Page 1 of Dancing for the Minotaur

1

TERRA

The music pounded and the lights flashed—pink, then blue, then green, then back to pink again. Terra closed her eyes and rolled her hips seductively. Swinging around the metal pole, she pretended she was alone in the crowded room—dancing for herself, just like she had before she’d been forced into this life to make ends meet. She had only taken up pole dancing class as a fun and slightly naughty exercise—something to keep in shape and to spice up her marriage.

But then her marriage ended abruptly when her ex ran off with a woman who was ten years younger than Terra. Jackson didn’t care that she had only a part time job and their two young kids to raise with only the help of her mom—who was on disability for a heart condition. He’d decided he wanted a woman who was “less mouthy” and who had a “smaller ass”—at least that was what he’d told Terra when he served her the divorce papers.

Of course, none of that could be put into the legal statement. It was marked down as “irreconcilable differences” in the divorce proceedings and Jackson had been ordered to pay both alimony and child support. He had a decent job and earned good money—not that Terra ever saw any of it.

The month after the divorce was final, he came to the door to see the kids and she noticed he was driving a brand-new lifted truck—the same kind he’d wanted to buy when they were married and she had vetoed because it cost too damn much.

Sitting in the cab of the shiny new truck was his bouncy new girlfriend who barely looked old enough to be out of high school. She had been putting on lipstick as she stared at her pretty, vacuous face in the mirror. When she looked up and saw Terra staring at her, she had shot her an irritated look and looked back at the mirror as though she had more important things to think of—like herself.

“What’s this?” Terra had demanded, motioning to the enormous black truck sitting in the driveway. “And why did you bring your girlfriend? You know that’s against the visitation rules the judge laid out.”

“This is my baby—she’s a Ford Super Duty F-250 Lariat!” he’d said proudly. “And you said we couldn’t afford it.”

“We couldn’t—you can’t either,” Terra said flatly. “Not if you’re going to pay child support—which you haven’t so far this month. Where is it?”

Jackson had gone on the defensive at once.

“Woman, why are you always on my ass?” he snarled. “I’ll pay you when I’m good and ready—not before.”

“When you’re ‘good and ready’ doesn’t cut it,” Terra told him. “Your kids need to eat. They need clothes for school—new shoes, too—they’re both still growing!”

“So? You’re their mom—take care of them,” he’d snapped. “Now are they coming out with me and Shannon or not?”

“Not,” Terra said. “You can come in and visit with them if you want to—I’m sure they’d like that. But you can’t bring strangers into the mix.”

Jackson’s face turned red with anger.

“Shannon’s not a stranger—we’re going to get married! How are they supposed to meet their new Mama if you won’t let me introduce them to her?”

“Their new Mama?” Terra’s eyebrows shot up. “Seriously? You’ve been dating her for less than two months! And she’s only nine years older than Cody.”

Cody was their son who had just turned ten on his last birthday.

“Bullshit—Shannon’s twenty-one,” Jackson protested.

“And you’re forty-five,” Terra reminded him. “She’s still young enough to be your daughter. But it’s not her age I’m objecting to—it’s the fact that she’s a stranger and the judge said neither of us can bring new people to visitation for at least six months!”

“Aw, that’s bullshit, and you know it,” Jackson snarled. “If you don’t want to let the kids meet Shannon, then I guess you don’t want them to see me, either.”

“Don’t be like that,” Terra had pleaded. “You can at least come in and spend some time with them.”

“And leave Shannon out in the truck? No fucking way!” he exclaimed. “She’s excited to meet the kids!”

“Yeah, she looks really excited,” Terra remarked, shooting a glance at the bored looking girl in the cab of the enormous, shiny truck.

In the end, Jackson had refused to see the kids without his new girlfriend and so Terra had called off the visit. Since then, she’d only seen him twice—both times driving around town in his shiny new truck. He hadn’t paid a single dime of either alimony or child-support and as a result, she’d lost the house, which had been part of the divorce settlement.

Terra and her kids had been forced to move back in with her mom—who lived in a tiny little bungalow in a part of town which used to be good…but was rapidly becoming more dangerous. Once Terra had hoped to move her mom out of there for good—now that dream was dead.

Her part time job at the library didn’t pay nearly as much as she needed to live and support her kids, but she still made too much to get any support from the government. In desperation, she’d gone to The Doll House, a local strip club.

She hadn’t been looking for work as a stripper—honestly she hadn’t. She’d heard from a friend that they were hiring waitresses and that you could make good money in tips if you were willing to wear a skimpy outfit and put up with men grabbing your ass from time to time.

Terra didn’t love the ass grabbing part, but she didn’t mind wearing sexy outfits. What she hadn’t expected during the interview was that the club manager would ask her if she wanted to strip instead of waiting tables.