by Debbie Civil
Chapter 7
Jake
The music is at a deafening volume, and the base makes my stomach queasy. I hate being at Rhino's, but Alex didn’t leave me much of a choice. The place is a hole in the wall. It is a cramped room with a bar with stools in the back and tables and booths arranged in a semi-circle around the stage. The stage has a pole and a giant statue of a rhino. Some of the dancers get on the rhino’s back and perform “sexy” moves. I take a deep breath and sit at a table on the right side of the room. The table at the front of the club is empty, like usual. I pay the staff here well to keep it reserved. It’s like Wildflower has a Jake radar. She rushes from her office, which is the door right by the stage and makes a beeline for me. She’s wearing a dress that’s so sheer that I can tell that she’s going commando. She straddles the chair beside me and grins.
“Hi Jake,” she greets, tracing a hand down my arm. I wish that I had worn a long t-shirt. Who knows where her hands have been.
“Where’s Alex?” I snap. She taps my nose with her finger-tip, as if I’m a child that needs to be reprimanded. A cold feeling settles in my stomach, and my protective instincts go into overdrive.
“Sorry, Jake. You came too late.” I came too late? Alex’s shift doesn’t even start for another half an hour.
“What do you mean?” I question. If Wildflower thinks that she can cheat me, she has another thing coming. Most people who aren’t rich think we have money just to throw around. I for one don’t drop a thousand dollars on a tissue. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not cheap. I just know what purchases are worth spending money on.
“She isn’t dancing,” Wildflower hedges. Since the first time I met her, I have never seen an uneasy look on her face. I frown.
“Explain.” I spit out the words so harshly that even I wince. The woman’s face pales and she fists some of the sheer material in her hands so tightly that the fabric begins to tear.
“Jake, Rhino's is going out of business. And I can’t let that happen. When Reality World Entertainment approached me about this strip club being featured on the Ashley Ryan show, I agreed. They asked me to give them pictures of each dancer and they saw Alex. I didn’t take her out of the stack because you didn’t fully keep your end of the bargain. So I figured, what was the harm in including Alex? The network paid me 20 thousand dollars for participating. You don’t know how good of an opportunity this is. I…” My glare stops Wildflower cold. This is the worst possible news. Alex is probably going to dance and destroy her reputation and our uncle’s campaign all in one swoop.
“Does Alex know that they’re coming?”
“Each dancer had to sign a release. Jake, I can’t turn down this opportunity. If this show shoots here, business will sky rocket. Your sister is going to give Sharp a lap dance,” she tells me. Sharp Michaels is on the Ashley Ryan show? I haven’t spoken to the rat in years. I stand and flex my muscles. If the cameras catch me here, then I’m pretty much screwed. Everyone knows what I look like. If Alex is smart and only calls herself Jazmyn, she might be overlooked. I walk over to the stage and mount it. In order to go through the dressing room, you have to go back stage. I rush through the heavy curtains and travel down a long hallway. I pound on the second to last door on the left. It opens, and a girl dressed in a skin tight dress smiles up at me. Alex looks a little more like Eli with her blue eyes. But she has my skin tone, light brown and her hair is poker straight. She’s an exotic blend of African American and Irish. I don’t want to talk to her about this. But she gestures for me to enter her dressing room. It’s a closet-sized room with hooks on the wall for her various outfits and two worn leather chairs. I sit in one, preparing to have a long talk with her.
“You can’t do this,” I tell her. Alex glares at me.
“You haven’t been in my life for twenty years and you want to tell me what to do?”
“I didn’t know you existed,” I argue, giving her a “you’re so dense” expression. She balls her hands into fists.
“You didn’t know that I existed because Dad couldn’t wait to leave Mom for Dawn. Mom told me everything.” If she thought that this was the story, her mother told her nothing.
“Your mother was a crack addict. Dad gave her chances to…”
“I don’t care what you say Jake. After the man abandons me, you want me to come crawling back for handouts?” Guilt fills me because Dad doesn’t know anything about her. Eli couldn’t risk it. Our fathers are friends. What if it slipped in conversation?
“Alex, Dad doesn’t…”
“Jake, save it. You can’t commandeer me anymore because Sharp Michaels is paying me big money to give him a lap dance.” She doesn’t know that Wildflower had been taking my money to prevent her from dancing on the pole. Had she known about it, Alex would have quit working at Rhino’s and would have moved somewhere else. From what I understand, she doesn’t have anything keeping her in Massachusetts. The only reason she moved here is because of a fiancé who got a full ride to Harvard. He left her for another student, and she found this job to support herself and her daughter Bella.
“Don’t you want better for Bella?” I ask her. A flicker of doubt races across Alex’s face. But then, her expression hardens.
“Jake, you have no right to ask me that. You…” Someone knocks on the door. Alex unlocks then opens it.
“Ready to go?” Wildflower asks. I curse at the thought of millions of people watching my little sister strip. This isn’t going to be good, especially for Bella. I hadn’t met my niece, but I have gotten a look at her. She has tan skin, long dark hair, and a round face. The little one is only two and is being watched by a downstairs neighbor. I did a background check on the old lady, and she is squeaky clean. Alex can do whatever she wants, but there’s no way that I’m endangering a baby. I follow Alex out of the room and onto the stage. The crowd has tripled, and there are flashing lights everywhere. I curse and shield my face with my hands. This can’t look good. Maybe I can sneak myself out of a back exit. I jump off the stage and aim for the back door. But that’s when Sharp, strolls in through that very door followed by two cameramen. He glances around the place, and his beady gray eyes land on me. I curse. Sharp looks like a rat and has mousy brown hair. He’s short and scrawny, and the only reason anyone is interested in him is because his father is Craig Michaels, the coffee entrepreneur. The Michaels family is worth billions. He strolls up to me, his eyes wide and calculating.
“Jake, what brings you here?” That’s an odd question for someone who hasn’t even so much as waved in my direction in years. The slap on the shoulder also takes me off guard.
“Leaving,” is all I spit at him. If Alex wants to embarrass herself on national television, that’s her business.
“How is your uncle’s campaign?” His question is deliberate. The camera men have taken an interest in me, all of a sudden. My heart pounds and I’m really uncomfortable. What is there to do about this? Uncle James will have my head for this foolish mistake. I curse.
“Fine.” That’s all I can really say. Sharp smiles wide.
“Want to join me for some drinks?”
“No. I’m leaving.” Sharp shakes his head and grabs my arm.
“Don’t be shy Jake, just ignore the cameras.” Sharp knows exactly why I don’t want to be taped. “James Jones and his family values.” I can’t begin to think how this will look. Someone is going to know that Alex is my sister. She even told me that she had confided in a few friends. If only Carmen were here. She would know exactly how to get out of this awkward social situation. But I’m so inept. For the first time in my life, I truly hate the fact that I’m so uncomfortable with people.
