“Boss, you need to hurry up before a car comes,” Roberto interjected.
“Alfred!” Paul shouted. “Jesus, I know. We’re parked on the side of the road. I get it. Now if everyone will shut the fuck up, we’ll be on our way in two minutes!” He paused for a second. “Okay, you’ll be running, yada-yada, and if we catch you, we shoot you with these.” He gestured to the guns. “There’s a campsite just behind me that you need to find.”
“How am I supposed to find it?”
“Don’t give me that shit, Captain Hastings.”
“You’re serious?”
Paul bobbed his head.
“And I don’t get a gun?”
“Nope, but you get a flashlight.”
We laughed.
“You know paybacks are a bitch, right?” Gabe questioned.
Paul chuckled under his breath. “Shit, I’m never getting married.”
“Maybe not, but I know where you sleep.”
“Touché. We’ll give you a thirty second head start.”
I only had thirty seconds to make my move with Tessa, so while they released Gabe and he ran off, I went back into the bus. I was nervous and scared, but I was going to try.
“Hey,” I called out.
Tess looked up from her phone. She had put all her clothes on and, I had to admit, I was bummed. “Hey,” she replied.
“I don’t have long, but I was wondering if I could get your number?” I stepped in front of her, and she stood. We were inches from each other, and I wanted to lean down and taste her lips.
She smiled up at me, and I instantly relaxed. “Well, I don’t usually give my number to clients.”
“Oh,” I breathed, defeated. We stared at each other for a few beats. I wanted to beg. That wasn’t me though. Sure Tessa was gorgeous, and I wanted to get to know her better, but once she got wind of what—wait, she did know what I did on the side. She knew we were S&R guys. At least, I assumed she knew. I was about to wish her a good life because she was obviously in the same mindset as all other women I dated, but then she spoke.
“I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”
“And I’m not looking for a girlfriend.”
“But I could use a friend.”
“So could I.”
“I have baggage.”
I chuckled without sound. “Don’t we all?”
She stared at me for a beat, and I knew my thirty seconds were almost up. “Okay, give me your phone.”
When I told Vinny I could use a friend, what I really meant was I needed a male figure in Colton’s life. I wasn’t planning on introducing them anytime soon because I wasn’t in the habit of bringing any strangers around my son until I felt as though they were good people, but in the short amount of time I was near Vinny, I liked him and wanted to get to know him. I didn’t know why. I had barely spoken to him. Maybe it was the look in his eyes that told me he was a good man, or maybe it was the way he didn’t grope me. All the Saddles & Racks guys seemed genuine and special in their own way. Especially Vinny. I didn’t know what his way was yet, but I wanted to find out. I hadn’t been interested in a guy for a very long time. My main focus was taking care of Colton and surviving. Parenting was hard—especially alone—and then to throw in his special needs … I sometimes questioned if I was strong enough. I’d cry myself to sleep, wondering where I went wrong, forced to show my tits for money to survive. Still, I made more money than my parents, and I only worked four days a week. There was no way I could stop stripping and get a real job because of the money and the hours.
After I got home from the bachelor party, I lay in bed and replayed the night over and over in my head. It was by far the best bachelor party I’d ever danced at. It was fun teasing Gabe and not being touched. Usually, the guys would try to fondle me even if I told them no, but the more they’d feel me up, the more they’d throw dollars at me. Last night wasn’t that type of party, and I honestly felt as though I could hang with them for a beer or something outside of work.
Maybe I should work for Saddles & Racks. They couldn’t force me to sleep with clients; I was sure they had rules about that, right? Maybe if Vinny called, I’d ask him about it. That was, of course, if he called.
The next morning, I woke to the sounds of PAW Patrol.
Colton amazed me every day. In six months, he would turn five, and I swore he had the smarts of a ten-year-old. He was able to control the TV easily, and he knew what he wanted and was able to find it on Netflix without any problems. He was also starting to read despite being unable to communicate like typical children his age. Therapy was helping him, and he was currently in an early intervention program, but after the summer months, he’d move on to a special needs kindergarten class. I knew that since he was progressing and meeting or sometimes even exceeding his goals, I was doing something right. Even if I had no idea what I was doing.
After getting out of bed, I used the bathroom before going into the living room to check on Colton. He was in front of the TV, a baseball in his hand, and the cartoon dogs on the screen. I kissed him on the head before I went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and breakfast. He didn’t look up as I walked past because all of his focus was on the TV in front of him.
My cell phone started to ring, causing my stomach to dip in the hope it would be Vinny.
Instead, it was my mother.
“How was last night?” Sommer asked as we sat in the dressing room getting ready to go on stage.
“It was fun. Easy.”
“Were they hot?” she asked as she curled her long, blonde hair.
I stopped applying mascara and looked at her through the reflection of the mirror. “What?”
She rolled her blue eyes. “They have to be hot to be escorts.”
“Do they?” It made sense, but I still questioned it.
“I don’t think anyone would hire an ugly escort.”
I snorted. “No, I don’t think they would.”
“So, they were hot?”
I smiled, remembering all the guys, especially Vinny. “Yeah, they were.”
“What did they look like? Give me the details.”
“Why don’t you just look at their website?” Ginger asked from my other side.
“I have,” Sommer admitted. “But I want to know if they’re better in person.”
“I’ve never looked at their website,” I confessed.
Ginger poked at the screen on her phone and then handed it to me. “Here, look at their bios and tell us who’s cuter in person.”
I grabbed the phone from her as she went back to spritzing hairspray in her short, red hair. Everyone except Gabe was listed, and I realized Vinny used the name Duane in his bio. “They all are, but Gabe isn’t on there anymore,” I stated. They really were. The photos didn’t do them justice.
“Is that the one getting married?” Sommer asked, taking the phone from me.
“Yeah.”
“What does he look like?” she questioned.
“Tall, bald, and handsome.”
“Whoever he’s marrying is a lucky lady. Can you imagine the moves he knows?” Ginger fanned herself as though she was hot just thinking about it.
My brain instantly went back to Vinny and the fact that he must know some moves too. Moves I hadn’t thought about since I was twenty-one. Maybe I was only having those thoughts about Vinny because I was sex deprived and he had sex for a living?
“I bet they all have moves,” Sommer stated.
“Who was your favorite?” Ginger asked.
Before I could respond, the door opened and Honey walked in. “Sommer, Sebastian wants to see you in his office.”
In the time I’d worked at Red Diamond, I’d never been called up to his office. Maybe Sommer wasn’t cutting it? All of the dancers were independent contractors, which meant we had to pay him to dance, but that didn’t mean he’d hire anyone off the street. I’d seen him turn plenty of women away. Most of them were pretty, but you had to be strong to work in this fi
eld, and have a thick skin, because not every man or woman would like who you were on the outside. I was lucky I suppose. I was medium height, had decent boobs, long, dark brown hair, and blue eyes.
My gaze met Sommer’s, and she gave me a small smile. “Hope I’m not fired,” she jested. At least I assumed she was joking. I’d never known her to be anything except one of the top dancers. She was the one who taught me how to use the pole, and she was amazing at it.
She left, and I finished getting ready for my first set of the night. When it was time, I stood backstage, dressed in my signature sparkling red bikini and sky-high black heels, and waited for the DJ to introduce me.
“Ladies and gentleman, please welcome to the stage, Scarlett.” I’d chosen the name because I only wore red when I danced. It was my color.
There were no cheers after he announced my name. The only thing I heard when I took the first step up onto the stage was the beat of the drums of “West Coast” by Lana Del Rey. I strutted out from behind the black curtain and into the lion’s den. It was early enough in the day that the place wasn’t packed, but there were enough people that I knew I'd make enough for gas money with my two dances for the one set.
I made my way down the stage, the lights dimmed, and swayed my hips to the beat as I walked. When I got to the end, my gaze moved up to Sebastian’s office, and I almost stumbled backward, not believing what I was seeing. Sommer was on her knees in front of him as he sat in a red high-back chair that was angled to the side. Her mouth was working his cock.
His gaze locked with mine, and then he winked.
After my ten or so minutes were up, I collected the money that had been thrown onto the stage and turned to leave, glancing one more time over my shoulder to see that Sommer was gone. In the year I’d worked at Red Diamond, I hadn’t known any of the girls to hook up with Sebastian. Hook up with the bouncers? Yes. The DJ? Yes. Customers? Yes. But never the boss.
Until now.
When I finally made it to the dressing room, where I’d change and freshen up for my next set, I expected Sommer to be in there, but she wasn’t. Ginger was out on the stage, and Nicole was the only other person in the dressing room who I had some sort of friendship with, but we weren’t close. Melony was my best friend, the only one I trusted, and she wasn’t coming in for another hour, so I couldn’t tell her what I saw just yet. I wanted to ask Nicole if she knew about Sommer, but I thought better of it. The girls talked shit about each other, but that wasn’t me. Of course, I’d listen to all the drama, but I would never get involved. I needed the money too much to risk an altercation that would get me fired.
So, I kept my mouth shut again.
When Sommer came back into the dressing room, she looked as though she was the cat that ate the canary. I didn’t question her. If she wanted to tell me, she would.
By the time I got home, I was bursting at the seams, wanting to tell someone what I’d seen during my first set. I wasn’t able to talk to Melony when she arrived at work, and while I wasn’t one to spread gossip, I was one to tell my best friend everything. Before I left, I told Mel to come to my apartment when she got home because I needed to tell her something. She was intrigued and said she would.
To my surprise, when I walked in through the front door, Colton wasn’t watching the same cartoon he had for the past month. It was still PAW Patrol, of course, but not the same episode. “A new one?” I asked Sophia.
“His idea,” she responded as I closed and locked the door behind me.
Change was good. Change was growth.
After Sophia left, I spent time with Colton, playing cars with him—well, it was more that we were both doing the same activity and playing side by side, not together. While I drove the cars around on the table or the floor, he lined them up in a row. We ate dinner, and I put him to bed, watching the clock for when I knew Melony would get off.
Finally, there was a quiet knock on my door. I stood, and after checking the peephole, I opened it.
“What do you need to tell me? Everything okay?”
“Yes, come in.”
She did, and we both sat on the couch, facing each other. “Don’t repeat this.”
She snorted and rolled her green eyes. “You know me better than that.”
“But this is huge.”
“Well, stop prolonging this and spit it out.”
“You know how Sebastian can see the stage from his office?”
She nodded.
“And you know how we can see into his office when we dance?”
She nodded again.
“Have you ever seen him …” I trailed off, trying to think of the right words.
“Seen him what?”
I just went with it. “Have you ever seen him with one of the girls up there … pleasuring him?”
Her eyes grew wide. “Pleasuring him?”
“Giving him a blow job,” I whispered.
“Shut up! Who?”
“Sommer.”
“No way,” she hissed. “Tell me everything.”
“There isn’t much to tell except that was what I saw. Oh, and he winked at me while she was doing it. She didn’t mention it at all.” I wrinkled my nose at the memory.
“Well, why would she?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know? I mean, Sebastian isn’t bad looking, and he is the boss.”
“Would you brag about it?”
I chuckled slightly. “No, I don’t think so.”
We were silent for a few moments. “I can’t believe he winked at you. I wonder how long it’s been going on,” Melony pondered.
I leaned against the back of the couch with my shoulder. “I have no idea, but I don’t think it was the first time.”
She furrowed her brows. “What makes you say that?”
“Because she wasn’t in his office that long. It’s like she walked up the stairs and he said, ‘get on your knees’.”
“Maybe he did?”
Shit, maybe he did.
“So …” Melony grinned. “Do you want to tell me about Duane?”
I drew my head back slightly because I hadn’t told her that Vinny had texted me earlier and I was slightly confused. “Duane?” I asked, wondering why she had used his Saddles & Racks name.
Her smile widened. “He came looking for you.”
My smile instantly matched hers. “He did?”
“He did.”
“What did you tell him?”
“To come back tomorrow night.”
As soon as we were back in town, I showered and then drove straight to Red Diamond. I couldn’t get Tessa out of my mind. Even when we were chasing Gabe through the woods. Even when the guys and I were sitting around a fire, drinking beer, and shooting the shit. Even when the Montgomery brothers drove us back to the city.
After getting out of my Lexus LX, I walked into the brick building. I hadn’t been inside Red Diamond before—hadn’t needed to. It was early evening by the time I arrived, and the moment I stepped inside, my eyes had to adjust to the dim lighting. Strip clubs were notorious for being dark, the light mainly focused on the bar and stage. But if you thought about it, it made sense it would be brighter in those spots so we could see the goods better.
I scanned the area for any trace of Tessa. My plan was just to talk to her again. If she were on stage, I’d give her a few bucks, making sure she knew I was there. If she were giving a guy a lap dance, I’d wait in line, and then pay for five in a row. But as I scanned every inch of the visible area, I didn’t see her. There were a few girls around, but none of them was the girl with the long brown hair and steel blue eyes I couldn’t get out of my head.
So, I waited.
I went to the stage, took a seat, and waited for the next dancer to come out. It wasn’t her. This girl was a little shorter than what I remembered Tessa being, even with her heels on. She wasn’t in a red bikini, and her hair wasn’t brown either. As I watched this girl work the pole, I threw her a few dollars to get her attention. She smiled
and then came toward me. I held up a twenty and motioned for her to come closer. She bent at the knee, opening her legs as though I could actually see her pussy, and started to stand again.
“Wait,” I called out.
She got on her knees and began to rub her hands up her chest.
“Do you want this twenty?” I asked, raising my voice slightly so she could hear me over the loud music.
She rolled her green eyes as though she didn’t have time to work for it.
“I’ll give you this plus another twenty if you help me out.”
“With what?” she questioned, still moving as if she was putting on a private show for me.
“Is Tessa here?”
She wrinkled her brow. “Tessa?”
“Yeah, I need to speak with her.”
The girl shook her head. “She already went home for the night.”
“Oh.” I leaned back in my chair as hope died in my stomach.
“She works the mornings on Thursdays.”
I nodded and handed her the twenty. She eyed it and then I smiled, reaching into my wallet and pulling out another one for her as promised.
“Why are you looking for Tessa?” she asked, stuffing the bills into her bottoms.
I smirked. “Because she’s my favorite.” That was true. I didn’t know any of the dancers except Tessa.
“But you know her real name.”
I cocked my head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Her stage name is Scarlett.”
“Oh.” I chuckled. “I met her last night at my buddy’s bachelor party.”
She stopped dancing and leaned closer to me. “You’re an S&R guy?”
My grin widened. “Yeah.”
“What’s your name?”
Because this chick knew me as an S&R guy, I went with my own fake name. “Duane.”
The girl started to dance a little. “She didn’t mention you.”
Well, fuck. Though Tessa met me as Vinny and not Duane. “Guess I didn’t make an impression on her.”
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