Authors: Alice Dee
“Get him outta here,” Hammer said to Big Mike and Tony who were standing behind him. They dragged the drunk through the back so no one would see him all bloodied.
“You okay?” Hammer asked, helping Hope to her feet.
Hope was panting for air still, feeling dazed and light headed from being out of breath for so long. It all felt surreal.
“Las Vegas,” he said with a head shake. “Catch your breath and meet me upstairs in my office. We gotta’ talk.”
Hammer nonchalantly disappeared upstairs. Hope had been so frightened she could barely walk. Her legs were weak and numb and her insides felt overcharged. Big Mike and Tony came back in with blood on Tony’s hands and blood of Big Mike’s black and white sneakers.
“Don’t worry,” Big Mike assured her. “We took care of him. He aint ever comin’ back.”
“He better find himself a good dentist,” said Tony. “You okay, sweetie?” Tony put his hand on her slender shoulder.
“He scared me more than anything.”
“I think he was trying to faint you,” said Big Mike. “That way you’d be unconscious and he could do the nasty to you.”
Hope frowned. “Uh, thanks guys.” She turned away from them and ran upstairs, stopping at Hammer’s office door which was adjacent to the dressing room. She tapped on his door and waited for him to call out that she could go in. It was screwed up that the dancers had to do this but he could waltz in on them whenever he pleased. He barged in on them several times while they were half naked.
Hope kept wiping her face, trying to rub away the feel of the drunk’s dirty hands that seemed to soil her skin. She pulled a chair at Hammer’s desk. He was on the phone, trying to pass himself off as professional when in reality he was a joke. He hung up and pulled his chair in.
“I just got back from New Orleans, heard what happened down in Henderson.”
“Look Hammer, they were out of line. Shamayla left the money with Tony-“
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said, raising his hands, closing his eyes, trying to shush her. “I got the money. I can’t blame her if the job wasn’t done ‘cause I know what happened, the boys told me. I guess I should apologize for what happened down there.”
The room fell quiet. The apology never came.
“Guess she wasn’t cut out for that sort of thing after all.”
“So why did you call me in here again?”
Hope hoped she wasn’t about to be fired. Even though she was assaulted twice for this man, she needed this job and would be distressed if she lost it.
“Oh, here.” He reached in one of his bottom drawers and pulled a plastic wrapped package. He put on his eyeglasses and looked at the label on the bag. “Yeah this is the one.” He lowered his head and stared at her breasts over the tops of his specs.
“I had them altered for a few of the girls, you and Shamayla included. You girls sort of lack in the boobs department.”
Hope crossed her arms. She had been taking his abuse for too long now. She thought she was getting used to it but could a person ever really get used to something like this?
“Anyway,” he said. “I’ve been talkin’ to the guys upstairs.”
Hope knew that meant the owners and handlers of the Lucky Star.
“They want us to start bringing in more customers, more revenue. Who knows better than you that sex sells, right?”
Hope made her eyes small at him.
“The little corset numbers you girls wear, they’re okay, but the guys upstairs want to see a little more skin.”
“More skin?”
“This is Vegas, after all. So you show a little more skin, learn some new shit.”
“New what?”
“I’m sending you and the girls down to Maxford Studios. It’s this dance place. You girls learn some new techniques.”
“What do these techniques consist of? I don’t want to take off my clothes.”
“Well you’re not going to be completely naked but damn near it. We’re going to start incorporating themes and such. That means different costumes and makeup and the whole nine. I know you won’t disappoint us.”
He opened a top drawer this time and handed her a small envelope.
“You’ll get a two dollar raise. Of course, that’s if you’re able to deliver. We make more, you make more. This is your paycheck and I’ve thrown in a bonus, one time only. Like a good faith kinda deal.”
“We don’t have to strip?”
“Well not wholly.” He slid the plastic wrapped package across his desk. “Take that, try it on, tell me if it fits. If not, Marie will take it in wherever you need. Shamayla’s off tonight yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Here.” He reached in his desk for another package. “Drive by her house tomorrow and take this to her. Same thing I told you. If it doesn’t fit, let Marie know.”
Hope took the packages. Hammer started writing stuff down on paper.
“You’re excused,” he said, not looking up from his paperwork.
She got out of her chair but paused before she got to the door.
“How exactly do we bring in more clientele and revenue?”
“A little self-promotion never hurt.”
“Self-promotion?”
“Take that any way you will,” he said dully, still not looking up from his papers. “I don’t know, pass out flyers. You still talk to the graphic designer? Maybe he can design some cards for you or something.”
“No.” Hope didn’t want to think about Michael. He was an asshole.
“Oh. Well then make friends with another one. Bye.”
Hope gave him a look that could turn him to stone but he wasn’t paying attention to her. She slipped out of the office and went to the dressing room to get changed.
17… Why not?
Hope got off her car and walked to the stairs while digging through her purse for her phone. She knew she should always be on alert, scanning her surroundings, processing facial details and looking out for anyone loitering in shadowed spots. She knew she should be wary at all times because of an incident with one of the girls at work that involved a stalker. Not only that, but being a woman is reason enough to always be cautious and watch your back.
Hope ignored her own instincts sometimes. She walked up the stairs still looking through her darkened purse till she found her phone. When she looked up, she got startled at the presence of someone there and dropped her phone.
“I got it.” Shane bent over and swooped up the phone. “You gotta pay more attention to where you going, girl.”
She took the phone from him, still trying to process the fact that everything was fine. Dominic was standing there too, his arms crossed on top of the rail.
“We didn’t mean to scare you,” Dominic said.
She brushed her hair over her ear, not as much as a smile on her face. She had on no makeup whatsoever.
“How was work, Beautiful?” asked Shane.
“Fine.”
She looked away from him and went to her door. Shane half smiled.
“You want to hang out with us for a while?”
“No, thanks.” She unlocked her door.
“We have beer,” Dominic said.
She shot him a glance.
“I thought you don’t drink?”
“I’m drinking Gatorade.”
“Is that a yes?” Shane asked, hoping she’d say yes.
“I really can’t.”
“It’s not even two yet.”
“No thanks, maybe another time. Good night.” She pushed her down open and disappeared inside.
“Okay,” Shane said with a shrug. “Guess I’ll get going then.”
“Yeah, weren’t you on your way home or something?”
Shane smirked. “Yeah man, I was.”
“Be safe,” Dominic called down to him as Shane made his way down the stairs.
From the window Hope watched Shane drive away. She went back to the door contemplating whether or not she should open it. If she waited too long Dominic would disappear inside if he hadn’t already. She cracked the door a bit and saw him standing in the same spot going through his phone. She stepped out under the guise she needed fresh air.
“Hey neighbor,” he said when she stepped out. “Thought you were going to sleep? Or were you just avoiding Shane?”
“Airing out my apartment.”
“You want that beer after all or what?”
They caught eyes for a couple of seconds, Hope looking away first as her mouth involuntarily formed a smile.
“Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”
“That I do,” he said with his brows raised. “Shane came over, one thing led to another… I’ll be all right once I have coffee in me. Did you try that drink?”
“No, I haven’t yet. I don’t have any liquor in my house.”
“I have a bottle of Vodka.”
“What are you, a liquor store? I thought you don’t drink?”
“Your buddy Shane brought it to me a while back actually. It’s just there. You want it?”
“Sure, why not?”
Dominic went inside and came back out a minute later with a blue foiled glass bottle of vodka.
“Keep it.”
She reached out to take it from him, their fingers brushing.
“Thank you.”
They made eye contact again, excitement budding for them from being so close to one another.
“I’ll take this inside. You should get some rest,” she said to him, her chin lifted because he towered over her quite a bit.
“I should, yeah.”
But neither of them moved. Hope blushed, feeling somewhat put in the spotlight. She felt like she was exposed in front of him.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Hungry?” Come to think of it, she was indeed hungry. She needed to go to the market too, because there was nothing but browning fruit and half empty bottled waters in her refrigerator.
“We can go get something to eat. I’m hungry.”
“Don’t you have to go to bed?” she asked incredulously.
“I’m a big boy. I think I’ll be all right.”
“What do you want to eat?”
“I don’t know. Somewhere we can sit down?”
She couldn’t wipe this grin off her face. Just the thought of turning it down was painful.
“I know a place.”
He knew this could be real bad. He was already sacrificing sleep for this chick. From here on out things could only intensify making the choice an impossible one. Right now he just couldn’t care.
Dominic jogged inside his apartment, grabbed his keys and locked up. Hope did the same and followed him to his truck. She sat inside, feeling caved in his possession. She thought,
‘I’m in his truck… this smell is his… I’m with him.’
Laced with these thoughts was the dull reality he belonged to someone else. Real bummer.
‘I’m sitting here where she sits’… he belongs to her.’
On the way Dominic asked Hope some questions;
“Where you from? How long you been doing what you do? Where’d you go to school? Siblings?” She answered everything with mostly one word answers.
“Las Vegas. Not that long. Vegas. One brother.”
She didn’t seem to like to talk about herself much which had Dominic thinking a little bit. He was always told that girls loved to talk about themselves and from past experiences, it was true. Tristan talked about herself nonstop. But this girl was different. She was way quieter than most girls he knew. It wasn’t that unusual to him because he knew a few shy girls. But considering that she was a dancer was she really shy?
Dominic watched Hope who seemed to be an observer. She didn’t gesticulate much, she was mostly serious and the fact that she either gave short answers or deviated from private questions about herself made her mysterious to Dominic. Now she didn’t seem shy per se, just ambiguous and evasive. He caught himself asking her if anything was wrong and “what are you thinking about?” usually questions Tristan asked him.
He viewed her as sort of a cat. If he pressed too hard she’d scurry away. He wanted to know more about her but knew that he couldn’t pry, and when to leave things be. He stopped with the inquiries and told her about himself; where he grew up, he had one sister, etc… They stopped at a twenty-four hour diner and ate, discussed exterior subjects at first, then ventured into deeper waters.
She found out he was an atheist, he was into pride fighting, moving to Vegas was turning out to be the best decision he ever made…
Dominic smiled when he said that.
“I mean, you know, cause I don’t have to drive all the way over here from California for an event.”
Hope nodded. Right.
His father had passed away when he was a teen and he loved his mom. What he learned about Hope was that she had no one. NO ONE. She was raised and then left alone in Vegas. He thought he spotted an inconsistency here but stayed quiet and stared at her.
Everything else was very surface but he was itching to know more about her. Patience always brought good things and really was a virtue. Luckily, a virtue he possessed.
After their meal he drove her home in silence. The air was too thick for Hope so she rolled down a window and watched clouds roll in, beginning to blanket the blackish orange sky. The wind beat against her face and sounded like waving flags in her ears. Once home, she stood a few steps from her door and thanked Dominic for taking her out.
“Good night,” he softly said to her, his hand slipping off the small of her back as she headed toward her door. This left Hope electrically charged; funny how a touch can do that. As she slid the key through the lock, something inside of him urged him to move up close to her. It seemed so natural to him. Her skin goose pimpled when she felt him come up close, lowering his head between her ear and shoulder. Suddenly she couldn’t remember how to breathe.