I gave a careless shrug. “I’m a fetish. You’d be surprised how many guys wanna fuck a girl with no legs. I’m a special order.”
Darius scratched his dirty beard. “Guess you’re right… the clients like variety on the menu, and we’ve never had a broad like you before. And you’ve got a nice rack. Fine. You’re in.”
Thank the ancestors Charlie wasn’t here to listen to Darius talk to me like that. Guy would be dead in an instant and the whole operation would’ve been blown.
“Can we get ready now, or what?” Ivy asked bluntly. “I need to make some money tonight. I’m low on cash.”
“Sure, sure. Take your whores backstage,” Darius said carelessly, going back to counting his money.
Then Darius froze. “Your dad doesn’t know you’re here, does he?”
“My father never knows where I am. You can relax, big guy,” Ivy said bluntly.
Darius definitely relaxed. “Good. We don’t want no trouble from Salvatore.”
“None here.” Ivy turned on their five-inch heels and strode off the main floor, leading us to the back where the dancers got ready.
The moment we were in the locker room and out of his sight, Ivy’s slick smile immediately slid off their face. “Ugh, what a roach.” They wiped their hand on the edge of their short dress. “I’d gladly do another month behind bars if it meant never seeing his ass again. Darius made a lot of money selling me to people I had no business being with. After what happened, I… well. It was the reason I overdosed.”
“Hopefully this will be the last time,” I said gently.
“It will be,” Ivy promised, a deadly note to their tone. “I ain’t walking outta here without getting my revenge on that piece of filth.”
“Why did he pickme?” Marcus whined. “I don’t want to be a stripper!”
“This is a good thing,” I pointed out. “Your mind reading is clearest when you touch people. If we get Lorenzo to feel you up, you can look inside his head and find out what we need to know.”
“Awesome, because that’s just what I wanted. Some sicko grabbing my junk,” Marcus complained.
“We won’t let him hurt you,” Kallie promised, and she put a hand on his arm. “We’ll get what we need and go.”
“But I don’t know if I can do this!” Marcus protested. “I’m not a dancer.”
“Yes, you are. Marcus, this is just like theater club. You’re playing a role— the stripper Marco,” I encouraged. “Just go out there and act howMarcowould act, not you.”
Marcus immediately lit up. “Can I give him a backstory?”
“Sure.” He could knock himself out if it got us that key.
“We’ve all got a role to play tonight,” Ivy said as they sat at a makeup station. “And no using real names, here. Stick to your stage names, unless you want somebody to figure out the gig and rat us out.”
Ivy dug in a box and handed Marcus a pair of tight gold briefs and knee-high boots. “Knock ‘em dead, scamp.”
Marcus frowned, but took them anyway. “Marco would love these. So I should, too.”
We didn’t have a lot of time to get ready. Most of the other dancers were already here, but they ignored us when we came in. I saw a couple of dancers whispering to each other and glancing at Ivy as if they were a legend. Hopefully the rest of us could play the part. I threw on a matching black bra and panty set before I curled my hair and did my makeup.
Ivy, as always, looked incredible. And, I noted, miserable. They’d moved on from this life and didn’t want to go back to it.
They wouldn’t have to. This would be their final time, I promised myself.
Poor Marcus was sour in his get-up. The briefs were definitely too tight on him.
“I’m cold.” Marcus shivered, before he paused and said, “Just like how Marco was cold the night his mother abandoned him, in the freezing rain…”
“Whatever helps,” Kallie said, and she nudged him forward. “Get out there and show them what you’ve got.”
The club hadn’t been open long, but there were already a ton of vampires here, filling up all the booths and tables. They sat atthe edge of the stage and watched the dancers twirl around the poles with looks that more or less disgusted me.
