Lust (The Stripped Bare Series Book 1) (7 page)

“I’m sorry,” I apologise, “I’m crap at this.”

“Listen, honey, you’re not crap. No one gets it right first time. That’s my job, and I’m the best.” He flips his head back, Louie Spence style, and I can’t help but giggle. I stand up and try again, this time I manage to do a half spin and land on my feet. I keep trying and trying until I finally get it right. I stand up and jump up and down clapping my hands, proud of myself. As I turn around I spot Max watching me from the bar, he has a massive grin on his face and I suddenly feel embarrassed.

“How long have you been watching?” He stands up and walks towards the stage.

“Only a few minutes.” He shrugs at me, “you’re a natural.
”
I notice that this doesn’t please him.

“Thanks,” I say, shyly.

“I’ll leave you to it.” He starts to walk away but stops halfway towards the door, turning around he says, “Jasmine.
”
My name on his plump lips is intoxicating.

“Yes.” I’m flustered by his presence.

“When you’re done, can you come and find me in Jake’s office, please. I need to speak with you.” I nod my head nervously. What have I done wrong?

Max

Fuck me, she looks sexy on that pole. I shouldn’t be watching but I can’t help myself. The way her body moves around it is hypnotising.
Is it stupid to feel slightly jealous of a pole?
I’m furious that she dances so naturally, the way her body sways erotically makes my dick stand to attention. I imagine to myself what effect she will have on the punters. This thought pisses me off, majorly. Making my way back to Jake’s office, I ask her to join me when she’s done. I need to talk to her about Dexter.

Entering the room, I take a seat at the huge ‘desk.’ I wouldn’t really call it a desk; it’s more like a giant table. Switching on the computer, I start to do the delivery order. I get so engrossed in my work that I almost - I say almost, but it’s actually impossible - forget about Jasmine coming to see me. I sit up straight in my chair as she enters the room. She looks worried, and I realise that I’ve given her no reason as to why she has been requested to join me.

“Would you like to take a seat?” I offer. She moves towards the chair. She’s still wearing her gym gear, her hair is damp with sweat. I can smell the pheromones oozing through her skin, and it’s as sexy as hell.

“Did I do something wrong, Max?” Shit, no.

I stumble on my words, trying to reassure her. “No, no, of course not. I just wanted to have a chat to see how you’re getting on,” I lie. I actually called her in here because of something that Dex said to me last night when he’d arrived home.

“I’m great, I love the job. I hope I’m doing well?” She shifts uncomfortably in her chair. I stand up and make my way around the table. As I get closer to her, her scent becomes stronger; she smells heavenly. Her natural smell mixed with the sweat of her workout is turning me on. I want to lick every inch of her sweat soaked skin. I watch as she sucks in a breath when I brush past her.

“That’s good, we’ve had no complaints. How are you getting along with the other girls?” I’m building up to this. Biding my time. Teasing her. I know that I’m affecting her. Her face flames, she looks out of breath, and it’s not because of the exercise she’s been doing.

“Yeah, they’re great. They’ve been very friendly.” She looks befuddled.

“And what about the men?” Her eyes look up into mine, piercing me. She realises now what I’m getting at.

“Um, yeah, they are nice too.” She looks down at her hands, she does this nervous thing where she pulls on her middle-left finger, it’s cute.

“Do you have a problem with Dexter?” I can’t continue to play these games, so I outright say it.

“No, of course not. He’s lovely.” She pauses and looks up into my eyes again, she looks ashamed, but there’s something else in her eyes. I’m not sure what. “I just don’t like him in that way. He’s a great fella, he’s funny and kind and genuine, but he’s not…” She stops again and I so desperately want her to say that he’s not me. Please say that he’s not me. Damn, I need her to say it.

“He’s not what I’m looking for right now. I need to get my life together before I even think about dating.” I walk behind her so that she can’t see the disappointment on my face, I don’t know why I expected her to say that she wants me. Hell, I don’t blame her for not wanting me. I’ve been a total dickhead lately. She deserves better. I try to compose myself; I can’t let her see the effect that she has on me. I know that there’s this sexual tension between us, she’s trying her best to fight it, but I know she won’t be able to fight it forever.

I thought last night would help me to get over her. I thought that by shagging Julz it would make my feelings go away. She has crawled her way into my mind, and she’s slowly eating away at my brain like some flesh eating zombie crap from
The Walking Dead
or one of those other ridiculous shows that my mum’s always talking about. I make my way back over to my chair and sit down slowly. I still don’t look her in the eyes.

“Have I done something wrong? Has Dexter said something? I swear I didn’t mean to lead him on, I just didn’t want to hurt him.” She starts talking fast. There’s panic in her tone.

“Don’t worry about Dex, he’s a big boy, you’re not the first girl to let him down.” I wink, but instantly regret it, feeling like a twat for making fun of my best friend. “He will get over it.” I smile, and finally connect with her eyes. I notice that she has a small freckle, right underneath her left eye; it’s shaped like a small love heart. She has some more tiny freckles covering her nose. They’re cute.

She goes to stand. “Are we finished? I have an appointment this afternoon and really need to be getting home.” I don’t want her to leave. I stand up and make my way over to the door, she follows me and I linger just a little too long with my hand on the handle, I breathe her in as she gets closer. Finally turning the handle, just as she stops right next to me. I open the door. “Thanks for the chat, Max. I’ll see you on Monday?”

“I’ll be here. If you have any problems, come and see me.”

“I will do, thanks.” She doesn’t move, her arm brushes against me and I want to desperately push her up against the wall and kiss the life out of her. But I don’t, because I’m a fucking pussy. Instead, I bow my head and she moves past me and out of the door.

I spend the Sunday out on my bike. I go across to North Wales and spend some time at the beach. I need time to think about things, I need to reassess my life. Sunday is the only day that I don’t see Mum, mainly because my brother, John, goes on a Sunday, and I don’t want to see him. I haven’t spoken to him for over a year now, since Ma fell ill. I’ll never forgive him for not helping to look after her when I needed him. He was too busy with his own life and family to give a crap about what happened to Ma. As long as it didn’t affect his life, he didn’t give a damn where she went. He’s the main reason that she’s in that hellhole instead of at home in her bed. I wanted to look after her, I wanted to get nurses in to do the things that I couldn’t do and I wanted her to stay at home. John refused to help, he insisted that she went into the home, and he convinced Mum that it was for the best. He put it into Ma’s head that she was a burden on me, and that I’d never have a life if she didn’t agree to it. I’ll always resent him for that. She’s my mum, she would never be a burden on me. She spent 18 years looking after me, it’s my turn to repay her.

I look out across the beach, to the sea. The tide is about to come in and I watch as the waves inch closer and closer to the rocks in front of me. I sit down on the hard rocks and stare out at the water, watching the white foam bubbles pop as they land on the sand. A man walks past with his dog. He bends down to pick up the ball, throwing it into the sea. The dog jumps in, bouncing across the waves, collects his ball and brings it back to his owner. He gives a small shake as he drops the ball, and the man laughs jumping away from the spray of the wet dog. I smile to myself. That will be me one day. All alone, just my loyal dog and me. I don’t want to be alone though; I want to be with her. Why am I so scared to just ask her? She’s different to all the other girls, the slappers that are so obviously tying to get into my pants. Why is she different? Is it because she isn’t obvious about wanting me? Or, is it the spark that is felt between us? Whatever it is, it’s driving me crazy. I’ve never felt this messed up about a woman in my life. I have this whole other problem now, though. Dexter. He likes her and she knocked him back. The code means that I can’t go out with her. Is she worth my friendship? Maybe Dex would understand if I told him how I felt? I should just ask him, I’m not sure how to do that without sounding like a lovesick teenager, though. 

I don’t know how long I sit here for, but I soon realise it has been too long when the waves start to lap at my boots. I stand up, put my jacket back on, and climb onto the bike. I pull the helmet down over my head and start her up. Checking to see that nothing is coming, I pull out into the road, and head back home.

Dexter is sitting at the table, nursing my bottle of Jack when I arrive.

“Hey, mate. What’s up? I’ve never seen him like this before, not over a girl. He’s usually, like me, the fuck ‘em and chuck ‘em type. I don’t think I can tell him that I have feelings for her, too.

“Nowt.” His reply is short and clipped. I feel his pain.

“C’mon, mate. There’s plenty more fish in the sea.” I feel like such an arsehole. On the inside I’m so glad that she brushed him off, I’m elated in fact. However, I feel guilty for feeling joyous at his sadness. He looks up at me, his eyes are red and glazed.

“You’re right,” he says, standing. The sudden movement surprises me. “Let’s go out and get wasted.” He walks out of the room, heading towards the bathroom. “Be ready in twenty minutes. We can go to Cruise.” I don’t argue with him, I could do with a night out myself. I head to the bedroom and pull some clothes out of the wardrobe. Twenty minutes later I walk back into the kitchen, Dexter is sitting at the table, he looks slightly happier but I can tell it’s a front. His real emotions are being buried inside, just like mine. We head out of the door, determined to not let the swamp of sadness overtake us, if we do, we’ll end up to our necks in a pool of our own shit.

“Hey, Joey, mate. How’s it going?” I ask the doorman as we walk up to the entrance of Cruise.

“Not bad, I can’t complain. Ho
w’
re you? Any jobs going over at your place yet?” He asks me this every time I see him, but he’ll never work at Lust, not if I get my way. He’s an okay bloke, but he’s a ladies
’
man. He only wants a job there so he can perv on the girls.

“Sorry, mate, we’re fully staffed. I’ll let ya know if anything comes up.” He winks at me and lets us both through the barrier, avoiding the queue that appears to go on forever. We walk into ‘Cool Britannia’ and Dexter heads straight to the bar to grab some drinks. I sit on one of the plush white couches, whilst Blur’s ‘
Country House
’ plays out of the speakers. This is my favourite room in the club, especially when the live bands play. I know that Dexter hates it, so I doubt we will be here for long.

“Can we head up to Bangkok in a bit?” He asks as soon as he sits down. I knew h
e’
d want to move; he only wants to go to the Bangkok room to see if he can pull. I don’t blame him, though, he needs to get Jasmine out of his head. We haven’t spoken about what happened with her on Friday night; I just know that she blew him off. He’s never been the type to convey his feelings and neither have I. We don’t have that type of friendship, we’ve always been ‘blokey, blokes’, we don’t have feelings. We finish our drinks and I agree to head upstairs to the Bangkok room. We enter the room, it’s much darker in here than the bright Britannia room. It’s more intimate, a mixture of eclectic Asian décor and hypnotising music, lit completely by candlelight. It’s the perfect hideaway to get up close and dirty with a girl. I feel wrong being in here, though, I don’t want to pull some girl out of a bar, I want to pull Jasmine. I’m only doing this for Dexter, as soon as he pulls, I’m out of here. We’ve always been each other’s ‘wingman’ even when we were kids. We met in primary school when we were seven, we formed an everlasting bond as soon as I saw him standing up to some kids who were bullying Charlie Graham, the chubby kid in our class. We became best friends that day, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.

I get the round of drinks in and we sit down at a rare, empty table. It’s busy in this room, there are lots of couples kissing in corners, but there are also a few groups of girls stood around chatting and dancing. Dexter eyes his target and moves in, he has always been the same. He’s a flirt, always has been. I watch as he chats to the blonde girl with the big tits popping out of the top that’s two sizes too small for her. She flirts back, rubbing up and down his biceps. I laugh and pull out my phone, bringing up the Facebook app, I rarely go on the silly site, but I’ve been using it lately to stalk Jasmine.