Stripped

Chapter 1

"I cannot believe you," Bella yelled, pulling at her hair. "When you said a new position had become available at your club you made out like it was behind the bar, Alice. I can't be a stripper."

"God, Bella, stop being such a drama queen," Alice yawned, stretching out further on the sofa in their apartment lounge.

Bella had moved in with Alice a few years back. They'd been best friends through out high school and had moved to New York in the hopes of making it big. Alice had wanted to be a famous actress and Bella had wanted to be a famous journalist.

"If there was ever time for me to be a drama queen it would be now," Bella continued, stomping up and down. "Alice I have never even kissed anybody before, and there's you telling that man that I'm some kind of- of."

"Some kind of?" Alice pressed, bored.

"Of slut," she screamed.

Alice sighed and sat up, like she was being the unreasonable one. In Bella's opinion she was holding it together quite well. If she wasn't in control of her emotions she would have strangled and/or decapitated Alice by now. But here she was, being the picture of calm.

"Oh please, I told him you're not a virgin. That's hardly me making you out to be a slut, Bella. And besides, he asked you if you were interested in the job and you said yes. You could have backed out but you didn't." Alice smiled mischievously. "I think you like the thought of all those men looking at you and wanting you."

"You're delusional." Bella snapped.

"Am I? I think a little action would do you some good Bells, probably unwind you a little."

Bella took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before she did something she regretted.

"Look, you're desperate for money right?" Alice questioned.

"Well yes-" Bella started.

"And you've tried everywhere else, haven't you?"

"Yes, but I really don't-"

"Then if you want to continue eating you'll have to take the job. Edward pays whilst you're in training, and you get to keep fifty percent of tips you make when you do eventually get on stage. Bella you need this job. It's not glamorous, and it's not easy, but it's all you've got," Alice reminded her bluntly.

Bella worried her lip; she knew Alice was right.

"But, I only get the job if I can give him an..." She turned red and refused to meet Alice's eyes.

"An erection?" Alice said smoothly. "You're nineteen Bella, not nine. And if you must know, you don't actually have to give him an erection."

"Were you not listening? That's what he said."

"I'm aware of what he said," Alice replied slowly, as if talking to a particularly dimwitted child. "But he says that to all the strippers he hires, and not one of them have succeeded in giving him wood - not even Rose, and she's our star. He's practically asexual. You've just got to show him that you can sufficiently handle yourself."

"I can't sufficiently handle myself."

"Well that's why I'm here to help isn't it? I'll teach you all the trade secrets." Alice stood up and wiggled her hips provocatively.

"Oh God, what have I done..." Bella moaned.

"Relax," Alice said. "You're really not as far behind as you seem to think. You've got an amazing figure, and you'll be pretty enough once you get some make up on."

"Gee, thanks," Bella deadpanned.

Alice carried on like she hadn't spoken at all. "So really we've jut got to teach you to be able to move with some semblance of grace."

"Because that will be just so easy," Bella muttered.

"Tomorrow morning, first thing, we'll head down to the club," Alice told her. "The poles will be free for you to practice on."

"Poles?" Bella whimpered. "Shouldn't we start a bit smaller?"

"If you can master the art of pole dancing, you can master anything," Alice reassured her, as if she was some sort of zen master. "Now I've gotta go and get ready for the evening show – make sure you get an early night, you've got a big day tomorrow!"

Bella couldn't help but feel a little nauseous.

"I'm staying at Jasper's tonight so meet me at the club eight sharp tomorrow morning." Alice demanded, whilst running into her room to gather her things.

"Sure," Bella said glumly.

Alice stopped her mad dash around the apartment, and gazed at her.

"Don't worry Bells." She smiled. "I actually think you'll make a good stripper."

Unable to decide if this was a good thing or not, and too nauseous to stomach dinner, Bella settled for changing into her pyjamas and collapsing on the couch to watch tv. And as she picked at the tomato ketchup stain on her pyjama bottoms, she couldn't help but feel like the least sexy woman in the world.

This was just like Alice.

It was half past eight and she still hadn't arrived.

Bella picked at her lip nervously. She needed all the training she could get and couldn't afford for Alice to be late. She tried her mobile again and was met with the same voicemail response.

They hadn't even had one session yet, and her coach was already flaking out on her!

Bella sighed and considered her options. It was unlikely she'd get very far without Alice… But she'd been unable to sleep last night and so had tuned into some online pole dancing classes. Although she wasn't athletically gifted, she was able to remember facts and figures with a surprising amount of accuracy (as any wannabe journalist should be able to), so she though that she probably had enough information to maybe try and give dancing a go.

Bella stuck her chin in the air – if there was one thing all of the videos agreed upon, it was that acting confident was half of the battle.

So even though what Bella really felt like doing was collapsing in the gutter and crying about how unfair it was that she was being forced into becoming a stripper because of monetary issues, she gritted her teeth and walked through the doors of "Coming Soon."

It was all rather anticlimactic.

In the daytime "Coming Soon" was far from the pleasure zone it was in the evening. In fact there was a rather bored looking cleaner shuffling around the tables in front of the stage - upon which were some incredibly shiny poles. As well as the poles on stage there were some centred in what looked like private booths. Probably for those customers who were willing to pay for a more private experience.

Bella couldn't shake the feeling that the poles looked like a death trap.

Evidently Bella hovered in the doorway looking awkward and scared for too long, because the cleaner took it upon herself to say:

"Are you here to practise dear? Go right ahead, don't be shy."

Bella jumped at being addressed. That'd be about right - she was more of a prude than a sixty year old woman.

She smiled at the cleaner in a resigned fashion and made her way onto the stage.

Bella ran a hand over the pole in a curious fashion. The videos she'd watched gave her some idea of how to get onto the pole and the theory was sound. So figuring she'd wasted enough time already Bella bend her right leg and hooked it around the pole before hoisting herself up in what she hoped was a seductive way.

She couldn't help but feel she'd failed in this aim as she quickly slid down the pole and landed rather unceremoniously on her butt.

"You realise you're far too clothed."

Bella looked up into the eyes of Edward Cullen, the man who had asked her to give him an erection the last time they'd met, and she blushed. Looking down, Bella realised she couldn't have been showing any less skin - she was wearing think tracksuit bottoms with a long sleeved top.

"Sorry?" she squeaked stupidly.

"You need bare arms and legs if you're going to pole dance."

He looked at her curiously. "You really have never done this before have you?"

Bella looked away, embarrassed. "No."

Edward sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"You'd be better off getting Alice to help yo-"

"I did." Bella interrupted, before he concluded that she was completely stupid. "She was meant to be here this morning but she didn't- I mean, something came up."

It probably wasn't wise to tell Alice's boss that she'd flaked out.

Edward simply raised an eyebrow however, not fooled for a second. "You mean she's too busy screwing that shaggy haired blonde?"

Bella frowned. "You don't need to talk about her that way."

Edward looked taken aback, as if unused to being addressed in such a way, but then he simply grinned.

"I tell you what, why don't I help you out. After all, it is me you're trying to impress, who better to tell you how to go about doing so?"

Bella gulped. This wasn't how things were meant to go. She didn't want instruction from the male owner of the strip club, she wanted instruction from Alice. She could handle Alice's laughter at her mistakes, they'd been friends since forever. But laughter and disapproval from this man would be completely different. It would be embarrassing.

"That's okay, thank you," Bella said, hastily. "But I'm sure Alice will be here soon-"

"Alice barely arrives in time for her eight o'clock shows at night. I doubt you'll be seeing her here before then. If you're really serious about belonging to my club, you'll take whatever help you can get." Edward said, pointedly.

Well that was that then.

Bella folded her arms. "Well what do you suggest."

"Well, I can't pretend to be an expert in the instruction for pole dancing," Edward mused thoughtfully. "So I'll teach you how to give a lap dance I think."

Bella froze.

A lapdance?

"Don't look at me like I'm the biggest sexual pest in town," Edward admonished.

"I- I-" Bella stuttered. "I don't know if I can."

"Then you're in the wrong business," Edward said harshly.

He sat down in one of the private booths expectantly, raising his eyebrows at her in challenge. Bella narrowed her eyes at him. She never backed down from a challenge.

"What do you want me to do?"

Edward grinned.

"First you need to build the tension," he instructed. "Initially you don't even want to make physical contact with your client, you want to make him want it. Badly. Come over here," he beckoned.

Bella took a few careful steps towards him.

"I won't bite," he said gruffly.

Once he judged her to be within a suitable distance, he carried on.

"I want you to sway your hips."

Fighting the blush that threatened to rise up Bella began to circle her hips awkwardly.

"You've got the right idea," Edward encouraged, "but you need to make your movements bigger. More exaggerated."

Bella obliged, circling her hips in a more exaggerated way, arms hanging awkwardly by her sides. Obviously, she wasn't being 'big' enough however, because Edward took it upon himself to lean forward and grab her hips. Bella squeaked in surprise as he began to move them in the way he wanted.

In Bella's opinion, the movement looked awkward and too large, but she grudgingly had to admit that this was probably his area of expertise, so she let him guide her hips with little protest.

"Good," he whispered, letting go of her hips. "Now try on your own."

Bella blushed.

Not because of what she was doing - though that was humiliating enough - but rather because she missed his hands being on her hips. They'd made her skin tingle in a not entirely unpleasant way.

"You need to do something with your arms," Edward told her. "Try running them through your hair or over your body."

Bella obliged, running her hands down her sides gingerly, as she swayed her hips.

"You're being too timid," Edward said, and after a moments thought, "take off your shirt."

Bella's eyes widened. He was asking her to lose clothing!

Her immediate thought was to kick him in the groin and run out of there, but he seemed to take immense pleasure in her every discomfort. So instead she flashed him a grin and slowly began to remove her shirt whilst still swaying her hips.

She let her arms slowly move the fabric of her shirt up, until she lifted it over her breasts, and threw it to the side.

Edward was no longer wearing his cocky grin, in fact Bella noticed a look in his eyes that she didn't recognise, but immediately sent a wave of pleasure through her. He was looking at her like she was something to eat.

"What now?" She breathed.

"Run your hands all over yourself," Edward rasped.

Bella once again obliged, running her hands down her sides with more confidence that she knew she possessed. She then moved them back up her body, hesitating slightly before running them over her breasts.

She couldn't help it. She moaned.

Running her hands over her bra had caused a lovely amount of friction between her nipples and the fabric, and it was all she could do to stop herself repeating the action.

Edwards breath hitched. "Good... Now lose the trousers."

Bella was too far gone to even be embarrassed. With as much grace as she could manage she slipped her tracksuit bottoms off and continued to sway her hips.

"Good girl," Edward whispered.

Bella almost moaned again. She was certain that good girls didn't feel this way when they were called good girls.

"Now come here," Edward ordered.

She walked forward, suddenly nervous again as she realised she'd finally have to touch him. Edward obviously felt that she once again needed a hand, because she found herself being pulled towards him, and the next thing she knew, she was full on straddling him.

"Now place your hands on my shoulders and rub your body against mine."

Bella obeyed, and pushed her breasts flush against his chest. And as an afterthought began grinding against him.

She whimpered at the delicious friction created as her sex rubbed against the rough fabric of his jeans, and once again Edward let out a startled breath.

"You're loving this, aren't you, you dirty girl," he growled.

Bella simply moaned, arching her back so his face was in her cleavage.

"You're wet, Bella," he gasped.

Bella froze. Not because she was embarrassed at the words of the man she hardly knew. But because she felt something hard between her legs. Edward was very much erect.

Before either of them had a chance to relax, the doors burst open, and a deranged pixie rushed in.

"Bella, I'm so sorry, I got here as soon as I could-" She stopped as she noticed a half naked Bella draped over her boss.

"Well, I guess you found a replacement," Alice pouted.

"Get. Out." Edward said, gritting his teeth.

"Yes boss!" Alice mockingly saluted him. "I expect to hear every detail when you get home Bella!"

And just as quickly as she had rushed in, she rushed back out again.

Edward coughed politely.

"Oh, sorry," Bella stuttered, taking the hint and getting up from on top of him to begin pulling on her clothes, "I"ll just- I'll just go."

Edward nodded, not meeting her eye.

"T-Thanks for you help."

She was in such a rush to get out of there, she didn't even realise her top was on backwards. Once out in the fresh air, she let out a groan of embarrassment. What the hell had she just done? Little did she know, Edward sat rooted in place, for a long time after she left.

TBC...