Still with me?

It turned out to be a rather busy night, and for that, Bella was grateful. There was nothing worse than dancing naked on a stage with only a couple of old geezers sitting in Pervert's Row.

There were two bachelor parties going on currently, and Bella had already danced once on the main stage, had sweet talked her way into getting three men to buy lap dances from her and had easily collected one hundred and fifty dollars in tips.

It was coming up to the time for her to perform her feature piece, and she knew that once the men in the crowd saw her perform, the chances of landing more lap dances would become much better.

Bella was quick to get changed; she shed the baby doll and put her costume on over her black under things. A quick check in the mirror, a little adjusting of her makeup, and she was ready to go.

From the sounds of things, Britney's song was coming to an end in approximately forty seconds, which meant that Bella needed to high tail it out of there.

She made it to the side of the stage, despite the seven-inch stiletto boots, in plenty of time and plastered a wide smile on her face as a few young and drunk boys sitting by the stage leered at her. "Hi,"she mouthed and winked. The guy in the middle punched his friend in the shoulder, the boys laughing and ribbing their friends. Bella only smiled wider at their typical response.

She was dressed in costume, something she'd picked up for fifty dollars off of eBay. The idea had come to her one night when Rosalie had been talking about Emmett, her sometimes fuck buddy, who happened to be a fireman.

The saucy black and red uniform had the word "smoking" written in bright red across her chest.

She looked up in time to see Britney, naked as the day she was born, picking up her clothes and strutting off the stage. Bella passed her and climbed to the stage herself.

Tyler's voice broke out over the sound of a bass-filled tune. "This little lady is a sure firecracker! She's broken out of the fire station tonight to show you exactly what she can do with a fire hose. But be careful boys. This Miss is probably better at starting fires than putting them out! Let's hear it for Isa!"

The loud beats of Bella's chosen song filled the club as she strutted down the stage toward where the pole was situated. Bella was no stranger to the pole. She'd done this gig before. Sure it had been years ago, but Bella had actually thoroughly enjoyed pole dancing and had continued going to classes even after she'd finished her stripping gig when she'd been at college.

Her eyes scanned the crowd sitting in "Perverts Row." Bella had managed to place the types of men who visited strip clubs into four main categories. The first were the bachelor parties and Bella's least favorite out of all of the groups – although the groom of each event was usually generally all right. It was the boys – and truly they were boys – who came with the groom that were the worst. Generally, they were drunk and loud, and while these two factors weren't that bad, they were also gropey. And Bella hated nothing more than a kid who thought that tipping her meant that he was allowed to slap her ass or grab a handful of her breast.

The second group were the ones who came during the week, the businessmen. They paid a lot of money, drank a lot, and would try and convince the girls to go back to their hotel rooms for the night, most of them leaving with empty pockets and alone.

The college kids fell into the third group and usually left after they spent all their money on booze and lap dances.

And the last group were those that sat in Pervert's Row. They sat there all night, sometimes tipping, sometimes just watching as girl after girl got up on the stage and danced. They had their favorite girls who they would purchase lap dances from; even Bella had a couple that had taken to her.

Scanning the crowd, she could see Harry, a man in his late forties, divorced, and a father of two. He was the owner of a small restaurant downtown, which Bella made sure to steer clear of knowing that the man would instantly recognize her if she ever showed her face.

Gripping the pole in her hands, Bella began to work her way around it, twisting her body, climbing it, and sliding back down – just like a fireman's pole. It was a simple but artful routine, and there was definitely an art to stripping.

The routine could be easily divided up into three acts. The first act was mostly walking around the stage, using the pole, dancing in time to the beat, doing a few variations of various known stripper moves. By the end of the first act, Bella would usually have removed the outer clothing she wore, leaving her in just her underwear.

This time, she had her fire-fighter outfit on, held together by a zipper that ran down her front, and Bella slowly unzipped the leather material until it fell apart, revealing her flat stomach. The costume dropped to the floor, and Bella once again began to dance. She threw in a couple of special dance moves: the Spread Eagle, the Quick Walk, the Spread Eagle – with clever finger placement, the Slow Walk', the Spread Eagle – with floor dry humping. The end of this routine finished with Bella's personal favorite of the "Bend Over And Look At The Crowd Between Your Legs" move. The end of act two was fast approaching, and Bella knew it was time to take off her top.

A few boys had placed a couple of tens on the stage edge, so Bella made her way over to them to dance especially for them. The boys in front of her were quite young, probably only nineteen or twenty, she guessed. Their mouths popped open as they stared. She took the bills and tucked them under a tie on her ankle, smiled coquettishly at them, and then began to slowly lower herself to a crouching position. Taking a seat on the side of the stage, she propped her feet up on either side of one of the boy's chairs. Gradually, she reached behind her and pulled on the strings of her top, removing the skimpy fabric and revealing her breasts. She leaned forward and pressed herself against the face of one of the boys. He moaned loudly as her nipple grazed his chin, so close to his mouth. She did this for a little while and then moved on to the next guy. Toward the end of the second song. or "the second act." Bella stood up again, winked, and sashayed across the stage to the other side to pay some of the other patrons some attention.

It was then that she noticed the twenty. Sitting on the stage, Bella's eyes drifted upward to smile at the man who had placed his offering there, but her smile faltered as she took in the rugged good looks of the dark-haired man sitting there. No, it couldn't be. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest, her pulse racing from a stab of fear.

Edward Cullen. He was here, sitting front and center, his expression guarded, but she could still detect the daring look he gave her in his eyes.

O.o

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