I shake my head back and forth. “I can’t take your money. It wouldn’t feel right.”
“I can’t have you work for me, Liz,” he says as he places his right hand on my cheek. I feel bad pulling out the big guns but I know I need money and I can’t take it without earning it.
“Can you recommend another club?” I ask, pulling out my cell phone and looking like I'm going to take down whatever phone number he gives me.
“You’re not going to work at another club,” he says, running his hands down his face. “Jesus, I don’t know what the fuck I'm thinking doing this shit.” When his eyes come back to me, I can tell that he’s really torn. “Look, you can serve drinks but you can’t work on stage.”
“Okay,” I agree immediately. I never wanted to work on stage. I would if I had to, but the idea of taking off my clothes and trying to appear sexy just seemed like a lot of work.
“What’s Trevor going to say about this?” Mike asks and I turn away. Trevor liked to scare away any man who showed the least bit of interest in me. I was pretty sure that I was halfway in love with him already but I knew for a fact those feelings were not mutual.
For a while, I thought of him as one of my best friends until the day July was born. We ended up at his house, celebrating over a bottle of vodka. Things ended up getting hot and heavy. He had his hand down my pants and I was so caught up in the moment that when he asked me how long it had been, I told him never. I didn’t mean that I never had sex. I meant that I had never felt that kind of fire like my whole body was lit from the inside out.
As soon as I said the word ‘never,’ he stopped immediately. I tried to tell him that I didn’t mean it like that but he completely ignored me. He handed me my shirt from the floor, and left the room. He’s been avoiding me ever since. That’s been a good thing because I’ve never been more humiliated in my life.
“Trevor has no say in what I do. We don’t even talk anymore,” I say, hearing the sadness in my own voice.
“Yeah, alright,” Mike says, running his hand through his hair. “You can start tomorrow. Just ask Shannon to get you a uniform.”
“Thanks a lot,” I say quietly, looking at the hands in my lap.
“Don’t thank me yet, honey.”
“This means a lot to me. I know this isn’t easy for you.”
“Okay, darlin’.” He sighs, pulling me in for another hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Your shift starts at nine but come around eight. I’ll have one of the girls show you where everything is and what you need to do.”
He stands, taking a set of keys out of his pocket. “These are for the apartment. You can get in through the basement door that’s around the back of the house. Just let yourself in. Tomorrow, I’ll help you get your stuff from storage and get you moved in.”
I swallowed hard, trying to control the emotions that are running rampant inside me. “Everything is going to be okay, Liz,” Mike says again, pulling me in for another hug. “Now go get your uniform and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I whisper, taking a step away. “Thanks again, Mike. See you tomorrow.” I leave the office to find Shannon back behind the bar. She gives me what is supposed to be a uniform but feels like a few pieces of silk and sends me on my way.
“Hey, girl,” Beth, better known as Bambi, says, walking into the dressing room. When I first met her, I was a little intimidated. She’s about five-nine, all legs, long brown hair and perfect, sun kissed skin with golden eyes. She came to Tennessee from Montana around a year ago and has been working at Teasers ever since.
She taught me to wait tables, push drinks, and smile for a decent tip, if any. I asked her why she didn’t work the stage. I mean, I knew for a fact that she would make a lot of money up there. But she said she was way too clumsy and that the name Bambi wasn’t given to her when she started working here but when she was little. Her parents said she could never control her legs. It was like they weren’t attached to her body so they started calling her Bambi.
“Is it busy out there?” I ask, putting on light pink lip gloss.
“Not really. There’s a bachelor party coming in at eleven. They booked the private room. Rex said you could help me with them. The tips should be good,” she says, walking to the lockers across the room. I look in the mirror at my refection and forget who I am for a second. My light green eyes look brighter with the smokey shadow I have on. My long blonde hair cascades over my shoulders, down just below my breasts that are straining the top of the black corset that cinches in my waist, causing my hips to flare at the bottom of the fishnet stockings and black silk panties make me look like I should be going to the playboy mansion. It took me a few days of walking around in high heels to get used to them enough to feel like I wasn’t going to fall on my face every time I took a step. It’s been three weeks since I started working here. The tips are awesome, the hours are okay, and having a bed to sleep in at night rocks. The only down fall is that I have been tired a lot. Working two jobs is not easy, especially when one of the jobs you’re working is a secret.