Clarke's P.O.V:

No one plans on being a stripper...no one, but it was the only way I could get away from my ex boyfriend. Yeah I could have asked my sister for help but she has enough happening in her life without me coming in and messing it up. I want to go back to school but I don't have the money for it and I don't have the time, I'm a waitress by day and a stripper by night, how could I ever go back to school...I can't.

I am at my day job and one of the hottest guys I have ever seen walks into the café then it hits me...I've seen him at the club before, he's one of Echo's regulars. I walk up to his table to take his order and he is so sweet at first until I hear him talking to Fox's regular Murphy, they were talking about hitting up more strippers and maybe convincing them to sleep with them. What do they think we are some kind of prostitute that will do lap dances for them then sleep with them with no charge or sleep with them to begin with. I gave them their food and then went home to take a nap before work tonight, I really hope that I don't see any of those guys there tonight but most likely I will and I am not going to like it, not one bit.

I'm getting ready in the back of the club and then I see Fox come back from the main room. "Hey Fox, is Murphy and his friends out there tonight?" I asked her.

"Yeah why?" she asks me in return.

"Because I saw them at the café today"

"So you know that they are going to try to sleep with strippers tonight like idiots"

"yeah...I really don't want to go out there tonight"

"I know darlin but you have to if you want money"

Just then my best friend Octavia comes in and hugs me, I can't believe she came in tonight because the hot guy from this morning is her brother...her older brother. "What are you doing here, I thought you weren't coming in because your brother is here tonight"

"I told him and since I am 20 he can't do anything about it, that's why when I go on stage he will be having a private dance with...you" she says.

"What why with me"

"Because he asked me today after he went to the café if you could give him a private dance, he saw you work here before then he saw you be his waitress so he asked for you, so please do it for me"

"Octavia...do I have to"

"Yes please for me"

"Fine"

After I finished getting ready I went out to the bar and say hello to Monty and Jasper (the two bartenders). They gave me a drink and then I headed off toward the door where I normally wait for one of the guys (or girls, if there were any) to come up to her and start off sweet talking her until they asked for a private dance and then she would lead them to a room. I was scared to give O's brother a private dance but I'm only doing it for her, I saw him come through the door and when he looked at me I could tell he recognized me from the café, but then he smiled at me and I felt butterflies in my stomach. What the fuck was that...why did I feel that from someone I served food to and is my best friend's brother who I haven't officially met yet.

Octavia came up behind me, grabbed my hand, and didn't say a word and walked me toward a private room. She lets me go in first and then she comes in as well, as she walks in front of me I see her brother sitting across from me, all he does is smile and damn did that make me smile back for the first time since I was like 16.

"Bellamy I would like you to meet my best friend and your stripper for tonight Clarke...Clarke this is my brother Bellamy" She says.

"Nice to meet you Princess" he says then smiles.

"Um nice to meet you...what did you just call me?" I asked him.

"I called you Princess"

"Why"

"Because you look like a princess"

"Um thank you"

"Anyway I have to go, have fun" and with that she left.

He just looks at me and it seems like he knows something, he doesn't seem like a guy who would take advantage of someone but then again I never thought my ex boyfriend would take advantage of me either. "You don't want to do this, do you, Princess?" he asks.

"What do you mean? I have to do this...this is my job" I tell him.

"Yeah this is your job but that doesn't mean that you don't want to do this, you had no choice in becoming a stripper, you did it because you had to...to get away from somebody, am I right?"

"How did you know that?"

"I can see it in your eyes, I've seen you work on stage and you never have a smile on your face then I saw you at the dinner today and when I smiled at you, you smiled back and that was the first time I have ever seen you smile. You don't have to do anything, we can just sit here and talk and I will still pay, I asked for you personally because I wanted to talk to you."

"Why, you don't know me," I say to him.

"Because you are just like my mother, she had to do things to get away from O's dad when we were younger and you have the same look that my mother had so I want to help in any way I can" he says with a smile.

"Ain't you supposed to be trying to get other strippers to sleep with you and who ever can get the most wins the bet"

"I'm not doing that stupid ass bet but I told them if they were going to do that bet to leave you and Octavia out of it and they agreed"

"Why me, as I said before you don't know me"

"You're Octavia's best friend and I only know what O has told me, and as I said before you remind me of my mom and if only someone had come along and helped her when she needed it she would most likely still be alive so I don't want what happened to my mom to happen to you because no one should have to go through that. I have no choice in to stop O from doing what she wants but what I can do is protect her as much as I can and I can do that for you, you are working two jobs just to be able to pay your bills and feed yourself but you don't realize that you could be killed so easily when you do what you do for a living." he explains to me.

I knew O's mom died but I didn't know how, was she killed by someone or did she die some other way, and why is he wanting to protect me, he doesn't know me. "And how can you protect me?" I asked him. Why does he care so much about me when he doesn't even know me?

"All you have to do is trust me, can you do that princess?"

"Why should I, I don't even know you"

"Well for one I would never hurt a woman and two Octavia"

"What about Octavia"

"You trust her, right?"

"Yes, with my life, why?"

"And Octavia trusts me, if O can trust me then you can trust me, and the same for you if O trusts you then so can I"

"Okay, here take this, I have to go to my next client but I'll text you when I get off of work okay?"

"Okay, be careful Clarke"

—-

Bellamy's P.O.V

She leaves and I just sit there thinking, why am I doing this...I don't even know Clarke but then again nobody was there for my mother and she ended up getting killed by someone who wanted sex and money from her. When I met Clarke at the diner I felt something in my chest and because I had seen her at the club before I knew she was a friend of O's when O told me what she did on the side from going to school. When she told me I didn't like it and I tried to get her to stop but she wouldn't so I had to accept it and just make sure to protect her. Then Octavia told me about Clarke and why Clarke became a stripper after I saw Clarke for like the 3rd time at the club and the first time I saw O there, all she knew about it was that she had no other choice and she did it to get away then I put the dots together she was running from a abusive partner.

I can tell Clarke doesn't want to do this, she wants to be normal and be happy but she can't do that because she doesn't know how or where to start. That's where I came in, I can help her...she just needs somebody to protect her, be her friend, encourage her, be there when she needs it, and to love her the way everybody should be loved. I'm not saying I have to be the person to love her that way because that would be crazy but I can push her in that direction. I leave the room we were in to be greeted by Murphy and Gus (one of the boys Murphy knows) "so did you score?" Murphy asks.

"I told you I am not playing this game, leave Clarke and my sister alone and we won't have a problem" I say to him as I walk past him.

I know he is a friend but with somethings I have to be an asshole and this is one of them, yeah I used to be just like him and go from girl to girl but then last year I looked back and imagine someone doing that to my sister and I knew I didn't want to be that guy anymore so I changed. I hate that I was like that and I hate that it took me so long to see how wrong it was, seeing how Clarke how to turn to this line of work to survive and get away from whoever was hurting her breaks my heart and I don't know why it does but it does and I want to fix it.

Clarke is a beautiful young woman who shouldn't have to throw her life into stripping because that was the only way she knew how to get away from whoever she was running from. She deserves to be a normal woman, she should be able to go back to school if she wanted, and go date normal people, and start a family one day if she wanted and not just dream of having it.

—-

Hours later

Around 2am I got a text from an unknown number and I knew it was Clarke, she said she was going to text me when she got out of work, I had been waiting in the parking lot for about 2 hours waiting for her shift to end.

—-

Texts:

C- hey just got off.

B- I can see that, you need a ride home?

C- you don't have to come all the way back here just to take me home.

B-I'm in the parking lot, I haven't left...I was waiting until you got out so I could drive you.

C- you're so sweet, I'm on my way out.

She comes out and I open the passenger side door for her and she smiles and says thank you. She gives me her address and I start to drive her there but then I remembered that I wanted to take her somewhere and I know she will like it.

"Where are we going, you missed the turn" she says.

"We're taking a detour, don't worry I will get you home safe and sound" I tell her.

"But where are we going?"

"You'll see"

"Your not going to tell me are you, you better not be kidnapping me and planning to murder me"

"Damn you found out my secret plan, don't worry you'll love it. If you are anything like O then you will love this place"

"Okay, I'm trusting you, don't make me regret it"

"I would never Princess"

We went down by the river and it was so quiet and calm there, we got out of the car and she was confused at first but when I guided her down by the water the biggest smile I have ever seen her make appeared on her face. Seeing her smile like that made me smile just as much, knowing that I made her smile like that and that I brought her happiness even if it was only for a short time. "Why are we here?" she asks.

"It's peaceful here, gives you time to think" I tell her.

"Yeah, the flow of the water calms you as it flows"

"Have you been here before?"

"Yeah I have, when I was younger my dad took me here and it was the best father daughter picnic I had ever had. When we went home my dad and mother started arguing again and I overheard that she had a son, I don't know if it's true but my dad left that day and I never saw him again"

"I'm so sorry Clarke, so you might have a brother?"

"Yeah but I don't know, from that fight I heard my dad ask if she had an affair and she didn't say no then he asked her if she had another kid and she said she had a son named John and that she was leaving my dad for her son's father"

"How old were you?" I asked her.

"I was 7 when that argument happened and the affair happened before I was born I think about 3 years, I don't even know who this John is and what's the point of finding out. After my dad left my mother blamed me saying that I was the reason she couldn't be with the man she loved and the child she loved" she says.

"I'm so sorry, so how did you become a stripper, what happened?"

"I had to get away...he wanted me to sell my body to his friends so he could get more money for poker, I told him I didn't want to and that I wasn't a thing that could be sold whenever he needed money. He hit me and told me that whores do whatever their masters tell them. When he tried the first time I fought back and he beat me and raped me himself. I left that night and did what I had to do, my biological name isn't Clarke it's Clarissa Turco but I changed it to Clarke Griffin...I took my dad's last name. That's how I found my sister after many years" she explains.

"You have a sister?" I asked her.

"Yeah, my dad had a daughter before he met my mother"

"Why didn't you ask her for help"

"She has her life and I didn't want to fuck it up, she has 2 kids and a wife and I couldn't come in and fuck that up"

Just like my mother, they wouldn't and couldn't 'fuck up' someone they care about lives because they needed help. Damn I think I'm falling for this woman, how the fuck did this happen ugh.

"Come on, let's get you home" I tell her.

"Okay"

I take her home and then I go home myself and it's about 4 in the morning now and I know that O will be mad at me but she will have to kiss my ass because I am trying to help her best friend and trying not to fall for her. It's so hard not to think, all I want to do is fall and show her what love is and show her that she can do anything and that she doesn't have to be afraid anymore...I don't know why I feel like this but I do and I know I can't change how I feel. I also know that nothing can happen right now, she is not ready for anything…she needs to work on herself before she can start putting other people before herself and I will help her in any way I can.

I got home and not to my surprise there was Octavia waiting for me, she looked pissed and I knew she was going to yell at me. "So what did you do take her somewhere after work and sleep with her when I trusted you not to, you took advantage and "won" that stupid bet!? Huh?" she asks me freaking out.

"I didn't sleep with her, we went to the lake and talked, that's all" I told her.

"You promise, she has had a hard time and…"

"I know Octavia, we just talked, she didn't even give me a private dance, all we did was talk and I paid her"

"Really but you asked for her because…"

"Because I wanted to talk to her without her running away"

"Oh okay"

"She has the day off tomorrow and so do I and we are going to talk some more"