Free Stripped Bounty by Dorothy F. Shaw Page B

music.
    Rosie got to her feet and walked around the pole. Arching back against it, she popped her hips, along with her legs, keeping her movements tight, but sensual. She walked forward and pulled the slip dress she wore over her head.
    Yeah, he was watching.
    Catching Badger’s eyes as she walked, she tossed the costume to the side and stopped at the end of the stage, cupped her chest in her hands and rolled her hips, then turned and bent forward, swinging her long hair around.
    She went to her knees and crawled along the edges of the stage, allowing the customers to show their love…in the form of dollar bills. By the time Rosie got to the other end, her next song began. After getting back to her feet, she moved up stage, and unlaced her white string bikini-type top.
    The slow but solid beat of BANKS’s “Before I Ever Met You” fueled her. After giving her ass a little shake, Rosie arched backward, and executed a back walkover. When she was upright again and facing the crowd, she rolled her head and flipped her hair over one shoulder. Rosie cupped her breasts in her palms before making a show of pinching her nipples. More hoots and whistles from the men in front, a few hollered her name. But what was better was Badger’s reaction. His eyes had gone wide when she’d tugged on her nipples and he’d run his palm over his face.
    If he’d ever reacted visibly to her before, Rosie had never witnessed it. But she’d seen it now. And damn if lust didn’t fill her limbs like warm honey because of it.
    She let a knowing smile arch her lips and made eye contact with a few patrons. But as she turned to move to the other end of the stage, she caught another set of familiar eyes.
    What the?
    No. It couldn’t be him.
    Rosie rounded the pole there and hoisted herself up to get a better view— Oh my God . In the back of the crowd, standing in a far corner opposite the bar, was someone she was so sure she’d never see again. Rosie spun, meeting his eyes with each revolution. Nothing but revenge emanated from his expression. That, and hate. Pure, unadulterated hate.
    Lust forgotten, fear settled in Rosie’s stomach like a lead weight as sheer panic raced through her limbs like an inferno. How the fuck had he found her? The music ended, and with that, so had her three-song set.
    She was supposed to head to the small cage stage next, but there was no goddamn way that was happening. Without gathering up her discarded costume pieces or the rest of the money that’d been tossed on stage for her, Rosie stepped off the platform and headed down the back hall in a rush.
    She had to get out of there. Immediately.

    B adger watched as Rosie made her way off the stage and high-tailed it down the back hall like her ass was on fire. Something had happened about three quarters of the way through that last song and freaked her out. In the last four months or so, Badger had done nothing but watch Rosie, and in that time, he’d gotten real familiar with “Arianna” and her many expressions when she was onstage.
    “Freaked out” wasn’t one he’d seen from her before, but, regardless, he’d noticed the change immediately in her expression as well as her demeanor. In a matter of a nanosecond, her eyes had gone from the normal brightness inhabiting them whenever she performed, to—if he wasn’t mistaken—fear. Maybe a customer had made a nasty comment; it wasn’t uncommon. But knowing how Rosie normally handled that sort of thing, it wouldn’t make sense for it to upset her, or worse, scare her.
    From his usual perch near the bar, Badger scanned the crowd. Nothing seemed off from his perspective. Deejay Rick did a second shoutout for Arianna for the small cage stage as the next song played for the girl on the main stage. Badger watched the mouth of the hall, waiting for her to emerge. He glanced at Rick. Rick shrugged. Where the fuck was she?
    Badger gave his guy closest to the back hall a chin jerk, indicating he needed to head down