Daisy turned her head and smiled at me.
I smiled back.
* * * * *
“Oh my God,” I breathed after Lottie was done with her two song dance, “I want to be a stripper.” Roxie giggled beside me. “That’s what everyone says.” Lottie was gone, disappeared behind the stage. The crowd was wired, screaming for an encore. I was right with them on my feet shouting for her to come back. She didn’t strip. I didn’t know what she did but it wasn’t stripping (though, she did dance around in fancy underwear and rip her bra off at the end).
The only way to describe it was a work of art.
We were sitting in the VIP section right up next to the stage.
When Daisy and I drove up in Daisy’s Mercedes, I thought we’d never get in. There was a velvet rope and a line clear around the building.
Daisy just walked up to the front of the line, said, “Hey Lenny,” to the huge black guy that was the bouncer and then swanned in like the place was named “Daisy’s” and not
“Smithie’s”.
She went directly to a cordoned off area where Jet, Roxie, Indy, Al y, Tod and Stevie were al sitting.
Our asses no sooner hit the chairs when an older, heavyset black guy came trotting up to us.
“Smithie!” Daisy squealed with delight.
Smithie ignored her and pointed at me. “You!” he shouted even though he’d stopped not two feet away from me.
I went stil and stared at him, mental y inventorying my purse for weapons. I’d so lost hold on my head crackin’
mamma jamma that the only things I could think of to use were my nail file or I could throw my panic button at him.
Neither of these were likely to instil terror in his heart.
“Can I help you?” I asked, slowly standing again.
“You Law?” he shot back.
Oh shit.
I decided on silence.
“I want no trouble tonight. We’ve had our quota of bar brawls this year,” Smithie said to me.
“Smithie,” Jet put in placatingly.
Smithie’s angry gaze swung to Jet. “You were the cause of two of them,” he snapped.
“Was not!” Jet huffed. “Just one, the other one was a shooting.”
Smithie looked to the ceiling.
Jet looked at me. “No one got shot,” Jet assured me. “Al the strippers jumped the shooter. It’s kinda funny if you –”
“It ain’t funny!” Smithie roared and everyone around us turned to stare.
“Smithie, Sugar, Law’s given up the street,” Daisy cut in.
“Yeah, right. Trouble fol ows you bitches around like the plague and more often than not, it traipses its tight ass and long legs in here. Not tonight. Got me?” Smithie declared.
“We’re just having a few drinks,” Al y said.
“See that you do.” He snapped his fingers and a waitress in a red, micro-mini and a black, skintight camisole with “Smithie’s” in red script across the front came tottering to our table on high heels.
Smithie’s eyes moved to me and he stared. I stared back.
Then he looked me up and down and asked, “You dance?”
“No!” Indy, Jet, Roxie, Tod, Al y and Stevie al said in unison.
“Al right, al right. Shit,” Smithie put his hands up and then looked at me again. “Hear you’re Crowe’s woman.” I nodded that, yes, I was Crowe’s woman.
At the thought, I grinned.
Smithie did not. “Shit. Those boys need to get their heads examined.”
Then he was gone.
“What can I get you to drink?” the waitress asked.
“I’l take an appletini.” This was said from behind me and I turned to see Shirleen powering through to our table.
“Wel , the night is complete!” Daisy hooted. “Shirleen, girl, good to see you.”
Shirleen, I was surprised to see, got hugs and cheek kisses from everyone while I ordered a cosmopolitan. Then again she was Darius’s aunt and Darius was Lee’s best friend so I guessed she was part of the tribe.
“Hey Law,” Shirleen said, eyes on me and sitting across from me.
“How’re things?” I asked.
“Goin’ wel ,” she replied, nodding then her eyes got intense. “Real wel ,” she repeated with meaning.
I smiled at her. She smiled back.
“You two know each other?” Daisy asked, looking between the two of us.
Everyone was staring.
“Law helped with a family problem,” Shirleen said.
Everyone seemed okay with that answer so I looked at Daisy and changed the subject quickly. “What did Smithie mean when he asked if I danced?”
Daisy nodded to the stage. “He meant stripped.” My eyes went to the stage. The three women there were gorgeous, their perfect bodies oiled up and glistening, their nipples covered with sparkling pasties. They knew how to move and they had tons of money sticking out of their g-strings to prove it.
Stil .
“Um…” I said.
“The word is,” Tod informed me, “yikes.”
“Nothin’ wrong with strippin’,” Daisy said to Tod.
“Not for you but she’s a social worker,” Tod retorted.
“Social workers don’t strip.”
Daisy turned ful y to Tod and I felt her attitude hit our table like a bolt of lightening. “Why not?”
“Uh-oh, another white people fight and I don’t have my appletini yet,” Shirleen muttered.
I felt the tension in the air (hel , everyone felt the tension in the air) and to dispel it, I blurted, “I haven’t got my period yet.”
Everyone turned to me. My tactic worked, maybe too wel .
Shirleen craned her head around, looking for our waitress. “Holy shit. This is heavy, I need my appletini.”
“How late are you?” Indy asked.
“I should have started today,” I told her.
“Not to worry,” Daisy said, cooling off her attitude when confronted with a girlfriend problem, “rule is, you don’t need to worry until at least a week.”
I shook my head. “I always start like clockwork late morning on the special day. I haven’t started yet,” I explained.
“I think I need to stretch my legs,” Stevie murmured, clearly uncomfortable with the conversational turn.
“What?” Al y said. “We’re talking about menstrual cycles.
It’s the most natural thing in the world.” Stevie glared at her. “I’m gay but I’m stil a man. We don’t do periods. I could barely cope with the in-depth cherry popping trip down memory lane.”
“Okay, no more about periods,” Roxie threw in and looked at me. “Let’s just talk about cause and possible effect. How many times did you do it unprotected?”
“Too many,” I admitted.
They al stared at me.
“Girlie, I know you were a virgin but you got to take care of yourself,” Tod advised, not unkind but slightly impatient.
“What’s in Vance’s head?” Jet murmured. “At least he should know better.”
“I know what’s in Vance’s head,” Indy replied.
Jet and Indy looked at each other and their faces broke out in smiles.
Shit.
“You were a virgin?” Shirleen asked, wide-eyed.
Shit again.
I decided not to answer Shirleen and total y ignore Indy and Jet.
I’d had more than enough conversations about my ex-virginal status and cherry popping. One of them was even on tape.
“Word is, you’re with Crowe,” Shirleen went on.
This time I answered with a nod.
“He pop your cherry?” she asked.
Daisy gave a tinkly bel laugh while I closed my eyes in despair
“Shee-it. Every girl wished the likes of Vance Crowe popped their cherry. You’re livin’ the dream,” Shirleen continued when I opened my eyes.
She wasn’t wrong, I was living the dream.
“Was he gentle?” Shirleen p
ushed, nosy as al hel .
“Um… no,” I answered and her brows flew together.
“He hurt you?” she snapped.
“Um… no.” I was beginning to get uncomfortable.
The waitress put our drinks on the table and I smiled at her in hopes that the current discussion would end now that Shirleen had her appletini.
My hopes were soon dashed.
“You come?” Shirleen kept at it.
“Oh for goodness sake,” Stevie muttered the words that I was thinking.
“Wel , did you?” Shirleen pressed when I didn’t answer.
“I don’t think –” I started.
Shirleen leaned forward, not to be denied. “Did you?”
“Three times,” I gave in.
Shirleen’s brows flew apart and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Three times in one go?” she breathed as if she, personal y, was going to find Vance and give him an award for Best Cherry Popping in the History of the World.
“Two, um… goes,” I answered.
“Stil …” she sat back and gave me a huge smile, “hold on to that one,” she commanded.
I nodded again. That I would try my damnedest to do.
“We’re with them,” we heard from behind us and everyone turned to look as a bouncer was trying to keep Heavy and Zip away from our table.
“Hey guys!” I cal ed, thankful the menstrual-cycle-slash-sex-talk was done before Heavy and Zip got there.
“See!” Zip snapped at the bouncer and he and Heavy pushed through.
I got out of my chair and made introductions. Neither Heavy nor Zip looked too happy to be sharing libations with the ex (hopeful y) drug dealer Shirleen but they kept their mouths shut, sat down, ordered drinks and trained their eyes to the stage making it clear they weren’t there for smal talk at a strip club with a gaggle of women and two gay guys.
“Ain’t this fun?” Daisy said, wiggling in her chair, happy as a lark.
I couldn’t help myself, even after the cherry-popping-third-degree, I smiled at her.
“Yeah,” I said low.
Daisy’s eyes came to me, they got soft and she winked.
My pug liked Daisy’s wink. He got al squirmy happy and gave me tons of sloppy puppy kisses.
We drank, we chatted, we drank more, we watched the strippers, we drank more (getting tipsy), we laughed and giggled (because we were getting tipsy), we drank more, Lottie came on and we al went as nuts for her as the rest of the audience.
We were settling in our seats with fresh drinks, the other strippers had started to do their thing post-Lottie when I heard, “You!”
This was a high-pitched, female screech and I turned to look.
“Oh shit,” I muttered when I saw Jackie, Vance’s ex…
whatever, pushing through the crowd toward us. What on earth was she doing there?
Considering the fact she was a woman and she was gorgeous, the bouncer didn’t even try to hold her back.
I came out of my chair.
Jackie got right into my space and right into my face and my body went stil .
“You bitch!” she screamed.
“Uh-oh,” Al y muttered.
“What the fuck?” Heavy asked. I could feel him moving behind me, coming in close.
“Move away,” I warned. I didn’t want Smithie to get mad at me and I didn’t want our fun night to end by being ejected from a strip club because I had to kick one of Vance’s ex-bimbo’s asses (again).
Four other girls pushed in around Jackie and Jackie swung her head (and hair) around to them.
“This is the bitch I told you about,” Jackie informed her friends and al five of them turned to glare at me, mouths in girlie-bitch-pouts, hands on hips.
I feared I wasn’t going to get my earlier wish.
“Who you cal in’ a bitch?” Daisy was up and even though she was at least five inches shorter than any of the women confronting us, she was al bitch-pout, hand-on-hip, attitude right back at them and it must be said, a lot scarier than any of them.
“Stay out of it,” one of Jackie’s friends snapped at Daisy.
Um.
I didn’t think that was good.
“Don’t tel her what to do,” Al y entered the fray, she was up and moving around the table.
Fuck.
That definitely wasn’t good.
“You stay out of it too,” another of Jackie’s friends disengaged from the pack, getting ready to confront Al y.
Indy was up and tense, so were Jet and Roxie.
I didn’t figure Lee, Eddie and Hank would pat me on the back for getting their women into a catfight at a strip club even if it was against a bitch, bimbo, skank-from-hel .
“Ladies –” Stevie tried to play peacemaker and I had the fleeting hope that Stevie’s quiet magic would work.
“Shut up, homo,” Jackie sneered at Stevie and she barely got out the “mo” part of “homo” when I lost al thoughts of peacemaking and worrying about my friends.
It was then that my head crackin’ mamma jamma snapped into place and I moved.
I took Jackie by the wrist, swung it in a wide arc, spinning her around. I ducked, positioning myself and her, I bounced her off my back and she went flying into the tables.
She crashed, as did the tables and al of our drinks (and a number of empties) to the floor.
I watched Jackie struggle amongst the overturned tables, her arms and legs pumping, soaked with appletinis, cosmopolitans and rum and Cokes when I felt my hair being tugged backwards.
I reached back, grabbed both wrists of the hands that were in my ponytail and whipped one of Jackie’s friends around to my front. I felt another girl grab at me but I stayed focused and planted my feet, dropped one of her wrists and flipped her on her back using what had become my signature move. She landed with a thud of flesh on flesh, right on top of Jackie and both women grunted in very unladylike ways.
Then I dealt with the next one who was pul ing at my shirt.
I tagged her with a calf in the back of her knees, she teetered, I gave her a nasty shove in chest and she landed on Jackie and the other girl with a high-pitched screech.
I spun around and confronted the last two, lifting my hands and wriggling my fingers at them. I was too focused to notice that everyone had stopped to stare. Everyone, even the strippers.
“You want a piece of this?” I taunted and jumped forward once. They jumped back, bitch-pouty looks gone, their eyes were wide with fear.
I smiled at them and came back around. Jackie’s friends were up and were helping Jackie up too.
I pushed forward, shoved her friends out of the way and grabbed onto Jackie’s sweater, taking a bunch of it in both of my fists. I advanced, forcing her backward until she was at the stage. I leaned in and she had no choice but to arch her back over the stage.
“Stevie come here,” I yel ed, my face in Jackie’s, her eyes wide and freaked out, my hands not leaving her sweater.
“Girlie, I’m here,” Stevie said quietly from my side, “you can let the skank go.”
“Apologize,” I snapped at Jackie, not listening to Stevie.
“I… I’m sorry,” she stammered, not taking her eyes off me.
“Not to me, you stupid bitch, to him. Apologize!”
“Holy crap,” I heard Indy say from behind me.
“You got that right, sister,” Jet muttered from behind me too.
Jackie’s eyes moved to Stevie and she repeated her apology.
“You ever gonna use that word again?” I asked when her eyes came back to me.
She shook her head (and hair). I moved back, pul ed her up with me and then pushed her away from me so she staggered back into the stage.
“Am I ever going to see you again?” I kept at her.
She shook her head (and hair) again.
“Go!” I clipped.
She stood frozen.
I took a step into her. “Move!”
She moved, her friends moved, they moved as fa
st as their high heels would take them. I watched them go until they disappeared.
I straightened my back and cocked my head to the side quickly as I turned back to the room. The whole place, not just my posse but everyone, was staring at me.
Smithie was close, standing by Daisy, arms crossed, eyes on me.
Fuck.
We were going to be ejected, I was sure of it.
“Sorry, I’l pay for any damage,” I said to him.
“Shit, bitch. I’m thinkin’ about askin’ you to make that a regular feature at Smithie’s.” He shocked me by saying.
“Hot babe kicks ass. They’l line up to see it.”
“Fuck yeah!” Shirleen yel ed. “Girl, you are the shit.”
“Righteous,” Al y shouted.
Jet started clapping. So did Tod. Roxie did too. Indy joined in and then so did everyone else including the audience and the strippers. Daisy gave a whooping shout and Stevie hugged me.
The bouncers righted the tables and Smithie shouted,
“Get these bitches some drinks!”
I was about to sit down as the applause died away when I caught Zip and Heavy’s eyes.
“You do a man proud,” Heavy said to me and the look on his face echoed his words.
Zip nodded.
I smiled and my pug wiggled in close, proud of me too.
I sat down and ordered another cosmopolitan.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Home Part Two
I’d barely got Boo and I settled in bed when my phone rang.
After Lottie’s third act we al left Smithie’s. Daisy was too drunk to drive so she left her Mercedes at Smithie’s, one of Marcus’s men came to get her and Shirleen grabbed a ride with them. Since I was in the ‘hood, I caught a ride with Lee who came in one of the company’s Explorers to get Indy, Tod and Stevie. Roxie was designated driver for Jet and Al y.
We al hugged and told each other we loved each other, waxed on about how great the night was and that we’d be best friends forever for about ten minutes before Lee grabbed Indy and my upper arms and steered us to the Explorer.
They dropped me first (if you can cal Lee walking me to the door and making sure I got safely inside “dropping me”) and they took off. As I watched out the window, Indy, Tod and Stevie waved at me as Lee drove.
Rock Chick Renegade Page 41
