TWELVE
(Jessie)
“YOU HAVE GOT TO BE kidding,” I grumbled. The Duster I was stuck driving refused to start.
I hated that car. It was yellow. The driver’s door squealed when I pulled it open. I could see the pavement beneath it thanks to a large hole in the floorboard beneath my feet. The seats were ripped, exposing padding and metal springs that poked my bottom and it reeked of rotten rain water. But that’s what you get for a few hundred bucks. It was the first thing I planned to replace in my new life.
“Come on!”
The engine rattled and complained four times before it finally backfired, then idled with an out of sync tick.
“Finally!” I pulled away and headed toward my destination, my body lurching back and forth until I gained speed.
My quick palpitations finally slowed. Walking into that diner wasn’t part of any plan and embarrassment replaced my adrenaline rush. Of all people to run – no crash into. Sean Gianetti? I didn’t need that kind of trouble in my life.
“Oh, don’t do this,” I complained. “Damn it!” The engine died. The piece of junk rolled to a stop, blocks from where I was going. Smoke seeped through the cracks of the hood and I heard hissing.
I took a deep breath. I glanced at my reflection in the rear view.
“Jessie Cicconi no longer exists!” I spat at the woman in the mirror. “You are someone different now!” ‘No one knows you here.’
I stepped out onto the litter-lined street, terrified, feeling uncomfortable in my new surroundings. The Badlands were known as the roughest part of Demora, a breeding ground for criminal activity and I was stranded in the middle of it.
‘I am not afraid. I am strong. I am confident. I can handle anything.’
I straightened my backbone, hoisted a tattered backpack over my shoulder, held my purse tight against my body and took the first step toward the unknown at a quick pace, only slowing when the objective I sought came into view.
I stared at that building. De’Bris. The gentleman’s nightclub loomed big and bold in front of me. Hell in the form of cement block walls painted in the deepest black with thick, metal bars bolted against painted panes. Its neon light flickered its name in pink, purple and blue even though the sun was positioned in the center of the sky. Intimidating, but not as much as what hid inside. Which was everything I had been warned against all my life, but I was out of options.
“It’s just dancing,” I assured myself and seized the clip from my hair, letting dark strands fall about my shoulders, then I took long strides to cross the double lanes.
I gave the handle a jerk. The door opened an inch, then fell back like it was bound with a giant rubber band. Much heavier than I imagined and it took both my hands to pull it open. I inched inside. A gust of wind blew and the door’s weight bore down on me. Shoved me inside and slammed behind with a loud bang, making me jump.
“We’re closed.” A broad-shouldered man stood against the wall chewing on a toothpick with his arms crossed over his chest.
“I have an appointment,” I stated barely disguising the jitters beneath my skin. I had never done anything like this before. I never thought my life would force me to even think about having to remove my clothes for a job.
“With who?” The man snapped.
“I talked to someone on the phone. I – I heard you needed a new dancer.”
He flicked his finger through the air and I followed him to a black-clothed table. “Wait here,” he commanded and walked toward the bar with his long ponytail swaying gently across the width of his back.
I took in every possible detail as I waited, hoping to calm my nerves. It was a dark atmosphere, lit only by candles, but I didn’t find the ambiance romantic – It scared the hell out of me.
The floors were red – a crimson ocean of blood. The walls – black like the devil’s lair and that stage – the vortex that would suck me under, wrenching me into cold unforgiving waters until every moral drowned. I shook thinking about my parents and what they would think of my latest endeavor.
The man at the bar looked my way and tilted his chin upwards to question my presence. The bouncer bent down slightly to explain, I guessed and the shorter man gave him a playful punch to the arm before he sauntered over. He was a short, skinny man wearing a blue pair of trousers and a matching polo shirt. He must have thought himself a suave ladies’ man by the way he walked with his hips swinging and his arms reaching far out with each stride. He had an obvious flamboyant personality and he wore sunglasses even though the room was dark as night.
“You’re the girl I talked to on the phone?”
“Yes, I’m Jessie – um – Lawson.” I stood and extended a hand that he did not take, hoping he didn’t realize I had made a quick decision to change my last name. My father’s name still brought apprehension in the badlands and I was still sort of hiding.
“You are a fine looking thing.” He slid the sunglasses down the bridge of his nose and rested them on the tip. “I’m not sure I need another girl.” The way he leered made me uneasy. “Are you hiding any scars?”
I shook my head.
“I need to see for myself, Darling.”
I knew what he meant, but I hesitated to remove my clothes. He already eyed every part of me so intently that I was immediately reminded of the horse auction my father had once taken me to. I recalled how the potential buyers had opened the horse’s mouths to check its teeth, then poked and prodded. Right then, I felt like those poor creatures.
“Come back tonight. When all the kiddies are here. You got one night to prove yourself.” He sucked his teeth. It made my stomach churn. “Name’s Spencer. You work for me. Make sure you are here at six p.m. sharp.” He grinned. “I look forward to seeing … all of you.”
~ ♥ ~
Time dropped upon me like a wild animal crouching, waiting for the perfect moment to lash out and attack its prey. The clock on the nightstand chimed and I headed back to De’Bris for a crucial performance, having just as much trouble with my car. I made it to the club barely a minute before Spencer’s suggested time and was met by the pervert before I had fully stepped inside.
“Don’t you own something sexy?”
I didn’t know what Spencer had found wrong with the black, cherry printed dress I wore. It was ankle length. I wore it unbuttoned to the knee and it crisscrossed my back. I had thought it too risqué when I’d bought it.
“Go.” He flipped his wrist to dismiss me. “Go get ready.” He wasn’t as lighthearted as he was earlier that day.
“Where?”
“I don’t have time to deal with this.” He pointed his finger toward the back of the room. “You know what? You’re next. Tell Devo what song you want to dance to. Then – you see that black curtain, go through it,” he explained it like he was speaking to a child, then scurried off mumbling his complaints.
I whispered my favorite song to a large, dark-skinned man who stood in the doorway of a glass booth, then headed for the stage and waited for the music to begin.
My heart throbbed so hard I could hear it – or was it the soft drums of the song? I willed my body to move. I knew I was a decent dancer. I knew how to move my body. I was very capable of keeping with a beat, but I suddenly felt inept in front of all those men.
I stood there, shuffling a foot out, then back, then the other – over and over. An amateur dance step and I could see them all laughing. The song, just two minutes in length seemed to last an hour.
An innocence inside revealed itself, throwing me into a frozen, doe-eyed state. Where was my confidence? Where was my strength and where the hell was that stiff backbone that had angered everyone my entire life?
The customers near the staged booed loudly. Someone in the back yelled a rude comment and even though I couldn’t understand it, I knew it was obscene.
‘You have to do this’. I reminded myself how vital obtaining a job was to my survival. I fought, splitting my conscious. Arguing with myself and I whirled in
a desperate spin – and tumbled right off the stage, landing at Spencer’s feet.
“Get the hell out of my club.” He snickered and turned his back on me.
“Please!” I grabbed his arm, a move very unlike the woman I was. Pity in the eyes of others I had always despised, but I was out of options. “I really need this job!”
Spencer snorted a laugh and began to walk away.
“Please!”
“Desperate, huh?” He chuckled at me. “Just how bad do you need this job?” His finger grazed my upper arm and I shook the urge to vomit. “Perhaps we could finish this discussion in my office.” The man sucked his teeth again and I didn’t like my own thoughts that guessed what was on his mind. “Maybe you perform better on your back.” His tongue wiggled in and out of his disgusting mouth, coming closer.
I jerked my arm from his grasp. “I seriously doubt anyone would be desperate enough to lower themselves to pleasure a slime bag like you.”
I felt like thousands of tiny bugs crawled beneath my skin and worse, I had been reduced to groveling. My true nature could not be suppressed and neither would my outrage. Who the hell did this guy think he was?
“Don’t knock it till you try it,” He moved closer.
I shoved him, refusing to let him near. He wreaked of cheap cologne. “Ugh! Take a bath!”
Spencer held his hand at his chest, it tensed and I knew he wanted to pay me back for the insult, but I held his gaze. Refusing to back down. Daring him.
“Oh, and by the way, I’m pretty sure what you’re suggested is illegal and I think the authorities would be very interested to know how you select your employees.”
His chagrin transformed to a glower. His eyebrows furrowed, but I saw that glimmer of fear.
“Just so we’re clear, your threats mean nothing to me. I don’t need your kind of trouble. I should have you dragged out of here but, I’m going to hire you anyway.” He laughed. “Because I like your nerve more than your tits.” His eyes dipped low and I realized my dress had fallen away during my fall, exposing my braless breasts. “Take your ass to the dressing room and see if you can borrow something that shows a little skin.”
I couldn’t disappear behind that curtain quick enough. I leaned against the wall with my chest throbbing, my palms sweaty and an aching ankle. I rubbed it, trying to convince myself that my mechanical dance hadn’t been as horrible as I’d thought.
“The first time is always rough.” A slender hand tapped my shoulder. I turned toward the woman’s voice and found a sympathetic smile. “I’m Tina.”
“Jessie.”
“You might want to move away from the door, these girls will run you over.” The tall stripper took me by the arm and pulled me from the entrance. “When were you hired?”
“Just now – I think.”
I watched Tina as we walked. Following her like a lost school girl. She was tall with light coffee colored skin. Her long hair was a honey color which complimented her confident, fun loving attitude.
“Now, this lovely little – vanity – Is mine.” She waved her hands over the small desk with a cracked mirror hanging above. It was covered with wigs, makeup jars, lotions, and brushes. Nails on the desk’s edge held beads and chains. “And this table is yours. We usually have to find our own, but the last girl donated all this stuff. I think she was just too embarrassed to come back.” Tina laughed. “Just throw out what you don’t like.”
I settled on the plush office chair behind my new table. I stared at myself in the mirror. I didn’t look like any of the women in that dressing room.
“I think the guys are going to love you!” Tina talked with a lot of energy.
“I can tell,” I said sarcastically. “I can still hear them booing and laughing.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Tina reached into a drawer of the vanity and dug through it until she found what she wanted, then undressed without caring that she wasn’t the only person in the room. “Everyone’s nervous the first week or so.”
“Really?”
“Girl, my first night I was so nervous that I tripped over the fan cords and fell on my face.” Tina laughed at her own mishap. “I was so embarrassed that I walked straight across the stage and out the door. But,” she sighed. “It gets easier.”
“I just fell off the stage.”
“That was you?”
“Yeah.”
Tina giggled. “I knew we had a lot in common the moment I laid eyes on you. You just stick with me. We’ll be B-F-F’s or some shit like that.”
Best friends? I never had that kind of relationship before. Who would have thought I would find someone so nice in a place that was supposed to be filled with sin? I hadn’t been welcomed as warmly by any of the so-called good people I’d known all my life. It really was strange and confusing.
A slender man wearing a black shirt with the club’s name embroidered on the chest and rainbow streaks in his hair casually walked into the room. Tina didn’t cover herself.
“Hey, Grato,” Tina greeted. The young man blushed, smiled awkwardly before turning on his heel and walking in the other direction. “That poor guy is too shy for his own good.” she giggled. “The bouncers wander back every now and then to make sure none of the whinos have wandered in. Matt must be busy.”
“Matt?”
“Oh, Grato and Matt are brothers. You can’t tell by looking at them or how they act. Grato never talks.”
“Never?”
“Nope. I’ve been here longer than anyone and I have never heard him say a single thing. I thought he was deaf at first, but trust me, he hears very well. I don’t know what his deal is, but Matt – he’s the exact opposite. He usually lingers.” She again giggled. “I’m pretty sure he’s been with most the girls in this room. He’s really sweet and he makes you feel special, but he doesn’t do exclusive.” Tina seemed to know a lot about everyone at De’Bris. “Matt’s alright to flirt with, great if you’re looking for a night of fun, but if you’ve got a tender heart it’s best to leave him be.”
“Come on ladies. Sober customers don’t leave big tips.” Spencer moved like a serpent, slithering into the room under my radar. “I just hope your better at carrying drinks than you are at stripping.” Spencer’s eyes remained on my chest for a moment.
“That’s us,” Tina sang sarcastically and took my hand, dragging me behind her.
“I thought I was just supposed to dance.”
“We flirt, we dance, and when we’re not on stage we work the floor.”
“The floor?”
“We serve. Have you ever waitressed before?”
I shook my head.
“Well, I guess I’ll just have to show you how.” Tina giggled again.
I think I was in over my head – way over my head.
THIRTEEN
(Sean)
I STUMBLED ACROSS DE’BRIS’ THRESHOLD long after the sun had set, not that I had seen much of its light. It was time to make an appearance, even though I would have rather shut away all humanity.
In the shadows, my private table awaited – already occupied. Spencer comfortably sat with loafers stretched across the cloth, fiddling with his cigarette pack. I watched as he tore off the foil at the top to find his last remaining smoke. He stuck the filtered tube in his mouth and struck his lighter over and over.
I reached into my pocket for my own, lit it and then held out the flame to my unsuspecting lackey.
“Ha – ha – Hey Sean.” The man jumped, dropping his feet to the floor as soon as his eyes caught my angry glower.
“Take off those damn sunglasses, you look like an idiot.” I took off my jacket and tossed it over a chair, irritated by the company I had to endure.
“Hi, Seany!” Tina Morgan, bouncing with each step, approached immediately.
“How are you tonight, Tina?” I kissed her cheek and once again found myself in awe of the former professional dancer, whose career had ended prematurely, leaving her to dance for the mongrels that drooled over
the slightest hint of flesh.
“I’m great.” The beauty’s charismatic personality beamed through hazel eyes and her smile was contagious, causing my own to widen into a pleasant grin.
“How was your little boy’s play? You were missed here last night.”
“I think I have a miniature heartthrob on my hands.” She giggled proudly, but her eyes drifted downward and lingered on my chest, focusing on the skin I showed beneath a half open dress shirt. “You’re a sweet guy, Sean. It’s hard to understand why no one has snatched you up.”
“How’s the tips tonight? It looks pretty busy.” I averted.
“Just the regular beer guts and toupees.” Her gaze continued to drink me in as if she were memorizing every detail to fuel her daydreams. “I’ll get you a drink – your usual?”
“Thank you, Tina.” I sat.
A familiar song, yet unfamiliar in the establishment filled my ears. It was an old song from my youth with a soft beat. The singer poured out his heart and unleashed nostalgic memories of my past.
“You alright, Seany?” Tina returned and sat my drink down with a smile. “You look a little lost there.”
“About time someone chose a decent song,” I mused.
“Oh, that’s the new girl. She’s cute. I think you’re going to like her.”
“New girl?” I glanced at the stage.
“She seems really sweet,” Tina then smiled apologetically as if she remembered something about me. “Are you good? Do you need anything else?”
“Just keep my glass full.”
“Like always.” Tina laughed and hurried away to tend to her other customers.
I let out an irritated breath, focusing on the porn addict whose eyes clung to Tina’s hips as she retreated.
“You didn’t tell me you were hiring a new dancer, Spencer.”
“What – What? I’m shorthanded around here.” Spencer grinned showing his gold lined tooth. “Oh, you’re going to love this one, she can’t dance, but she has a nice set of –”
“You don’t just hire someone off the street!” I bellowed making him shudder again.
Son of a Mobster (Criminal Desires) Page 9
