“He’s watching you like a hawk,” she said uneasily. “Maybe just finish that one and then go back to the pole?”
Lexi had been sitting at the bar for around thirty minutes, and she knew it was driving him mad. She could feel his stare burning into the back of her skull. He didn’t like any of the girls taking drinks for free. They either paid for them themselves or got the customers to buy them for them. No one got a free ride… not even his best girl.
Lexi scrunched up her nose and rubbed her forehead. She didn’t even know why she was doing it. She easily could have afforded to buy herself booze there, but she just didn’t feel like it. As the weeks had passed by and things had become more strained at home, she found herself on the edge of something she’d never felt before. She didn’t know whether she was about to hit her own self-destruct button, but she felt the closest she had ever been to it.
She looked over her shoulder again, and Marv threw the butt of his smoke on the ground and stomped it out with his boot. She could tell from his folded arms and intense glare that he was coming for her. She turned back to Jo and knocked back the last in the glass.
“He’s coming,” Jo whispered through gritted teeth.
Before Lexi could turn around to smile, Marv was behind her, his hands on her shoulders.
“Lexi, Lexi, Lexi…” he said heavily. “Something up?” He slid onto the stool next to her, and his presence instantly made her skin crawl.
“Nope,” she said angrily, “Why would something be up?”
Marv sucked in a lung full of air and laughed.
“Well, you’re drinking my liquor for one,” he said as he leaned in closer to her. “And you’re not shaking your ass up there on stage.”
Lexi bit back the venom she knew she was capable of spewing at him and smiled sweetly instead.
“Well, actually,” she began as she turned and stared at him dead in the eyes, “I thought you could take it out of my paycheck, seeing as, you know, you haven’t given it to me yet…”
“Paycheck,” he snorted at the joke. Marv only dealt in cash. “What are you getting at?”
“You owe me for two weeks of work,” she said seriously, “and don’t pretend like you don’t know that.”
Marv smiled and moved his mouth closer to her ear.
“Well, you better get up there and work for it then,” he said nastily.
Lexi bit her bottom lip and slid down from the stool. Even though she’d downed a couple of vodkas and was feeling the fire rise within her, she had to hold it together. What else would she do if she didn’t work at Red X? Putting up with Marv’s bullshit was just an unfortunate part of the job…
She walked away from him as tears stung the corners of her eyes. She was a tough girl—she had to be after the way her life had started. She had spent most of it longing for a father she had never met, taken cruelly by an accident before she was born. But even the tough could find things getting on top of them at times, and her problems at home weren’t helping anything. Her mother had been seeing someone she couldn’t stand and she was stuck there, desperate to move out. That’s why keeping her job was more important now than ever… If she didn’t keep the cash coming in, how could she branch out on her own?
She burst through the doors of the dressing room and one of the new girls, Candy, looked up at her.
“You okay?” she asked sweetly. She was exactly how her name would suggest, blonde hair and pink blushed cheeks on alabaster skin. A complete contrast to Lexi and her waist-length raven hair and olive tan.
“Sure,” she said as she walked to her corner and rooted through her bag. She found her make-up and sat down on the floor. As she pulled out her lipstick and pouted in the handheld mirror, her nerves started to calm.
Deep breaths, she reminded herself.
The music from the club quieted, and the dull clap of the few customers drifted through.
“So slow tonight,” Candy said as she chewed a piece of gum and applied mascara. She was sitting at her dressing table in a pair of white stockings, suspenders, and nipple pasties.
“Tell me about it,” Lexi said as she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. Every time she caught sight of herself, she was reminded as to why she did so well in Red X… She had one of the most naturally curvaceous and stunning bodies of all of the girls. Her waist nipped in delicately and her breasts and behind swelled out either side of it, giving her a perfect hourglass figure. Girls paid huge money to look like Lexi… And she drove the men wild.
She flicked her hair and psyched herself up. It was her turn on stage, and she was going to give it hell. She was going to work so hard Marv’s jaw would be on the floor, and he would have no choice but to cough up and stop holding her hostage with irregular pay.
“Knock ‘em dead,” Candy called after her, and Lexi slid into her sky-high heels and headed for the door.
“Thanks, hon,” she smiled.
Candy was kind of dumb but a sweetheart all the same. There was a part of Lexi that hoped she would stick around and not quit after a few weeks of the lecherous truckers and Marv’s bad attitude.
Lexi skipped out of the dressing room and jumped up onto the small rectangular stage in front of the bar. She could count the eyes on her, and it made her nervous. She much preferred the busier nights. It was easier to calm her nerves with free drinks and blend into the sea of people and other girls working the room, but tonight she felt like the only person out there and with Marv’s devil eyes grinding into her, she just wanted the ground to open and to disappear.
A heavy rock tune blared out from the speakers behind her and she hooked her leg around the pole and started to spin, right to the floor. She worked her way up and down, licking her fingertip and smiling at the small scattering of truckers. She wiggled her hips and hooked her hands into her panties before pulling them down and throwing them out across the stage. When she was naked, she was a different person and it was only a matter of seconds before the eyes seemed to melt away and she was completely uninhibited. There was a part of her that found the whole thing liberating… She was one of the rare ones—she never felt degraded.
When she finished her set, she did a fun little bow for the crowd and blew them a kiss. She walked back over to the bar where Jo was waiting with a glass of water, and she drank it fast. Marv was still sitting on the stool, and he leaned over to her.
“Not bad,” he said as he lit another cigarette. “Maybe I will pay you after all.”
Lexi nodded her head and smiled at him. “So generous of you,” she said sarcastically.
Jo was called to the other side of the bar by a customer, and she wandered over to serve them. Lexi was still standing in front of Marv in nothing more than her underwear, and she could feel his eyes crawling all over her.
“You know,” he whispered as he leaned in and sniffed her hair, “you can have as many free drinks as you like if you play ball.”
She tensed. What exactly did he mean? Lexi turned her head and stared at him.
“I’m sure we could work something out,” Marv said as he trailed a finger down her arm. “I wouldn’t mind seeing what you’re made of. If you know what I mean…” A smile flickered across his lips, and Lexi felt the bile rise to the back of her throat.
Six months she had worked for him and she had always known that at some point it would come down to this.
“I guess the only thing I should be surprised about is that it took this long,” she said with a laugh.
“Huh?” Marv asked.
“I mean, how many of the other girls have you driven away acting like this?” Lexi’s tone changed from playful to angry.
“It’s up to you, sweetheart. You want your pay and to keep your job… You know what I want from you.” He licked his lips.
She knew that if only it had been busy that night, none of it would have happened. Marv wouldn’t have been drinking, she wouldn’t have been noticed skimming freebies from the bar, and he probably would have been in a bette
r mood because the place would have been raking in cash. But all of those factors together meant that they had ended up there, having that conversation, full of aggression and a battle of wills.
Lexi needed the job more than anything, but no one was going to speak to her that way.
She looked down at the floor and breathed in deeply.
“Fuck you, Marv,” she said as she re-met his gaze. “FUCK YOU.”
The smile dropped from his face, and he reached out and grabbed her by the hair. It all happened so fast, but within seconds she had gone from being stood at the bar talking to her pervert of a boss, to being dragged out into the night and thrown out onto the street.
“Fuck the rest of your pay!” he spat as he loomed over her from the doorway. “I don’t ever want to see you around here again, you little bitch!”
The door slammed behind him, and Lexi looked up at the stars. She lay on the dusty sidewalk in only her underwear and no way to get home…
She had really done it this time.
Now she really was screwed.
2.
The next morning she woke up to the sound of her mother banging around the house, and she rolled onto her side and rubbed her head. It was pounding and she felt the familiar pang of a hangover working its way in.
For a split second, she almost forgot what happened the previous night. It was just like any other morning, waking up and wishing she had saved enough to get the hell out of that house, but then all of a sudden, reality hit.
Marv had thrown her out of the club.
She’d been fired.
Lexi pulled the cover up over her head and wiped her eyes. There was no stopping the tears this time, and she realized that the dull thud rumbling through her skull wasn’t just from the fact she had had one drink too many, but also because of what Marv had done to her.
That was assault, she thought as she delicately touched her scalp. And the tears flowed freely.
Lexi had always been the type of girl to want to make her own way in life, and she had so far managed to get by. But when she had gone to work at Red X, something changed inside of her. She had become desensitized to so many things that it was shocking how upset she was about being fired and the way Marv had done it. It was as if he had flicked a switch in her, and her sensitivity was rising to the surface.
“Lexi!” her mom called up the stairs. “Want breakfast?”
She couldn’t even face calling back, and she pulled the pillow around her ears. Her mom would get the message soon enough.
When it hit noon, she finally crawled out of bed and went over to her mirror. In her drunken haze she had flopped down to sleep without removing her make-up and her mascara had now snaked down her cheeks like a blotchy, black river.
“I must have really been crying,” she said aloud.
She picked up a cotton swab and some remover and swept it gently over her eyes. Within a few moments, she resembled herself again and felt so much better. She grabbed her towel from the edge of the bed and went out into the hall. By the sounds of things, her mom’s boyfriend wasn’t home so she relaxed and made her way to the bathroom.
With the shower on full force, she let the room steam up and let the moisture work into her pores. She had so many morning rituals, but this was by far her favorite. She could sit there for hours and just breathe in the steam and let it soften her skin. It always felt as if she was getting rid of the grime from the club and starting anew.
She climbed into the shower and washed her hair quickly. She was going to have one hell of a day if she were going to convince Marv to give her the job back. The last thing she wanted to do was beg, but she was hoping by the time she got there he would be calmed down and she could use the excuse of going to pick up her things as a way in.
She applied just enough make-up for it not to look forced and dressed sensibly in a pair of tight jeans and a cut off t-shirt. The day was warm and the sun was high overhead as she walked down the side of the highway. Slate Springs was a small town that many would consider just a through-road, but there was so much happening there underneath the surface that it had kept her there for most of her life.
She couldn’t remember the day she realized that the constant buzz of truckers and people passing through wasn’t completely normal. But slowly things had worked their way to the surface and Lexi had started to catch on. Slate Springs was a town built on illegal affairs, and although Lexi had always done her best to stay away from it, she had the feeling that things were about to change…
As she approached Red X, the neon lights on the pair of dangly heel-clad legs still flashed red from the night before. Marv must have gotten so drunk that he forgot to close down properly. Lexi could see his car outside and those of a couple of the other girls, and as she made her way to the back door, she just hoped she’d make it inside before he came out and saw her first.
She pushed open the back door and walked quickly down the darkened hallway. She could hear the dull drawl of voices working their way back from the club room as she dipped swiftly into the dressing room.
It was empty, but she recognized Candy’s purse and the scent of her perfume. Maybe she had pulled an all-nighter and stayed there, maybe it had gotten busier, or maybe she had just come in to pick something up like Lexi had, but she all she knew was that she was glad it was her there and not one of the bitchier girls.
She scooped up the clothes she had left and cast her mind back to how Marv had thrown her out into the street wearing only her underwear. She was lucky she had managed to run home fast and no cars had passed her on the way. She knew she wouldn’t have been able to explain what had happened without incurring Marv’s wrath once more. When she had found all of her things and shoved them into her bag, she glanced quickly around the changing room. Even though she knew she was going to plead for her job, she had the distinct feeling that this would be the last time she’d be there.
She opened the door and went back out into the dark hallway. She could hear Candy’s laugh from the bar, and she heard Marv shouting something about restocking the refrigerators.
She cautiously creeped to the door of the club room and peered through the small glass window. Marv was leaning against the bar and Candy was behind it. He was ordering her around and obviously loving every second. Candy tried to laugh and make light of what was happening, but Lexi could see she was clearly exhausted. He must have had her there working all night.
Lexi pushed the door open and slowly stepped inside. It took Marv a moment to notice her, but when he did, his face went from amusement to disbelief before settling on anger.
“What’s the matter?” he spat. “Come back for more?”
“Marv,” Lexi stepped forward. “I don’t know what happened last night, but I don’t want to lose my job here, okay?”
Candy was looking at her hopefully, dark rings of tiredness engulfing her eyes.
“Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you started acting like such a brat,” he said as he threw his inventory down on the counter. “Walking around in here like you own the place, huh?” he laughed.
“No,” she shook her head. “It wasn’t that at all. It’s just, I’m having some…some personal problems.”
“Well, your personal problems aren’t my problems. Leave them at the door, sweetheart,” he sneered.
Lexi looked from him to Candy and then at the bag at her feet.
“Well, I just came to get my things, anyway,” she said. “And to ask if I’m still working tonight…”
Marv ignored her for a moment, and she thought that he was thinking it over before she noticed the big vein on his forehead throbbing with rage. She took a step backwards before he turned on her and lunged forward. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her towards the front door. Lexi dragged her heels and tried to pull away from him, but he was too strong.
As he yanked open the doors, the sunlight flooded the darkened room, and it was so bright, it blinded her. Cars and trucks
were thundering down the highway, and as Marv hurled her onto the dusty ground for the second time in twenty-four hours, he kicked her lightly in the calf.
“Are you fucking stupid?” he spat. “I told you the score last night.”
Lexi shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked up at him with determination in her eyes.
“Fuck off, Lexi,” he said. “You don’t want to play by my rules, then there’s no job for you here.”
“You can’t do that!” she said as she got to her feet.
“Yes,” Marv turned on his heel and laughed. “Yes, I think you’ll find that I can.”
He disappeared inside for a moment before coming back out into the light and throwing her bag at her. She caught it against her stomach and felt the wind knock out of her.
“See ya, Lexi,” he said with an evil laugh as he pulled the doors to Red X shut.
She stood there dumbfounded for a moment before she got angry. And when the anger came, it burst out of her like a demon. She hurled herself at the doors and thumped her fists on it.
“I’m going to make you pay for this, Marv!” she screamed. “You just wait!”
There was no sound from inside, and a truck honked its horn as it passed her by. She picked up a rock and hurled it at the flashing red legs before making her way back down the highway. Who knew where she would go…
She couldn’t face another day at home, and now she didn’t have Red X to escape to. She was going to have to think outside the box and be resourceful. She was going to have to look for something she had never looked for before, and although the day was stretching out blankly before her, she had a pretty good idea of where she could go…
3.
She slid into a booth at the diner and pulled out her cell phone. She had a text from Candy asking her if she was okay and what she planned to do now. Lexi wanted nothing more than to text Candy back and tell her she didn’t really have a clue, but she knew it would go straight back to Marv. Now that Lexi was no longer at the club, Candy was going to be his go-to girl, and she would be under his thumb until he got sick of her or didn’t get what he wanted.
[Runes of Argyl 01.0] The Runes of Argyl Trilogy Page 167
