Private Dancer

Pleasure.

She’d thought she’d known what it was.

She hadn’t had a clue.

She let it settle over her as another tremor clutched her and then gently left. The fingers slipped out of her as she rested in the middle of the cage, out of their reach. She was almost sorry when the hot finger on her anus left her, too. Her body felt warm, replete. Heavy. She let her hair fall forward to hide her face. Her muscles were relaxed and her womb was positively glowing. She’d never felt like this before. She’d never come like that, not in private. Not with someone she cared for.

A dark, scared feeling fleetingly passed through her chest.

What had she just done?

The door to the cage clicked as it opened. Another mark in time.

She felt herself lifted into strong arms and she curled against a muscled chest. She pressed her face into Remy’s shoulder as he carried her from the room. He wasn’t safe, but he was protective.

Alicia swallowed hard.

There was no argument to be had here. They had a deal, and they all knew how things had turned out. The Satin Club wouldn’t be closing down for a month; she’d just become their star employee. The truth couldn’t be hidden. Not here, not out in the open where everyone had laid witness.

They’d challenged her to dance and not like it. How could she have enjoyed it any more?

She’d just come for a group of complete strangers.

Chapter Four

‘Dad, do you think we could skip the protests today?’

Alicia sat on the edge of the wooden chair in front of her father’s desk. They were in his office at the church. The room was sparse with white walls and stern furniture. A Bible sat on his desk and a picture of a lost lamb graced the wall behind him, but the room was so quiet – in colour, in warmth and in volume. A radio sat on the shelf to his left, but no music came from its speakers. The only sound to be heard was that of the air-conditioner, and it was working overtime.

‘It’s supposed to get into the high nineties this afternoon,’ she explained, latching on to the excuse. ‘I don’t want anyone to overheat.’

‘It’s hot in hell,’ he muttered, not looking up from the paper on which he was scribbling. A computer sat at his side, but he rarely turned it on. He was an old-school man, in thoughts and in actions. He viewed the Internet as a playground for degenerates, and the only use he had for it was his email. ‘We will not let the devil push us away simply because we’re uncomfortable.’

Alicia toyed with the ledger in her lap, lining it up against the hem of her skirt. She was certainly uncomfortable, but not because of the heat. Tonight was her first night dancing at the Satin Club. She was nervous, scared and queasy over the situation she’d got herself into. She’d barely slept all night as she’d tried to think of a way out of this mess. Step one had to be getting her father to stop his boycott.

‘We’ve had some elderly parishioners showing up. I’m worried about heat exhaustion.’

‘Then bring bottled water and fans.’ He slapped the desk in annoyance. ‘We’re making progress, Alicia. We can’t stop now. Crowe and his depraved minions are on their heels.’

Hardly. Leesha pressed her thighs together tightly. Bas wasn’t backing down. No, he was a fighter, just like she’d pegged him. He might use unusual tactics, but he’d stand his ground. Just look at what had happened to her when she’d tried to go toe-to-toe with him.

Her face heated and she pulled her skirt and the ledger further over her knees.

She still hadn’t got over what happened the other night. The feelings were still so close to the surface: the embarrassment, the horror – and the astonishment, the adrenalin and the bliss. She still couldn’t believe what she’d done, but dancing like that? Feeling those strangers’ hands on her? They’d brought her to such a sharp state of ecstasy, she still had to be careful how she walked or sat.

Even this hard wooden chair was getting to her. She shifted in distress. She’d been so sensitive ever since it happened. It was as if an awareness had been lit inside her. She had a sexual side, a side that needed gratification.

Apparently it had been starved for too long.

‘Please, you need to reconsider.’ She opened the ledger determinedly. ‘The number of worshippers in attendance on Sunday mornings has dropped significantly.’

He waved off her worry. ‘We don’t need the meek or the non-believers.’

‘We need their offerings.’

His blue eyes finally met hers. They were watery, but steely with fire. ‘Are people not tithing?’

‘Well … yes,’ she admitted. As far as their numbers had dropped, the actual dollars in the offering plates had gone up. The believers were showing their faith where it counted. ‘But we’ve got several comments on how radical we’ve become. We haven’t had any new attendees in weeks.’

‘Radical?’ That one word brought her father to his feet. ‘We’re fighting against evil.’

Leesha rocked slowly in her chair. This was not how she’d wanted things to go. She’d hoped to approach this logically, to have a straightforward discussion, but she could see it was too late for that. He was committed to his cause.

He rounded his desk, his blue eyes narrowing. ‘Has Lucifer touched your thoughts? Are you wavering in your commitment?’

She wasn’t wavering. Her commitment was just to peace and understanding. She’d already lost one battle to keep that. ‘No, I’m just … Father, we haven’t worked on the bulletin yet for this Sunday’s service. You haven’t signed the checks for the gas or electricity bills. You haven’t spoken to Jeanne about the hymns you’d like her to play. Have you even thought about your sermon?’

He bristled with indignation. ‘I will speak as the spirit moves me.’

Which wasn’t a good thing. He could be a powerful speaker when he planned his services, so eloquent and moving. She hadn’t seen that side of him for a while now. He’d become so myopic. ‘I just think we need to spend less time at the Satin Club and more time here.’

He stood over her, frowning. ‘Did those men at the club get to you? Are you fearful, child?’

Fearful, uncertain, excited – it was hard to tell which way the adrenalin was pulling her.

He knelt before her, taking her hands. ‘Evil can be frightening when you stare it in the face, but we must be strong together. We can’t tremble or let them separate us.’

‘Dad, you know I’m on your side.’

There were still questions in his eyes, worry for her. She took hope in that worry. For the first time in a very long while, he was looking outside himself. Vesting himself in something other than hate and vengefulness.

‘Let us pray together,’ he said.

She bowed her head, warmth filling her chest.

‘Father in heaven, help strengthen our resolve in the face of darkness. Help us cast out the demons. We are your servants, Lord, your soldiers. We will be strong in your stead.’

He gripped her hands so tightly Alicia winced, but then he was pushing himself to his feet. He bobbled slightly when his arthritic knee seized up, but grabbed the back of the wooden chair and pushed himself upright. He lifted his Bible high. ‘Let us be off to meet with our fellow soldiers.’

Stand on the picket line with Bas and Remy watching her through their security cameras?

‘Maybe I’ll stay here, just for today,’ Alicia hedged. ‘I have a lot of work to do.’

‘Nothing is more important than standing tall against your fears.’ He grasped her by the arm and pulled her upright.

She caught her ledger before it tumbled onto the floor. This wasn’t working. Instead of getting him to back down, she’d got him charged up.

There was a spring in his step as he pulled her towards the door. ‘We will win this fight, you and I together. In a few weeks’ time, the Satin Club will be no more.’