22
Robin
“Thank you, boo,” I purred, then climbed off his lap, grabbed my dress, and escorted him out of the VIP section. It had been a crazy slow night, so I was thankful for the private dance.
The club was hyped and there were a few stragglers at the stage watching Honey shake her skinny ass. I made my way through the female chatter in the dressing room and moved to the lockers in back. Two dykes were on the bench in front of my locker getting a late-night snack. Chloe was sitting down with her legs spread wide while Diamond was down on her hands and knees, licking the hell out of her pussy. Both of them had men at home.
“Hell nah! Y'all need to take that shit somewhere else!” Without stopping, I moved straight to my locker and pushed them outta my way and turned the lock. Chloe, who looked like she was a second away from having an orgasm, opened her eyes and rolled them at me.
“Damn, Treasure! You coulda at least waited a few more minutes.”
“Nah, I ain't got that kinda time.” I shooed her like a pesky fly, reached inside for a baby wipe, and started wiping myself off. She rose and I caught that bitch staring at me.
Chloe grinned. “We would love to do a threesome with you.” She gazed at Diamond, then leaned over and stuck her tongue down her throat.
“Only if the money is right. Now y'all bitches need to get the fuck away from me.” I grinned when I said it, but I was dead serious. I wasn't getting down with that shit unless someone was flashing some real money in my face.
I was changing into another costume when Mercedes sashayed into the locker room. I looked over at the puzzled look on her face.
“What's up with you?” I could tell whatever it was, it was killing her to ask me.
“You got a tampon I can bum off you?”
If she was asking, then chances were nobody else had one. It was Wednesday, and House Mom only worked on the weekends and the club never had any tampons in the machines in the bathroom.
“Yeah, I got you.” I laughed, then reached inside my locker. All night I had been trying to think of a way to come out and ask Mercedes about Mannie's death. If anyone knew what had happened, she would. “Hey, you wanna go on stage with me for my next set? That crowd out there has been begging for a sixty-nine. I think if we double-team them with all
this
, they won't know what hit them.” I gave her a knowing look and smiled.
I knew she would be surprised by my suggestion. I rarely allowed another woman the chance to go on stage with me, and when I did it was usually for some ebony-and-ivory action. But if I wanted to get any information from Mercedes, I needed to show her we were still cool.
“Hell yeah.” I knew she wouldn't turn me down.
She took the tampon and lowered on the bench where Chloe was just getting her coochie eaten out. “Can I bum a wipe too?” she said.
I handed her one, and she slipped down her G-string and started cleaning off. “Hey ... Treasure ... that new chick Deja ... what you know about her?”
I gave her a curious look. “What you mean, whadda I know?”
She shrugged and tossed the wipe in a small trash can in the corner. “I mean I think I know her from somewhere, I just can't put my finger on it.” She had that vindictive look in her eyes and I could tell she was still salty over Monica stealing one of her regulars. In fact, Monica had been clocking almost as much as me, and several of the dancers were pissed the fuck off about it. “Do you know if she used to fuck with Dollar?”
Monica with a thug?
It took everything I had not to laugh. “I doubt it. She ain't even the type,” I replied, then decided that it was as good a time as any to ask. “Speaking of thugs ... damn, girl, why the hell you didn't tell me someone smoked Mannie's ass?”
“I thought you knew,” she replied with her eyes locked on mine like she was trying to figure out why I was suddenly being so nice to her. “Everybody was talking about it. That shit was foul. It fucked me up when I heard about it. I went to the funeral. Yo, that shit was sad as hell! They had to have a closed casket.”
She spread her legs and pushed the tampon inside, then removed a pocketknife from a purple Crown Royal pouch, cut the string short, and tucked what was left deep inside her cootie-cat.
I remember when I first started stripping I had gone out on stage, stripped off my panties, and spread my thighs. You should have seen how fast them muthafuckas jetted away from around the stage. It wasn't until I made it back to the dressing room that this chick, Delicious, told me the string from my tampon was hanging out for the entire world to see. I learned the hard way. That's why I tried to school the new girls, so they didn't have to go through the shit I went through. Gutter rats weren't trying to do nothing to help anyone but themselves because they felt threatened. I, on the other hand, knew I was too damn good at what I did to worry.
Mercedes lifted her head and I could see anger in her eyes. “Did you know some bitch killed him in his sleep?”
I don't know why, but I got pissed at her for calling my sister a bitch. I could do it, but let someone else talk bad about family and I was ready to pull off my earrings and grab the Vaseline. “I heard they found him in bed with this chick named Deanna or some shit like that. You know her?”
Her eyes started shifting right and left before she finally looked at me and frowned. “Hell nah, I don't know that bitch. Why should I?”
I shrugged like it was no big deal. The last thing I wanted was for her to be suspicious of where I was going with this. “She's friends with my cousin and she was telling me that Deanna had been kicking it with Mannie. In fact, the way she tell it, they were living together.”
Mercedes tried to look like she didn't care, but I noticed the way the muscle pulsed at her jaw. One thing about Mercedes, she didn't want Mannie, but she never wanted anyone else to have his crazy ass either. “He's dead now, so I don't give a fuck where he was laying his pipe.”
As I slipped a short yellow sequined dress over my head, then pulled it down over my hips, I noticed her fidgeting nervously on the bench. What wasn't she saying?
“You wearing the hell outta that dress,” she complimented me, and I could see the envy in her brown eyes. Like I said, that chick was always trying to duplicate.
“Thanks. You know I gotta keep it cute. As soon as I saw it I had to have it.” I tied the side and took a moment before I got the conversation back on track. “Anyway, the rumor on the street is that someone else killed Mannie and then left this chick to hang.”
Mercedes' eyes shifted to the floor. I had a feeling she knew something that I didn't.
“Ho, don't even try to hide it. Whatcha know?” I moved in closer so she would think her secret was safe with me.
She was shaking her head. I could see her mind racing a mile a minute. “Nothing, but you heard how they found him, right?”
I nodded, then took a seat on the bench and moved in close like we were two friends sharing gossip. “Yeah, I heard. She was lying in the bed with that dead muthafucka when the police broke down the door. They found the gun on the dresser with her fingerprints all over it.” I shook my head for dramatic effect.
Mercedes grinned and had the nerve to look pleased. “Yep, that's how I heard it.”
“But she's saying she didn't do it ... that someone drugged her and when she woke up Mannie was dead.”
Mercedes sat there shaking her head and staring off into space. Damn! I wished I could get in that ho's head and see what she was thinking.
“I stopped fucking with Mannie because he was being careless. You wouldn't believe how he started acting ... like he was going to be taking over Halo's operations. I wasn't having none of that shit. There ain't no telling. If I hadn't gotten out when I did ... that coulda been me that woke up in bed with Mannie.”
“So you
do
think someone framed her?” I asked, maybe a tad bit too seriously.
Mercedes rose and stood there for a second with a suspicious look. “Why you care?”
“I don't ... I just know how scandalous Halo is.”
She glanced around, making sure no one was listening, then moved in close and whispered, “All I know is someone said he'd been skimming off the top for months and Halo found out.”
She was telling me exactly what Deena had said. “Well, if he was, I guarantee Halo smoked his ass.”
Mercedes stared down at her stilettos for several seconds before she raised her head and met my eyes. “Yeah, you're probably right.”
23
Monica
Tonight I just wanted to climb up on that stage and strip off my clothes. And that's what scared me.
The money had been flowing for weeks, and bills were no longer a problem for me. It felt like such a weight had been lifted from my shoulders that my ass was floating. I had a strong feeling it was like a crack addiction. It had to be. No matter how much money I made, I still wanted more, and I knew there was plenty to be made. Never had I ever felt that level of determination, not even after sipping one too many drinks. But at Scandalous, I felt a vibe I had never felt before that seemed to take over, and the high energy just ran through my veins.
I finished my set, collected my money, then climbed off the stage smiling inside. Two of my regulars had come in tonight and had tipped me quite nicely. I was moving toward the locker room when I felt an arm snake my waist. As soon as I swung around and saw who it was, my heart jumped. “Damn, you scared the hell outta me!” I pressed a hand to my chest and tried to pull away so I could run back to the dressing room and hide.
“Sorry, beautiful. I told you I thought you looked familiar. Now I know why.”
I looked at the devilish grin on Greg's face. I should have known it was likely to happen again sooner or later ... that I would run into someone I knew. Only it was even worse this time because it was GregâAnthony's partner. He had already seen me, so it was too late to hide. All I could do was play nice and see what he wanted.
I gestured for him to come a little closer so I could make sure he heard me over the music. “I guess you caught me. I hope between you and me, what happens at Scandalous ... stays at Scandalous.”
“Absolutely. I wouldn't dream of saying anything. That's as long as you're good to me.” He stared at me with this hungry look in his eyes like he thought I was a thick juicy steak.
“Sure ... what do you have in mind?” I painted on a smile and tried to act like it was all good between us.
“How about a lap dance?”
Greg was the last person I wanted to give a lap dance, but business was business. Besides, as long as his money was green, why should it matter? Reluctantly, I took his hand and led him up to the VIP section and moved to the last couch on the end. I waited until he was sitting down, grinning like a kid who stole something, before I said, “What will it be? One song for twenty-five ... two for forty, or the deluxe for a hundred.”
“What's the deluxe?” he asked liked he was ordering lunch from the drive-thru window. I almost didn't want to respond.
“Bareback.”
Grinning, Greg reached inside his pocket and peeled off a crisp $100 bill.
I removed my dress, and for the first time I felt like a whore. And to think I was loving this shit a few minutes ago. Damn that man, I thought as I slid my panties down and kicked them away. He was the reason why dancers left this place feeling like shit. I straddled his lap and started gyrating my hips to the sounds of Ludacris. Greg started rocking his hips with me. “You are so beautiful, Monica.”
I hated the way he said my name ... like I had done something bad. “It's
Deja
.”
He released a hearty chuckle. “Whatever you say. Like I said, your secret is safe with me.”
I needed to believe he wouldn't say anything for just a little while longer. By then I would have graduated and quit dancing, so it would no longer matter.
When he brought his hands around to cup my breasts, I stilled. “There's no touching.”
“C'mon. You can't make an exception for me?” he asked, eyes dancing with amusement.
I guess I didn't have much of a choice, now did I? I continued to gyrate my hips while he caressed and fondled my breasts.
This can't be happening.
I glanced over at the bouncer at the corner of the VIP section, waiting for him to wave his flashlight, but he was too busy talking to another dancer to notice. The only person who seemed to be paying attention was Mercedes, who had the nerve to grin. No doubt she wanted to make sure I knew she had witnessed me in action.
Greg had paid for four songs, so I was either going to give him his money back and take a chance of him telling Anthony, or give him what he wanted and hope he never came back. Anthony's threat to take the girls echoed in my ears, leaving me with only one choice: sit there and deal with it. The only consolation was that he was compensating me for my time.
When he brought his hand around and fondled my pussy, all I could do was rock against his hand and breath heavily close to his ear. “You like that, don't you?” he hissed.
“Oh yeah,” I moaned pretending I enjoyed what he was doing.
“I bet Anthony couldn't make you feel this way, could he?” He slipped his finger inside and moved it in and out.
God help me
. As much as I wanted to scratch his eyes out, and knew it was wrong, I couldn't do anything. It was scary and humiliating at the same time. It wasn't until the middle of the fourth song that Gus finally flashed his light over toward the couch and, thank goodness, Greg removed his finger. I wanted to go over there and scream, “What the hell took you so long?” But I know for a fact dancers have been caught fucking up here numerous times. The bouncers knew. They just figured if they didn't say anything, we'd break them off a piece. Well, he wasn't getting shit from me.
I slid off his lap like it had suddenly caught on fire and swung my hair away from my face. Greg just sat there smiling.
“That was nice,” he finally said.
I struggled to keep a straight face as I put my clothes back on. By the time I tied my dress on the side, he rose and stood before me.
“I'd like to see you again. What days do you work?”
“Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.” I couldn't believe I was telling him that, but then what else could I do?
“Good ... I'll see you then.” He reached inside his pocket, pulled out another $100 and slipped it inside my G-string, and when his fingertip grazed my crotch, I jumped.
“That's for being so nice to me.” Chuckling, he winked, then left the balcony.
I waited until he had gone back onto the dance floor before I followed. Unfortunately, Mercedes was waiting at the top of the stairs. I watched as she blatantly eyed me from head to toe with her lips scrunched up like I had just passed gas.
“You know ... it's ho's like you got muthafucka coming in here treating us like tricks.” With that she spun on her heels and stormed down the stairs.
That was one time I couldn't even argue.