Stripped(42)
“I’ll come see you at the club, then.”
“No! I don’t want you coming here. I’ll come there.”
“Good. Be careful tonight, okay?”
Abby rubbed her eyes as fatigue started setting in. She wasn’t usually so tired on Saturday nights. She had taken a break, and sitting down always made it harder to get moving again.
“Nikki,” Amber said, striding up to Abby. “Ron’s asking for me, and he creeps me out. Will you come with me?”
“Sure,” Abby said, rising. “He always seemed pretty okay to me, what’s bothering you?”
“He’s just really nasty sometimes. He tells me I’m a filthy whore who needs to be taught a lesson and he talks about all the shit he wants to stick up my ass.”
“That’s not so unusual here,” Abby said, laughing.
“I know, but he’s just…different.”
Ron sat alone, biting his nails nervously. He was a short, stocky man with thinning black hair and dark, piercing eyes. Abby wondered if his appearance was part of Amber’s fear of him.
“Hi, Ron,” Abby purred. “Amber and I are doing dances together tonight, do you want one?”
“Sure,” he said coolly, his eyes on Amber. He slipped bills to both of them and they started their dance to the slow, seductive song Sam was pole-dancing to on stage.
“Tell me what a bad girl you’ve been,” Ron said in a low voice to Amber.
“Oh, you already know,” Amber said, throwing her bright red hair over her shoulders. “I’m a very bad girl.”
“You need to be disciplined, don’t you?” Ron asked, his eyes glazed.
“I wouldn’t respond well to that,” Amber said, grinding into him.
“I could make you respond well,” he said.
“This isn’t that kind of club,” Abby said with a laugh. “We can give you directions to one, if you want.”
Ron shot her a dirty look.
“You’re not even worth disciplining,” he said in Abby’s direction, sounding disgusted. “But Amber, I could teach you to like it. To beg me for it.”
Abby rolled her eyes at Amber as Ron’s breathing became clipped from his arousal. She looked away, wanting to stay unaware of whether or not he came. Amber was on his lap, and Abby felt sorry for her.
She had never thought about whether stripping was demeaning to her; it was just a means to an end. Abby would have done worse to support Justin, Audrey and Sara. But lately when she watched the other dancers do it, she saw it for what it was, and it bothered her more and more.
The song ended and Abby walked backstage, slipping the bill Ron had given her into Amber’s box. She grabbed her phone, suddenly missing Chris badly. Though she was going to see him at the hospital when she finished working, she wanted to hear from him sooner. She typed out a message.
What are you doing right now?
She waited, knowing he would respond soon. He did within a few minutes.
Just finished with a stroke patient. Miss you.
Abby smiled as she pictured him in his green scrubs and white coat.
“Nikki, get that beautiful ass out to the floor!” Mickey barked. “It’s Friday night, we’re full!”
Abby glared at him as she tossed her phone back into her bag. The club was packed, and she knew she’d be busy all night. As she headed toward a table of waiting men, she was stopped by a petite woman with long, dark hair and a forlorn expression.
“Are you Abby?”
Abby bristled at the mention of her real name in the club. She looked around to see if anyone had overheard.
“What do you need?” she asked.
“I need you to stay away from my boyfriend.” The brunette’s voice was angry and accusing. Abby sighed, accustomed to such conversations.
“Look, if you don’t like your boyfriend coming here, that’s between you and him,” she said.
“He would never come to a place like this. What I don’t like is you going to see him at work. Does he even know you’re a stripper?” She looked around the club disdainfully.
Realization dawned on Abby.
“You must be the nurse Chris went out with before I met him,” she said.
“We’re working through some issues.”
“I don’t think that’s how he sees it. And what are you doing here? How did you even find me?”
“That doesn’t matter. The point is, I don’t want some nasty stripper around Chris. It wouldn’t be good for him if people found out he was taking a stripper into the sleeping rooms. It’s a hospital, not a brothel.”
The words stung Abby. She didn’t want Chris’ co-workers to think less of him because of her.