𝐒𝐈𝐍 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘

21.

This ain't a Milly Rock, this a money
dance, And my dick ain't hard,
that's a thirty in my pants. I got thirty
of them bands, I'ma make a stripper dance

I keep thinking about those words as I try my hardest to try and focus.

—

"I wonder what double lives they lead, what they do for their REAL jobs" Ethan says while walking down the cobbled path next to James and his brother, watching as we walked ahead in our party dresses.

"They're not all cheating on their boyfriends, Ethan, this is their lives" Grayson sighs with an eye roll at his twins stupid question. He leaves the cameras view and joins the rest of the group while James and Ethan carry on.

"Stripping is their job, E" James says bluntly, like he expects Ethan to already know that.

"Being a slut isn't a job" Ethan snaps

"Ethan" James gasps shooting him an offended glare, his jaw hanging open.

"Cmon you're telling me that wearing no clothes and sucking dick is ALL they do.... and that's valid?? They need to wake up and realise we live in the real world" Ethan states and then glances back up to us as we sway our hips and dance towards the direction of the club "maybe buy longer dresses while they're at it, fuck me" he finishes

"You're talking like they have some disease. Remember they're my friends." James says with a scowl, now much more hurt at his nasty statement

"Diseases? Probably. STD's? Yes lots of them. I wouldn't want to touch one and I definitely wouldn't want one of them to touch me"

—

Nothing was taking my mind off of his sharp words and every time I replay them my heart shatters a little more. Everything I had thought about him, all of those heavy feelings of wanting him had puffed into smoke the minute he opened his mouth.

I thought the stripper community must've been heart broken and I had rushed to the comment section to spread love, but each comment shredded me more and by the end of the night most of the girls were in tears.

I didn't cry until I came home and saw that my house had been trashed once again, this time I didn't even bother to clean it up and left my sins to be brought to light as the sun rose this morning.

I'm angry that I allowed myself to fall towards someone who would disrespect me and my family so badly. In a fit of rage I remove all my living room furniture so that it's a blank room. I drag my old punch bag into the living room, I had been quite the boxer back in high school and I was well known for having an athletic body, which was heavily one of the reasons I was picked up to strip. I turn my music up to the loudest volume and begin to punch. Fuck my neighbours.

My door bangs from the opposite side. Maybe my neighbours were hoping for a lay in and were coming round to give me a piece of their mind. I roll my eyes, wiping the sweat from my forehead, turning the volume down a touch before approaching my door.

"Hey"

"Grayson" I reply back coldly running my eyes up and down his body, he's wearing black basketball shorts and a tight black muscle tee. Wow, his colour choice totally represented my soul right now.

"Who did this?" He asks pointing towards the windows dripping with raw eggs and towards the spray paint which openly called me a sinner across my front door

"Someone from work? Your fans? Ethan? Who knows" I scoff, bringing the back of my hand to my heated cheeks. I realised then that I was still breathing heavily from my boxing vent and that I must look like a mess

"I'll clean it" he says innocently sending me a sad look through his eyes, this Grayson reminds me more of the one from his videos than the boy I knew from the club.

"It's fine" I say with a twitching fake smile. I need to remember that he did nothing wrong, I shouldn't hold him accountable for his brothers actions. "You want to come in?" I ask opening the door further

"Yeah" he smiles more genuinely now and he takes a step in, glancing at my bare walls.

"I was just boxing so-"

"Don't let me stop you" he butts in with a wide grin and my heart flutters a little but then I remember Ethan's words.

Slut.

I clench my jaw and return back to the centre of my room allowing the music to gradually get louder. I want to forget again, kicking the shit out of this was helping that until he came here. What was he doing here?

I let my body move aggressively throwing my fist into the leather, not once, not twice, but multiple times. I pretend I can see Ethan's face.

I don't even realise that Grayson is stood behind me until he pulls me from the bag and holds me tightly to his chest.

"What are you doing?" I mumble not wanting to let go, but also pulling away from his grip so I can see his reaction "you'll get diseases" I barely mumble and his face drops and he pulls me into his chest forcefully.

That's when I allow myself to cry, not too much, but just a few sobs.

"I'm sorry okay? I didn't think he'd ever say anything like that and I know I didn't do it, but I feel like I need to apologise" Grayson soothes rubbing his large hands around my back in a calming way

"He hurt all my girls and that is worse than him hurting me" I whisper back and he mumbles that he knows and brings his chin on top of my head as he hums.

"You're a family and I can see how much you love each other just by being in the room. Ethan didn't deserve to be able to experience that happiness" Grayson responds despondently.

He leans me away from his body and my eyes flutter up towards his and a warmth runs through my body. I didn't know I could feel so strongly about someone I knew little about.

Grayson cups the side of my head with his large hand and brings his head slowly down towards mine and kisses me intensely. It was different to every other kiss we had shared, I could feel it.

"Aren't you gonna get my stripper disease" I ask back a little sarcastically and he bends down and kisses me again with a smirk,

"I hope so"