Blood Money - HO

•18•

I look around the house for Ari, not finding her.
"Seen Aria?" I ask Ezra as I pass him.
"I saw her headed towards the club" he says.
"Alright thanks" I nod.
Why is she in there? Not only does she not work in there anymore but it's 1pm, no ones even there.
I go through the door and hear music playing, and the lights on.
"Ari?" I call, turning the corner and see her.
She was doing some spins on the pole, in booty shorts and an oversized T-shirt, much different from her typical stripper look.
"Oh hey" she says awkwardly hopping off the pole.
"What are you doing I'm here?" I ask.
"I miss it, pole dancing." She shrugs. "It feels good to do it for myself"
I smile, seeing her all uncomfortable and vulnerable. She is too adorable and it's really messing with me. She's making me go soft.
"Well I think you look better doing it for you than for anyone else" I say.
"Wanna learn something?" She asks and I laugh.
"No I think I'll leave that to the expert" I say.
"Oh come on! There were lots of boys in my classes!" She says. "Just one spin!"
I sigh, she's definitely got me wrapped around her finger.
"Fine" I say and she claps excitedly, pulling me over.
"Okay wrap your leg around here" she says, pushing my leg over the pole.
"Now you're going to swing this leg and fall backwards into the spin" she says and my eyes widen.
"No way" I laugh. "That sounds painful"
"Oh it is" she nods. "Feels like your skin is ripping off"
I do what she says, holding onto the pole for dear life and she laughs as I fail to do the turn.
"Pretty good for a first time" she says. "I'll show you what it's suppose to look like"
She hops on the pole and does the move, followed by her climbing and doing some cool tricks. She looks so good doing this, and not even in a sexual way. My view of her has changed so much since I met her. Before, she was the hot stripper that I liked to annoy and joke around with. now watching her, I just see the girl I can't get enough of doing something she loves. And seeing her happy makes me happy.
She drops quickly, catching herself last minuet with her legs.
"What the fuck are you okay?!" I ask and she lets her legs fall down, standing up laughing.
"I knew that'd freak you out" she laughs.
"Don't do that!" I say. "I thought you almost died"
"It's a death drop silly" she says.
She grabs her stuff and we leave the room, walking towards the living room.

*Arias pov*
"So I was thinking... I'm terrible at planning good dates" Haz laughs.
"Really? Cause you made my Halloween pretty great" I say and he gets a dorky smile on his face.
"Well I'm thinking maybe our first proper date can be a little unconventional" he says.
"Go on" I persuade as we sit down.
"I plan something I like doing, you plan something you like doing, and we do both. I think it's a great way to get to know each other a little better" he says and I smile. He's so cute.
"I think that sounds amazing" I say.
He presses his lips softly to mine, pulling away quickly since were in the middle of the house and not in our safe little space of the bedrooms.
"Aria!" I hear my name called by Tom from down the hall.
"In here!" I call out, scooting away from Haz.
"Hey can you talk for a minuet?" He asks.
"Yeah" I nod.
Haz gives me a worried look and I shrug, letting him know I have no idea what Tom wants to talk about.
I follow Tom back to his office and when he opens the door I feel excitement rise in me at the sight.
"Petra!" I squeal, running over and hugging my best friend. "What are you doing here?"
"That's what I want to talk about" Tom says and I sit down.
"Okay.." I say, waiting for him to explain.
"Jack Barrett was trying to sell you, to some really terrible guys... the whole club was basically a store for these assholes" he explains and my eyes widen.
"He sent Petra, to convince you to trust her and go with her. He wanted her to bring you to him"
"What? Why?" I ask.
"He made the deal, without even having you." She says. "Now they've paid but he hasn't given you to them so they're getting angry"
"We have a plan" Tom says, going on to explain every detail of the plan, how they're going to use me as bait, kill Barrett, show up to the meet up he had with my buyers and kill them too. My heart was beating rapidly and it felt as if I couldn't even absorb any of this information.
"Haz and I have been planning this all week, it will work" he says.
Haz is in on this and didn't even tell me?...
"Okay I'll do it" I shrug.
"Wait really?" Tom asks, as if he was expecting some big debate.
"Yeah. I trust you" I say, I really do trust him I mean, he's my brother. How could I not.
"Alright, we'll make the plans then.. everything is going to be better Aria" he says and I smile.
"I know" I nod.
Tom cares about me, and he's not going to let me get hurt.