by Amy Muscat
ENTICED BY YOU
Copyright © 2014 by Amy Muscat
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales are entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.
Cover Design by MG Book Covers
Edited by Laura from Editing For You
Formatted by Max Henry of Max Effect
CONTENTS
Dedication
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Epilogue
About the Author
Acknowledgements
DEDICATION
My dedication goes out to everyone who believed in me and believed that I would finish EBY. So I just want to say a big thank you to you all. I love you guys! <3
PROLOGUE
The beat of the song filled my ears and vibrated through my body as it swayed left to right and back again all the while keeping my eyes closed to block out the world and this fucked up place I’m in.
At a certain point of the song, I reached behind me and grabbed the pole and pulled myself up and spread my legs, to which you heard thunderous wolf whistle’s and whopping, thus breaking my bubble of a perfect world.
I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was the bright lights beaming down on me, the next was about 30 or so leering eyes of the men staring at my half naked body.
The rush of emotions that attack my body is overpowering; sickness, violated, disgust, embarrassment and loneliness.
I inhale a deep breath through my nose and exhale through my mouth, which pursed my lips and looks like I’m giving them a kiss, so I quickly wink at them, earning more wolf whistling from them, I slowly slide down the pole and turn around showing them my lace covered ass and bent at the waist and gave a little shake, slowly counting to five I got back up and started to take my panties off.
This was the part of the dance that I despised, showing them my most-private parts of myself, felt like I was baring a part of my soul each and every time.
Feeling the tiny, almost invisible groves on the lower part of my stomach, I reminded myself this is why I do this, this is why I became a stripper.
I hated it, but I had no other choice, it was strip or become homeless and starve.
ONE
Walking through the front door of my apartment, I sighed in relief as I kicked off my running shoes and my poor aching feet finally touching level ground, fucking 6inch heels are a killer. Making my way down the hallway to the bathroom, I turned on the shower and stripped my clothes off, waited a couple seconds before jumping in the steaming hot water and I started to finally relax.
While scrubbing my body, I thought of the choices I’ve made and how it seems I’ve made the wrong ones.
Thinking about my past and home life always makes me sad, so I try not to do it a lot; knowing in about five hours my mom is going to be up and making a pot of coffee while my dad gets in the shower, getting ready to go to work at the garage that he owns. After cooking breakfast, my mom goes to get ready for her shift at the local diner, where she gets all the local gossip. I also start thinking about the one boy who stole my heart and shattered it to pieces with what he did. Just thinking about him makes me feel sad and empty. I think of his eyes, as I absently rub body wash over my arms. Those eyes, all dark and chocolaty, they just make you melt all over, and hair that you can run your fingers through and grip onto, the perfect smile with straight white teeth, and a body that most teenage boys would be jealous of- hell, most men in their twenties would’ve been jealous over it.
I snap out of it as the cold water hitting my body brings me out of my daydream of him and home.
Stepping out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around me and walked to the sink, took my toothbrush and loaded it up with paste, turn the water on and started brushing. Looking up in the mirror, I didn’t recognize the girl looking back at me, I’d lost weight, had black bags under my eyes, my cheeks were drawn in, and my hair; wet, limp, and dull. I dropped my towel and dried my body, starting from my feet and moving upwards, bending at the waist I flicked my hair over and wrapped it in the towel, straightening up I looked back up at myself in the mirror and heaved a sigh before turning and walking out of my small but clean bathroom.
Dried and dressed in my pj’s I walked out of my room and slowly opened the door next to mine, and saw the most-precious little girl lying in her princess bed, curled up with her tiny little hands tucked under her head, acting as a pillow and her little body all snuggled up under the princess covers, my heart warmed just looking at her innocent face. Smiling slightly and feeling better, I walked into the kitchen for a cup of tea and a sandwich for my empty stomach. Flicking on the kettle and pulling out a mug and a tea bag before scooping two sugars in the mug, I turned around to get the chicken and mayonnaise from the fridge and almost jumped out of my skin when I saw my roommate and best friend, Lottie standing there with bed hair and a crease line going down her face from sleeping.
Not having heard her bedroom door open, my heart jumped into my throat and started racing, I put a hand over it and gave it a little rub, like that would somehow slow it down.
“Jesus Christ, Lott’s, did you have to sneak up on me like that.”
“Sorry.”
“Tea?” I asked.
“Please,” Lottie said as she pulled a chair from the table, and dropped on it like a sack of potatoes.
Turning I grabbed another mug for her and started making my sandwich and asked if she wanted one.
“No thanks love,” she said in her British accent that hasn’t faded in the five years she’s been living here in the US.
“How was she tonight? Did she eat all her dinner? What did she have?” I asked her, my questions coming from my mouth like rapid fire.
“Corrr... slow down girl. She was fine, as usual, yes, she ate all her dinner, and she had pizza same as me, greedy bloody thing had the last slice,” she said pouting.
Laughing at her I told her thanks for watching her, to which she waved off and said it was fine as she loved having the ‘little munchkin.' I knew this, as Lottie loved Ivy almost as much as I did, or at least as much as an aunt would.
Lottie wasn’t my real sister- she was my best friend, but she was Ivy’s aunt; in my eyes and in Ivy’s.
Draining the tea bags, I tossed them in the trash can and brought the tea and my late night snack to the table, got comfortable on the seat and turned to face Lottie, who had a scowl on her face.
“What?” I asked in exasperation already knowing what she was going to say to me before she even said it.
“Fucking hell Pey, it’s almost two in the morning and you’re exhausted. You work far too much, get little sleep and have got to work again in nine hours, you're slowly killing yourself, can’t you see that sweetie?” she said in a pissed off voi
ce that I know was real, as she says this at least once a week.
I know she’s worried about me with my night job that I go to four times a week and my day job working in the local coffee shop, but what else am I meant to do when there’s nothing out there at the moment with the economy as it is. I work from 10am till 2pm in the coffee shop twice a week and four times a week in the club from 7pm till 12pm. It got busy about 11pm tonight, so Jimmy, who owns the club, asked me to stay a little longer, so I am tired most of the time, but as long as my daughter has food in her belly, clothes on her back and has a safe, warm place to stay I don’t mind doing an extra hour or so, as long as Lottie don’t mind.
Groaning, I told her “Lotts do we have to go over this again, for god’s sake.”
Nodding, she said yeah, we do.
“I’m just saying that this is a bit too much for one person, I mean fuck me, I know you make a lot of money in the club and some decent tips in the shop, so I don’t understand why you feel like you need to push yourself so much, bloody hell love, you need a day off, Saturdays don’t count as you feel sorry for yourself and take Ivy to the park and go wherever she want’s, which, okay is fine as she’s your child and all, and nobody would be able to say no to the little munchkin, but you need a day for you. Just a day where you do normal stuff that normal twenty-three-year-olds do, shopping, partying, and getting drunk... I don’t know, go fucking bang someone, maybe it might loosen you up!”
“I don’t feel sorry for myself... every Saturday.” I quickly added on, ‘cause from the look she gave me, I knew she was going to argue with me. So okay, I do dwell a lot about my past but I can’t help it, when my mind is unoccupied, it just naturally goes back to the past and him, and all the memories associated with him. Which is practically my whole life- as we grow up together. First as friends, then boyfriend and girlfriend and then lovers. We were each other’s first’s. Then he went and broke my heart, thus leading me to my life as I know it.
A single mother and a stripper.
“Yeah, you do, I know it, so don’t bother trying to lie to me. But back to the working part I think you need a couple days off... just to relax have some girl time, let’s go shopping, grab a bit of lunch, just have a girl's day out. Please... please, please, please!” Said the pouting Brit across from me.
I debated, I could ask my parents to take Ivy for a couple days, which she would love, as she loves her grandparents, and I could ask Jimmy for a couple days off.
“Please!”
“Fine,” I told her on yet another sigh, the girl drives me mad when she gets like this.
“Yay!” she said while clapping her hands and bouncing in the chair like a child who had just got what they wanted. She actually fist pumped the air. Idiot.
Settling down, she said I knew she was right and I had to agree with her. I do work a lot, but it’s the only way to pay for living and it distracts me from thinking of shit that I’d rather not think about, which is why I know that she’s picked something active, but fun, to still keep my mind off things.
Finishing my sandwich and draining the last of my lukewarm tea, I told her I was going to bed, ‘cause as she pointed out earlier, I do have work in eight hours, quickly checking the clock above the doorway in our cream colored kitchen. She said goodnight back, in a singsong voice that comes through when she’s happy and gotten her own way.
Checking on Ivy one last time, I stepped into her bedroom and went over to give her little chubby cheek a kiss. “Love you baby,” I whispered in her ear and left before she woke up.
Stepping into my bedroom I could’ve wept with joy at seeing my big bed with its duck egg blue covers with little cream swallow’s all over and a mass of matching pillows. Walking over I pulled the bed sheets out the way and climbed in, I’m so tired that as soon as my head hit the pillows and my eye’s closed I was out like a light.
TWO
I sat up with a start, wondering what that noise was that woke me, looking around frantically I saw that it was my alarm that I’d purposely put in the furthest corner of my room away from my bed to make me get up and turn the annoying contraption off.
Groaning when I saw it was 9:23 in the morning and I missed taking Ivy to school, but knowing that Lottie would have taken her as she’s up at 7 every morning (the woman’s got a great internal clock) and she’s a copy editor and works at home most of the time, but if I didn’t get my ass in gear I’d be late for my shift at the coffee shop.
Pushing aside my covers, I left my warm bed and slowly made my way over to the stupid alarm and turned it off, turning I walked to my closet and opened the doors to find my uniform for work, black skirt or slacks and a mint green polo top and flats, grabbing fresh underwear I started getting ready. Once done I quickly brushed my hair and pulled it up in a ponytail, sprayed some deodorant on got dressed in my polo and slacks, put a tiny bit of makeup on to cover the bags under my eyes and gave a bit of color to my creamy skin.
Rushing to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I did just that and as I was walking past the kitchen, I saw Lottie sitting there drinking what looked like a nice cup of coffee, which I wouldn’t have time to stay and drink.
Bitch.
“Morning girly," she said in her singsong morning voice, which is somehow even worse than her gloating one. Maybe it’s because I’m not a morning person I think to myself.
Grunting back a reply, and telling her thanks for taking Ivy to pre-K for me, which she waved off and said “It’s all good in the hood.”
I looked for my black flats that I’d left in here yesterday after kicking them off, finding them shoved under the table I quickly put them on and left the amused Brit sitting in the kitchen drinking her nice hot coffee. Again bitch.
Grabbing my coat and scarf and calling out a goodbye and her replying ‘Arrivederci’ back to me I walked out of the door and down the one flight of stairs, rushing slightly when I checked my cell and it said 9:49am. The shop was only a five minute walk from here, but you never know what could happen, cursing as I tripped on my own two feet but managed to stay upright.
‘JAVA ME UP’ was the name of the coffee shop - original I know. But it was a great place to work. I had nice co-workers, a friendly manager, a good wage and the tips weren’t too bad either.
****
Pushing the door open a blast of warmth hit me in the face and travelled down my body taking away the lingering bitter cold from outside.
“Hey Peyton,” Ruby my co-worker called out.
“Hi Ruby, how’s it been this morning?” I asked her.
“It’s been a slow one this morning, hopefully it’ll pick up ‘cause these people don’t know how to tip a sister once in a while,” she ranted.
Laughing, I totally agreed with her, most people in the mornings don’t tip well, or tip at all, and at the end of the day it all adds up. Mine goes in, money tins that I have, to put away for when Ivy needs new stuff like school clothes or birthdays or Christmas.
Walking around the counter and into the backroom to get rid of my coat and scarf, I hang them up and take my name tag out from the drawer and pin it over my left breast, before going back out front to help Ruby.
“So how’s the angel?” Asking about Ivy.
“She’s okay, at pre-k, even though I missed taking her this morning as I slept in and Lottie had to take her for me.” I was feeling like crap and forgot to wake up to take my baby to school.
“What time did you get in last night?”
“Just after one this morning, it got pretty busy and Jimmy asked me to stay a little later than usual, I didn’t mind as they were spending and giving money out like it was nothing, so even though I was tired, I stayed an extra hour.”
“Well... shit happens girl and at least you got a bit more money hey?”
“Yeah Rubes,” I agreed with her, but not telling her that by staying that extra hour I made $230 dollars more. She wouldn’t want to hear that as she works three jobs just so that she could pay her rent and pay for
her little brother as her mom left him with her at 19, she’s 20 now. Her mom fucked off, leaving Ruby to pay for everything and with responsibilities that she didn’t foresee. She had to drop out of college just to get by, slowly but surely she was getting back on her feet. Her dad died when she was 10, and her mom was six months pregnant with her brother at the time. When Samuel, who was named after her father, was about two things started going downhill.
Ruby was one of the nicest people I’d ever meet. She was responsible, out-spoken but not to the point where she’s rude, and would help anyone. She’s a fighter, a tough chick, but she has to be. Otherwise, she’d be fucked. She’s mixed race, half white, half black, about 5ft7 skinny, but with a couple curves here and there.
Hearing the bell ring, signaling a customer, we both turned with a smile, ready to greet said customer. When my eyes landed on one of our regulars at the club. My smile froze as the man was looking at cell phone. Shit, shit, shit. I snapped out of it quickly and fled to the back hiding behind the door.
A couple of minutes later I peeked to see if had gone, and saw Ruby rushing to me.
“What the fuck was that? I mean you just bolted out of there,” she asked a tad too loud to be inconspicuous.
“Has he gone?”
“Yeah, he’s gone girl,” thank fuck. “Are you okay? Who was that?” she asked, looking worried.
Blowing out a big breath I nodded telling her I’m fine.
“He’s one of the customers that come into the club. He’s a regular, and he always asks me out on a date.” In actual fact, he’s always in there when it’s my shift, and even though he’s a nice man and good looking and must have a bit of money to be in there all the time and spending what he spends, something just doesn’t rub me the right way with him, he just has a vibe about him that I don’t like. I’m not gonna tell Ruby that though as she’ll blow it out of proportion.
“Hmmm, I don’t think he saw you girl, you raced out of there like a bat out of hell.”
“I just don’t want anyone from the club to know where I work and what I do outside of the club, because outside I’m not ‘Emerald,’ I’m Peyton and I would like it to stay that way,” I explained, making quotation marks with my fingers when I said my stripper name.