New Chance

I spent the next few days skipping Professor Calaway's class. I'll admit it was killing my grades not being present in class but it wasn't enough to fail me just yet. I was doing all of my homework and sending it to class with Sami while going to my other classes. I never thought I'd run into him at that point and I didn't for nearly a week.

"Come on girl let's go make that money," Sami said when we were done getting ready to work. We had another duet to do and according to our boss we had some real exclusive men out there who had plenty of money.

I fixed my hair and adjusted my make-up before getting up to go out on stage. I was actually having a great time dancing that night. Sami and I were racking up our money like a kid racks up his candy on Halloween. Unfortunately things didn't stay peachy that entire night…About an hour before my shift ended, my boss made an announcement that we had a few celebrities in the building. I didn't bother listening too much since I was busy entertaining a customer. The moment he mentioned Shawn Michaels and Bryan Bautista, Sami and I both froze. Bryan, my uncle, had always been the nicer of the two brothers. He always treated me like a princess although I was his niece and not his daughter but that never stopped him from telling on me any chance he got.

I sat my bottle of Hypnotic down and told the customer I was talking to that I had to go. He tried to hold me in place so he could finish the song with me, but I yanked my arm from him and turned to head to the dressing room. I saw Sami heading in my direction in a quick pace. I looked around and met up with her before trying to hurry backstage. Unfortunately, we ran dead smack into Shawn and Bryan who looked more shocked to see us standing there that we were.

"Sami?" Shawn said as he sat his beer down on the table. She folded her arms over her chest and dropped her gaze from him.

I did the same as the painful stare of my uncle burned a hole right through me.

"Aria…what the hell are you two doing in here?" Bryan asked.

We glanced at each other and then sighed.

"Can we go get dressed…we'll meet you outside." Sami said.

Shawn took a deep breath, "Yeah hurry up."

We casted a glance at each other before heading back to the dressing room to get changed. Neither of us said a word to each other since we knew what they were going to say. We hooked each other's arm and headed outside where Shawn and Bryan were. We ended up separating since Shawn was parked on one side of the parking lot and my uncle was parked closer to the club.

"Call me later," I told her.

She nodded and squeezed my hand before walking across the parking lot to join her very angry brother. As for me, I folded my arms and headed towards my uncle's car. He was facing his car, smoking a cigarette and shaking his head in disappointment. When I got close enough he dropped his cigarette and then turned around and smacked me in the face.

"Are you out of your damn mind Aria!" he yelled. "What the hell are you doing working in a place like this! Your father would be having a damn fit right now."

Tears fell from my eyes as I held my face. "I didn't have a choice Bryan."

"Sure you did Aria!" he screamed. "You always have a choice in what you do,"

I shook my head and wiped my nose. "Not when your own father cuts you off from getting any more money from him!"

He sighed and shook his head, "So you came here to work? Why? Did you want to get back at him for actually making you strike out on your own for once?"

"No!" I shrieked. "The money I make here is enough to get me through life right now. I don't know where else I can make this type of money. Besides it's not like I'm a prostitute."

"Might as well be one!" he snapped as he took a step towards me. "Aria, you're a smart woman. Your father didn't send you out here to make stupid decisions like this."

I rolled my eyes, "What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

His eyes widened, "Oh so he doesn't know about this?"

"No. Why would I tell him?" I said smartly. "I'm a grown ass woman!"

He chuckled, "Looks like I need to make a phone call then."

I gritted my teeth together and then raked my hand through my hair. "Fine…tell him."

He looked at me with a smirk, "Aria you don't want me to do that I know it."

"You tell him everything else anyway!" I screamed as I turned around to head back inside.

"Aria, don't walk away from me like that!" he yelled as he followed me. "Bring your ass over here now!"

I stopped walking and turned around to face him. "What?"

"Look….if you get yourself a different job within the week, I won't tell your father about this job." He said.

I shook my head, "Where else could I go?"

"I don't care where you go Aria…as long as it doesn't involve exploiting yourself for money. No man deserves to look at you like that unless he's your husband."

I rolled my eyes, "Alright Uncle Bryan…I'll try but I can't make any promises."

"Well you're going to promise me this. No niece of mine is going to promote herself and represent her father as a whore!"

I stared at him as he turned around and got in his car. I watched him pull off before sighing and heading back inside to grab my purse. Once I got it, I headed out of the club to go to my car. One my way there, I noticed a tall man get out of his car from the corner of my eye. I kept walking until he yelled, "So…feeling better I see?"

I stopped walking and raked my hand through my hair as he shut his door and approached me. When he got close enough, I turned and faced him.

"Can I help you Professor?" I asked sarcastically.

He shook his head, "No but I can help you if you knew how to come to class."

"I told you I haven't been feeling too well." I said.

He nodded, "Well actually I'm a little jealous…you see good old Professor Calaway has been doing some research of his own."

"Oh you have?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am…and it turns out that you were able to make all of your other classes…every single day." He said as he folded his arms over his chest.

I dropped my gaze with a sigh. "Yeah about that…"

"No need to explain Aria. I understand how you're feeling and I'm sorry if I made you feel that way." He said. "I know you must hate working here."

"I do, but at the same time the money I make is pretty worth it." I said.

He looked at me with the softest gaze I had ever seen on a man. For someone who looked like he could break anyone in half, he seemed like a giant teddy bear at that moment.

"Aria, there are other jobs out there that would work out better for your life. Besides I don't want to see you failing in school. You'd make a great business woman someday."

I sighed, "You don't get it Professor. I take care of myself completely. I wouldn't work here if I had my father's help."

"That may be true but I promise you that you can work somewhere that'll make all your troubles go away."

"Oh yeah?" I asked in disbelief. "And what job is that?"

He fell silent for a moment and then smirked. "Come work for me."

I raised my eyebrow, "Excuse me? Sorry but being the teacher's assistant isn't what I had in mind."

He laughed, "No, no, no, I meant…be my assistant at my biker shop."

I blinked several times, "Me? Work in a biker shop?"

"Yes. It'll give you the experience of running a shop and learning the things you need to learn for business. Besides with your grades slipping I think you'll need the extra credit."

I sighed and glanced towards the club, "How much will I be making?"

He gave it some thought for a moment, "We'll discuss that later, just meet me after class tomorrow and we'll talk."

"Tomorrow…after class." I repeated.

He nodded and then turned around to head back to his car. I wanted to stop him and tell him thank you for the opportunity, but I couldn't get the words out. I finally released a deep breath and headed to my car so I could go home.