He wrapped a coat around me.
“Off the stage, Jess. If you don’t want me to take on every damn man in this club, you’ll get off this stage for me.” His voice was urgent. T.J., one of the club’s bouncers, jumped up onstage and started toward Jason. I had to act fast. I pushed him behind me and shook my head at T.J.
“No. He’s with me. It’s okay. I’ll deal with it,” I told him, pushing Jason back as I walked backward.
“Garrison wants him out of here,” T.J. informed me. I was sure Garrison did, but that wasn’t happening. At least, not the way they thought it was.
“If Garrison wants me here, then he’ll let me handle this,” I replied.
T.J. flicked his gaze back over my shoulder toward Jason, then back at me. “I’ll tell him. Hurry,” he said.
I nodded and turned to Jason and pushed him backstage with me.
When we were out of view, I stared up at him, trying not to think about how clean he smelled. How unlike me. I started to back away, realizing he was touching me. I was dirty. He didn’t need to touch me. His hands tightened on my arms. “You’re getting your clothes and we’re leaving.”
I didn’t know why he was here or how he knew where to find me, but I couldn’t leave. I would lose my job. I wanted to leave with him. I wanted to look at him and hear him talk. But I couldn’t. “I can’t. They’ll fire me.”
“Good, because you’re done here,” he said, grabbing my hand. “Where is your dressing room?”
“I need this job. You don’t understand. This isn’t something I’m doing because I want to.”
“You think I don’t know that?” he interrupted me. “The only reason you’re stripping in front of those men is because you’re desperate. I’ve talked to Krit and Rock. I know everything that you should have told me.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe you lied to me. You . . .” He stopped and closed his eyes, then muttered a curse. “I’m gonna beat the shit outta Jax when I see him. He knew.”
Jax? What the hell did Jax have to do with this?
“This isn’t your problem. It’s mine. I had a way to fix it, and I knew you wouldn’t be able to handle me stripping, so I did what I had to,” I explained.
“Because you were protecting me,” he said, staring at me like I had done something noble instead of something degrading.
“If you weren’t such a crowd-pleaser, I’d fire you,” Dee said from behind me. “We finally get rid of the tattooed guy, and now this? Really? Can’t you tell your boyfriends to stay the hell away when you’re working?”
I started to explain, but Jason took me and pulled me behind him as if he was protecting me from Dee. “You won’t have to deal with it anymore, because she won’t be coming back,” he said.
Dee cocked an eyebrow and a hip, then looked over his shoulder at me. “Is that so?”
I opened my mouth to say no.
“Yes, it is. Jess is done here,” Jason said.
I had to do something. “No, Jason, stop,” I said, struggling to get around him. “You can’t come in here and do this. I have bills to pay, and this pays them. You can’t just—”
“Do you love me, Jess?” he asked, interrupting me.
Why was he asking me this? He knew I loved him. I’d told him that already.
“Do you love me?” he repeated as I stared at him.
“You know I do,” I finally replied.
“Say it,” he said.
I didn’t have time for this. I had said it once and he hadn’t said it back. I wasn’t saying it again. I had a job to save. “I don’t see what that—”
“Say it, Jess,” he pleaded, pulling me close to him. His voice had dropped to that sexy deep sound that always made me melt.
“I love you,” I said, unable to tell him no.
“I love you more. And I won’t let one more man see what belongs to me again. I will take care of it. Everything. Your mother will have the absolute best medical care available. I won’t argue with you about it. That’s how it’s going to be. I’m taking care of you because you’re the reason I wake up in the morning, and when you took that reason away from me I was miserable. Fucking miserable. I never want to feel like that again.”