“I could go all night, baby,” Kandace said, feeling confident. She romped, passing tables with active dancers, then honed in on a table of eight that were attentive, sipping drinks, enjoying the show on stage.
“Would your table like a dance?” she asked the first guy to notice her. He seemed agreeable in his smile, then turned to his company for approval. Everyone nodded, including the ladies at the table.
A manager stood by while Kandace danced to Zara Larsson’s Ain’t My Fault. Familiarity at the pole, like a reunion of star-crossed lovers, and while she dazzled, her guests sat, sipping cocktails and wearing ingenuous expressions. One of the men tossed folded bills for Kandace and the woman next to him said something loudly at him. Kandace climbed on the pole and spun down, enjoying herself, her euphoria, determined to draw their attention. When the song ended, Kandace came down and pranced, eyeing her guests. Several tipped and seemed to enjoy her, but when the same man as before tossed money on the table, the woman next to him turned toward him fast.
“What the hell are you doing? She’s younger than our daughter, for god sakes,” she said. “I suppose you’ll sleep with her too?”
His attention turned toward her. “Melanie, could you calm down. She’s working. She’s earning a living, like anyone else.”
“Don’t touch me,” Melanie said, batting his hand off her bare shoulder. She wore a black strapless dress showing off assets past their prime.
Kandace came over and got down on her hands and knees, close to both of them and said, “Maybe I can help.” She wondered what Melanie wanted—maybe she just needed some air?
“Oh, don’t flatter yourself, teenager. Jesus! You should be in school! Put some fucking clothes on!”
The man stood up and tried to usher Melanie out of her seat. “I’m sorry about her. I’ll be leaving. No offense.”
“The hell are you doing, Chuck! Leave me alone! Get your hands off me!”
Suits came and two bouncers in solid black clothing. Kandace didn’t know what to do, so she stood still and watched as Melanie and Chuck were escorted out. Then she got down from the table as her remaining customers tossed money thoughtlessly and headed for the exit. The women from the table were apologetic and told Kandace she was beautiful as they left.
She sat at her station and watched herself as though some truth hid in her reflection. Now what? She felt fine. She could go dance. But she didn’t want to. She suddenly wanted to cry. Why did she have to care what a total stranger who she’d never see again thought? And who’s to say Melanie’s reaction had anything to do with Kandace? Why did one woman’s negative opinion matter when hundreds of men showered her with their praise and their cash? Kandace had a money bath. That was tuition. A better future sticking to her naked body. Why did one woman’s unrelated rant matter at all?
Maybe she was drunk. Jealous? Either… or both.
The other women called Kandace beautiful. Shouldn’t that be enough?
Dancers gathered backstage, most standing around conversing, gossiping or complaining. Kandace overheard conversations, wanting to glean what she could. The club was still busy, though it was less than a half hour to close. The buzz was all about the NLCS game and the crowd from the ballpark. Better take than expected. All silver suits were pleased.
“Hey, you all right?” April asked, standing up from her station chair. She wore street clothes, purse slung over her shoulder.
“I’m so pissed. I mean, why come to a strip club if you’re not here to watch a stripper? And if you’re not into your man watching strippers, then what are you doing here with him?”
April rubbed Kandace’s shoulder, then hugged her. “Sounds like you got some drunk bitch and her husband was caught ogling you. I’ve got a T-shirt for you. Hope it’s your size.”
Kandace punched the air. “I was feeling good until she came along and ruined my night.”
“Did her husband tip you?”
“Uh, yeah. That’s what started her off on me.”
“Then she didn’t ruin your night. But you might have ruined hers.” April laughed and slapped Kandace’s butt. “I’m taking that thong off you with my teeth if you’re gonna just stand there. Move. Get dressed while the night is young.”
Kandace managed a smirk. “So what would you have done?”
“Nothing. The broad’s pissed because women are cats, man. She thinks his money is her money and she’s not paying for you to titillate her husband. Got nothing to do with you, really. Competition is a bitch. Hurry up. If you stall any more, we hit a line. You don’t want to get behind a hormonal bitch who didn’t have a good night. We get paid and go.”
“Three minutes,” Kandace said and she stripped and hurried with her locker, fumbled with her keypad and got dressed.
Teddy held a hand up when Kandace and April walked in, phone to his ear.
After several long moments of silence, he smiled without teeth toward them.
He flipped over several pages in a thick printout, then pushed a single sheet of paper and pointed at Kandace. His finger beckoned as a pen slid across.
Eight thousand, seven hundred ninety-seven dollars. Kandace held her breath and her hand shook as she scribbled her signature.
“Enjoy the Four Seasons tonight, ladies,” Teddy said. “Another sexy night. Keep ’em coming.”
This had to be a scam. So much money in one night?
After counting it twice, Kandace stuffed the cash into her purse and zipped it, tossed the strap over her shoulder so it was cross body to keep her money close to her.
“Shall we?” April said.
“Do you think we can get a ride to the hotel?”
“Oh, that’s done. Any minute, out front.”
Their driver was on time and did his job, trying to make conversation the entire four and a half minutes it took to arrive at the hotel’s doors.
The lobby was active with wandering baseball fans, faces painted and energetic on sports euphoria. Lots of interested eyeballs stuck to them as they passed through.
A clean hotel room, vase of fresh flowers, the beds turned down. The Stan Musial Bridge adorned in lights, the water below it lost in shadow.
April switched on the living area’s television. “Want a nightcap? Watch a movie? I can never sleep after a night like tonight. Not for a while.”
“Maybe. I’ve gotta check messages and call Kyle, I guess. I don’t care if I have to wake him up. I’m sick of waiting.”
16
Straight to voicemail. She refused to leave Kyle a message, though she was tempted to vent her frustrations in the easiest medium possible—but also the most potentially problematic. Next, she sent text messages to friends and family to let them all know she was still among the living.
She allowed herself, after much debate, to text Kyle; i hope u r okay
She sat on the sofa next to April, watching a movie until she closed her eyes.
When she woke, she had pain: Legs. Butt. Abs. Head. Bathing in an anxious sweat, she wasn’t hot. Her sweat felt too smooth, cold. Every subtle noise around the hotel suite grated on her nerves. She wanted her friends, her sisters, her mother. Home. Her familiar bed, even if it was so much less comfortable. Kyle. He should have called by now. Her father should have called her back by now too.
Her phone. Nightstand. Same as last night.
Guilt swarmed like a smashed beehive. Had she completely forgotten her family?
She texted her sisters and Vivian to let them know she was okay, only to notice she had done that, exactly that, just hours earlier, when she got back from her shift.
Was she losing her mind?
Still nothing from her father. She tossed the phone on the bed and stood there, contemplating: Dad knows I need to talk with him. If he’s trying to protect me, what from? And why not tell me? I’m not a little girl anymore.
She tried his cell again and it went straight to voicemail again. Full.
Kandace felt as though she were drowning in loneliness. Was h
er home even still in Pittsburgh? Stop. Get control. What’s wrong with me?
Walking hurt. She drank a water bottle, washing down two Advil.
It was nine am. She washed her face and shook out her hands, hoping to stop an anxious twitch. Showering hardly helped.
Kandace asked herself, looking at her reflection, am I still high? No. She felt unsettled. Anxious. Doubting. Thinking about everything she couldn’t control. Real. Otherwise, she felt fine. Thirsty and famished, but fine.
April had been right about E. The mental and physical liberation, multiplied desires—like an erotic pleasure cruise. She felt she could empathize with her mother’s craving for escape.
April called out, “K!”
“Yeah?” Kandace grabbed a towel and dried her face.
The door swung open and April charged inside. “Vegas, baby!”
“Vegas? Did you get tickets? For real!”
“We. We got tickets. Teddy was loving it after last night’s money binge orgy and the NLCS is on travel day.”
“Sweet, too bad my head still hurts.” Kandace studied her own neckline for a beat.
“Take Advil because you overworked your muscles and joints dancing.” April paused a moment before saying, “You’re game for Vegas, right?”
“Why do I feel like there’s a catch to all this?”
April smirked, sampling a perfume from Kandace’s gift basket, courtesy of Noel. “There is. We gotta dance two nights in Vegas, Wednesday, and Thursday. Otherwise, we get charged back for the tickets and the hotel.”
“I get why Teddy pays dancers like he does. He’s in total control.”
April nodded slowly. “You’re catching on.”
“When do we leave?”
“One-thirty flight. We got time,” April said, starting music on her phone.
Kandace danced, arms in the air, and April joined in.
When the song ended, both girls laughing, Kandace said, “I gotta admit, you were right about a ton of things.”
“I know. It’s all good. Teddy owes me for bringing you in.”
“Okay, so tell me the truth—do you ever wonder about customers?” Kandace asked.
“Yeah, once. When I was new. Tremendous mistake. Kept thinking this rich guy was into me.”
“Really? Like the groom from last night’s party; do you know his future wife?”
April smirked. “Never met her, but why? I’m not out to ruin his marriage.”
“Just wondering. That’s all.”
“Hey, don’t overthink it. Most guys totally role play with us.”
“Really?”
“A lot do.”
“And you don’t worry at all about your guys getting caught at home?”
April shrugged. “I refuse. Hey, women are jealous cats. Like that broad you had last night that got all pissed when her husband tipped you. That’s life. So what that her husband likes the younger model? He’s not driving it home.”
“How do you deal with it?”
“I ain’t got a boyfriend,” April said.
“That’s not what I mean. Would you be okay with your guy going to a club?”
“Oh, I’d go with him. Totally.”
Kandace scrunched her face. “I don’t know if I could do that.”
“Not every girl can handle it. C’mon,” April said and hugged Kandace. “When you got a man, keep him satisfied. Then you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
A knock at the door caught April’s attention. Room service. She turned to Kandace. “You get the door.”
“I’ll throw on a robe,” Kandace said.
“No, go naked. You’ll make his day. I want his face on video,” April said, picking up her phone.
Kandace cracked up. “No way! Won’t we get kicked out of the hotel?”
“We’re checking out, so no matter!”
A second knock at the door.
“Don’t keep him waiting,” April said.
“Fine. Just don’t post the video anywhere. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Kandace jogged to the door and answered it.
The man was young and didn’t even look up as he pushed the silver cart inside. Once the cart sat in the living room, Kandace came close. He carefully adjusted the serving dishes, glanced over his order ticket, then he looked up, smiling.
April hid in the bedroom behind the door, using the gap between the trim and ajar door for her phone’s camera lens—capturing Kandace’s backside and his stunned reaction.
“Um. Miss, did you want to put something on? I can wait,” he said, his attention directed at the food.
“No, I’m air drying. Saves on towels, right? Going green.”
“Uh, yes. Of course,” he said. He then lifted the lid and presented each dish and went out the door, closing the door behind himself without looking back.
The girls cracked up and April came out of hiding to replay the video for Kandace.
“That was way more fun than I expected,” Kandace said.
“Told ya. Random nudity rocks.”
“Said from experience, I take it?”
“In high school, we’d meet up at the country club--where our parents were all members--and hit the pool. We’d sun ourselves poolside and my friend Emma said we should go to the fountain out front, you know, where the valet guys are and all the golfers pull in. Get this. We go out there and dance in the fountain and the guys are all watching, you know. We act like we hadn’t seen them and took off our tops and the guys, they’re freaking out over there. Priceless.”
“You stripped in a golf course fountain? Oh my. And your parents were country club members?”
“My grandparents, on my mom’s side, were loaded. So yeah. Mom had a trust fund and she was a fourth-generation member. I was a prep school girl back then.”
“No wonder you learned to be naughty!”
“Damn straight. We did all kinds of shit.”
“You didn’t get busted?”
“We didn’t stay long. We ran before anyone came.”
Kandace slipped on a robe and sat with April at the dining table. Mimosa was their aperitif. They ate, rotating the four entrees she had ordered.
“What will the butler do?” Kandace asked.
“Other than tell his friends, not much. It’s a wicked icebreaker.”
“Maybe,” Kandace said.
“Nudity memories last a lifetime.” April shifted plates, mouth full of food, laughing, “The look on his face was oh so priceless. I thought he might pass out. He couldn’t even talk.”
“In all fairness, he didn’t expect that kind of scenery,” Kandace said.
“True that, but this princess wants new scenery and sun. Sun’s out, buns out.”
“Heck yeah. I’m picking out my bikini without supervision this time around.”
April snickered. “Try the sofa table, Small Town. You’ve got mail.”
“I’ve got clothes again?”
April nodded.
A short white flare dress, a deep plunge from the neck to abdomen, lacy and strategically translucent at the back and sides—brazen celebrity designer ware. Skirts and tops, undergarments and tights. Three sassy bikinis—wild color patterns. A black Tumi suitcase. She screamed, yanking off her robe to start trying things on. “You’re so right. This is fabulously unfair!” Kandace said, tying a bikini top around her back. “Teddy gave me a nice going away present.”
“Oh, that’s not a going away present. That’s a—don’t fucking forget St. Louis when you’re done in LA kinda present. Feel me?”
“I’m thinking about coming back, again. Someday,” Kandace said, tying the bottom’s string. She twisted around to check herself out in the mirror. “I love this suit. Keeper.” Kandace stripped the bikini to try on another one.
Las Vegas. She tried to envision how Vegas would look and she couldn’t even glimpse how she would feel being there. Friends had told tall tales of glitz and glamour, fancy restaurants and magnificent casinos. Now she
could experience it for herself and have her own stories to share.
But if Dad’s not in LA, then Vegas is a waste of time.
She told herself she would find him. Whatever it took. She started stripping so she could find him, otherwise, she could have just gone home, right?
Kandace decided her favorite feature of Ecstasy was its numbing affects—its ability to make her forget about problems she couldn’t control anyway.
She laid out all her new clothes and debated about what to wear. Leggings were good for travel. Comfy. She needed to be comfy. White tunic. Flats. Dressed, she admired herself. Was she Kandace still? Or had she become Autumn? She returned to the bathroom and did her makeup, finished her hair and packed her things.
Vivian doesn’t have clothes this nice and she’s married to a doctor.
“Oh, no,” April said, walking into the bedroom. “That plunge dress was perfect for Vegas.”
“You mean the backless one? The long v cut down the front?”
April smiled ear to ear. “That’s the money. You’d cause a wreck wearing that around here.”
“Not on a plane. I’m not up for getting hit on.”
“The curse of beauty, girlfriend,” April said and paced around the suite, looking under furniture. “I think you’re packed. Nothing left behind. I’ve got a ride coming in ten minutes out front. And your butler is here for your suitcase.”
He waited by the suite’s doorway, putting on a pleasant face.
“Hello again, miss. Nice to see you,” he said.
“Thank you,” Kandace said and hoped she wouldn’t blush.
At the hotel’s porte cochere he waited with the girls while a black Lincoln MKZ pulled to the curb. He loaded Kandace’s bag in the trunk.
“I forgot to tip you last time,” Kandace said, handing him a folded twenty. He accepted and nodded back.
“That was hilarious,” April said, as they were underway to the airport.
“I can’t believe he came back.”
“It’s his job, for one. But why not? Men pay to see you naked. He got to see the goods for free!”
“Good point.”
17
As they drove with the windows down into Vegas, the sky was soft purple, the breeze warm and dry.
Goodbye, Good Girl Page 15