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Lexus.
The girls.
I’m silent as I try to comprehend. I look in the direction of my house knowing I can’t go back there. I look toward Rachel’s house, or the house that belonged to Rachel in whatever world I used to live in.
“This is all I have now.” Slowly, I begin putting one foot in front of the other. I only have one place I can go now. One place I can call home.
I head back toward the house I woke up in to change into the outfit Lexus had picked out for me earlier.
It looks like this is my life until I can figure out how to get back to Nick and the kids.
I guess it’s time to go meet Tommy.
The building looks so much more intimidating when I know I have to go inside it. It’s a lot easier to just drive by it when I’m heading to get groceries or pick up the kids from school. Now that I have a duty inside this building, my heart is fluttering and I feel like I could puke.
Though the nausea could be a result of whatever I consumed last night. I really should find out what the hell happened.
“Glad to see you made it back,” Lexus says, strolling over toward me.
She has a bead of sweat dripping from her brow. I look around the room and notice there are girls hanging from multiple poles, wearing nothing more than a bra and panties.
I really am a stripper.
“Yeah,” I reply after a second of gaping at the girls. “I’m here.”
“Did ya puke?” Carmen asks.
She slides down the pole, landing on her heels in a squatting position and remains in character even as she talks to me. It’s kind of awkward, but super impressive.
“Not since I left here,” I say. I hear the shakiness in my voice and know I have to put on my best act. I wave my hand and laugh it off. “I’m fine now. I guess I was just being a pansy and couldn’t handle last night’s events.”
“I’d say,” a male voice says.
The boom in his tone startles me and I turn to see who it’s coming from. I swallow hard at the male figure.
Carmen refocuses back on her pole, wrapping a leg around it and swinging her body toward the floor with her arms stretched out. Lexus doesn’t move away, but instead, takes a step closer to me and looks toward the voice. I get the sense she’s acting like my bodyguard and I’m not sure if I should be concerned.
The man is walking toward me in pinstripe pants with a black button-down shirt that’s only partially fastened. His chest hair is sticking out the top, but he seems to be a fairly fit man. His sleeves are rolled halfway up his arms, revealing gold chains that are hugging each of his wrists and matching the one around his neck. He has sunglasses on even though he’s inside, and his shoes are shinier than the Benz in the dealer lot down the street.
This has to be Tommy.
“Rough night,” Lexus says. She’s grinning at Tommy and I can’t tell if she’s hitting on him or trying to take the attention away from me. Either way, I’m grateful for it.
Tommy rolls his eyes at Lexus and in an assertive tone he says, “I’ll deal with you later.” Then, turns his attention back to me. “Get your ass in the changing room and fix yourself. You look like shit.”
The tone he’s using makes it seem like he’s going to spit at my feet any second. I don’t give him a chance to add anything else. With the way the other girls were talking about him, I don’t want to see what will happen if I just stand here.
I look around the stage and remember the hallway the girls took to get to the changing room earlier. With each step away from the girls, I feel Tommy’s stare burning holes into my back. I definitely pissed him off.
When I reach the changing room I don’t waste any time putting the door between myself and Tommy. I take a deep breath once it latches behind me.
I walk across the tile floor and take a seat at the vanity that says TRINITY. Makeup bags are scattered over the glass top and there seems to be a residue of shimmering powder on every surface. I’m guessing that’s what I saw on my skin when I woke up this morning.
The lights that line the mirror are clicked on and I look over to see Lexus sitting beside me, pulling her hand back from the switch on the side of my vanity.
I look back toward the door and realize I didn’t even hear her come in.
“Get your face put on and get back out there,” she says to me, almost motherly. “You can’t act like this, Dee. You can’t have another night like you had last night.” She used my real name this time so I know she’s serious. I wonder what these girls’ real names are. Or maybe they were born with stripper names and that’s why they’re all here.
