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“Great performance, love,” Deja, another dancer, praised. “Listen to them callingencore,encore. They never can get enough of you.”
“Thank you, babe.” Pride sparked in my heart. It was fleeting, though. I wanted to be loved for more than my erotic stage talents.
Would I miss this part of the job? Men going nuts over me?
No way. That wasn’t the kind of attention I needed or wanted.
I slipped on my black silk robe, making my way to Richard’s office. If I didn’t talk to him right this second, another week, month, or year might pass with me doing a gig I didn’t want to do anymore.
His door was open as usual to hear what was going on in the bar.
I leaned against the door frame, crossing my arms over my chest. I was tired, my feet aching in my ruby-red five-inch fuck-me heels. After a three-hour shift, I smelled like a walking ashtray from all the cigarette smoke in the bar. A hot shower was just what I needed.
“Busy?” I asked when he didn’t look up from his laptop. He knew I was standing here, but the jerk ignored me on purpose.
“I’m always busy, but come in.” He sat back in his leather executive chair. “What’s on your mind, Dolly?” His gaze raked over me as he licked his bottom lip.
I dropped into the purple club chair in front of his desk, letting out a dramatic huff as I removed my heels. “I’m only Dolly on stage.”
His jaw twitched. “You’re Dolly when in my bar.”
Okay, I saw how he was going to play this. His guard was up. On the defensive, like he knew what I was about to tell him.
Stay strong, girl.
“Well, then. At midnight when I go home, I’ll be Jaynee for all the days of my life, because I’m never stepping foot in your bar again.” My heart hammered in my chest as I shot him a determined look.
“Fuck.” He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. “Are we going to do this again?” The tip of the cancer stick glowed as he filled his lungs with nicotine. “You’re my best girl.” He blew the smoke into the air. “I can’t let you go.”
“It’s not up to you. I’m done.”
He rocked in his chair, puffing away as he stared at me. Richard was fifteen years my senior. Mature and attractive. He resembled George Clooney during his days on the showER.
My mother introduced us when I was nineteen. At the time, I thought he was a friend of hers or a customer. Richard was neither. He was looking for dancers for his new topless bar. One look at me, and he said,“She’s pretty and thick. I’ll get her in the gym, trim her belly, and the men will eat her up.”
I’d been confused about the whole encounter, but I’d blushed at being called pretty. Then my mom told me,“If you want to go to college, working for Richard is the way to do it.”
Six years later, I still worked for Richard.
“I didn’t run on four hours of sleep for five years putting myself through college while dancing and raising my baby for no reason.” It was insanity. I nearly dropped out of business school ten times because I was so overwhelmed and tired.
“Our baby.”
I sighed, rubbing my temples. “She’s mine, Richard. I provide for her. You don’t even see her.”
He slammed his hand on the desk. “I provide for her. Your paychecks always have extra in them for Sadie.”
“Oh fuck you, Dick! I earn my money, working my ass off. You don’t do shit.” After he knocked me up, we stopped screwing around. I wished I could say we co-parented our daughter, but that wasn’t the case. Richard didn’t want any attachments. He’d stuck with me for over a year, but when I told him I was pregnant, he dropped me like a bad habit.
I only kept dancing in his bar because of the money.
“Where will you go? How will you pay your bills? I know you don’t have a new job.” He pulled out a bottle of bourbon from his desk drawer and filled his empty glass halfway.
I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t know anything about me other than what I do here.” The nerve of him. He didn’t care about Sadie or me, so why pretend like he did? However, he was right. I didn’t have a job, but I’d find one. I also had a little money saved.
He laughed, shaking his head. “You’re not this stupid. I know everything about my two girls.”
He was a damn idiot. Since Sadie was born, he only saw her twice a year. On her birthday and Christmas. She only knew him as Mommy’s friend Richard.
