I came back regularly after that. Now that the threat was mostly gone, I saw no real reason not to, and to my surprise I had no visitors in my space besides Billy, who would pull up the chair to front and centre and just watch me for a while before going off to take care of whatever business he had to do.
The first day I came back I noticed one of the guys start to come at me and another one hold him back, and a few days later I asked Billy if he knew anything about it. He told me that he'd vaguely informed them I was protected, a fact for which I was grateful, especially since they'd seemed to take it as a complete hands-off.
I got used to his presence in my space surprisingly quickly. He didn't leer, which helped a lot, and the first time I tried a routine that had me moving out further into the space with him there, he didn't try anything, so I opened myself up to working on all of my routines in the space, not just the pole ones.
One day he walked in and sat down halfway through one of my pole routines and pulled up his chair as normal, watching me with the same unreadable expression he always had.
"Why do you come in here?" I asked as I turned upside down, legs shifting around the pole.
He looked surprised I was talking, I'd been in here four days a week for two weeks and hadn't said much more than hello or goodbye to him in that whole time.
"You relax me." He said, kind of uncertainly.
"I relax you? Not the reaction I'm used to."
"What reaction are you used to?"
"The kind where when I move like this…" I flipped off of the pole into a hard grind, riding the pole like a dick. "… men start throwing money."
"You're a stripper?"
"What did you think I did?" I laughed a little, caught off guard by the innocence of the question.
"Just… normal pole dancing? You never strip in here."
"Because I'm not alone anymore. If you want me to strip, you're gonna have to pay me." I teased, twirling around the pole as I took my weight onto my arms to float off the ground, finishing the song off laying on my back in midair as I slowly spun around. I dropped to the floor and scrolled through my playlist.
"Why do you let me watch?"
"Wasn't aware I had a choice." I shrugged. "I don't mind you, you're not gross. Do you trust me?"
"What?" He looked confused.
"Let me rephrase." I hit play on the song I'd found and gently pushed him back into his chair, putting a finger to his lips. "Trust me."
I had done lap dances before, so this wasn't new to me, and I could tell from the understanding on Billy's face that he'd received a few of these before, nevertheless there was an electricity in the air that neither of us could deny. I closed my eyes and gave myself over to the feeling.
The song ended and I was an inch from Billy's face, both of us a little breathless. It took the next song starting up for me to remember where I was and get up to pause it.
"How was that?" I asked.
"You're good." He let his fall back to breathe a little before looking at me again. "Does everyone get a dance like that?"
"Lap dances are for paying customers only. That was new though. You have an energy I like."
"So do you."
"Do you still find me relaxing?" I teased.
"Well it's not quite the word I'd use anymore. Hypnotic maybe?"
"I'll take it." I smiled, climbing back on to the pole.