Saving Sky

  Saving Sky

  Natasha L. Black

  Copyright © 2019 by Natasha L. Black

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  Forbidden Daddy (Sample)

  A Note from the Author

  Also By Natasha L. Black

  About the Author and Mailing List

  Introduction

  She has the right to remain sexy.

  She has every right to use that gorgeous body to dance for money

  She has every right to use mine for whatever she wants.

  Anytime.

  She wants to quit stripping, but the Mob won’t let her.

  It’s up to me to rescue her.

  Yeah, I’m a cop, but I’m ready to break all the rules.

  I can show her that body is good for more than just a moneymaker.

  I can give her an orgasm that will change her mind.

  Except I’ll never be able to let her go.

  I’ll do anything to save her.

  Anything to make her mine.

  1

  Jack

  “You have to go! It’s for the Captain!” Welsh said as he clapped me on the back.

  “I know, but strip clubs aren’t really my cup of tea,” I said. “I’d rather not.”

  “Okay, it’s not a strip club, it’s a gentleman’s club,” Welsh said, emphasizing the word.

  “You realize those are the same thing, right?” I asked.

  “They are not!” Welsh shot back, horror in his expression. “There are a lot of differences!”

  “Women taking off their clothes and men watching them, that’s what they are,” I said with a laugh. “You can’t argue that.”

  “A gentleman’s club is far classier, hence the name. Everything is nicer, including the girls. So, you’re a lot more likely to find someone hot to take home than you would if you were at a strip club,” he said. There was a look on his face that told me he planned to do that very thing.

  “I don’t have any intention of even going, let alone taking any of the girls’ home,” I replied. “Seriously man, I’ve got work to do.”

  “Oh, you’re going. It’s his bachelor party! With any luck Cap’s only going to be married this one time, and you’re going to feel pretty stupid in the morning when you are the only one in the unit who didn’t show up at the party,” Welsh shook his head.

  I hesitated. He did have a point with that one. I didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t show up, and with the buzz about the party being at the club circulating through the force, I had a feeling I was the only one who wouldn’t be.

  “We’re leaving in an hour. You don’t have a lot of time to decide,” he pushed.

  “I already made up my mind,” I said. “I’m not going.”

  “That’s stupid. You are going, and you’re going to have a good time. Trust me. You can’t go to Smitty’s and not have a good time,” Welsh replied.

  “Smitty’s? He chose Smitty’s?” I asked. “Now I’m definitely not going.”

  “What’s wrong with Smitty’s?”

  “What isn’t?”

  “Jesus Jack. Quit being such a pussy. Just show up for an hour. You never know, you might want to stay longer when you see what they have on the menu and get a drink or two in you,” Welsh argued.

  I hesitated once more. I really didn’t like those venues, but he kept making good points. If I went, I didn’t have to stay for very long. I could show up, make sure Cap saw that I was there, then head home.

  “Are you just trying to get a rise out of me? Is that it?” I asked. “Seems to me like you want me there pretty bad, when we all know that you’re going to be throwing money at the strippers and ignoring the rest of us.”

  “Do you have to call them that? It’s degrading. These women are dancers. Hence why they work where they do. Show them some respect,” Welsh shook his head once more in mock disgust.

  “I’d show them plenty of respect if they kept their clothes on,” I replied. “Now finish with filing the reports from today so we can get out of here.”

  “I’m only going to hurry if you’re going to the club. We can start showing up like an hour before Cap gets there to get the table set up and shit,” Welsh rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

  “I’m working in the morning so I can’t get drunk,” I flipped through a couple folders on the desk before sliding them into a drawer.

  “You sound older than you are, Jack. Thirty-three should be your prime of life, not when you’re at home in your slippers at seven on a Friday,” Welsh gave me a look and I shrugged. My job was exhausting, and I didn’t often go out for drinks with friends anymore.

  It wasn’t just about being home at a certain time. I had outgrown a lot of that lifestyle. I still had a drink every now and then, but Welsh, being eight years younger than me, would far rather be out partying when he could get away with it than not.

  It was embarrassing at times. As an officer of the law, I felt we should carry ourselves with more respect, even when we were off duty. But it wasn’t my place to tell him what to do with his free time.

  He was an adult, and he could do whatever he wanted.

  “Just come for one hour. Just one!” he persisted. “I’ll even pay for you to get an Uber back home. Really.”

  I sighed, putting more files in another drawer. I hated doing paperwork, and I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. Welsh happened to be good at it, so if I could get him off my back, we could get out of there in a matter of minutes.

  At the end of a long stint, I was ready to be off. One more day, and I could be.

  “Okay. If it’ll make you lay off and get the rest of the work done in here, I’ll go,” I said. “But I’m not going to stay very long, and I don’t want you begging me in front of everyone like a little lost puppy, either.”

  “Deal,” he said triumphantly. “But I swear as soon as we get there you aren’t going to want to leave. You’ll be right there with the best of us next to the stage, trust me.”

  “I highly doubt it.”

  “Tits and ass, my friend, and lots of it. You know you’ll like it. Hell, I know you will,” he laughed as I walked out of the office, leaving him to do the rest of the paperwork himself.

  It might be good for me to get out for a night. It had been a while.

  “I told you! I told you you’d be glad you came!” Welsh nearly shouted in my ear as we walked into the club. We didn’t get out of the office as early as he’d wanted, but we were still there before the Captain and several of the others.

  The music was blaring, making it difficult to hear what he said. There were times I didn’t think that would be a bad thing.

  He pushed his way past the bouncer and into the room, leading the way to the table we’d reserved for the party. It was right
up against the stage with little space in between, giving us full view of everything that was going on. The girl on the pole was hot, I’d give her that, but she didn’t get my juices flowing.

  “Hey, you guys made it! How the hell did you convince Jack to come?” Drake asked as we took our seats.

  “Bribery,” I announced.

  He laughed. “Any sign of the Cap?”

  “I’m sure he’s going to get here as soon as possible. He’s probably laying down his own set of ground rules for his fiancé’s bachelorette party!” Welsh laughed. “You know how he is.”

  “No touching!” Deichman laughed from his end of the table. We all joined in. Each one of us could certainly picture Captain Markel being more worried about his soon-to-be-wife touching the stripper they hired than she was about him. They had a good relationship, but he still had a tendency to overthink things.

  I settled in with a drink and turned my attention to the stage. The lights were flashing, and the girl was still dancing in time to the music. I didn’t watch for very long, however, as I wasn’t joking when I’d told Welsh strip clubs weren’t my scene. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate the female form, because I surely did. It was just that I’d rather be the only one appreciating it and not sharing with a room full of drunken horndogs.

  Welsh was transfixed. He had his eyes glued to every movement she made. I had a feeling he was going to get several lap dances before the night was out. He liked women, a lot. Nearly desperate for a girlfriend, he’d frequent the clubs in the hopes that someone would go home with him at the end of the night.

  His only problem was cash. By the time he got through the drinks, there wasn’t much left for the strippers. He refused to believe they were only on him for his money and would often try to convince them for free favors.

  Often without any luck.

  “Boys! We made it!” Captain Markel walked in and sat in the middle seat. He poured himself a pint of beer and sipped on it, also turning his attention to the stage. It wasn’t long, however, before we were approached by a man in a dark suit.

  “And it looks like the party’s all here!” he said. His accent had a faint Italian flavor that was barely detectable over the sound of the music, but his darker skin and face shape betrayed his nationality.

  “Rocco Andretti,” he extended his hand to the Captain and smiled at the rest of us. “Welcome to my club. Please don’t hesitate to let me know how I can make your evening most enjoyable.”

  “Nice to meet you. Love how you cleaned up the place, but curious to know why you didn’t change the name,” Cap replied.

  “My father was Smitty. I keep it for him,” Rocco said.

  The name never struck me as Italian, but I said nothing. I lost interest in the conversation as another dancer came out. Rocco continued to chat with several of the other guys, but I was suddenly transfixed.

  The woman on stage was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen in my life. She had a dark complexion, made darker by the lights. Her pink, short dress left very little to the imagination, and her dark hair fell in waves over her shoulders and down to her ample breasts.

  She lifted herself onto the pole, swinging around with all the grace of a swan. The sound of the music faded as I stared at her, completely numb to everything else around me.

  “Jack! Earth to Jack!” Welsh was saying in my ear. Rocco’s laugh was filling the moment, and I suddenly realized they were talking to me.

  “What?” I asked, my eyes still on the girl.

  “You like Sky? You want her to dance for you?” Rocco asked. I halfway glanced at him but didn’t have the chance to reply. He motioned for her to come forward, and she obeyed.

  “This gentleman would like a dance. Be a good girl and do that for him,” Rocco said. She gave me a small smile as she straddled me, moving over me like a goddess. I couldn’t believe what she did to my body; how electric she felt.

  All the other men around the table faded into the background, and for a moment, it was just the two of us. Hell, I almost was able to forget we were in a club. I was surprisingly lost in the moment.

  I wasn’t sure how long she spent dancing over me, but it seemed to be over in an instant. All too soon she got off me, giving me another smile before turning and heading back to the stage to finish her dance.

  Another dancer was on the pole now, and they were soon dancing together, much to the delight of all the men in the room. It was hot, I’d give them that. But I was still transfixed on the one Rocco had called Sky.

  By the time she headed to the back room behind the curtain, I knew no other girl would measure up to her. I stayed a while longer than I intended, hoping she’d come out again. I just wanted to see her one more time. Those eyes – the color of the sky.

  No wonder they called her that.

  But she didn’t reappear, and soon enough I was ready to head home. I did have another long shift ahead of me, after all, and I needed to get some sleep.

  But I knew I’d be dreaming of her.

  2

  Sky

  I wandered through the dressing rooms, eager to get out of the barely-there costume and into my day clothes. The chilly Chicago night called for my jeans and hoodie, and far less makeup than I currently had on.

  I sat down in front of the mirror at my station, taking my time washing off most of the makeup with a towelette. I never took off everything. I wanted there to be some form of protection for me if I were to leave the club and one of the men who frequented the place saw me.

  It was part of the reason I chose to use my nickname as my work name, too. If I told someone I was Sky, there wasn’t any way for them to find me. Susie Blake, the twenty-five-year-old woman who was just trying to get through another shift.

  The club would be closing in an hour, but I always left before it did. Some of the other girls would stay right up to the end, and they often told me that’s when they got the biggest tips. I didn’t want to think about all the things they might be doing for those tips when people weren’t looking.

  Men weren’t supposed to touch us, and we were supposed to make the experience erotic for them, but still keep their hands in the right places. I knew several of the girls working for Rocco had asked him, however, if they could do whatever they pleased with the clients, to make as much money as possible.

  Rocco walked over to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. I shifted so they fell off. “Please don’t touch me.”

  “Why don’t you come over to my place?” he said soothingly. “It would be fun.”

  “No,” I replied flatly.

  I could see the agitation in his face, but he merely cleared his throat.

  “You know, I’ve been thinking you ought to stay later. You’re really popular with the guests, and I think they’d enjoy your company,” he said.

  “I can’t stay any later than I do,” I replied flatly. “And I don’t enjoy their company.”

  “Maybe you should learn,” he replied. “You could be making a lot more money than you already do.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I nearly spun around in my chair, and gave him a defiant look. “I’m not getting more physical, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Never say never,” he replied. He gave me one of his sadistic smiles and headed back toward the stage, leaving me feeling sick to my stomach. I hated that the other girls would do extra favors to make more money. And I hated that he allowed it.

  I wasn’t going to get involved. I was already showing men my body, grinding on their laps. I wasn’t going to be a prostitute on top of it.

  Rocco didn’t care. As long as he got a cut of the pay or didn’t have to give them as much salary, he was fine with them doing whatever. After all, with a reputation like that circulating around, the place became much busier in the last two hours of the night.

  After finishing with my face, I pulled my hair back, styling it as I often did when I wasn’t on shift. I’d pull it into a ponytail, brushing most of it away from
my face except for a few bangs I let hang loose. It was an attractive look, but far different from the Sky who was on stage in front of all those people.

  Other girls told me I wasn’t even recognizable when I was in my street clothes and normal makeup. And that was just how I wanted it.

  After changing into my much more practical shoes, I grabbed my tips off my dressing table and shoved them in my purse, not even bothering to put them in my wallet. I’d be walking home anyway, there wasn’t any need to stop along the way. I didn’t want to spend any money I didn’t have to. It was going to be my ticket out of there one day, and I’d have to save every penny.

  I slipped out the back, just like I always did, eager to be gone from that place as soon as possible. More than once Rocco had cornered me on my way out the door, always with the same proposition.

  “Why don’t you come over for a nightcap? You know it would be fun,” he’d say.

  “No, thank you. I’m tired after the shift and really want to get home,” I’d reply.

  More often than not he’d get angry. He’d threaten me in subtle ways, trying to get me to cave in and sleep with him. He’d been interested in me since the day I started at the club, and he hadn’t done much to try to hide it.

  And that’s still a day you regret with everything you have in you. What were you thinking? Why not have just gotten a job at a grocery store?

  I knew why. Because I was desperate for fast, easy money. I knew dancing was the way to do it, and I had been right. From the first day I started on the job I was making more money than I ever thought I would.