Dark Desire: A Paranormal Romance Novella (The After Dark Series, Book #1)

Dark Desire: A Paranormal Romance
Novella

(The After Dark Series, Book 1)

Copyright © 2012, Rebecca Foote

Cover art by For the Muse Designs ©
2012

ISBN: 978-0-9855756-0-1

Dark Desire
is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and
dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be
construed as real.  Any resemblance to actual events or person, living or dead,
is completely coincidental.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter One

Juliet Northman opened the letter addressed
to her from Jackson College. The notice warned that her college application for
financial aid wasn’t completed on time and she would have to find alternative
means to pay for school. Juliet shook her head in frustration, crumpled up the
letter, and dropped it in the garbage. She gathered her long, blonde hair into
a ponytail, hastily put on her blue fleece hoodie, and headed over to the
college’s financial aid department to clear up the misunderstanding.  Juliet
gripped the steering wheel of her car as she drove down the street,
anticipating the worst. If her financial aid fell through, Juliet wouldn’t be
able to finish her last term. 

Once there, Juliet spoke with the
financial aid manager who looked through her paperwork glumly.  “Miss Northman,
in order to complete your final term, you will have to cover the balance on
your account.  Your school grant won’t cover it all.  I suggest you go to the
student employment center,” advised the balding, financial aid manager.

“But, I already work and can hardly
keep up with my studies as it is.  I have a full class load and I don’t think I
can jam anything else into my schedule.  Isn’t there something you can do? 
Please, this is my last term.”

He shook his head wearily as he
continued flipping through her financial aid file. “Sorry, Miss Northman, but
your only recourse is to find other means, or you won’t be able to complete
your term.  Could your parents help you?”

Juliet felt momentarily insulted by
his suggestion.  Her mother died two years ago and the pain stayed with her in
the back of her mind.  Her father was MIA and had never been part of her life.

“No, she can’t,” Juliet said flatly. 
Although she understood the manager didn’t know that her mother had died, the
suggestion still felt like a slap in the face.

“Miss Northman, I suggest you try the
employment center.  There are new job postings every day.  Go talk to one of
the counselors and see if they can help you.”

Juliet frowned in disappointment at
the advice she was given.  She didn’t see how going to the employment center
would make her situation better. She was already working as many hours as
possible at Terry’s Grill, a local restaurant. She scrimped and saved to make
ends meet, yet barely accomplished that.

Dejected, Juliet walked down the hall
and turned the corner into the small, onsite employment office.  A young female
receptionist sat behind the front desk taking calls. As one conversation ended,
another one started.  Judging by the amount of calls pouring in, the employment
center was very busy.

Juliet glanced around the office and
noticed a large bulletin board hanging on the wall. At the top of it was a
yellow banner that read “Employment Opportunities.”  Feeling immediately
interested, Juliet walked over to the board and began scanning the available
openings. Each vacancy was written on a postcard and pinned to the board in
order by date.  She sighed in frustration as her eyes traveled from job to job,
for most weren’t any better than the one she already had, and all paid minimum
wage. 
Hooray for low wage jobs! 
But, her interest peaked as she
noticed a bright pink flyer at the top of the board.  It stood out from the
rest because of its flashy color. “Make big money working only a few hours a
week” the job posting boasted—at the bottom was a phone number.  Juliet took an
employment pamphlet from a nearby table and used it as scratch paper to jot the
number down. She quickly folded it up and placed it in her purse. 

At the end of a long, hard week of
working extra hours at the diner and having hardly any time to study, Juliet
collapsed on her bed. She stared up at the ceiling, worried about her finances
as she considered ways to pay for school. She remembered the phone number she
had written down from the employment bulletin board and reached for her purse. 
Juliet dialed the number and a voice answered on the other end saying,
“Bailey’s Cove.”  This was a place she had heard of before, some kind of strip
club.  Feeling uneasy about working at that type of establishment, she almost
hung up.  Remembering her finances, however, she decided to at least check it
out.  Juliet made an appointment to meet with the manager next week. 

After a few more days of her
exhausting schedule, Juliet looked forward to her appointment with the manager
at Bailey’s Cove. She pulled into the parking lot and went up to the club
entrance.  The outside windows were blackened and boarded up, so people
couldn’t see through the windows.  A large, pink neon sign with the club’s name
hung outside, above the entrance.  Juliet hesitated for a moment before going
in.

Come on.  I can do this.  I’m just
looking anyway…  

Juliet took a deep breath and opened
the door.  She had never been in a club like this before.  Sure, she had gone
to the occasional bar with friends, but never an exotic dancers’ club.  There
were several tables and booths at the back, a stage area in the front, and a
bar against the wall.  The stage was T-shaped and had a catwalk down the center
with two poles at the ends--it was obvious what those were for. 

“Hi, are you Juliet?” asked a pretty,
petite girl with short, black hair. She looked almost like a pixie, standing
next to the bar in her cutoffs and tank top. 

“Yes. I’m supposed to meet the
manager,” Juliet said, as she nervously bit her lip. 
Come on! Stop being a
prude.

“Oh, good we need another dancer. I’m
Veronica and I’ll take you to the back to meet Gerald. He’s the manager.” 

Veronica led Juliet past the bar and
behind the stage.  They rounded a corner and went down a long hall.  “These are
some of the rooms the dancers change in.”  Veronica pointed to a large room
furnished with vanity mirrors and counters. Against the back wall stood a
clothing rack, filled with a variety of outfits: pink boas, sequined tops, and
a plethora of what looked like stage costumes.

“You have to bring your own stuff for
your show though.”

My show? That’s one way to put it.

“Gerald is in the office.  It’s at
the end of the hall.”

Juliet followed Veronica into a small
office where a stocky man with a black beard sat, looking through receipts and
adding up amounts.  He turned to look at them as they entered the office.

“Gerald?  This girl is here about the
dancing job.”

Gerald looked at Juliet, assessing
her natural curves.  “Very pretty…What’s your name?”

“Juliet.”

The man got up from his desk to take
a closer look.  “You’re about the same size as Crystal, our last girl; there
are a few of her things still here. Yes. I think you’ll do alright.  I need
someone four hours a night, at least three nights a week.  I’ll pay you an
hourly rate, but most of your money will come from tips.”  He sat back down at
his desk and began to go through the receipts again.

“You ever done this kind of work
before?”  he asked as he kept working and didn’t look up.

“No,” Juliet answered honestly.

“There’s nothing to it.  Veronica
will set you up…Well, if you want the job, it’s yours.”  Gerald paused in his
accounting and looked up at Juliet, waiting for an answer.

She felt hesitant about accepting the
job, but was determined to get out of her financial difficulty.   “I’ll take
it.”  She was almost surprised to hear herself say the words.  

Wait a second! Wasn’t I just coming
here to check out the club?

Chapter
Two

Juliet looked forward to quitting her
job at the restaurant, but still felt slightly apprehensive about her new job
as an exotic dancer.  After talking with Veronica a few more minutes, she
decided it didn’t sound too bad. 

“It’s really easy.  Just pretend
you’re putting on a sexy outfit and dancing for your boyfriend.  That’s what I
do, then it doesn’t bother me at all.”  Veronica smiled at her broadly.

“I would if I had one, but I get the
idea.”

Veronica laughed at her comment. 
“Okay.  I have to go over the club rules with you.”

“Rules?”

“Yes. Gerald tries to keep this place
clean, or at least look that way, so the city won’t shut it down.”  Veronica
walked around the back of the stage and Juliet followed her out onto the
catwalk.

“So we’ve got the poles over here,
and the more tricks you can do, the better your tips will be.  We have two
girls here, Ginger and Stacey, who are really good at pole-dancing.”

For a split second, Juliet felt
nauseated at Veronica’s description of the girls’ tricks on the poles and
laughed nervously.  Veronica noticed her tense reaction.

“Don’t worry, Juliet.  Nobody gets it
perfect the first few times.  The key to it all is to just relax,” she
suggested, patting Juliet on the arm lightly. “You’ll do great.  I can tell.”

Juliet tried to listen to Veronica’s
advice with optimism and detachment.  It was the only way she could get through
it.

“Like I said before, you have to
bring your own stuff for your show.  But, there are a few outfits that Gerald
keeps around for everyone, just in case we need extras.”  Veronica led her back
to one of the dressing rooms down the long hall.  She selected a flimsy, but
very sparkly G-string that barely stayed hung up on the rack.

“This is pretty, but I wouldn’t use
it.  I’d stick to the boas or tops… never the bottoms.”  Veronica continued her
cautionary advice on the best outfits to use, as she proceeded to lift items
off the rack.  She held up a school girl uniform in front of Juliet to see how
she looked.

“See? I think something like this
would be great for you.  A lot of girls like to perform role play shows—it
really gets the customers going.”  

Juliet turned to look at her
reflection in the mirror as Veronica held up the outfit.  She didn’t know what
she thought about it.  She looked kind of cute, but knew that ultimately, she
would have to become comfortable, and quickly, at being naked in front of
strangers.

Can I do this?
she wondered as she considered her
reflection.

“Oh, yeah…the club rules are no drugs
and no sex on the premises,” Veronica paused for a moment.  “Some girls do
though, but you’re not supposed to.  If the cops find out, the club will get
shut down.”

Momentarily, a wave of nausea rippled
over Juliet as she listened to Veronica speak casually about drugs and sex. 
She grew quiet as she contemplated how far Veronica went to earn tips. 

“Well, that’s most of it anyways.
Come early on Friday and I’ll get you set up and introduce you to the other
girls.”

Juliet smiled, holding back feelings
of uncertainty, as she agreed to return on Friday.  She left the club and
traveled home.  Once there, she flopped down on her bed and pondered her
situation as she drifted off to asleep
. 
Exhausted
with life’s tribulations, Juliet’s sleep took her to unfamiliar places.  In her
mind’s eye, a silhouette began to form from the blackness—a figure of a man
with beautiful, intense, blue eyes that glowed as he watched her.  He haunted
her, for she could never fully see him, only his silhouette as he lurked in the
shadows.  The dark stranger called her name in a hauntingly familiar way.