A few days later I showed up to work and my boss, the strip club's owner, pulled me aside.
"Heads up, you and a few of the other girls are going on a trip."
"A trip? Where?"
"A few guys came in and asked for a few of our best girls. It's not crazy private, they said it's a party. You know what to do, if it doesn't check out call the cops and get out of there."
"I know. How much did they ask for?"
"Just dances and then hanging out. I told them they'd probably want to just hire prostitutes but they wanted strippers and they were willing to pay, so I'm not complaining."
"Fair enough. How're we getting there?"
"They've got a couple cars. Stick two or three of you to a car, yeah?"
"Got it." I walked away to join the others that were going on this little field trip, and discovered that I recognized a few of the men as the same men who worked with Billy.
I cussed internally before walking over, taking my hair out of its pre-work ponytail and throwing it over my face, hoping that and the makeup I only wore for work would keep them from recognizing me, for a little while anyway. Long enough to figure out what to do.
Their attention was mostly on some of my coworkers for now, and I managed to dodge their attention enough. I talked to one of the other girls about what the plan was for the evening, and she showed me the playlist and performance order we'd been given, and I nodded and figured out my plan for the night.
To my surprise we arrived at the warehouse, and I could see there was already a small party starting inside. We were escorted to a side room with some tables where we could get changed and get ready, and we all chatted about our sets and what we were going to do, tossing ideas back and forth.
I was going up third from last, and when I told them what I wanted to do, they were all onboard.
I watched a few of the girls before me perform from the wings of the makeshift stage they had up, to copious applause and hollers.
I went up with a gown, long gloves, and a fan covering my face, and with a snap of my fingers the song started. When I lowered the fan to start singing with the music, I saw a few very surprised faces in the crowd, but pushed them aside for the performance.
It wasn't even a quarter of the way into the song when I stripped off the gown, earning me more than a few whistles for the lingerie underneath.
That led me out into the crowd, and to most of their surprise I was draping myself over and feeling up everyone in the crowd as I danced. They definitely weren't keeping their hands to themselves, but I didn't think they would, and fortunately they weren't too grabby so it didn't throw off the routine.
I spotted Billy in the back corner, watching me with some amusement, and I locked eyes with him for a minute and sent him a wink. I smiled as I moved through the crowd, making my way up to him and giving him a good look before making my way back on stage and getting back to the stripping part of the routine, throwing off the little rest I had on and throwing myself up the pole, working it like no tomorrow.
I finished to cheers, and walked backstage satisfied with my performance. I was putting clothes back on to head out, to "hang out" like the boss had told me, when Billy showed up at our makeshift dressing room's door.
Some of the other girls got to him before I did, so I settled on continuing to get dressed.
"Anything we can do for you sugar?" Candy asked.
"I'm here for her. Just want to talk to her for a minute." He nodded in my direction.
"Celeste! Tall dark and handsome visitor!" Star teased.
"Yeah, yeah. One sec." I adjusted my hair before striding up to him, and he moved aside to let me out, following me down the hall before taking my arm once we were away from everyone.
"Trust me." He insisted gently before kissing me, hard enough to push my head back against the wall.
My instincts listened to him, and I found myself kissing back, relaxed as his hands found places on my waist and in my hair.
He pulled away first, resting his forehead on mine, and looked into my eyes, both of us breathless again.
"I want you." He breathed.
"No." I sighed.
"No?"
"I'm working."
"If you weren't working?"
"I am."
"But if you weren't?"
I sighed again softly. "Probably, but not definitely."
"Why only probably?" He stroked my cheek gently.
"No matter how easy it is to push aside you still pose a threat to my life. If I go to the cops about you, or tell anyone about you, I'm dead."
"Do you want to go to the cops?"
"That doesn't really matter. Fact is still there that my life is in your hands, and not because I gave it to you. That makes things muddy." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, and I ran my hand over his cheek, tracing one of his scars, and he flinched away. "Sorry. Did that hurt?"
"No."
"Then why flinch?" I touched one again, making him flinch again.
"They're… well, I used to be so handsome, and then someone…"
"Hang on. Used to be handsome? Billy, you look like a Greek god, don't be so hard on yourself. Your face looks like someone tried and failed to deface a statue. You still look gorgeous. If you think that's why I don't want to do this, that's not it." He looked confused, and kind of lost, the normal unreadable expression on his face gone. "Billy, how did your face get like that?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"Come with me." He led me upstairs to my studio and sat down on his chair. I pulled over another chair and sat in front of him.
"What do you mean you don't know?" I repeated.
"Do you know anything about me?" He asked.
"Should I? Besides what you've told me?"
"You might've seen me on the news."
"Billy, I haven't watched the daily news since I was 12 when my grandfather had it on tv, I'm not really up to date with the goings-on of the city. I get a curated newsfeed on my phone of makeup drops and a couple superhero shenanigans."
"I'm a wanted criminal. Very wanted."
"What for?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I lost my memory. The closest to the present I can remember is years ago, when I was still in the army. It hurts to try and remember any more than that." I could see that fact written plainly on his face.
"Then don't, not right now anyway. You look like it's killing you inside." I stood. "Do what I do, when life gets too much."
"What's that?" He watched me get up and hook my phone into my stereo.
"Move." I hit play on my feelings playlist and took his hands, pulling him into my arms and swaying with him. When he relaxed into me I started dancing, simple moves that he could react to instinctively, and I saw him let go of the world to focus on me. I reacted to him too, as he started to feel the music and move on his own, and we became one unit for a moment, moving in sync with each other.
He ran out of energy first, and I slowed to a stop, turning off the music as he sat down.
"Does that feel better?" He nodded. "Good." I came back to his side, and he pulled me in to kiss me. I kissed him back, sitting in his lap and holding him tenderly. It wasn't until I got a text from one of the girls saying they were leaving soon that I got up and left him to rejoin them, reassuring him I would be back the next day to practice.