CUZ: Billionaire Stepbrother Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

the room, closing the door behind me. Would I regret it the next day? Probably, but I was worried about Ashley. Whenever we fought about something, she usually sent me a text message to let me know she was okay when she cooled down, but she hadn't sent me anything. I drove to her apartment for the summer, but she wasn't home.
    After a third unanswered call, I finally left a short message and told her to call me. I went home and stayed up most of the night tossing and turning in bed. Why had I acted to casual after she told me the news? It had affected me deeply, but I didn't know how to share that with her. I didn't even know how to deal with it myself.
     

Seven

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Ashley
     
    When Josh didn't want to talk to me about the test results, I knew I had to get away. I had around five grand squirreled away for a rainy day emergency. If I walked away from my adoptive parents, I knew that I would increase the likelihood that I got nothing from them. The money would be cut off quickly and soullessly. I didn't care.
    Not knowing where else to go, I headed back to New Orleans. I was able to find a nice efficiency apartment, but after two months, I realized that I was going to have to make some money. I knew that money made money, but I had none so I had to come up with some ideas. I put in a few applications to be a bartender at a few local joints, but none of them were hiring.
    Then, when I was starting to get desperate, something opened up. I was at a bar having a drink when a greasy looking man with slicked back hair and an annoying gold necklace sat down next to me. I tried to ignore him at first, but he insisted on buying me a drink and then another. My parents had called me the night before and told me I was cut off if I didn't return, which is why I was open to his idea.
    “You'd make a great dancer at my club.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I'm Benji.” He stretched out his hand. “I said you could make a lot of money dancing at my club. No offense intended.”
    “You run a strip club?”
    “A Gentleman's Club, honey.”
    “Don't call me honey, okay. I'm not interested in making a hundred a night flashing my tits.”
    “Hundred a night? You're kidding, right? With your look and my club, you could do four or five hundred a night easy.”
    I looked over at him, a little tipsy from all the drinks. “Yeah? That much?”
    “After my cut, of course, but yeah, you would do good. Here's my card. Give me a call.”
    He tossed a business card on the table along with another hundred dollar bill. I tried to think of something to say, but he turned around and walked out of the club. After I picked up the card and the money, I made my way to my apartment a few blocks over. As I walked, I really thought about his offer.
    Did taking my clothes off for money make me a slut? Or was I just being smart? If I danced and made the kind of money he was talking about, I could quit after six months or a year and have enough money to invest in a business of my own. With Josh out of my life for good, I had to take care of myself.
    By the time I got home, I'd made up my mind. The next day, I stopped by the club. Benji told me to get up on stage to show my stuff. I was nervous as hell at first, but I concentrated on the music and just let my body do all the work. My mind was a million miles away, which was fine with me. The customers only wanted one thing from me.
     
    * * *
     
    After my first week, I was the highest paid dancer at the club. I could reach diamond level and make more money if I slept with Benji, but I refused. He said I was hot enough to get away with just oral. I laughed him off instead. We were both making good money. He didn’t want to fuck that up and have me move to another club.
    On my eighth night dancing, Josh showed up at the club out of nowhere. I saw him from the stage as I gyrated in time with the music. He looked around, not noticing me with my red wig. I cut my dance short and got off the stage