Porn Star

by Keith Trimm

  “Before you go, may I ask you a question?” the clerk asked.

  “Sure,” Cassidy replied.

  “What did I say? This younger version of me.”

  “He said, I mean you said you’ve been robbed ten times, and that you started working here in 1968.”

  “Yep, that’s true, only I’ve been shot twelve times now.”

  “Do you remember telling me that?” Cassidy asked.

  “No, that part I don’t recall. I’m an old man, my memory isn’t very good.”

  “Do you realize you were just held up and robbed?”

  “Yes, and the police should be on the way anytime now, I hit the silent alarm.”

  Cassidy became very confused all of a sudden as she had an epiphany. “Did they have silent alarms in 1974?”

  “No,” the clerk replied.

  “You’re younger version told me he had hit the silent alarm. How would he have known about them if they didn’t exist then?” Cassidy asked.

  “Can’t tell you, you’d have to ask him.”

  “But you are him,” she replied.

  “Life is funny, I don’t have all the answers, just go on with your life and make the best of it. Maybe you were blessed today with something most people don’t get to see. I can’t explain what I don’t know.”

  “Ok, thanks,” Cassidy said and left the building forgetting the gum that she went into get in the first place.

  “What did you get?” Missy asked.

  “Oh shit, I forgot the gum,” Cassidy replied. “But never mind, let’s find a way to get into town. This place is creeping me out.”

  Chapter 14

  Porn Star Dancing

  Cassidy sat at the bar waiting to speak to the manager of the “O.J. Dance and Grill” sipping on a glass of water and watching a girl up on stage do her pole routine. It was dark inside, normal for any strip bar, but felt a bit too dark for two in the afternoon. She tapped her foot to the beat of the music and kept an eye out for Paul, at least that’s what the bartender said his name was. Then she saw him come through the door, just like she described him, a short man, and little hair on top of his head and plenty on the chin. He looked like a scrawny little man, not the sort that would manage a bar, more like the kind that would be in charge of taking out the trash.

  “You must be Cassidy?” Paul asked holding out his hand to her.

  “Yes, and you are Paul?” she asked.

  “Yes, sorry I was late, I had to run down to the store and pick up some supplies for the bar. The ladies were out of tampons in the bathroom. I hear you might be looking for some work?”

  Cassidy turned in her bar stool and leaned over letting Paul get a good long look at her tits. She knew the way to a man was through his eyes and his cock. “Yes, I dance on the side.” Waiting for Paul to ask what her regular job was, she sat there staring at him but to no avail, he didn’t ask her anything, instead he just smiled and made like an anxious schoolboy who just saw his first naked lady.

  “I’ve been in love with you for the last two years,” he said to her amazement.

  “What?” she asked not sure what he was getting at.

  “You’re Cassidy Rayne, the porn star right?”

  For the first time, someone recognized her. It made her feel all fuzzy and warm on the inside. “Why yes, I am Cassidy Rayne, you’ve seen my work?”

  “I own a collection of your DVD’s, about ten I think,” he replied. “Could I get an autograph?” he asked.

  “Sure,” she replied realizing that being recognized was either going to be a real good thing or a real bad thing depending on how much he worshipped her. Paul asked for a pen from the bartender and pulled a napkin from the napkin holder on the bar. He placed both on the bar in front of her. She signed her name and gave the napkin to Paul who folded it nicely and tucked it into his shirt pocket.

  “You want to dance here? A big star like you?” Paul asked. This was the very reaction she was not hoping for.

  “Sure, I’d love to,” Cassidy replied.

  “I can’t afford feature dancers all the time, what weekend do you want to work?”

  “Oh, I don’t need feature dancing pay, I would rather work a regular schedule like the other girls.”

  “Don’t you feature at other clubs as well?” Paul asked.

  Hesitating, Cassidy replied, “Not right now, porn has been kind of slow lately, I really need steady work.”

  Paul, with a shit eating grin on his face replied, “The girls work for tips here, and have to tip out the bartender and dj. It’s not much, ten dollars a girl per night.”

  “That sounds fair,” Cassidy replied. “You are your own contractor and agent, no benefits, no insurance, but I do provide bouncers and a pretty good dressing room. You also get one free drink a night. If you have kids, this isn’t a daycare and no one under eighteen is allowed inside.”

  “I see, do I have the job?” Cassidy asked.

  “I audition all the girls myself,” Paul said. “Can you do a song or two so I can see what you can do?”

  Cassidy was in her element, she lived almost as much for the pole as for the camera. She loved the attention she got from men when she was up on stage dancing topless. She was queen when she was in the spotlight. “When do you want me to audition?” she asked.

  “It’s slow now, you could go on after Dafne,” he replied rubbing his crotch with his hand. It almost seemed like a nervous habit that he wasn’t aware he was doing.

  “I didn’t bring a costume, can I dance in my underwear?” she asked.

  “This bar is nude optional, we can do topless or nude. Why don’t you just do yours nude?”

  “I don’t have heels,” she said.

  “What size shoe do you wear?”

  “Eight.”

  “I have a stack of heels in the dressing room, I’m sure there is a pair of eights in there.”

  “Why do you have heels in the dressing room?” Cassidy asked.

  “Not all the girls I hire have nine inch heels, it’s easier to provide a pair until they can afford to get their own. Keeps me from having to turn away a hot girl just because she doesn’t have all the required clothes. Most of the girls I get come from the college in town, they don’t sell heels like those in the bookstore.”

  “Makes sense, Let me go try some on and I’ll be up when she’s done,” Cassidy said and slipped off her barstool. She walked over to the curtain that covered the dressing room and pulled it back revealing a large, long room with a long bench used by the girls to place their makeup while they got ready to go on. All along the bench were chairs pulled up close.

  “Excuse me,” a woman said from behind Cassidy.

  “Oh, pardon me,” Cassidy replied moving out of the doorway.

  “Are you a new girl” the woman asked.

  “I’m auditioning in a few minutes.”

  “Great, this is a good club, you’ll like it here,” the woman said holding out her hand. “My name is Pancake.”

  “I’m Cassidy Rayne.”

  “The porn star Cassidy Rayne?” Pancake asked.

  “”The very one,” Cassidy replied with a bloated smile.

  “What are the odds of me meeting you, Paul loves the shit out of you, he has a shrine built to you in his office. As well as a few other porn stars. I’m not sure why he’s auditioning you, you should be a shoo in for the job, hell, he’d probably promote you to whatever job you wanted if you just asked.”

  “That’s ok, I prefer to dance, not the management type.”

  “Did you bring any clothes, I don’t see anything?”

  “No, it’s a long story, but I only have what I’m wearing right now. I’ve had some rough times lately.”

  “Don’t tell Paul that, he will take every advantage he can over you, just like he does all the other girls. If you need an outfit, you can borrow one of mine, what size are you?”

  “Two,” Cassidy replied.

  Cassidy changed into red lace bra and panty
set and found a pair of black nine inch heels. It had been years since she had worn heels that high, and just as many since she was on the pole, but she knew it would all come back to her once she hit the stage. Since it was only two thirty in the afternoon, there were only a few guys at the bar watching, including Paul, so their excitement wasn’t exactly what she was hoping for.

  She climbed the stairs to the stage and signaled for the dj to start the music. This bar had a large stage in the middle of the bar with three poles set up fifteen feet apart from each other. That was so they could have multiple girls dancing on busy nights. Right now it was her and the pole closest to the bar.

  The music started and Paul leaned back in his chair to watch his idol do her thing just for him. He was getting hard. Cassidy took a few steps and jumped up on the pole and grabbed it firmly spinning around in circles. The pole was on ball bearings so it spun easily without much effort. She wrapped her legs around the pole and leaned back letting her hair dangle and flow in the breeze she created. Her arms hurt. For the next ten minutes she did as many tricks as she could remember and that her body would allow her. She hung upside down, she spun forwards, and backwards, and contorted in ways that looked almost unnatural. She was back in her grove, only she was getting very sore and knew she needed to finish up on the pole.

  So she went for the one trick that she knew would seal the deal. Stepping off the pole, she kicked off her heels and took a run leaping onto the pole spinning as fast as she could. Once her momentum was at the right speed, she let go and leaped to the other pole fifteen feet away and crashed into it shoulder first. Her plan was to grab onto the pole and continue to spin, but instead she heard a cracking sound as she hit the floor in a heap.

  The music stopped and Paul rushed the stage to see if she was alright. When he got there she was writhing in pain holding her left shoulder.

  “I think I broke my collarbone,” she said.

  “Why the fuck did you do that?” he asked.

  “I thought I could pull it off,” she said. “I need to see a doctor, I need xrays.”

  Paul freaked out thinking that his insurance would have to cover her injuries. They hadn’t signed any contracts yet so basically she had the same status as a customer who fell on a puddle of water. He could be sued.

  “I have a friend you should see,” Paul said trying to avoid taking her to the hospital.

  “Who?” she asked

  “He works for the ambulance, he comes in all the time, let him take a look first before we do anything.”

  “Does he have an x-ray?”

  “No, but this will cost me a shit ton if we go to the hospital. Let me deal with this my way first. You can’t put a cast on a collarbone anyway.”

  “Are you a fucking doctor?” Cassidy snapped back. “I want to go to the hospital.”

  “I’ll pay you a thousand dollars to let my friend see you first. Just don’t go to the hospital yet.”

  “Three thousand,” she replied

  Realizing this could cost him his job, Paul agreed. He’d have to steal the money from the till and keep his girls and boss from knowing. But the other option would be a lawsuit that could cost him more than his job. “Wait here,” Paul said.

  “Where else would I go?” Cassidy replied snarky. “And bring me my money now!”

  In the back room, Paul’s friend from the ambulance took a look at Cassidy’s injury. “She needs to go to the hospital,” the off duty EMT said. “She is starting to bruise pretty badly and that bone doesn’t feel right.”

  “Fuck!” Paul yelled gritting his teeth.

  “Sorry, if I were on duty, I’d have her in the ER.”

  Paul paced back and forth trying to think of something. He needed to cover this up and make it never happen. He couldn’t afford to lose this job, his life would be beyond fucked. “I’ll pay you five thousand cash if you go away,” Paul said to Cassidy. Pretend like you were never here. Take the money and never come back.

  Cassidy considered his offer and didn’t immediately reply. This made Paul feel better thinking he might get away with this.

  “I can’t do porn all fucked up and disfigured, I need to see the doctor,” she replied. She knew she had nothing to lose, he asked her to audition.

  “You can’t see the fucking doctor!” Paul snapped back.

  “Why? Is that how you treat people?”

  “I’ll get fired if you go to the doctor, you’re covered by our liability insurance, but if you decide to sue I’m fucked.

  “I don’t see a problem, you pay me the five grand and I’ll agree not to sue.” Before the words came out of her mouth she regretted saying them. Five grand was nothing compared to what she could be making with a court settlement.

  Paul was quick to agree,” I didn’t think of it that way, five thousand it is and you sign a contract saying you won’t sue.”

  “I may have been a little hasty there,” Cassidy said. “The injury and all this talk of money has got me confused. Maybe I should get a lawyer and think about it for a while. That’s after I get my xrays.”

  Livid, Paul grit his teeth and tried not to explode. “What will it take for this to go away?”

  “Seventy five thousand dollars,” she replied.

  Not believing his ears, Paul sat down in his office chair and started blank at the wall. It was as if he just heard of his own death diagnosis. “Make it a million, make it two million, fuck this, I don’t care anymore,” he said and buried his face in his hands.

  “Sorry dude,” the EMT said.

  Paul leaned back in his chair, reached into the side drawer of his desk and pulled out a pistol. He quickly stuck it in his mouth and shot a hole through the top of his skull and face planted on his desktop draining blood on his papers.

  Cassidy and the EMT looked in horror and shock not sure what to do now. “I better call this in,” the EMT said.

  “Yeah, you better,” Cassidy said wiping the bits of brains off her neck and picking them out of her hair.

  Then the door to the office swung open and one of the dancers rushed in. She looked at the mess and asked, “What happened?”

  “He shot himself in the head,” Cassidy replied.

  “Why? Why would he do that?” the dancer asked.

  “Long story, I need to get to the hospital, my shoulder is killing me, oops, that was the wrong this to say.”

  “Stupid fucker, about time,” the dancer said in disgust to everyone’s surprise.

  “What do you mean?” Cassidy asked.

  “That creep was hitting on every women he could find. His marriage was shit so he tried to get a replacement and he didn’t give a shit who it was. I was sick and tired of him constantly telling me how much he loved me. He used that line on every girl that worked here.”

  “Did it work?”

  “Oh yeah, there were a few who fell for it, and he took advantage of them. Got at least one to leave her husband for him.”

  “What a bastard,” Cassidy replied.

  “Yeah, we called him the rat, because he would sneak around and try to get to these girls while their husbands and boyfriends were at work or at home. He didn’t give a shit. Now he got was a rat deserves.”

  “No one deserves to die for that, it wasn’t like he was a child molester or serial killer.” the EMT said dialing 911 on his cell.

  “Maybe not, but I hated him, so did everyone else who worked here. Always in the dressing rooms while we were getting ready, making sexual comments, taking pictures of us when we didn’t know it and posting them online. I’m sure he sat in here and jerked off watching us on the television monitors.”

  Cassidy looked at the huge screen with the different camera shots of the bar and watched the blood drip down across the images. “What about his wife?” Cassidy asked.

  “Nice lady, takes care of his kids, didn’t deserve him. He cheated on her every chance he got while she took care of the house and kids.”

  “Well, not anymore,” Cassidy said. “
Is there a shower in here?” and then realized she was in need of a trip to the hospital herself for her injury and the police would probably not want her to wash off any evidence from the suicide. But then the brains really grossed her out and she didn’t want them in her hair anymore. “Never mind, I better not do anything till the police and ambulance get here.”

  Chapter 15

  Detective Bank

  “Can I smoke in here?” Cassidy asked.

  “No, this is a no smoking facility, plus you don’t have anything to smoke,” Detective Bank replied.

  Bother Cassidy and Detective bank sat at a small table in the interview room on opposite sides, the detective with a notepad and Cassidy scratching her ear.

  “I was going to ask for a cigarette, “she replied annoyed.

  “I don’t smoke, I work out four hours a day and run ten miles a week, it’s a nasty habit.”

  “I only smoke when I’m stressed.”

  “Try working out, it’s better for you,” the detective replied. “Now, we need to discuss what happened to the manager of the stip bar. I need your statement.”

  Cassidy sat quiet and thought for a moment. “Am I being charged with something?”

  “No, not yet, I would read you your rights if you were.”

  “Then what am I doing here?”

  “It’s an investigation, I need to gather facts so I can close this case. Can you tell me what happened?

  “He shot himself in the head, are you blind?” Cassidy replied.

  “No, I’m not blind, but I need your statement. The court doesn’t care what I think happened, they care about facts. Now tell me in sequence, what happened.”

  Cassidy had nothing to lose so she decided to tell the truth as she remembered it. “I asked that asshole for seventy five thousand dollars or I was going to go the the hospital and report my injury.”

  “What injury?” the detective asked.