Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. She rocks.

(Go onto youtube and check out Shania Twain's video for "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" for an idea of what Bella is wearing and how she is dancing. Check out the link in my profile.)

Prologue

BPOV

April 2nd, 2004

"Hello? Bella, are you awake?" Angela's voice pulled me out of my daydream. She was staring at me, looking somewhat pissed off. I wondered what I had done now.

"Sorry, Ang. I just zoned out there for a sec. Did you ask me something?"

"Yeah. Your table of pigs over there looks like they want a refill on their drinks. Not that they need it…" She trailed off, looking disgustedly at the table I had been serving all night. They looked like the typical clients we got at Lusty Lady. I could tell they were businessmen since they were wearing the typical 4-piece suit, so they had enough money to tip the dancers. Well, most of the girls here weren't exactly dancers. "Strippers" was a more appropriate word. Not that I had anything against strippers. I was friends with most of the girls who worked here. I just didn't strip. I was a waitress here, supplying all the "wonderful" gentlemen who frequented the joint with an endless supply of booze and food.

And the guys who came here were seriously pigs. I can't tell you how many times my ass was pinched each night or how many cheesy pick-up lines I got from the clients who had had a little too much to drink. Or a lot too much to drink. Angela and I would compare the lines used on us each night to see who had the worst men that evening.

I glanced over at my table. These guys had definitely had way too much to drink tonight. But, the drunker they were, the bigger the chance that they would leave me a big tip. Sighing, I grabbed my tray and walked over to the table. "Can I get you boys anything?" I asked them, smiling and winking at them. The one, who had been catcalling at all the girls all night, looked me up and down.

"Your daddy must have been a baker, because you've got a nice set of buns!" His line was met with drunken laughter from his friends, along with a few high-fives.

"Ha ha. Very funny, sir. Would you like a refill on your drinks?" They kept laughing and checking me out. I was seriously getting annoyed.

"Sure, baby, if I can get your number with that." I hated nights like this. I really needed to start looking into another job, one where I wouldn't be harassed every night. I walked back over to the bar to stand with Angela. We both looked on as Amber, the featured stripper of the night, came out on stage. AS soon as she started her dance, we turned our backs and faced the bar.

"So, are we still on for tonight?" Angela asked me.

"What?"

"The lessons. It's Thursday. You five me lessons every Thursday." She was looking kind of annoyed that I had possibly forgotten our Thursday night classes.

"Of course we're still on. They're the highlight of my week. You haven't told anyone what we're doing, right? If anyone found out, they'd all want to be there too." My voice sounded a little panicked. If anyone found out what we were doing every Thursday night, they would want to watch. And my Pete, my boss, would definitely want me to start stripping instead of just waitressing.

"Of course I haven't told anyone. What do you think I am, stupid?" She looked insulted. "Besides, if anyone else knew, I'd have to share you with them. I like it this way. Just you and me." She gave me a wink. Of course she liked it this way. I was giving her private lessons and she was becoming more confident. I had a feeling she was planning to use what I was teaching her to try and get Jackson, our bartender, to finally notice her. I sighed.

"Okay then. We'll meet out on the stage once everyone has left." I started wiping down the counter. Once Amber was done, that was it for the night. Thank god.

Once all the customers had left, I walked back into the dressing room to get changed. I wouldn't be wearing my uniform, if you could call this a uniform, to teach Angela. I don't even know why Pete made us wear anything here. We had on these skimpy black leather skirts and a matching bikini top. We wore 5-inch black stilettos. They weren't exactly the most comfortable things to be walking around a strip club in. As soon as I entered, all the girls looked at me. I sighed. It was going to be one of those nights. Suddenly, Candy, one of the strippers walked up to me. I liked Candy. She could be kind of a bitch, but she was generally a sweet girl.

"Hey" she said. I looked at her. "So, it's Thursday."

"Yeah." I was kind of confused. So what if it was Thursday? Oh, crap. Did she know about Thursday nights with Angela? My face displayed a mix of horror and shock.

"Yeah, I know. We all know. We want in. We think your lessons could seriously help our routines. We won't tell Pete, I promise. Please, Bella, just let us watch!" God, I hated it when she whined, but I knew if I didn't give in, she'd keep whining until I did.

"Okay, fine! But you can't tell anyone else. Just be sitting at the stage in 10 minutes. Now everyone get out so I can change." They all left, talking excitedly amongst themselves. I was kind of nervous now. I had never done this in front of such a big audience before. I put on the oversized men's suit shirt, tie, tall black leather boots, a black trench coat, and a top hat over my brown, wavy hair. I grabbed the pimp cane as I pushed the curtain aside. I walked out on stage as I watched the excited girls staring back at me. "Okay, tonight I'm teaching the art of the strip tease. It's not like what you guys do every night. This is more tasteful. You won't be completely naked afterwards, but this is a good way to let the guy know you're in the mood. Ang, could you play track 7?" Angela walked over to the stereo and hit play. She cranked up the volume. Shania Twain's "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" suddenly filled the club. I started swaying from side to side. I took off the top had and tossed it into the audience. I was strutting my stuff on stage. Every so often, I would dip down behind my cane, then pop back up. I could hear the girls cheering and whistling as I was doing my thing. Every so often, I would sexily remove another article of clothing. As Shania sang the last "I feel like a wo-man!" I threw off the tie. I was standing up there in my black lace lingerie in front of all the strippers from the club. They were standing and cheering. Angela looked amazed. I felt my face get red as I looked at all of them. When they had finished applauding, they sat down. Suddenly, I heard someone clapping; only the noise wasn't coming from in front of me. I looked over at the bar and saw a tall, handsome man standing there, staring at me, clapping. I quickly grabbed the shirt and threw it over myself. I walked over to the man. We were closed. What was he even doing here? "Excuse me sir, but we closed almost an hour ago."

"I'm sorry to interrupt your little—ah—'lesson,'" He looked down at me with humorous eyes, "But I was supposed to meet with your manager, Pete about finalizing a deal. I'm the owner of Black Water Brewery, and Pete has just agreed to start distributing my booze here." His eyes lingered on my chest. I looked down and realized the shirt wasn't closed and my sexy lingerie was visible to him. I quickly pulled the shirt closed and looked into his eyes. They were black, but full of kindness. I looked at his face. He was beautiful. He had stunning russet-colored skin, and long, shiny, black hair pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was dressed in distressed jeans and a tee shirt with a jacket over top.

"I'm sorry, but Pete left for the evening. I'll make sure to tell him you stopped by, Mr.—" I paused, since he hadn't given me his name.

"—Jacob Black."

"Right, Mr. Black. He'll be in tomorrow morning, if you want to call him then." I glanced over at everyone else, but they had all left. We weren't supposed to be here after hours, and they probably wanted to avoid getting into trouble, especially since Jacob Black was doing business with us.

He smiled at me. "How about instead of calling him, you give me your number and I can set it up with you?" Did he really just ask for my number? Was this gorgeous man hitting on me? My face must of betrayed my shock, because he suddenly said, "Yes, I just asked for your number, Miss—"

"—Bella. Bella Swan. It's nice to meet you Jacob."

"It's nice to meet you too, Bella."