Harry
It's nearing seven thirty in the morning as I wait in the locker room of the Platinum Fitness. Zayn knows seven thirty is our work out times. I've got to be at work for quarter after nine and it's really unprofessional to show up bordering on late and stinky.
Just as I'm about to leave to start working out on my own, Zayn barges in and almost tramples right through me.
"I'm sorry, Harry. He made me breakfast to get my morning going, but then he really got my morning going." Zayn changes his tone on the last part and I roll my eyes at his words.
"Doesn't matter. Get your shorts on and meet me out there. I'll grab some machines." I tell him and take my water bottle from the bench and head out into the gym.
We normally start leg day off easy with some machine curls, but figuring we don't have as much time, and that one of three machines are already taken, we'll start with the presses.
I'm giving that guy on the machine a lucky break. I doubt very much he'd enjoy hearing us talk about our job or Zayn talking about his night.
I set myself up with the proper weight and I take a drink of my water bottle. I see Zayn walking over towards me and he takes the machine beside me and puts his water bottle on the ground.
We both take a moment to get ourselves situated.
"So. How's Mr. Payne?" I ask. I have yet to know his first name, no idea why.
"He's good. Really good." Zayn smirks as he look over to me.
"And you made him that good?" I smirk knowingly, moving my legs up and down the machine. I can feel the burn already because last leg day we decided to go easy. Bad decision.
"Obviously. Fuck, his stamina, man oh man. You need to find yourself someone like that. The sex is incredible." He says and his arm goes over his abs as he continues to press with his legs.
"He's how old?" I wonder if he'll actually let me know. Zayn's a fair few years older than me, but I know Mr. Payne isn't close to his age.
"Not important." He laughs as he stops the machine and steps off.
I follow his lead and get off the machine. We move to another machine and he leans against it while I set up the weights, "What's it like with an older man?" I ask. I know he's been with a few men that have been older than him, and with his job he knows the difference.
"They can be better. But they can also be worse. Some you just have to close your eyes and wait for it to end. But others, like Mr. Payne, God, you don't want it to end." He fixes his shirt and pulls it down over his basketball shorts.
"Doesn't it feel wrong?" The biggest age gap between anyone I've had sex with was four years. I don't know how Zayn does it.
Even just when I'm dancing and I see the middle aged people getting turned on, it sort of makes me uneasy. Sure, I've accepted its part of the job, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. I'm not saying I wouldn't, because I'm sure they can bring experience to the table, but I'd have to be comfortable with it.
He shrugs, "Not that much. You get over it. Harry, why are you only on twenty? Thirty is when you feel it." Zayn comments as he looks down to the weight.
I groan, "Come on." I don't want to make this hard.
"You're not going to magically hang off a pole. Come on now." He says and waits for me to move my legs off the machine so he can adjust the weight.
I sigh, but I know he's right. I instantly feel the difference and after a few reps I have to put my hands on my thighs as I continue.
"Ten more." Zayn says and I groan. I know he's doing this to better me, but fuck.
I finish the ten with a grunt and shaky legs before I get up and switch places with Zayn. I take a drink of my water as I watch over him. He does it flawlessly, it's impressive. He does twenty with a little bit of heavy breathing at the end, but then he takes his legs off, "Can you make it forty? For the last ten."
I nod my head and adjust the bar. His shorts fall down his legs to show his thighs and I can see the muscles there bulging out. His hands are resting on his thighs and he's staring down at his knees as he maintains his breathing.
"Good for you." I say when he finishes up and stands to wipe off the machine.
"Mr. Payne likes my thighs." He tells me with a smirk.
"Do you actually call him that?" I laugh imaging Zayn calling him that in bed.
"Of course not." He laughs.
"Then what do you actually call him?" I hand him his water bottle and we move over to the mats.
"Daddy."
My pace stutters as he takes a seat on the mat.
"What?" I ask and take a seat down across from him.
Our legs extend forward and we both bend forward to reach our toes. Our really, our shins.
"It turns a lot more people on than you'd think." He laughs.
Okay, I've heard of BDSM, I know that that is a part of it. But Zayn didn't strike me as the type of guy.
I remember what Louis said about Zayn being submissive, I just took it as Zayn being the bottom, but I guess it means a lot more than that.
"Like... Are you into BDSM?" I say quietly and look over my shoulders.
He laughs, "Not intensely. There's no contracts, or chains and whips. We haven't even discussed it really. I call him Daddy because he likes it. And I do too." He shrugs his shoulders as he lifts up to stretch his back and his arms above his head before leaning back down over his legs.
"And what does he call you?" I wrap my fingers around my lower shins and I exhale my breath to push myself further.
Zayn laughs even harder, "Well someone sure has a lot of questions today."
He grabs his ankles and spreads them apart to lean forward.
I shrug, "Curious I guess." I follow him in spreading my legs to stretch the inner of my thighs. I'm not as flexible as him, he can almost touch the floor with his chest, whereas I look like a hunchback. He promises that when I do it enough that I'll be just as flexible, if not more.
"Well, he likes it rough." He chuckles, "That's all I'm saying."
We continue with some more light stretching before we move to more machine work.
"Did you ever meet up with that guy?" Zayn asks as I finish up the reps of leg curls.
"I called him. He didn't answer." I raise my legs up to stretch them after that. Zayn isn't letting me do anything below thirty and it's killing.
"You've got his number?" Zayn switches with me and takes a seat on the bench and positions his ankles below the bar so he can raise them doing his curls.
"Well, yeah. He's staying at a hotel." I lean against a machine beside the one Zayn's on and I push my hair out of my face.
"Oh. How bad was the split?" Zayn knows. I think I've picked up from him the way I can easily know things about people.
"He came out to her and she kicked him out. He can't see his kids." I scratch the back of my neck. Is it bad to be telling him this? Did Louis not want me telling people? I mean, it's not like they'll meet and if they do it would be because Louis and I became something. Became something? Wait, what?
"There's kids?" Zayn stops his rep and looks up to me.
"Two. Ten and seven." I bite my lip.
"Harry. That's... You don't mess with a family. That's risky stuff." His voice taking a warning tone.
My cheeks start to heat, "I don't know. It doesn't seem like he'd go to back to her or anything."
"Once you have kids it's not about the parents. You'd be surprised how many spouses get back together because of the kids. You don't go there."
"Mr. Payne doesn't have any kids?"
"Nope. Hasn't even been married. He's a workaholic." Zayn is now just sitting on the seat with his hands on his knees.
"What does he work as?"
"He's a dentist. He has his own office. I don't really know much more than that." He chuckles, "It's not really a topic of discussion."
"Do you get free cleanings. Free fillings maybe? Shit, that's when you know it's serious." I laugh and cross my arms over my chest.
"Oh shut up. And no, I don't have a health care insurance plan so I don't go unless I have to. And I'm cavity free, thank you very much." He laughs and shoves my arm.
"I could talk to some people I work for. They'd set you up." I suggest, I didn't know he didn't have insurance.
"No thanks. Not really a need for it. I don't have a car, you take care of the home insurance, and I keep myself in good shape so there's not a big need for a medical plan." He shrugs.
"Yeah, until you slip off a pole and break your spine." I laugh it off as a joke, but I'm being serious. It could happen. You don't think it'll happen to you until it does.
"Oh shut up. I'm just as careful. Now quit distracting me and get your ass on that machine." He points across the aisle to one of the rowing machines.
I chuckle and I grab my water bottle and head over to one. I hate this machine, I always feel like an idiot doing it. My legs don't make me the most coordinated person in the world, and my hips move so awkwardly on this.
It's nearing eight thirty when Zayn and I decide to call it a day. We head back to the locker rooms and I grab my stuff to take a quick shower. Zayn takes the stall beside me just as I rinse the shampoo out of my hair.
"What are your plans for today?" I ask over the sound of running water.
"I've got a client at noon, but other than that I'm free until work tonight. I plan on just having a lazy day at home." He says.
"Isn't it a little weird to have a client in the middle of the day?"
"It's easier for people in marriages. They can tell their spouse they're at work, and tell their work they're going to be gone for a few hours due to family issues. It doesn't raise any eyebrows."
"Oh." Is all I manage to say as the reality of that sinks in. It really is the perfect time. Sneaking out of the house or getting a work call late at night is obviously bound to cause question.
"You got a ride?" I ask.
"Yeah, don't worry about me. I'm gonna grab the bus."
"Alright." I say and I tell Zayn that I'll see him later and I dry my body off before wrapping the towel around my waist and heading out of the shower room and into the main locker room.
I get dressed into my suit quickly, I know that one of big clients is coming by the office today for meetings so I wear my best. I know my jacket is in my car so I throw my gym bag over my shoulder as I fasten the buttons on my cuffs.
I make it to my work in the nick of time as I take my seat behind the front desk. Not ten minutes later did the client come in.
"Good morning." I greet with a smile and stand up to extend my hand over the tall desk.
"Good morning, Mr. Styles." He says as he looks down to my name plate on the edge of the desk and shakes my hand.
"Mr. Horan is waiting for you in Conference One." I say and point in the direction of the hall. "Follow me." I say with a smile as I walk around the desk and lead him down the hall to the open door of the conference room.
I step back against the door and let the man walk through to Mr. Horan and shake his hand. I smile at Mr. Horan and his assistants.
"Thank you, Harry." He says and nods his head, signalling that I can leave.
I close the door behind me and head back out to the front where I take my seat behind my the desk. The paper work has piled up on my desk because even though I work from 9-5, many of the people I work for like to make their own hours. I don't mind, because it gives me something to do. And it's what I'm here for. They don't pay me to sit here and look pretty.
An hour later, Mr. Horan comes out with the client and they're both smiling and laughing.
"Thanks again, good seeing you." The client say as Mr. Horan walks him to the door.
"Pleasure's all mine, I'll send you the paper work tonight. Thanks." Mr. Horan says as the client leaves and descends the stairs into the parking lot.
"Big things happening, Harry, big things." He says with a clap of his hands and heads back down the hall.
All the brokers seems to like me here, which is really good. They call a lot of people the proper way by using their last name, but they all seem to know me as Harry. It makes work a lot more enjoyable.
By the time it's quarter after five I've only got three more files that need to be logged into the computer. Two belonging to Mr. Horan, and one to Mrs. Worden.
I take them in my arms and stand up to walk down the hall. I knock on Mrs. Worden's office and she looks up to me with a smile.
"Sorry, I didn't get a chance to get to this. I was going to leave it until tomorrow, unless it needs to be done by today." I walk towards her and hand her the file.
She pulls the glasses down from off her head and puts them over her eyes to read the name at the top of the file.
"Oh, no that's okay. It can wait until tomorrow. Have a nice night." She smiles and hands it back to me.
"Have a good night." I tell her and leave to head a little further down the hall to Mr. Horan.
I knock quietly on his door and open it slightly. I see him on the phone, and so I wait for him to see me before I nod my head and walk out of the hall.
"Let me call you back, honey." I hear him say to the phone, "Yes, Harry?"
I walk back into his room and hand him the two files, "I was going to leave these until tomorrow, I just wanted to make sure they weren't urgent."
"Ah, the problem of being the first to the pile. Always the last one to be seen." He says and looks at the two files.
He hands me back the thicker one, "That'll give you some work tomorrow."
No kidding
"I'll do this myself, thank you, Harry." He says and puts the file in front of his computer.
"Have a good night." I say as I head back out of his room and down to the front.
I put the files into the desk drawer and lock it before I grab my bag and my phone.
I've got a text from Luca saying that I've got a floor shift after my stage time.
I hate when people are busy and call in at the last minute. I don't like lap dancing as much. Too many odd feelings and wandering hands.
I enter the passcode for the locking system to make sure no one outside can get in unless they know the code. It's mandatory for when I leave, me being at the front desk and able to see any problems.
I tap my fingers on the steering wheel along to a song by Metric as I sit in the rush hour traffic.
My phone starts buzzing from the console and I look down to see a phone call from Zayn.
The traffic isn't moving much, so it's pretty safe to take a call.
"Hello?" I answer and hold it up to my ear.
"Guess who called." I hear him chuckling on the other side of the line.
It doesn't take long for me to instantly picture Louis, "You didn't answer it, did you?" I shift in my seat to sit up straighter.
"I don't know, did I?" He giggles.
"Are you drunk?" I raise an eyebrow at his immature behaviour.
"Maybe a little." He giggles again.
"Go put on a pot of coffee." I tell him. I've dealt with him being drunk, he's funny. But not when our shift starts in five hours, give or take, and he can't be drowsy.
"Yes sir." He says, annunciating the syllables.
I roll my eyes, but I hear movement so I take it as a good sign he's listening to me. "Did you answer the call?" I ask once again.
"No. I was on the phone with Mr. Payne. He's very dirty. Very, very dirty." Him saying that while he's drunk forces me to contain my laughter.
But I'm glad to hear he didn't answer the phone.
"He left a message though." Zayn continues and I hear the click to the coffee maker in our house that means he's just put it on. "He sounds really cute. Maybe he's worth it."
"Worth it?" I ask and look left and right to make a lane change as I approach my exit. Someone honks their horn at me because I moved into their lane and cut them off. Suck it up buddy. That's my exit.
"Yeah, like with the kids and everything." He explains. And I nod my head as I pick up my speed to something finally past bumper to bumper.
"Oh." I say, "Zayn, drink a cup of coffee and maybe have a cold shower. I'm about five minutes away. Okay?"
"Okay, see ya then." He says and hangs up the phone.
So Louis called me back? I hope Zayn wasn't so out of it he deleted the message. I want to know what Louis said.
I couldn't stop thinking of the possibilities the entire way back home. Is he going to be there tonight? Did he want to meet up with me?
I pull into the driveway and I can see Zayn munching on some toast through the kitchen window as his head bops along. He's got the radio playing no doubt. That's his pride and joy.
I open the front door and lock it behind me, "Hey." I say over the sound of the music.
"Hey." Zayn says over a mouthful. I see his coffee mug in front of him, good sign. "I was thinking of doing a back hook spin then into an aerial invert. I need something new."
"You never stay the same." Another thing I learned from him.
"Yeah, but even with all the different routines it's the same moves." His hands start dancing out in front of himself as if he's going over the positioning of his hands on the pole.
"Did you get anything for dinner?" I look around the corner and I don't see anything so I know the answer before he says it.
"No, busy." He says and continues staring of blankly and moving his hands.
I nod my head then head out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the hallway where our bedrooms are. There's actually three bedrooms, but one is used as more of a storage space.
I drop my bag onto my floor and take off the jacket, putting it on a hanger to put in my closet. The shirt and pants follow and I head to my bed and under the covers in just my underwear.
I reach over to grab the landline that was on my bedside table and I roll over to pull the blankets over my shoulder. I dial the voicemail and hold it to my ear.
I click 7 to hear the message.
"Um, hi, Teddy. It's Louis. I mean, I really don't know if it's actually you. But you're the only phone number that called me that I didn't recognize, so I guess I'm kind of hoping it was you. If it wasn't, that's cool. Um, ignore this right now and just call me back, I'll answer. But if this is Teddy, well, hi. You should call me back too. I want to know if you're working tonight and if I can see you."
The message ends and the robotic voice returns. Aw. He does sound cute there.
A smile cracks my lips as I dial him back. I punch in his room number and hold it back up to my ear.
"Teddy?" He answers after the second ring.
"We're you waiting for me?" I ask with a small laugh as I sense the urgency in his voice.
"No, I was just near the phone."
"Or the phone was near you." I chuckle at him.
"Shut up. You, uh, called last night?" He sounds nervous.
Nervous? For a big shot guy like himself, nervous shouldn't be a thing.
"I did. I was lonely and wanted to talk." I say and my legs stretch down the bed, lulling me into even more of a relaxed state.
"Oh. Oh." He says, and judging by his tone I can tell he thinks I meant dirty talk.
"Louis?"
"Yeah?"
"Get your head out of the gutter."
He laughs at the other side of the line, "Sorry."
"It's fine." I smile at the sound of his laugh, it's light. It juxtaposes himself nicely. I like that it's not a deep laugh, it makes him younger for some reason.
"Tonight though. Can I see you?"
"For a fifteen dollar entrance price, you can see me all night."
"Don't be a smart ass."
"Oh I'm only ever a smart ass." I warn him with a smirk.
He laughs more and I continue to just listen intently.
"So you've got yourself a roommate?"
"Yup. Dash. For as long as I've been working at the club, he's been living with me." I pick at the threads of the blanket over me.
"Did you guys know each other before?"
"Nope, he needed a roommate though. He's not at home enough to pay for a house or apartment fully on his own. So he figured splitting would be more worth his money." I tell him.
I remember him approaching me on the first of me working there and he asked if I was looking for a roommate and when I said not really, he replied with well a roommate is looking for you his humour convinced me into saying yes and I moved out of my apartments and into this house with Zayn. He's very wise with money, never spending it where it doesn't need to be spent. I bet he's loaded, but I know he's saving for when his stripping days are over.
"That's smart. A wise money man. What does he work as?" Louis asks and I hear some creaking that tells me he either just sat on the couch or laid back on the bed.
"A stripper." I tell him, I opt to leave the part of him selling his body out of the topic.
"You guys make a lot then?"
"Not as much as you, Mr. Tomlinson and associates." I say in a joking tone.
He just sighs out a laugh. "Yeah, well, I didn't get here on a fluke." He says.
"I bet. You deserved it, definitely."
"Teddy, I got to call you back. My wife's calling." He says and I can hear the sadness in his voice.
"Don't worry about it. And don't bother calling back, I'll be asleep. I'll see you tonight."
"See you." He says before I hear the line go dead.
"That was the most uninteresting phone call I've ever heard." I hear Zayn say through the phone.
"What the fuck?" I ask and hold the phone out to see that the call is still running.
"Seriously. I was expecting some flirting at least maybe some dirty talk. God, Harry, do you need to be taught those things?" He's still a little tipsy, he wouldn't be saying these things if he weren't.
"I'm perfectly capable." I chuckle and shake my head, only my friend would listen into a call only to make fun of me.
"Are you sure about that?" He sounds genuinely disbelieved.
"Positive. Now leave me alone."
"Harry!" He shouts and I bring the phone back up to my ear.
"What?"
"I'm much more than a stripper, babe." He says with an attitude and then I hear the beeping.
Oh. I didn't mean to offend him that way. It's what he is, it's what we are. But it's a job just like any other, expect we take our clothes off.
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Thanks to you guys for liking this story right away!!(: this was a boring chapter haha but it explains a lot I guess(: love you <3