Hello

I'm back :)

Most of this story is already written, I plan on uploading it weekly!

For those of you who've read this before, some things have changed. I prefer it this way, but let me know what you think!

I've worked at Angels for three years now. It wasn't the best but it's good money. It's good money because of the trouble we put up with. A strip club can attract all kinds of different people, and usually, it's not the good kind.

Just the other day and this is a minor incident mind you, one of our regulars drank a little bit too much and got all grabby with me. I had to remove his hands from my body three times before the bouncers decided that they should probably kick him out. The bouncers could never really be bothered to do anything helpful and nearly always wait until the last minute to intervene.

I mean, it's understandable. It's a strip club. Unsavory types will be attracted here. It doesn't help that one of our requirements is to dress to impress. We all go along with it though because, in the end, it just means that we earn more tips.

The tips. I don't think I could survive without them. It was just me and my brother now, Jasper. Our sperm donor didn't stick around for long when things got bad, so we didn't know him. My mom died in a car crash a few years back. I had to drop out of university and come back and look after Jasper. I couldn't leave him to go into the system. It was one of the hardest things Jasper and I ever had to face.

As bad as it was, we managed. I got a job at Angels which just paid the bills, the tips made sure that I could get clothes and food for Jasper and me.

"Bella, grab me another pint will ya?" Jake, one of my least favorite customers shot me a grin over the bar top. He followed me around like a puppy when he came in. Always at the bar, always make crude comments.

"Sure can, the usual?" I said leaning over the bar flashing him my cleavage. I mean, yeah he was a creep but he tipped well.

"You know me." He shot me a wink and I nearly threw up in my mouth. When I passed him his pint his fingers brushed against mine.

"Fancy meeting me after work tonight?" He said leaning in to get closer to me.

"Ah, Jake, you know I'm not allowed to see customers," I was but this was my classic excuse. How else do I keep them from bothering me?

"Come on," He waved his hand at me and groaned, "I'm sure Sully won't care. I'll go ask him." He started to get up.

"No! No," I laughed, "I know! I'll keep bringing it up to him until he says yes. How about that?"

He lifted his glass up to me in agreement, and then a new girl came out on stage and his attention was shifted from me. Damn. Going to have to find a new excuse.

The rest of my shift flew by pretty quickly. Alice, one of the girls dropped me home after our shift. She was one of my fellow bartenders. It was a ten-minute ride home and we pretty much did our daily discussion of the creeps of the night. She thought Jake was harmless and kind of hilarious. I disagreed; he was weird.

The support system at work was amazing, all of us stuck together. Most of the time it was us against the customers. Everyone loved our work family.

She stopped at the end of my road, it was a cul-de-sac so there was not much point of her going in, it was hard to do a three-point turn in, I guess. I don't know, I sold my car years back.

As I was walking up to my house, I could see two cars parked outside. Both insanely expensive Rolls Royce. That's not good. Expensive cars like that aren't often in my neighborhood.

I started to walk a bit fast to my door and as I did, I heard a loud crash come from inside. My brother was in there, if something happened to him then I don't know what I would do.

I got to the front door and saw it was open, so I went as quickly as I could to the front room, grabbing my pepper spray from my bag.

I peeked my head around the arch to the front room and could see the room perfectly. One sofa was turned over, and the vase that belonged to my mom had been knocked off a table and shattered.

There were six men in my living room, all tall and looking very casual. They were all dressed very smart, except for one who had taken his suit jacket off and his tie and had also rolled his shirt to his elbows, he stood towering over a figure on the floor, my brother.

My brother was the only living family I had left, I couldn't let him get hurt.

"What do you think you are doing? Jay get up!" I snapped as I stepped into the room. I could only imagine what I looked like. My waist-length red hair in a mess around my head and my face pulling what could only be described as a furious look.

The black dress and heels I was wearing were not going to be remotely helpful in a fight, so I really hoped it didn't come down to that. I highly doubt I could take on six men as well. Better use my charms.

The men all turned to look at me, and I could see my brother was starting to get up. Before he could get anywhere though, the man above him pushed him back down.

"Stay" he ordered.

"What are you doing? Stop that!" I said, my body leaned forward, I wanted to go to my brother, but I know they would stop me. "He is only eighteen, don't hurt him!"

Someone cleared their throat behind me, and all six men stood up straighter. I spun around and almost fell into the man because he stood so close. He caught me, putting his hands on my waist.

The man was good looking, which was a bit of an understatement. He had piercing green eyes and dark brown, almost black hair. His skin was tanned and looked smooth. His mouth had started to creep up in a smirk which is when I realized, I was staring.

I pulled back from his arms. "What do you think you're doing to my brother?" I addressed him, he seemed like the leader of this pathetic gang.

"I've come to teach your brother a lesson." He smirked and stepped towards me. I stood my ground; I remember watching a documentary once on Animal Planet. Stepping back would show submission. I'm not giving in.

"What? No, why?" I said defiantly not looking away from those green eyes. I'm not backing down.

"Your brother decided that he would attack mine. He is in hospital as we speak." He gestured to Jasper. "Bring him over."

The thug who had his sleeves rolled up, reached down and picked my baby brother up by the shirt. Jasper looked terrified. When Jasper was close enough, I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards me.

The green-eyed man looked down at our joint hands and smirked again.

"Now, I believe introductions are in order." He looked pointedly at me.

"Isabella" I said through gritted teeth. This guy was starting to piss me off.

"Well, Isabella," His smile grew, "I'm Edward Mason."

I had to stop myself from gasping. The Mason's were notorious around here for their gang activities, working at a strip club I heard a lot about their family. A lot of people who came to us were on the Mason's bad side, but no one messed with them. Edward was particularly infamous there, he was the son of Edward Snr and Elizabeth Mason and he had taken over the business when his father died.

I knew from then on that something was going to have to give, this guy was well known for his illegal and illicit activities and I knew if we didn't stay on his good side then we would be a part of his illegal activities.

"Now, as I'm sure you can understand, I can't have people attacking my family" He looked very calm and spoke casually as this was something he'd done often.

"Now, while I'm disappointed my brother couldn't hold his own, I think we can come to some sort of arrangement that can benefit us both. The hospital bills are enormous." What could he not afford it on his 'salary'?

"You clearly don't have the money to pay for them," He said grimacing looking around our little house. "But I would be happy for you to pay it back in weekly installments. How does one grand a week sound?"

"One grand a week!" Jasper said groaning holding his stomach, "we barely earn that a month!"

"Jasper," I said sharply through gritted teeth, "shut the fuck up, you got us into this mess. I'll do the talking, go to your room."

I started to push him towards his room, keeping an eye on Edward. There is no way I'm going to let my brother's mouth get us in more trouble.

"B, no, I want to be here, I got us in this mess!" He looked at me, pleading.

Jasper was eighteen. He was still in school; he was the one out of the pair of us that is going to do well. Get good grades, go to university and become a lawyer or a doctor or something. He had so much ahead of him, and I was not going to let him mess his life up.

"Jasper, you go to your room and let me sort this out. I will talk to you when they are gone." I said and I pushed him. He stood for a moment, glancing between me and Edward before closing his eyes and nodding and limping back to his room.

I looked back at Edward and I wasn't expecting what I saw, he was staring at me. Looking at my body up and down and finally settling on my eyes.

"Get out," he said still staring at my eyes. "All of you get out, I want to talk to Isabella alone."

I glanced around and saw some of his men smirking at each other before they left. Two of the men that he had walked in with glanced at each other, looking worried. Like I was going to hurt Edward Mason; as if I even could. I wish, but I couldn't afford to be chased by his men for the rest of my life.

When the last one shut the door, I turned to Edward and said bluntly, "I can't afford to pay you a thousand a week."

Edward looked at me then and done that annoying smirk. "I guess we will have to find a way around that then."

He stepped forward towards me and grabbed my waist pulling me towards him. I hit his body hard and could feel every line and dip of his body and clothing. He grabbed the pepper spray out of my hand and threw it on the floor.

Despite the confusing feeling of warmth, I felt being close to him, I had to get away so I could think properly and tried to push him back. When he didn't let go, I closed my eyes and said, "What do you want?"

"Well now, that is a very open question, I want lots of things." His voice sounded hard and his hand came around and gripped my ass. I smiled and reached up to put my arms around his neck.

I leaned in close to whisper in his ear, "let go of me right this second before I castrate you."

He growled, gave my ass one last squeeze and stepped back. "Don't threaten me again girl, you won't like it. I want five hundred each week, and I personally will be coming around to make sure you pay up. Don't try to skip town we will find you." With one last smoldering glance full of want and anger, he left.

The moment the door closed, I took a deep breath and collapsed on the sofa.

What has my brother gotten us into this time?

Hi loves, would really appreciate some support in the form of a review :)

Even if you hated it, let me know. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is a great thing.

Also, I'm looking for a beta for this story. If you're interested, PM, please

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