was certainly not a stripper so to hear her call herself one was naturally humorous. "Curiosity led me here one day, and the same curiosity keeps me coming back."

"What are you curious about?"

"You of course, and the girls." He explained. "Each one of you beautiful ladies has a more compelling tale than mines about what brought you to this place. Some are less intriguing, like Zelena's and her mommy issues."

Belle didn't know if her story counted as interesting. She and her father were down on their luck, and it was either stripping or being homeless. Both sounded like terrible ideas, but at least with stripping, she would get to keep her home.

Belle took another swallow of her drink. "I really didn't want to take my clothes off for money."

"You don't seem like the type." he said frankly.

She sighed with a small shrug. "I had to, my father, he's a good man, but when we lost my mother, he became depressed and began to drink excessively. The bills weren't getting paid, and the bank notices began to show, we had to take out a second mortgage, but soon that began to fall to the wayside too. So to keep my father and me from living on the streets, I took this job."

Her story touched him, life was so unfair to good people, and she certainly didn't deserve what she had been dealt.

"If someone were to give you a chance to improve your situation, would you take it?"

"You mean like a handout?" She asked, and he nodded yes. "Heck no. I don't wanna be someone's burden. I want to decide my own fate."

Mr. Gold smiled at her answer. He'd never met someone so passionate and true to herself, he like that about her. She wasn't greedy like most of the girls in the club. She genuinely only seemed to care about making money to help her father and better her living situation, and Gold could admire that she wanted to do it in her own independent way.

A man walked up, he was obviously drunk, stumbling while trying to keep himself upright. He grabbed Belle by the upper arm tightly.

"Last call for a dance and I have a twenty with your name on it." The man said disrupting their conversation.

"Oh -um, not tonight I'm exhausted." She said declining the man's offer.

"Fine, 25 dollars. How does that sound?"

"Ahem." Mr. Gold cleared his throat. "The lady said not tonight."

He knew this miscreant. Keith was one of the club's drunken regulars who he heard liked to cop a feel between the ladies' legs while they were dancing.

"What do you care, she's not Zelena." Keith reminded him.

Mr. Gold stood up, asserting himself in a looming fashion. He knew the only reason Keith was speaking to him this way was that he was drunk off his ass and had forgotten himself.

"I care because she said no." Mr. Gold said.

There was an unspoken code regarding the gentlemen in the club as well. Jealousy and roaring testosterone did not mix well with men, so claims had to be established with the girls.

"Whatever Gold, she looks like she wouldn't know what she's doing anyway," Keith said before leaving them and stumbling off in the direction of another girl.

"Thanks for that." She smiled. "I suppose that will happen quite often while I'm working here."

"I'll be here if it happens again." he said.

"So you're coming back tomorrow?" she asked, forgetting that she danced on top of him into the next day and it was already tomorrow. "I mean- tonight?" Belle was worried about that. She didn't feel quite ready to dance with someone else, and she only felt comfortable dancing for Mr. Gold.

He smiled at her excitement. "Of course."

"Let me guess, to make up with Zelena?" She said turning back around to her drink on the bar. Maybe he and Belle were just a one-time thing, and tomorrow he'd want his usual girl back.

"Not entirely, I'll be coming back to request you." He told Belle, placing his hand on her upper thigh. "Is that alright?"

She nodded. Yes, it was alright, Mr. Gold was such a handsome and patient man, she had a great time dancing for him, and she appreciated him not becoming upset at her inexperience, and honestly she couldn't wait to see what their next night had in store for them.

"Now as for your payment-"

"No that isn't necessary. I'm sure you could tell I had no idea what I was doing. You don't need to pay me." She said trying to back out from being compensated for her terrible lap dance.

"I most certainly need to pay you, that was the best lap dance I've ever had." He tells her. " Now, stand up."

She opened her mouth to object, but he stopped her by holding up a hand and gesturing for her to stand, so she did as she's asked and slowly rose from her stool. He placed his hands around her waist and dragged her closer to him. She was practically standing between his legs, while Mr. Gold looked her over delicately. His eyes roamed her body from head to toe, memorizing every detail of her hour-glass physique so that he could take her home with him in his thoughts.

Mr. Gold pulled out his wallet and took out some cash. One by one he folded each hundred dollar bill longways and attached it to Belle's lower body using the elastic of her G-string. He placed the fifth bill right in the center of her thong, his fingers narrowly missing her essence.

"Turn around." He tells her. Wait, five hundred dollars was enough, was he really about to give her more money? The answer was, Yes.

In slow motion, she twirled her body around for him, letting Mr. Gold get an ample eyeful of her curves. He ghosted his hands over her thighs and backside before pulling Belle by the waist again until her backside was flushed against his groin. He craved the stimulating feel of having her close and in his lap.

Belle just didn't know how badly he wanted to be placing the bills in her g-string using his mouth, letting his skillful tongue maneuver its way around her panties, biting her softly as his reward for successfully putting the note in its correct spot.

Belle counted another five bills placed in her thong by him. Mr. Gold just paid her a thousand dollars, for a very inexperienced dance performed by her. She wasn't expecting for her first night to be this lucrative. With this amount of money, she was a quarter of the way from paying off the second loan they had to place on their home.

She steps out from between his legs. "I can't have you going broke because of me."

"That will never happen, but you've earned every cent of that." He said gesturing to the bills sticking out of her G-string.

Mr. Gold was an enigma to her, but she liked that. She just wished she could understand why he was so grateful for such an awful dance. The other girls in the club were so much better. Over time they were able to learn their moves and choreography down to every precise detail. It was only Belle's first night, and she'd barely mastered a lap dance. Thankfully her first dance was with Mr. Gold and not some asshole who would have probably become impatient with her.

Mr. Gold's eyes weren't the only ones on Belle tonight. Envious eyes stared at her from across the room. They belonged to Zelena. She's never got a thousand dollars from Mr. Gold, at the most 300, but never what Belle just received for her first night.

"Calm down, Zelena. It's not the new girl's fault that Mr. Gold wanted her." Regina tried to explain to her older sister.

"Who does she think she is?" She huffed storming into the locker room. "I mean- what does she have that I don't, the slut can't even dance, she was probably in the private area giving him a blowjob," Zelena said to make herself feel better about her embarrassing situation.

"Well, it's not like you haven't given a blowjob or two to get a better tip. And besides, we both know Mr. Gold isn't that type of guy."

"So why does he want her then!" Zelena exclaimed, wanting some answers.

"Give it a break sis. There are plenty of guys in the club." Regina said, she was right, but none of them were wealthy like Mr. Gold. "Come on, let's go before mom wakes up."

Zelena walked with her younger sister through the club to leave, but not before giving Belle, who was still sitting with Mr. Gold at the bar, the meanest side glare ever. One that read check yourself, new girl. Neither Belle or Mr. Gold saw it. They were too focused on each other to notice the other woman's pettiness.

"Here's your jacket back." She said blushing.

He saw the rosy glow in her cheeks. Could she get any more beautiful? Her innocence was so becoming, and Gold felt an immense need to protect her purity. "I want you to keep it."

She had her own jacket in her locker, but she accepted his token anyways. Belle kissed Mr. Gold goodnight shyly on his cheek before turning and heading to the locker room. Gold couldn't take his eyes off her as she walked away from him. All he wanted to do was take her home with him and show her all the secrets her body held. Those sexy legs of hers were killing him, or maybe it was her thighs. As a matter of fact, it could be her smile, or perhaps her blue eyes. Fuck she had it all, and Mr. Gold wanted all of her.

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments
Let me know what you think of this chapter
Happy Valentine's Day!
-RL