I check my text from Rico; it has the details for my gig later tonight. Some out-of-town woman is looking for a good time. I thought maybe it was Rachel until I saw the address. She wouldn’t be caught dead in a Holiday Inn.
Thor walks in and drops his bag next to my foot.
“What’s good, Sway?” He pulls his shirt off and places it on a hanger.
“Same ole,” I reply. I don’t tell the guys about my drama. “What do you think about the new opener?”
I reference the hip-hop routine we’re doing this week. Ivy said Jimmy wants to draw a hipper audience. The whole thing is a train wreck. We spent six hours learning it in rehearsal, and half the guys still don’t have the timing down. Thor is too big to pull off the intricate choreography. Following an eight count is one thing, this routine has sixteen.
“Didn’t you hear?” He pulls down his jeans and kicks them off. “Jimmy pulled me.”
I can’t tell if this is good news to Thor; the guy is impossible to read. He isn’t the best dancer, and everyone knows that.
Thor folds his jeans and places them in the locker. “He’s gearing the show to the younger crowd.”
He nods towards Damon and Percy. They’re only a year younger than me, but I’ve been here longer. I have seniority.
Thor takes off his underwear and pulls on a pair of basketball shorts. “Why do you think you’re headlining?”
“Because I earned it.”
He holds up his hand. “One, he’s pissed at Rico and Giovanni for all the no-shows.” He folds two fingers down. “Three, Dain is going through some personal shit. We’re lucky if he even shows up.” Another finger down. “I don’t close because there’s no money in it.” He’s left with one finger, his middle one. “That leaves you.”
“Fuck you.” I play it off like he’s not trying to be a dick. “You know Jim likes to change shit up, keep it fresh. And I’m pretty fucking fresh.” I pop my shirt and give Thor my two-hundred-dollar smile.
“Okay,” Thor smirks. “You’ll learn the hard way.” He walks away with his towel and toiletry bag.
It ends up being a pretty slow night. For me, at least. Damon is counting his stacks on the bench; I stopped paying attention at six hundred. His phony Jamaican accent is worth thirty to forty percent more in tips. The kid hardly ever does privates. Women just want to sit at the bar and listen to him talk.
Rico walks into the dressing room and checks the clock. “It’s about that time, Sway.”
“I know, I’m leaving now.” I zip my bag then pull Giovanni’s Gucci jacket from my locker. “I have an Uber on the way.” I slide the jacket on and check myself in the mirror. The client didn’t have any special requests. She just told Rico she wanted someone that a mother would love.
“I’ll text you when it’s over.”
“Go get that money.” He takes my hand as I walk by him. “She’s new so, just take it slow. Feel her out before you make any moves.”
“Moves?” I question.
Rico shrugs like he didn’t mean anything by the comment. “You know, just get a sense of what she’s into before you whip out your cock.”
Damon smirks as he stuffs his money into his pocket. The kid probably spends all his money on shoes and video games.
“I don’t whip out my cock for anyone,” I clarify. “Besides, isn’t that illegal?”
“Only if you let her touch it.” Rico pats my back. “Let her look at it, but no touching.”
“Nobody is looking at anything!” I insist as I walk out the door.
***
There’s a wedding winding down when I arrive at the hotel. Drunk guests stumble onto the elevator with me. One guy looks up and asks if we’re cousins.
“No, I’m not here for the wedding,” I tell him.
“You look familiar.” He nudges the girl he’s supporting in his arms. She opens one eye to get a glimpse of me. Suddenly, she’s wide awake.
She licks her lips and leans towards me. “Are you a model?”
“No.” The elevator doors open and I run out in case the girl has been to the club.
I find the clients room and knock three times. A woman in floral leggings and a black button-down shirt tells me to come inside.
“I’m Patricia,” she says as the door shuts.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Sway.”
I place my bag on the floor next to the bed. The room is small. Just a queen-size bed and a dresser so small the flat screen takes up the entire surface.
Patricia twists the top off a beer and hands it to me. She opens one for herself, then sits on the bed.
“So, are you in town for business?” I sit beside her, but not close enough to touch.
“I am,” she replies.
“What do you do for a living?”
She smiles and looks at her hands. “I’d rather not go into details about my life if that’s okay.”
Great.
“That’s fine. I just like to talk a little before the show to help you relax.”
“That isn’t necessary,” she states. “I’ve been in situations like this before.”
“So, I’m a situation?” I say in my deep sexy voice.
Patricia blushes. I like to be the most confident person in the room. It’s the only way I can take off my clothes for strangers.
“I just meant that I’ve been in uncomfortable situations before.” Patricia scoots up towards the headboard and leans back.
“Now I really want to know what you do for a living.”
She places her beer on the bedside table. “I’ve been doing my job for a long time.” Her eyes narrow at me. “How old are you?”
Rico says I should always lie, so I do.
“Twenty-seven.”
“Bullshit,” Patricia challenges.
“I come across as younger; it’s a curse.” I stand and move to the other side of the room. I place my beer on the dresser and pull out my phone. “Do you have a speaker with Bluetooth?”
Patricia scoots off the bed and walks to the closet. Her blouse is bunched up over her ass. It’s a sizeable ass. Not that I have a problem with big asses. She pulls a speaker from her suitcase. “Will this work?”
I tell her it will. “Do you want to sit in a chair?” I motion to the only chair in the room. It’s one of those fancy ones with a high back that isn’t really meant for sitting. I walk over and examine it. The chair is a wingback with short handles, and it’s really top-heavy. I’ll probably knock it over.
“I can sit on the bed.” Patricia sits on the end of the bed and bounces it up and down.
It’s my only choice. I start to run through my moves and come up with ways to tweak them. “It’ll do.”
Patricia turns the lights down and takes her seat as I prepare the music and get comfortable. I don’t usually strip to a G, but Rico said private dances usually go to a G. Being in a hotel room with a woman in a G-string is about as far as I will go.
The music comes on, and I switch to work mode. I move towards Patricia and take my jacket off. She is all smiles. Like she’s been waiting all day for this. I do a couple sexy dance moves as I kneel between her legs.
“These are the softest leggings I’ve ever felt,” I tell her as I run my hands up her thighs.
“Lularoe,” she giggles.
“Lula-what?” My hands slide to her inner thigh then back down her leg.
“Nothing, just keep going.” She’s flustered. I like that.
The bed is higher than a chair, so I’m way lower than I normally am at this point. I have to stand to unbutton my shirt. I rotate my hips as I undo each button. Normally, women watch my hands or look into my eyes, not Patricia. She’s staring at the crotch. Patricia is easily ten years older than me. She’s got a soft mom body. Little lines crease her face. I wouldn’t call her sexy, not immediately.
I take off my shirt and toss it on the bed beside Patricia. Her eyes travel from my dick up to my abs. I grab her hand and run it down my stomach as I place my other ha
nd behind her head. When I do this at the club, the place goes wild. For some reason, women love it when a man pretends to dick slap their friend.
Patricia moves her free hand to my belt buckle and rests her fingers over the clasp. I let her hand go and allow her to unhook my belt. She does this quickly, then rips open my jeans. I usually spin away and dance a little before taking them off, but Patricia beats me to it. She slides her hands down the outside of my thighs until my jeans are pooled at my ankles.
I kick off my shoes, then step out of my jeans. When I look up, I notice the top three buttons of Patricia’s shirt are undone. She isn’t wearing a bra beneath.
I’m in my underwear, and she’s exposing her breasts to me. It feels like laws are about to break.
“Let’s try this.” Patricia slides onto the bed, so she’s lying on her back. “Dance above me.”
“You want me to stand on the bed?” I calculate the low ceiling and my height.
“On your knees.” She unbuttons the rest of her blouse. “As long as we don’t touch it’s okay.”
She already admitted that she does this often. She must know more than I do. Rico said she could look, just no touching. Sex isn’t the only no-no; masturbation is also against the law.
“I’ll pay extra. Two hundred.”
If I say no, the job is over. I can’t leave, not when there’s money to be made. That is rule number fucking one.
I crawl onto the bed and kneel over Patricia’s stomach. She runs her hands down my chest. Then she opens her blouse and rubs her breasts. I sit up on my knees in my G-string. I rotate my hips a few times then remember some of the moves Thor does on stage. He has women in this position all the time. I sit back and graze her lady parts. The leggings she’s wearing feel like butter against my bare ass. When the song changes, I fall to the side and pull Patricia against me. I hold her leg and hump her ass. She grinds against me as her hand moves inside her shirt. I flip her onto her stomach and sit on her ass. She rustles with the buttons on her shirt, then takes it off.
Shit.
I’m pretty sure there has to be a law against the client being naked.
Think, Sway. What would Sylvie do?
I put myself in the position of a female stripper. They’re topless in a room with a man. It’s fine as long as I don’t touch her tits.
Patricia squirms to turn over. I let her because holding her face down on the bed will most likely get me arrested. She sits up with her legs spread open. I’m kneeling between them when she touches my dick.
“No.” I grab her hand. “You can’t touch me.” I move back, and she leans forward.
“I want you fully nude,” she says. “I’ll pay you extra.”
“I can’t do that.”
“One thousand,” she says.
How can I say no? I’ll be able to pay Matt’s retainer without hurting my savings or Lulu’s tuition money. I have no choice.
“Okay.”
Patricia smiles and goes to the closet. She moves around inside of the door then returns with a stack of money. She holds it out to me then pulls it back.
“I’ll throw in an extra five hundred if I can strip to my underwear.”
I should probably go to the bathroom and Google prostitution laws in California, but I don’t. I tuck her money into my bag as she takes her leggings off.
Patricia lies on the bed in nothing but a pair of flesh-colored panties. I pull my G-string off and crawl onto the bed. I hover over her with my cock in hibernation mode.
She squeezes her nipple and exhales. “I want to touch you,” she says.
“You can’t,” I remind her.
“I just want you to know what I want.”
My balls tingle as she squirms beneath me.
“I want you to kiss me here.” Her finger runs across her bottom lip. “And here.” She rubs her left nipple, then slides her hand past her belly button. I watch it disappear into her underwear. “I want to feel your tongue here,” she gasps.
I’m kneeling on my hands and knees with my dick growing closer to Patricia. I do what any man would in this situation.
I think of Sylvie.
If she were watching a client masturbate to her naked body, she’d go home and cry. I wonder if I’m a sick fuck for liking it. When Patricia really starts to get into it, I kneel between her legs and watch her hand gyrate in her underwear. My cock begins to throb. Traitor.
I lean over Patricia, checking my dick clearance before I whisper in her ear.
“Come for me,” I demand.
She moans and arches her back. Her hips raise, and my bare dick touches her stomach. My first instinct is to drop to my elbows and push against her.
“Oh fuck.” I pull back, and she tries to touch me again. “Stop,” I whisper.
“No,” she mutters. “Don’t you want me to touch you?”
“Yes.”
Who said that?
“I want you inside of me.”
Visions of my dick sliding into Patricia’s mouth fill my head.
“If you don’t stop, I’ll come all over you.”
I have no idea who is speaking for me. I’ve lost all control.
“Come on me, Sway,” she cries, and her hand moves faster until she lets out one long gasp and goes limp beneath me.
I don’t move. If I accidentally touch her, I’ll come next. I stay completely still until her eyes flicker open.
“That was incredible.”
I don’t reply. I have nothing to say. I sit up on my knees and cup my junk. She sits up and wraps her arms around my neck. Her lips are on mine, and she pulls me on top of her. My moves from my crotch to catch my fall. I kiss her back for no more than five seconds before I realize what is happening. I climb off the bed and scramble to put on my jeans.
“Come on, after what you just watched me do,” she says, “a kiss isn’t a big deal.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” I explain. “We can’t touch.”
Patricia stands and puts her blouse back on.
“Technically, I’m not supposed to touch myself in a sexual way either. But I did.”
I don’t know what she’s insinuating, and I’m not going to hang around to find out. I pull a t-shirt out of my bag and put it on as I slip into my shoes. I shove my other shirt into the bag along with the pile of money I just made. I unplug my phone and grab Giovanni’s jacket.
“See you around, Sway,” Patricia yells as I bolt from the room.
I tell Rico and Sylvie everything that happened with Patricia at the same time; so I don’t have to repeat the story twice.
“How do you vet new clients?” I ask Rico. “She wouldn’t tell me what she did for a living. Do you think she was a cop?”
“Vet? Seriously, Sway?” Rico looks at Sylvie like I’m an idiot. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“How do you know?” I challenge.
“Because she didn’t arrest you,” Sylvie interjects.
She has a point. I kiss her cheek and walk to the kitchen for another beer. Sylvie is really understanding. She knows it’s just a job, but it isn’t easy hearing about how your boyfriend watched a woman get off.
I might not have mentioned that I was completely naked. Job or no job, being naked with another woman isn’t cool.
“Keep your voice down,” I tell Rico. “Lulu’s in the other room.” I stop and make sure her movie is still playing. Sylvie moved the TV into Lulu’s room. Lulu is the only one who uses it anyway. Now we have another adult space in the house beside the kitchen and the bedroom.
“I have to go.” Rico stands. “I’m meeting Dain for lunch. He’s a bigger baby than you.” Rico shakes my hand as he walks to the door. “Good luck tomorrow.”
“Thanks, man.”
I return to the living room and sit beside Sylvie. She reaches for my beer. I hand it to her, and she takes a huge gulp.
“I think we should start looking for a new place. I’m making good money now.” She walks into the kitchen, talking ab
out her benefits package.
I’m supposed to be looking for a new career. The only thing I was ever good at was baseball. Deciding what I want to do with the rest of my life is a tall order. I’ll be lucky to land a job that will cover rent and Lulu’s tuition. I don’t know enough about construction or painting or plumbing to get a trade job. Waiting tables was a nightmare. I could tend bar, but that’s only a step above dancing in the eyes of a judge. That leaves sales. I have an interview next week with a tech company. It pays minimum wage plus commission. Matt says even a shitty day job with potential is better than stripping.
Reese comes running down the hall and stops when he sees me on the couch. He looks to the kitchen where Sylvie is washing dishes, then back to me.
Reese chooses me.
I lift him onto my lap, and he rests his head on my chest.
“What’s up, buddy,” I say to him.
Reese sits up and looks at me like I’m an idiot. The expression on his face reminds me of Lulu. Sylvie says it’s because they spend so much time together. I grab the dimple on his chin, the same one Lulu has. She got it from me.
“I’ll take him.” Sylvie removes her baby from my lap. “Let’s go change your diaper.”
“I can do it.” I don’t mind diaper duty or baby duty in general. Unlike Reese’s father. He doesn’t deserve to change his son’s shitty diaper.
Aaron hasn’t been around since the night he hit Sylvie, but he’s threatening to go to the court if she doesn’t allow him to see Reese. I had it easy for a long time. At least Leeyan left the city; hell, she left the country. I didn’t have to put with visitations and bullshit for the last three years. She’s making up for it now.
The doorbell rings, and I yell that I got it. I look in Lulu’s peep hole and see Dennis on the porch. Great.
“Dennis.” I don’t invite him in.
“Hello, Theo.” He smiles in that smug way that makes me want to kick his teeth in. “How have you been?”
“What do you want?”
“I like that; you don’t beat around the bush.” Dennis reaches into his jacket and pulls out an envelope. “I’m sorry to do this, but I’m raising your rent.”
Got Mine (Men of Trance Book 1) Page 15