07

This story is loosely based on a true story provided me by a Lit reader. He told me to do with the information what I wanted and to write a story about it. It's a romance and I will provide it in five parts.

Main Cast

Dennis, 25 years old, 5' 11", 175 lbs, brown hair, blue eyes.

Jill, 30 years old, 5' 7", 120 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes.

Gina, 30 years old, 5'6", 140 pounds, auburn hair, green eyes, Jill's best friend.

Denise, 25 years old, 5'1", 105 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, Dennis' friend and works with Dennis.

Mike, 27 years old, 5'10", 190 pounds, black hair, brown eyes, Denise's boyfriend.

Jeff, 33 years old, 6', 190 lbs, brown hair, brown eyes, Dennis' brother.

Previously:

I had learned that there was some deep, dark secret that Jill had not told me about her past and that my brother knew about. I was worried about this because yesterday I had heard her say that she loved me and I knew that I was falling for her. My mind ran rampant. I went through all the options that I could think of. Had she been a prostitute? A stripper? Been convicted of a felony for drugs or violence? What the hell? I was thinking the worst things, but maybe I was wrong. Now I couldn't wait for her to get home and tell me what it was.

Chapter 6. Finally, the Past Revealed.

December 23rd, 2011

Finally, about 6pm, the ladies rolled back in. Even with the Christmas rush and the disaster it was out there at all the malls they had managed to find plenty of things to buy and came in with several bags. I watched closely and Jill looked at me as she came in and met my eyes for only a second. She looked away and I could tell that she was worried. I stood up and when she next looked at me I gave her a quick motion with my head to meet me upstairs. She just nodded slightly and finished hanging her coat up and putting all the bags in the dining room with my mother.

I waited impatiently in my room. When she came in she looked worried. She was pacing and wringing her hands.

"Did Jeff tell you?" She almost whispered it.

I stared at her. "Tell me what?" I moved closer to her and lowered my voice. I realized that I had been a little too loud with that question. "Look, I know something is going on, but I don't know what the hell it is, so just come out with it and get it over with."

She moved away from me. "Please sit down on the bed and let me get this out, okay?"

I sat and watched her pace. She was like a caged animal warily looking at her owner. "Okay, when I was 16 and I moved in with Gina, I really did work at Wendy's. I worked there until I turned 18 and finished high school. Then Gina and I found that we needed more money. We wanted to live on our own. We tried to make it work by working multiple jobs, but it wasn't enough. Finally, we found the perfect job for us. We could make enough money to live by ourselves, buy what we needed, and we'd be able to save some, too." She stopped and stared at me.

I think I knew where she was headed. "Stripper?"

She nodded and took a deep breath before continuing. "Yes. Gina and I found a strip joint that was halfway decent and we could make great money. I worked there for almost two years. Once I had enough saved, I started going to junior college there in Kansas City and eventually came to Illinois to complete my four year degree."

I grimaced. "Okay." I didn't know what else to say. All kinds of things were running through my mind. I was always a little conservative and had only been to one strip joint in my life. My mother had always talked about the objectification of women, the degradation of the individual and sex, etc. I guess I had absorbed most of that. And now I was in love with an ex-stripper.

"Remember, you promised."

I was trying to remember what she was talking about while taking in that the woman I was in love with had been a stripper. What kind? Fully nude? Table dances? Lap dances? Shit! Private dances!? Private parties?!

I looked up at her. "What?"

"Remember, the first time you spent the night I made you promise to listen and try to understand about my past."

"Oh. And yet you didn't tell me about it until now, after my brother forced you to." I tried to see the woman I was in love with, but now I could only see her stripping, guys leering at her, shoving money at her and feeling her up. I could see her dancing and rubbing her tits in the face of hundreds of other guys. I was jealous as hell. I finally caught sight of her eyes and her looking at me and it brought me back to the present. "I know I promised. I just wasn't ready for this."

She nodded. "Right. Got it." Her face closed up, her emotions disappeared and she suddenly seemed calm. How did she do that? She stared at me and then left the room. I started to go after her, but instead I lay back on the bed and tried to understand her. First, I never understood how people could strip and display their bodies when the opposite sex would sit there and stare at you, try to feel you up, and just plain act like a bunch of idiots. It wasn't exhibitionism, it was something worse in my mind and I couldn't wrap my arms around it. I just never got it. Also, here was this outwardly strong, tough woman who had on occasion shown that behind that façade that there was something hidden, something she held back, and something awful. Well, at least I knew what it was now. I still didn't really understand how someone could do that. I lay there, trying to unravel my thoughts when my mother came into my room.

"What the hell is going on between you and Jill?"

What did she say? I sat up. "What do you mean?"

My mother put her hands on her hips. That was never a good sign and usually meant a lecture. I was four years out of college and still flinched when she did that, waiting for the bad news. "I mean what the hell happened up here between you and Jill?"

What the hell was I going to say to that? "We had a little disagreement." That's all I could think of to say.

"A little disagreement? Well, if that's what you think, you still have a lot to learn about relationships and being in one with a woman. Jill just left."

I jumped out of bed and started toward the bedroom door. "She left? What the hell are you talking about? We came in my car."

My mother grabbed my arm. "Dennis, she came down and asked your father to drive her home. She said she could just come back or get her stuff from you, but she couldn't be here right now. She was very adamant. What the hell just happened?"

I stared at my mother. Did I dare tell her? What would she think? How could I ever bring Jill back again? Hell, did I even want to? I wasn't sure I could live with it myself, much less how my mother would handle it. I pulled my arm free and headed downstairs. My brother was still there watching TV. "How long ago did she leave?"

My mother trailed behind me and answered before Jeff could. "About 20 minutes. Your father and she both have cell phones. Call her and apologize. I can tell she loves you. She'll come back."

My mother had no idea what was going on. I decided to tell her. "Mom, we didn't really have a disagreement. Jeff knows her from Kansas City and knew that she was keeping a secret from me. He reminded her that she needed to come clean."

My mother looked over at Jeff. "Jeff?"

He was staring at the two of us. "Uh, it was just something that I thought Dennis should know."

"What?!" My mother was getting upset by this now.

I turned to her and told her the truth. "Mom, Jill just told me that when she was young she was a stripper for two years."

My mother stared at me. "That's why she left? " She looked from me to Jeff and back again. "That's not why she left. She left because of your reaction, right? What did you say?"

I stared at my mother. She didn't seem upset that Jill had been a stripper, but was concerned about my reaction to it? This was my conservative mother? "Mom, I didn't know what to say. I was shocked. I was confused. I told her I had to think about this."

My mother stared at me. She took my hand and held it tight. "Do you love her?"

I was pretty sure I did, so I admitted it. "I think so."

"Then why didn't you try to sit down and discuss it?"

"Mom, you know how we feel about strippers. Many of them turn to prostitution, many use drugs, and many never get an education and get out of that lifestyle."

My mother stared at me. "We? And which of those applies to Jill?"

"Uh -- I'm not sure."

"That's right. You didn't ask her and it sounds like you didn't even give her a chance to explain."

"But Mom, you've always said...."

She interrupted me immediately. "I know what I always said and that applies to many women. But not all are dummies and not all are stupid and not all are doing it because they are tramps. Just like not all smart men are good with women." She stared at me with that last comment. I flinched.

"But I'm not sure I know what to say or do. I'm not sure I can deal with the fact that she has been seen naked by all these guys, that she has given lap dances and rubbed up against them. I don't know if I can be with her without forever seeing her like that."

"Well, that's up to you, but you should have at least discussed it with her to try to understand why she did that. Instead, you thought only of how you felt. You didn't think about how she felt having to reveal that to you right before Christmas in your parent's house. You didn't think that she was probably not ready to tell you but Jeff pushed the timeline up. You didn't think about how this young woman managed to get out of that situation, get an education, and get a good job. I spent the entire day with her and she's a wonderful person. But you didn't give her a chance to explain did you? You didn't listen, hear her side, and then even think about forgiving her. You might not be able to, but she deserved your attention."

"She said it was because she and her friend needed money."

My mother stared at me like I had two heads. "Of course she said that. The question is why they needed that money. There's always more to the story. It's very seldom that simple." She turned to Jeff. "And you keep your fucking nose out of other people's business."

I was in shock. My mother was defending Jill and had just dropped the first f-bomb I had ever heard cross her lips. I glanced over at Jeff and he looked like he wanted to crawl under the couch. Mom was always very strong willed and it was never a good thing to fight with her. I finally shrugged. "I just don't know if I can deal with it."

"Fine. Maybe you two can't be together. However, when a guest is in my house, you treat them better than that. You should have at least discussed it with her and voiced your feelings and concerns. If, at that point, you two decided not to be together it would have been appropriate for you to help her pack and take her home."

I didn't know what to say to that. "Sorry."

My mother poked me in the chest. "Don't tell me, call her and tell her. You owe that to her. It took a lot of courage for that woman to strip, get on with her life all by herself, get an education, get a good job, and then come here and confess this to you at this point." My mother shook her head. "It's no wonder you two don't have good relationships with women." With that she stomped out of the room.

I walked over and sat in one of the lounge chairs and stared at Jeff. "I've never heard Mom talk like that."

"Me, neither. She said 'fuck' like she had used it for years and I've never, ever heard her say that. I was ready to bolt for the door, expecting flying projectiles to come at me."

I stared at Jeff, wanting to return the subject at hand. "You recognized her from a strip club?"

He looked up sheepishly. "Yeah. She was one of the prettier ones there and I went there a couple of Fridays a month with the construction crew."

I wasn't sure I wanted to know, but I asked anyway. "What type of place was it?"

He sat up. "Well, it was one of the better ones. In the next county over the full nude ones were pretty sleazy. In this one the women only stripped down to a g-string. It was in a nice area, clean, and well maintained. The women were nice, pretty, and friendly, but I never saw one that looked high or seemed to be hooking. It was a pretty well run place and I liked it." He put his head down. "Sorry I've seen your girlfriend naked."

I shrugged and muttered morosely, "So has half the Midwest." I put my head in my hands. "So it wasn't fully nude?"

"No."

"What about lap dances and private dances?"

He grimaced. "Well, the lap dances were nice and they rubbed on you a little bit. The VIP dances were in a separate set of rooms, but they were still open on one side and there was no touching by the customer. The girls controlled everything."

"Did you ever get a dance from her?" I stared at him, afraid of the answer.

"No, thank god. I think that would have made us both very uncomfortable."

"Yeah." Like that wasn't already true? I looked at my watch. "Do you think I should call her?"

He looked at me and took a deep breath. "Uh, I really don't know. I do know that she really loves you. I could see it in the way she watched you and the way she talked about you more than I could by the way she said it this morning. That's why I knew she would tell you and I wouldn't have to. She knew she had to do it. I guess how it proceeds from here depends on you. I think Mom just wants you to talk and listen. If you can't get past it, then you can't get past it, but she feels you owe her that. I don't know if I could forgive someone for that and get past it." He looked at me pointedly. "But this is all on you. I can't even keep a girlfriend; much less find one who will fall in love with me."

I stared at the ground. "Okay, thanks." I stood and took my phone out of my back pants pocket. I speed dialed Jill. It went to voice mail, so I left a message. "Jill, please call me back. I'm still a little in shock, but I want to talk you to about this. I don't know what else to say. Please just call me back." I then called my father, but his phone also went to voice mail. Shit! What the hell! Both of them were ignoring me?

I called each of them twice more, but knew by the third time that Jill had probably asked my father not to answer the phone and not to talk to me until she was no longer in the car. Finally, about 9pm, my father called me. "Hello?"

"Dennis, it's Dad. I just dropped Jill off at her townhouse. I'm sorry I didn't call before now, but she asked me not to." I could hear the cars in the background since he always used his Bluetooth connection in his car and had it on speaker.

"I understand. How is she? What did she say?"

"She was quiet for a long time and then told me why you two broke up. She told me she had been a stripper."

"She just came out and told you?"

"Yeah. She said she wanted me to know."

"She said we broke up? She used those words?"

"Yeah. She said that you didn't look like you were going to be able to get over it from the way you handled it, so she was going to break it off."

"Shit. Are you on your way back?"

"Yeah, I just left her place to head home. Why?"

"I don't know; just asking. I handled that very badly. I just wish I could have talked to her about it before she left so suddenly."

"I understand. She seems like a nice woman, well, I mean, like a decent person, even with a bit of a shady past."

"Yeah, thanks, Dad. See you soon."

I called Jill's home phone and then cell phone. She still didn't answer. Shit! What the hell was I going to do about this? Did I really love her? Could I put aside my feelings about strippers and deal with that in her past? And what would happen if I ran into someone else who knew her? How would I handle that? Shit, I could go crazy thinking about this stuff.

After one more try, I finally went to bed. I woke up at 3am with a throbbing erection from dreaming about Jill and having sex with her. My body didn't want to break up with her that was for sure.

Chapter 7. Confrontation -- and Even More History.

December 24th, 2011

The next day I discussed the situation with my parents and they were both for me driving back and talking to Jill. I wasn't so sure. I was still in a quandary about what to do about it and wanted more time to think. So I sat on my ass and did nothing. Sure, I called a couple of times, but she was still freezing me out. I wasn't so sure that driving back to knock on her door was going to be any more fruitful so I took the easy way out and just stayed with my parents.

I managed to get thru Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day. We had some relatives over on the 25th in the afternoon. They had younger children and they had to wait until after they had opened presents at their home before coming over. They got there about 2pm and they were surprised that this woman that I had told them so much about was not there. I didn't even consider telling them why. Then they decided to stay the night and I was trapped with relatives all Christmas Day when I really wanted to drive back and see Jill. Phone calls still went unanswered so seeing her in person was going to be the only option. I didn't want to wait until we got back to work, but I was supposed to work on the 27th, 28th and 29th since I didn't have that much vacation. So late in the afternoon on the 26th, I drove back to my apartment.

December 26th, 2011

I had collected and packed all of Jill's stuff that she had left at my parents and went straight to her place. I guess I should have had a better idea about what I was going to do, but I was in strange new territory and didn't really have a clue. I rang the doorbell and knocked on the door. It was now 10pm. I was afraid that she might have gone somewhere, but her car was there. I knocked again and finally, after about 10 minutes she opened the door. She was in a big fluffy robe that I had never seen before and looked like she just woke up.

She only opened the door a crack. "Yes?"

"Jill, please let me in so we can talk."

She stared at me and I could see the wheels turning in her head. "Okay."

She opened the door all the way and motioned me in. She did not try to hug me or anything, so I stood there until she closed the door and led me into the living room. She pointed to the sofa. "Sit." It didn't sound like an option.

She remained standing on the other side of the coffee table. "What do you want to talk about?" She said that with such flatness it was like nothing had happened between us -- or ever had. She also appeared to have been drinking.

"I'm sorry about the way I reacted when you told me. I should have at least listened to you. I know that it was difficult for you to tell me that and I want to talk about it now so that I can understand everything."

She gave me a slight grin. It was almost an evil one. "Sure. We can talk about it. What do you want to know?"

I was so uncomfortable that I couldn't stop squirming. "I just want to know about it and all about you. I thought we were both getting really close and -- well, you know, becoming more than just lovers, but you sprang this on me so suddenly that I didn't have time to think about it and take it all in."

She sighed. "Well, okay, sure. I'll tell you all about it. That'll work. Just let me get something to drink. You want anything?" She looked like she was taking the order of a patron at a bar. She didn't appear to be upset, or bothered, or concerned about me at all. I shook my head no and she left the room. She was gone for a few minutes and I started wondering what she was doing.

When Jill finally came back in she was in nothing but a g-string. "Okay, here we go. This was my uniform. I wore this every night." I was speechless as she continued and I stared at her wonderful body. "I worked there for almost two years. Counting days and nights, I was probably there 600 times during the almost two years I worked there. I worked slow days as well as heavy days so, counting regulars, I probably saw about 40 new guys a night -- or should I say they saw me." She giggled in a way that showed that she was drunk because there was nothing really funny there. I didn't know how to respond. "So that's 24,000 guys who have seen my tits and ass and could probably make out the shape of my pussy because of the camel toe." She highlighted this by thrusting her hips forward and looking down at her pussy and showing me how the g-string was pulled up tight. "I gave lap dances to probably about 2,000 of them and private dances to about 500. So I guess you could say my body got around. My friend Gina still works there, although she's now the manager. She still looks good in a g-string, too. Hey, Gina, show him how good you look." I jerked my head in the direction of the kitchen and sure enough, out came this very voluptuous redhead with big, fake tits and wearing only a g-string. Jill had obviously set this up, but Gina didn't look any happier with this development than I did.