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Falynn

PLAYLIST: ? 6 INCH - BEYONCÉ FEATURING THE WEEKND ?

“Ain’ta thing on this earth free except the air we breathe,” Tasha says, leaning closer to the mirror, penciling in her brows. “If you’re hard up, do what you gotta do, girl.”

“It’s not like there’s much choice.” I sigh as I set my things down inside our dressing room at the Dollhouse. I’m running late after the bus showed up half an hour off schedule.

“A girl’s gotta survive somehow. There’s no shame in it.” Tasha winks at me in the mirror, always good for a pre-stage pep talk. As one of the veteran dancers at the Dollhouse, she’s seen girls come and go over the past couple of years. Some escaped our lifestyle. Others fell deeper into it.

But she’s right. I have to survive somehow.

It’s the story of my life. As far back as I can remember, I’ve been somebody flailing in water, fighting not to drown, just to stay afloat. Years later, standing in the dressing room at the Dollhouse, it’s no different. Except now I survive on stage.

I look down at the two outfits I’m debating between. Both are about as much fabric to cover one ass cheek, but that’s the idea—as little as possible covered, as much as possible showing. Basically, the more ass on display, the bigger the tips.

“You know Jerry’s good for it, right?” Tasha asks when I don’t say anything. She turns away from the mirror, full face of makeup done. It makes sense why she’s one of the most popular girls at the club—her curves make men drool on sight. Unfortunately for them, she also has the smarts to finesse them out of their cash. “He only takes a cut of what you make. Better than a lot of managers in these clubs. They love making their girls work ’til there’s nothing left, then they take most of it.”

“I’m in. I won’t be able to pay the bills otherwise.”

“Doesn’t look like it, with Enzo catching a charge. Look, Falynn, start off small. Only offer what you’re comfortable doing. It’s all up to you how far you’re willing to go—and if some asshole gets out of pocket, security’ll check them.”

“Which one?” I hold up both outfits by the hanger. The one on the right is a bandeau top and thong bottom bedazzled with rhinestones. On the left is a sheer, iridescent one-piece with an obscenely deep cut down the front and back.

Tasha points at the one-piece. “It’ll stand out more.”

I toss the bandeau and thong set onto the nearby sofa and start slipping on the one-piece. Tonight I’m wearing my chin-length, blunt-cut, bubblegum pink wig. It not only pops against my honey-brown complexion, but the shorter length’s cooler to dance in.

“I’m up in five. See you later.” Tasha moves toward the door, but then stops for another glance at me. “Falynn, for real if you need somewhere to stay, you know you’re always good sleeping on my couch.”

I smile in thanks. Since my first shift at the Dollhouse, Tasha has taken me under her wing. Unlike some of the other girls who saw me as new competition, Tasha showed me the ropes and taught me the game. She’s the only one I trust.

But I can’t take her up on her offer. I’ve already crashed on her sofa several times over the last few months. I can’t keep making it a habit. With Enzo participating in a robbery at gunpoint, he’ll likely get locked up for real this time. I have to figure out how to pay my own way. Whatever it takes.

I’m working the stage with Skye tonight. When she sees me approach backstage, she gives me the type of dirty look you save for someone who cuts you off in traffic. The feeling’s more than mutual, but unlike Skye, I can behave myself and play nice. At least whenever money is involved, and working the stage is all about money.

Our music starts, a darkly seductive beat fills up the gentleman’s club. It’s like a switch flips inside of me as I go into performer mode. I strut onto stage in my towering heels, swinging around my pole as the announcer introduces me as Honey.

It wasn’t my original stage name, but a regular once kept calling me it, so eventually it stuck.

As the beat builds, I swing a few more times around the pole. On the opposite side of the stage, Skye graduates to tricks, contorting her body around the pole, her long fiery hair swaying hypnotically.

The men are enamored with her. In the club’s dim lighting, shadows cover half of their faces, but their heads are turned in her direction. She has dollar bills piling up on her side of the stage.

More nerves flood my stomach as I climb up the pole. It’s not working the stage that has my nerves out of control. It’s what comes after that has me uncertain—the time I said I’d work in the VIP rooms. For years I’ve worked as an exotic dancer, but I’ve never escorted before. It’s going to be new territory for me.

Enzo won’t be happy. But maybe he shouldn’t have gotten himself locked up. He shouldn’t have left me with the bills and the debt, now having to pull in double the income to stay afloat.

If you’re hard up, do what you gotta do, girl.

Tasha’s words echo in my ears louder than the music blasting from the stereos. A new spark of confidence surges through me as I wrap my body around the cool metal, sliding down the pole in a deft figure-eight shape. It’s still not enough to compete with Skye, who’s busted it open midair on the pole, her legs splayed apart.

As I climb again, giving a few quick butterfly kicks, a strange feeling washes over me. It’s that weird feeling you get when you know you’re being watched. Only this is different, because I’m on stage, and I’msupposedto be watched. It takes me only a second to figure out where in the audience the feeling is coming from.

Far in the back, where the VIP section is situated, is a group of men in dark suits. Even at a distance I can tell the suits they wear and the bottles they drink from are expensive. The biggest spenders in the club, and the perfect marks for the night. But there’s only one man who gives me the strange feeling tingling down my spine.

He sits at the center of the group, a broad-shouldered mass of muscle even in his meticulously fitted suit. His posture is relaxed with an arm hanging on the back of the couch. It doesn’t take away from his commanding presence. He’s authoritative, in such control he can afford to be so cavalier, solaxin a room filled with other men. Though his face is half hidden by the deep shadows of the dark club, his attention is unmistakably on me.

Another shiver jolts down my spine, but I don’t let it mess me up. I perform more tricks, seductively spinning around the pole to more bills tossed my way. As the next song starts, I throw another look in the watchful man’s direction.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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