Scarred - The Complete Series (Scarred #1-6) Read online

  “Hey, Jake.”

  He winked and responded, “You're popular tonight.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “Which song are you having?”

  “Track five.”

  His smile grew. “That's the third time tonight. Have fun!”

  They grasped hands tightly before releasing their grip. It wasn't much, but such small gestures of support meant a lot.

  Entering the room, she slowly stepped towards the pole in time with the music. He was sat in a chair opposite, watching her every movement. She hated to admit it, but he was gorgeous! Sometimes they had the rare good looking ones, but they were always married or engaged.

  What really caught her attention though were his eyes. They were the lightest shade of crystal blue she had ever seen. With his dark eyelashes, it made them pop in a way she had never seen before.

  She ripped her eyes away forcing herself to switch off and focused on her dance.

  When she had first been introduced to pole dancing by Roxie, she was instantly hooked. The cold metal of the pole was secure and safe as she spun the excited pant of her breath whenever she was performing a difficult move, and the wave of victory when she did it flawlessly was addictive.

  It was a safe haven, a place where she could just let go and be herself. It had taken a while to shut out the comments and the pants of aroused men at first, but after a while, it had become second nature to her. This time, however, was different. Usually, the men would sit there and rub themselves moaning and groaning or try and reach out for a touch. He just sat there. Quietly watching.

  She wanted to look into his eyes again. Not a good idea. It was always best to create a detachment when dancing - otherwise, you could get sucked into their world pretty easily. But the temptation was there.

  Glancing up, a shock of electricity went through her when their eyes locked. His were in a trance as he looked at her: so many emotions swirling behind his crystal blue irises.

  Bad move.

  Shutting him off completely, she finished. It wasn't usually wise to break away any bond with the person watching - it tended to result in low tips, but she felt as if there had been no other alternative.

  Unlike most of the other business men, he was dressed in dark blue jeans, a white dress shirt that was unbuttoned with a dark navy suit coat. His jet black hair was neatly slicked back. She didn't miss the way he moved, with assurance, and his aura filled the private space. His gaze rested on her as he took a few steps forward.

  She remained perfectly still. He was the sexiest man she had ever seen, and the swirling flavor of command only amplified his physical appeal. It didn't take much for her to imagine what his body looked like beneath his clothes. Chiseled chest, wide shoulders, rippling abs, even his scent of pure man lured her in. His attraction was hard to deny.

  He finally nodded his head, turned and left the private room. Chloe exhaled the breath she had been holding in relief. The tension between them could've been cut with a knife. She was about to leave when she noticed the money on the table by the chair. Walking over she picked up the bills and quickly counted. Her eyes widened in surprise. There had to have been at least one thousand dollars in her hand.

  Slipping the money into her bra, she turned and left.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “How was it?” Lexi asked wiping down the bar counter.

  Chloe leaned into the bar then twisted her head, taking a quick glimpse of the tall, dark, mysterious man she had never seen before. “Ok. He left a shit load.” She smiled fanning the bills in the bartender’s eye view.

  Lexi smiled looking over Chloe’s shoulders. “Umm…” She paused frowning. “Did you do something?”

  “No.” Chloe retorted whipping around looking in the direction her friend was. She watched the tall, dark man speak to her boss with his back facing her. Chloe couldn’t make out what he was saying, but Roxi looked flustered. She watched as Roxi shook his hand as they had just sealed a deal. When he turned, his eyes locked with hers, a small smile appearing at the corners of his full lips.

  Chloe instantly turned her head around, looking frustrated. “Fucking cocky bastard.”

  “Don’t look but her she comes,” Lexi whispered still wiping the counter.

  She quickly shoved her bills back into her bra and turned around leaning her back against the bar. Thank god her shift was almost over. She didn’t need any bullshit tonight.

  “Let’s go talk.” Roxi looked at Chloe, tapping her elbow, giving her the cue to start walking.

  They both walked up the stairs to the second level of the building which housed her boss’s office and some private rooms. Chloe closed the door and grabbed a seat in the black leather chair that sat on the other side of her boss’s desk.

  She eyed the blonde curiously and entwined her fingers together. “Ok, what the hell is going on? Whatever that joker told you, its bullshit!” Chloe spat already losing her patience.

  Roxie smiled and placed her elbows on her desk, hands resting under her chin. “Almost two years ago, when you served me that shitty burger in that shitty restaurant.” Roxie paused, “Why do you think I offered you this job?”

  Chloe sat back in the leather chair and examined her bosses raised eyebrows. “I really don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

  “Because you’re gorgeous and I knew the men would love you. At first, you also looked broken— defeated almost, but then after a few weeks, something changed in you. Something I liked. You remind me of myself when I was twenty four.” Roxi leaned back in her chair and rocked. “Just wish you would strip rather than just pole dance!”

  Chloe let out a laugh. “You couldn’t pay me enough Rox. Now can you tell me why I am up here?”

  Roxie leaned forward and threw a bundle of bills in front of her and Chloe’s eyes widened as she watched her boss spread the hundreds out across the mahogany desk.

  “There is twenty thousand dollars here.” Roxie paused before continuing. “Mr. Stark has hired you for the week. You are not allowed to dance for anyone other than him. The perk about this? He’ll only be here three days this week.”

  Chloe’s eyes grew wider as she stared at the bills and then her boss. “Why? He’s some fucking pervert, right? I’m not doing it Rox!”

  “Do you know him?”

  “I’ve never seen him before!”

  “Well, he knows you. Or at least I think he does; by the way, he kept asking me questions about you. What aren’t you telling me, Chloe?”

  Chloe ran a hand through her long hair in frustration trying to recall his face again. She had never seen him before, ever. She had no idea who he could be unless he recognized her from the trial in New York.

  “Nothing Roxie. I don’t know him.” Chloe responded in a frustrated tone. “Who is he?”

  Roxie took one more look at Chloe before responding. “He owns Stark Real Estate, the most successful in Rhode Island and of course he is filthy rich. His father is the top Criminal lawyer at Stark & Renner. I have met him a few times.” Roxie tapped her manicured nail on her lip, still staring at Chloe. “Question is why is he so interested in you?”

  Beads of sweat started to form on Chloe’s forehead as her mind went through a thousand different scenarios. There is no way this guy could know her or have a connection to her past. Jesse is in prison.

  Chloe let out a nervous laugh. “I have no idea. Give him his money back. I’m not doing it. He is already creeping me out.” She began to get up and out of the chair and walk towards the door.

  “I’m sorry Chloe, but you’re doing it.”

  She watched her boss stand. Roxi’s long blonde hair fell over her shoulders as she placed a hand on her perfectly sculpted hip. For thirty four, she was gorgeous. She took pride in her body and how she looked, which was something that Chloe had always admired about her. There was always effervescence about her boss that never spoiled, no matter how many years passed. Roxi was completely comfortable with herself and that confidence added
to her allure, making her glow.

  “Jesus Christ Rox. I said, No!” Chloe frowned trying to argue.

  “I heard you. But you’re still doing it. He’ll be back tomorrow night.” Roxie replied sitting back down in her chair. She waved her fingers towards the door. “It’ll be fine.”

  She looked at her boss knowing there was no point in arguing with her. The money had won her boss over. She would go home and try and connect the dots if there were any at all. She would find out who and why this Mr. Stark had any interest in her at all. Maybe she was just overreacting, and he just liked the way she looked. However, in this line of work, that was doubtful.

  Mr. Stark didn’t just drop a small fortune to hire her for three days based solely on looks. There was definitely more. There had to be more.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Chloe sat on her bed reading the bio she had pulled up online: Derek Stark, thirty one years old, owner of Stark Real Estate, grew up in New York but now lives in Rhode Island where he owns the largest Real Estate group in the state. His father is a criminal lawyer in New York. Could that be the connection? Was his father somehow involved in the trial? He has one brother, Jake, who works with his father in New York. He’s a lawyer also. New York is a huge state. Is it possible that this guy’s father or brother was involved in Jesse’s trial that he would remember her or recognize her?

  She searched site after site, trying to find out why this rich pervert would drop twenty thousand dollars, just to watch her dance. Did he think the obnoxious display of money was going to win him special favors? She certainly hoped not, for his sake. Rich and gorgeous weren’t enough for her. She’d had rich and gorgeous, and it had nearly killed her. If she ever wanted to forget that, her scars would always remind her that a nice cover definitely does not tell you how screwed up the book is inside.

  Derek Stark…who are you, and more importantly, what do you want from me? She scrolled through more sites, reading basically the same information over and over again. The guy needed to give his publicist a raise, that’s for sure. If there were any skeletons there to be found, they were buried deep. Finally frustrated when nothing popped up flashing bold letters that said, “Pervert Beware,” Chloe shut down the computer and stretched out on the bed. What the hell does this man want?

  “Hey! Are you still awake?” Lexi was knocking on her door, obviously with no regard to whether or not she was still awake, the way she was banging on it.

  “Yeah, I’m up. Come in.”

  Lexi pushed open the door. She had on her pajamas and was carrying a cup of tea in each hand. She handed one to Chloe as she sat up and she said, “So, did you find out who your gorgeous benefactor really is?”

  She took a sip of the tea. It felt good going down. Although Chloe was a smoker, sometimes the thick atmosphere of it at work stuck in her throat and made it hard to breathe. “It would seem, that he is exactly who Roxi says he is. He owns a prominent real estate agency, the biggest one in the state. It seems like he may own half of Rhode Island.”

  “Hubba Bubba!” Lexi said.

  “You don’t find it creepy that he’s paying twenty grand just to watch me dance for a week?”

  “Maybe it was love at first sight.” Chloe rolled her eyes, and Lexi said, “Okay, maybe not. But the real deal is that he’s dropping a butt-load of cash that I know you need to watch you dance. You don’t even have to take off your clothes. I don’t know if I would overthink it if I were you.”

  “I have to over-think it, Lex. These guys are mostly scum, and there is always a motive. They’re well-dressed, sometimes. Like in Derek Stark’s case, good-looking but scum nonetheless.”

  “Well you’ll be in a safe place and you know if he does try anything Roxi will kick him out, twenty-grand or not. Remember that slime ball that kept taking his dick out and asking the girls on stage to touch it?”

  Chloe laughed, but it was to keep from retching. “It was a tiny little thing if I recall.”

  Lexi laughed too and said, “Yeah, as long as he held it in his hand, it disappeared. But my point is that Roxi had him shown the door. She took his membership away, and I found out later on that his family owns the company that designs Yachts for most of the dickheads who come in that place. Roxi didn’t care. Rules are rules, and she’ll make sure you’re protected. At least you won’t have to dance for any of the other creeps this week, and you’ll have some mighty nice eye candy while you’re dancing for him. I’ll bet his dick wouldn’t disappear in his hand.”

  Chloe picked up one of the small pillows off of her bed and threw it at her, “Get out perv!”

  She stood up and smiled, “I repeat, don’t over-think it, Chloe. You’ve got an extra thousand bucks that you didn’t have before you went in to work tonight. The guy’s not a cheap skate either, and the money will come in handy. Look at it as a blessing in disguise.”

  Chloe didn’t do well with blessings. She was much better at finding the devil in the details. “I’ll try,” Chloe told her.

  After Lexi left her room, she reached into her dresser drawer and pulled out the box where she kept her journal and her pen. She opened the book to the entry she had made earlier before she left for work.

  The first day of the rest of my life.

  June 1, 2011

  I got a thousand dollar tip tonight for doing nothing more than a pole dance. That was unusual itself, but then the same guy dropped twenty grand for me to be his “private dancer” for a week. Sometimes I get so annoyed with these men and the anger I feel at having changed my entire life because of one of them boils to the surface. Other times, like now, I have to wonder just how lonely does a man have to be to spend that kind of money on simple companionship…and companionship of the most superficial nature to boot.

  It’s strange because if you look at this man and his life on paper, you would say he was the least likely candidate in the state for loneliness. I guess it’s another lesson for me on the virtues of not judging people based solely on first impressions…everyone has layers, like an onion. Some look fresh on the outside and the deeper you peel them back, the more rotten the layers become. I know the opposite is true as well, but that’s the side I have a harder time seeing, not because of the physical scars, but because of the psychological ones. Those are the ones that urge me to keep everyone at a distance, especially now. When Jesse gets out of prison, I’ll have to know for certain that there is nothing left of the old me to lead him in my direction.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Chloe woke up the next morning with a new resolve. She didn’t really want to know anything more about Derek Stark. She knew that if she had ever seen him before— if she had ever so much as glanced into those ice blue eyes, she wouldn’t have forgotten him, she couldn’t have. It’s been two years since she molded herself into someone new…there is no way he knows who she is. She knew she was just paranoid.

  He’s just some lonely freak like the rest of them; only he happens to be drop-dead gorgeous. As Lexi said, it’s really a blessing not to have some fat, bald creep rubbing his dick through his trousers while she danced. She would keep that in the front of her mind and try to let the rest of it go.

  She got up and took a quick shower. Lexi wasn’t up yet, and she doubted she would be for a while. They worked odd hours, so Lexi slept odd hours. Chloe did her best to get up at the same time every day. She had too much on her plate to sleep half the day away. Today was her advanced self-defense class with Maximus, and he was the best.

  When she first moved to Rhode Island, she was working in a diner. One of the girls she met there had told her about a self-defense work-shop she was going to. Chloe went with her and as it turned out, that one weekend had gone a long way towards instilling some of the confidence back in her that Jesse had beaten out of her. So she had decided to take the entire beginner’s course. It concentrated on teaching women how to use their personal strengths against their assailant’s physical and mental weaknesses. They also had them do a lot of exercises designe
d to alleviate the daily fear from their lives. The fear of being attacked in your home or on the street. The fear of date-rape and domestic violence.

  Chloe loved it, and she was good at it. At the end of the course, they had what was called an “Adrenaline Stress Training” where an assailant…properly padded so that he was safe, would attack them in various ways. They got to apply the information they had learned using both their physical skills and their mental prowess.

  She aced that first one, kicking a six foot two one hundred and seventy pound man’s ass to the mat. She was instantly hooked.

  She dressed in her compression pants and a tank-top. The weather this time of year in Rhode Island was gorgeous. She slipped on her tennis shoes and grabbed her I-Pod and her water and headed out. The class was about six blocks from the beach-side condo she and Lexi rented from Roxi, so instead of driving she got in her morning run and killed two birds with one stone.

  Chloe ran along the beach as far as she could. She loved the ocean. It cleared her head and always seemed to give her a fresh perspective on things. One positive thing the dancing had done for her other than the money was that it had made her immune to the stares she attracted from men. She almost didn’t notice it any longer. As a matter of fact, other than paying attention to the traffic, so she didn’t get mowed down by a car, she rarely noticed much of anything when she ran. That’s why she was so surprised when she stopped at the crossing two blocks from the DoJo where she did her classes and saw the billboard on the far side of the street.

  A huge picture of Derek Stark smiling; his sexy face was staring down at her. It said, “Looking to start a new life? Let us help.” There was a contact number. She couldn’t help but wonder how many women called and went “pretend” house-hunting just to get a glimpse of the man in person.

  She realized that the light had changed twice before she was able to tear her own eyes away. Not cool, Chloe. Detached, remember? Don’t let this man’s good looks fool you. He’s hanging out in a very confidential strip club. Even if she was interested in finding a man which she most definitely is not, that would be enough to nix it right there.