Chapter Nine


Jan hummed to herself as she brought Shawn's breakfast into his room. She was in a surprisingly good mood considering she had been up late last night and hadn't gotten much sleep. By the time she had arrived back at her country home, Shawn had been fast asleep. But he was awake now and looking up at her accusingly.

"What were you doing last night?" he asked, struggling to make it sound like it didn't matter to him what she had been doing, "You didn't come back until after midnight. Don't tell me one of those strippers was actually stupid enough to be interested in you?"

Jan giggled as she unlocked the cage, "To tell you the truth I had a great time last night. I was with Phillip. It turns out he was one of the strippers. I never realized how much more... attractive he is now until last night. That Marine training really buffed him up. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's a completely different person. Oh, except for the fact he still resented me for everything I did to him and the rest of you."

"And did you really expect anything less from him?" Shawn asked, "I mean, come on, you wrecked his relationship with Chloe-"

"I did not wreck it," Jan objected, "Because, like Belle, Chloe has no sense of loyalty. She would have ditched him for that moron, Brady Black, even if I hadn't done what I did to hurt Chloe. I guess all I really did was speed up the process of their breaking up."

"And then you ruined my relationship with Belle," Shawn continued without regards to Jan's argument, "Both Belle and I were friends with him at that time. He's not going to let you off easy."

"You've got it all wrong," Jan shot back, "No one forced you to lie and say you were the father of my baby. You did that all on your own so your break-up with Belle was no one's fault but your own."

"You have a point there, Jan. But whose fault is this?" Shawn rattled the chains on his arms furiously.

Jan let out a dramatic yawn, "Don't you have anything else to talk about? All you do is complain about how horrible it is being locked up in here when I know for a fact that I keep you very well entertained. If you would just give in and let me entertain you in more fun ways..." Jan's voice trailed off suggestively and she winked at Shawn.

"Never," Shawn said coldly.

Looking incredibly frustrated, Jan shrugged one shoulder, "Never say never, Shawnie. You'll change your mind if you stay here long enough. Anyways, let me finish my story. So, Phillip was kind of a jerk at first but I think I wore him down. I told him I was back in Salem to patch things up with you and Belle and everyone. I said that I had went through extensive therapy in Europe and that I realized what a terrible person I had been to hurt you all so badly. It took a while but after all that was said and done and I told him my parents had died, he finally seemed to warm up to me a little bit. We actually had a nice conversation. We had a lot of catching up to do, that's why I came in so late."

Shawn shook his head, "I can't believe Phillip would buy into your lies. How could he?"

"Don't take it so hard," Jan patted his shoulder, "I mean look at it this way: you fell for it too. But I'm really looking forward to seeing more of him." Especially the parts of him I haven't seen yet, Jan thought, recalling how Phillip had looked in that g-string when he was dancing on stage, "I think we could be friends. I could, you know, help him get Belle." Not that she deserves a stripper that's so damn sexy, Jan reminded herself resentfully.

"Well, why don't you just lock him in this cage and let me go? I'm sure Phillip would really enjoy being chained up in here." Shawn grumbled.

Jan pretended to consider it, "Nah, I don't like him that much. Besides, I don't think he'd be as easy to trap as you were because I think he's still a little suspicious of me. But he can be my back-up in case you die from whatever mind-altering, insanity-invoking disease Belle gave you. I'd be really upset if that happened though. I'd never forgive Belle for it, never."

When Shawn didn't reply, Jan went on talking, "I'm going to go back to the club tonight. I had so much fun there yesterday, even though it's really sad when I enjoy spending time with Crystal and Nicole more than I do you. They're not always cranky with me like you are. And I think I'm going to have even more fun at the club tonight." Especially if the strippers losing their g-strings completely is a possibility. Jan thought with a little smirk, I can only hope.


Sami woke up in a horrible mood the morning after her nightly visit to Unzipped. Attempting to sleep had done more harm that good after her run-in with Lucas. She had been so alert and restless after Lucas had invaded her senses that way he had, it had taken forever to get to sleep. And when she had slept, she had been plagued by mercilessly vivid dreams about Lucas. In a g-string. Dreams she would wake up from sweating and panting, dreams that made her kick every sheet and blanket off her bed in her sleep. And after waking from the dreams, she had the hardest time getting back to sleep. The dreams made her think about Lucas even more. All the things she wanted him to do to her, all the things she wanted to do to him... she almost regretted pushing Lucas away the night before because not getting to touch him was practically killing her.

She couldn't remember the last time she had been so physically and emotionally drawn to anyone. She missed Lucas and the loneliness she had felt ever since they had broken up had only increased when she saw him up on that stage. She missed feeling him touch her, she missed being able to talk to him and know that he understood her better than anyone else would ever be able to. But it wouldn't work between them now that he had gotten the job at Unzipped. It would be too hard on her to be with him now that he was a stripper. Jealousy would eat her alive if she tried dating him while he was undressing in front of so many women. Who are you kidding? It's going to be hard on you whether you're with him or not. And what makes you think he'll take you back after you cheated on him anyway?

But something told Sami that if she apologized and tried to get him to take her back, he would. And judging from the way he had pulled her into his arms and lost all his resolve to be angry at her last night, he would do it in a heartbeat. Obviously neither of them wanted to be separated. And if he did take her back, Sami might even be tempted to give up on trying to hurt Kate, just for the sake of her relationship with Lucas because that meant more to her than hating Kate ever would. But there was no way she would become involved with him again now that he had gotten such an awful job. She wasn't willing to put herself through that.

She padded out of her bedroom and made her way towards the bathroom. Once inside, she quickly peeled off her sweat soaked clothing and stepped under a lukewarm spray of water, wanting to cool off after the torturously hot dreams she had just had. She sighed and closed her eyes, thinking about what had happened the night before. She had really been a bitch to him before leaving the club. Not that she had said anything he couldn't handle but she hadn't had to completely go rabid on him and accuse him of taking advantage of her. She had every opportunity to say no before things had gotten as far as they had but she hadn't tried to stop it. She hadn't wanted to stop it. And the idea of anyone else touching and being touched by Lucas the way she had the night before made her mad enough to kill someone, to be specific, whatever woman, imaginary or real, was touching Lucas.

And they won't, Sami vowed, scrubbing harshly at her skin with a rag, I'm going to make sure that none of those sleazy bar-hopping bitches touch him. Hey, I might not be involved with him but that doesn't mean that I'm going to let anyone else have a chance. I think I'm going to have to go back to that club after all.


"So, Lucas," Phillip began casually as he, Rex and Lucas got ready to work another shift at Unzipped, "Mom came to see me and Rex earlier today. She was a wreck. From what she was saying, I expected to see you totally covered in welts and bruises."

"Yeah, what's all this about Sami going dominatrix on you?" Rex asked curiously.

Lucas groaned, "You guys should have known mom was exaggerating. She always exaggerates when it comes to Sami. It wasn't like that at all."

"Then what happened?" Phillip pressed.

Rex shuddered and backed away from his brothers, "Now I think about it, I don't want to hear this. I have to talk to Mimi about something," Rex said hastily, leaving Phillip and Lucas alone.

Lucas rubbed his forehead wearily once Rex was gone, "I think Sami is the last person I want to talk about right now. Can we just drop it?"

"Okay," Phillip answered agreeably but was only silent for a few minutes before brining it up again, "Was she really spanking you?"

"Phillip!"

"What?" Phillip held up his hands defensively, "It's a simple question. Can't you just give me a yes or a no?"

"Fine, yes!" Lucas glowered at Phillip, "Can we drop it now?"

"You're awfully touchy about the subject of Sami today," Phillip observed, "What happened between you two last night? Did she spank you too hard or something?"

"It's not funny," Lucas growled in response, then decided to change the subject, "And what the hell is going on with you? What's all this I'm hearing about you leaving the club early with some strange girl?"

"She wasn't a strange girl. Actually, she is pretty strange," Phillip corrected himself, "But what I mean is, she wasn't a stranger. I went to high school with her. She was a real bitch back then but she was surprisingly nice when I talked to her. A little too nice for her though. Unless she really has changed her ways, she's up to something."

Relieved to have the topic of conversation drift away from Sami, Lucas smirked at his brother, "I bet she just liked watching you strip. She probably just wants to get in your pants. Or should I say your g-string?"

Phillip chuckled, "Nah, this is Jan Spears we're talking about. She's still completely hung up over Shawn, just like Belle. Jan might have denied being interested in him but she got this weird look in her eyes when I mentioned him. But she did say she regretted ruining his relationship with Belle and she apologized to me too. She sounded sincere enough but she's really good at lying so I don't know what to make of her right now. But she's probably be a lot more fun to spend time with than Belle at the moment. Belle keeps trying to convince me to go with her to buy Days of the week G-strings."

"Maybe you should just go buy them," Lucas teased, "That would be really- oh, crap," His face reddened when he saw Sami step into the dressing room and suddenly the memory of her abrupt rejection was even more clear than it had been moments before. Damn. He did not want to face her right now. He hoped she wasn't back to yell at him more.

She caught his eye and he could see her chest rise and fall as she inhaled deeply. She started towards him and Phillip turned around to see what Lucas was staring at. He whistled and looked back at Lucas.

"This should be interesting," Phillip murmured but shut his mouth once Sami reached the two of them. Sami smiled faintly at Lucas and Phillip while wringing her hands nervously.

"Hi, Lucas. Hi, Phillip," she started, watching Lucas tentatively.

"Hey, Sami? What are you doing in here? Is it time for Lucas to get another spanking?" Phillip snickered, unable to resist trying to annoy her. Sami's mouth dropped open and she whirled around to look at Lucas.

"My mom," Lucas explained shortly, then licked his lips nervously, "Was there something you needed?"

"Yes," Sami answered, shooting a pointed look at Phillip, "But I can't talk about it with Phillip here."

Phillip pretended to be hurt, "Fine, I can take a hint. Bye," with that, he walked off in Rex's direction.

Sami let out a whoosh of air through her mouth, "I came to talk about last night." she stated, running her hand through her hair nervously.

"We don't have to talk about it," Lucas protested, "It won't happen again."

"I know it won't," Sami responded shortly, "I just realized that I couldn't let you take complete responsibility. It was probably only ninety percent your fault. But I was ten percent in the wrong for not stopping you sooner. I really should have. It's not like I wanted you to kiss me."

"Great, we're back to playing that game," Lucas narrowed his eyes at her, "I might have kissed you but I didn't make you kiss me back. Right?"

"Right," Sami admitted bitterly.

"That means you kissed me of your own free will. You kissed be back because you wanted to. You practically came in my arms because you wanted to." he added in a low, husky voice.

"I didn't do that," Sami lied, hating the way he had stepped closer to her while speaking. Her vision blurred and all she could was stare at Lucas' mouth. God, the last thing I need to do is have a repeat performance of what happened yesterday. Especially in front of all these other guys. I have to get out of here, "But you're right, I did kiss you out of my own free will. It was a huge mistake though. I just thought I'd come tell you that I made a bigger deal out of what happened yesterday than I should have. But I guess I should go now and let you finish getting ready." And then I can get a good seat so I can keep an eye on you. I'll die before I let those sluts get their hands on you, Sami promised herself as she walked out of the dressing room.