Bondi groaned. “Why did I let her talk me into this?”
Teagan followed Gwenn inside, who halted next to a voluptuous hostess. “Hi, Tania. How’s your night? Can you fit us in at the VIP section?” Gwenn slipped Tania a stack of bills.
“Sure! Okay, follow me, girls,” Tania said, her genuine smile cracking her overly done foundation. Teagan wondered what Tania would look like without the teased blonde hair and the fake long eyelashes bringing down her eyelids under their weight.
As she followed Gwenn, several guys greeted them, giving Gwenn a respectful nod. Teagan was curious about how often Gwenn hung around here. In contrast to the outside of the building, the interior was tastefully done and gave off the vibe of a modern Moulin Rouge with elegant tables scattered across the open plan ground floor.
“Oh, this is going to be epic!” Errin cheered while entering the roped off area up on a stage at the far right side of the club.
Teagan sat down on one of the brand-new looking red velvet plush seats arranged in a horseshoe shape around a purple bluish illuminated stage. Her body itched to climb up and swirl around the pole in the center of the stage.
She glanced down from their VIP stage at almost every other patron ogling the bachelorette party. It was one thing to dance at Errin’s studio in private or with her students. But dancing in front of these men?
Maybe her pent up frustration had something to do with her even considering doing something this naughty. Teagan had been on edge for weeks after meeting Devlin at her parents’ farm. The way he’d taken control of her body had been unapologetically coarse but, most of all, surprisingly sweet as he caressed her throat with his thumb.
Gooseflesh traveled over her arms, thinking about his unrefined way of talking about pushing her cotton panties to the side before slamming home. His dirty words lived rent free in her head every night she couldn’t take it anymore and used her vibrator.
She hadn’t seen Devlin since that day. She’d expected him to seek her out, but this man wasn’t chasing her like she’d expected.
She had hoped that he would join at least one of his half sisters out to Lucky’s in these past weeks, so she could see if what he’d made her feel that day was a fluke. Every time a Ryan sister would enter the pub during one of Teagan’s shifts, her eyes immediately zoomed in behind them in search of his almost seven-foot frame. But he never came.
Errin plunked down next to Teagan, her mischievous grin infectious. “Gwenn is handling the cash, so we can tip the dancers.”
“One dance. Then we’re out of here,” Mae said to no one in particular as her rounded eyes took in the luxurious interior. Teagan wondered if anyone actually listened to her sister, as the rest cheered on the slender brunette climbing the steps for their VIP stage.
“Try to relax and have some fun, sis…” Teagan said to Mae.
Mae rolled her eyes. “Think about what Mom and Dad will say when they hear about this little trip. I can’t even—”
Teagan swallowed back the bile in her throat. Her twenty-three-year-old sister sounded like they would get grounded if word got back to their parents. Teagan knew she wasn’t far off from the truth.
Her oldest sister, Emmy, interrupted Mae and said, “Ah, come on, Mae. Okay, Dad is going to be grumpy for a few days. But Mom will probably laugh it off.”
The brunette on stage wobbled on her stripper heels, nearly breaking her ankle on her way toward the pole. Teagan recognized a newbie when she saw one.
“Damn. We could make big bucks around here, T. Did you see the amount those guys slipped into that one girl’s string?” Errin nudged her chin at a second stage, a dancer with long, black hair that reached her pearl string thong swinging her hips before crawling the stage.
“I wish I could dance like her,” Kayla said, the awe clear in her voice.
Gwenn stuck a couple of twenties in the brunette’s string before she left their VIP stage. The music changed into an upbeat, pumping rhythm. Before Teagan had the chance to stop her, Errin dragged Teagan from her seat, leading her up onto the stage.
“I’m not leaving this place before we’ve shown these girls what Errin’s Dance Studio can teach them. Shake your moneymaker, T!” Errin shouted.
Some guys turned in their seats, hollering at Errin and Teagan to take their clothes off.
“One dance, T. After tonight, we’ll never get this opportunity again. If only Brennan were here, this would have been perfect!” Errin said.
“Get your butt down here, T. I’m seriously not even asking you!” Mae shouted, her eyes wide in panic.
Teagan took a step toward her sister, who held out her hand to help her off the stairs to the stage. But then a shiver took over her body, halting her steps. Tiny hairs rose in the back of her neck. That shiver hadn’t been there when she’d first glanced around the dimly lit strip club, noticing most of the men’s eyes were on Errin and her.
That tingle of excitement came from the idea of dancing in the middle of this outlandish, freaky world of naked women and very loud and horny strangers. How long had she denied herself any contact with anything remotely sexual?
And all because she had made a mistake at fourteen. She was fed up with keeping up appearances. This dance was for Teagan and for her alone. She didn’t give a shit what her sister had to say about it.
Her hips moved along with the sensual, slow song that started. Errin slid her hands from behind on Teagan’s narrow hips, roaming over her bronzed body stuck in her flowy blush colored dress with a tight heart shaped bodice pushing up her C-cups. Teagan turned around, Errin’s hand skimming Teagan’s bodice, just enough to make the crowd whistle and shout.
Teagan took a step away from Errin and grabbed the pole. She hooked her leg and whirled, her dress flowing behind her. She ignored the hoots and hollers from the growing crowd behind the ropes that divided their VIP section from the rest of the club.
Teagan stepped out of her heels and slid them away from the pole. She raised her arms above her head, her hands gripping the pole once more. She hooked her feet around the pole and climbed up higher. In a brisk move, she brought both legs up, hooking her legs around the pole while descending her upper body in an upside-down vertical position.
As one of her favorite moves, she could do this exercise in her sleep. She let gravity take over and slid down the pole at a treacherously slow pace. She was fully aware of giving everyone an eye-full of her naked cheeks stuck in a lacy white thong as her dress hung just as upside down as her body.
The bumslide-to-splits move ended when Teagan held her balance with her hands on the stage, stretching her legs wide and bringing them down in the splits.
“Teag! If you don’t come down right now, I….”
Teagan stopped listening to Mae’s threats. Her sister didn’t stand a chance in getting her point across when, in a direct line from across the room, Devlin strode up to their VIP stage. She couldn’t decipher his dark gaze. If she had to guess, the man was pissed—or just highly sexually frustrated, pent up for a release.
Good. That made two of them.