"Get your ass down here, bitch!" Dante shouted. "And don’t you make wait another minute or you’re gonna regret it!"
My heart leapt again, and my stomach turned as the hamring on the front door continued. It was Dante, the absolutely repugnant owner and manager of Cherry Sweet’s Gentlen’s Club in Dorchester.
If there was an Academy Awards for World’s Biggest Asshole, he’d win every year.
And Dante wasn’t going anywhere — not without .
"Let’s go!" he shouted, banging his fist again. “If I have to get Tyrel to kick the door in I will! And I’ll add the cost of the repairs onto what you already owe !"
I grabbed my pillow, pressed it over my face, and scread until all the breath in my lungs was gone and my throat felt like it had been scrubbed with sandpaper.
I owed Dante money.
Well, technically my parents owed him money, but now that they were dead, that debt had been passed to . And how had Dante decided to collect? By forcing to strip for him at the club until all the money my parents had borrowed had been paid back.
I had no idea why my parents borrowed money or why they chose to do so from a scumbag strip-club-owning loan shark, but it didn’t matter now.
They were both gone, killed while working at the restaurant they owned together, leaving with a broken heart and a mountain of debt.
There was nothing I could do.
"Let’s go, bitch!" he roared.
"I’m coming!" I scread, throwing my pillow aside. I got up off my bed — the sa one I’d grown up in, that my dad had tucked in when I was a little girl-and looked at myself in the mirror.
I wanted to throw up.
I’d stood here for countless Halloweens and school mornings, making sure my outfit was cute and my hair was right, and now I was looking at my “tits and ass" trying to determine if I was sexy enough for the hungry n who would be ogling in less than a half an hour.
And I had no idea what I was doing.
I got so black fishnets because guys like fish nets, right? I had a garter belt with straps, also black, and a black thong with a matching black bra and a crop top t-shirt so I could at least have so modesty until I had to dance.
Dance...
Just the thought of it made sick.
What would I have to do? Be up on the stage having dollar bills thrown at ? Give lap dances?
Or worse!?
I was completely pretending. I had no idea how to be sexy, so I was just going off the stereotypes we all knew.
Tossing my hair in a way that would Felicityfully make it look hog I made my way down the stairs and yanked the door open just as Dante began banging again. I had to duck out of the way of his fist or it would have hit .
“The hell are you wearing?” he snarled, almost laughing as he eyed like I’d co out in a SpongeBob costu or sothing.
What did he know about fashion anyway? He was wearing cowboy boots, white jeans, and a leather trench coat with hair so long he could have played a vampire in a movie.
"What?" I asked. If I wasn’t so angry I would have blushed. "What’s wrong with it?"
Dante shook his head.
"Whatever. The boys won’t be looking at anything but those sweet tits anyway. Get in the fucking car."
I followed Dante to his all-black pickup truck that was raised off the ground so high that the doors had literal step ladders to get up to them.
Overcompensate much?
I climbed up like I was a criminal being taken to prison, and that wasn’t too far from the truth.
The truck roared to life like a howling monster, and I grabbed the armrest as Dante peeled out of my driveway and sped towards the club.
It was about a twenty-minute ride, but ti flew by, making it feel more like two minutes. The next thing I knew we were in the back lot, and I was stepping through the back door into the locker room, which was filled with girls getting ready for the night.
"Girls, this is.." Dante turned to and raised his eyebrows.
Oh, right. My stripper na...
"Uh, Gina," I replied. A lot of girls used Russian nas, according to Dante.
Every single one of them looked at like a hostile invader here to take their money and their job. I felt my stomach lurch and wondered if I should head to a stall to throw up my breakfast-the only al I’d managed to eat all day.
"I’ll leave you girls to get acquainted,” Dante said. “And I’ll be back for you later."
Dante left, but not before giving one of the girls a slap on her bare ass. She flashed him a sexy glance that told all I needed to know about his relationships with the girls here.
They were all clearly way more comfortable than I was. I felt completely exposed in my outfit, but the rest of them were either half-naked or completely naked and walking around like it was no big deal.
One girl, clearly the queen bee, wearing nothing but a G-string and a curly pink wig, walked right up to and for a second, I thought she was going to hit in the face. She stopped less than an inch from my face and stared.
"Look, Gina," she spat.
“You just stay out of my, and the, other girls’, way. Understand?"
“I — ”
“You even think about stealing one of them high rollers from us, and I’ll beat that pretty little face of yours until you look like a blow up doll. Comprende?"
"Yes..." I said quickly.
“Mmhmm," she nodded. “Nice fishnets, bitch."
She turned away and was greeted by laughter and high fives from the other girls. I found a corner of the locker room and waited, doing my best not to stare (or throw up) at the rest of the
girls as they got ready.
They chatted about guys, money, their boyfriends, and what songs they were going to dance to, and all I could think about was running away.
But where would I go? The police? What would I tell them? That Dante was forcing to pay off an illegal debt my parents owed? As shady as Dante was, he had even shadier guys working for him and I wanted nothing to do with them.
I wouldn’t mind running off with that man from last night, I thought, even though I knew just how silly that was.
I didn’t even know his na for God’s sake. Lesley? That was a load of crap. He didn’t want to tell who he really was, and while that should have scared , I had to admit it kind of excited .
I’d been sitting there by myself, wishing I was just another college student whose only worries were her next assignnt or getting to class on ti, and he’d co out of nowhere like a force of nature.
I must have looked like a complete ss, having been crying for an hour before hand, knowing what I had to do tonight, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. He was gorgeous and had co at despite my protests like I was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen and nothing I could say was going to stop him.
And I’d given in. It was like I had no choice.
My body had taken over and I’d kissed him, and it wasn’t because I was vulnerable at the ti either; it was because I’d wanted him.
And that’s what scared .
That’s why I’d run away.
I would have given myself to him I right then and there when I didn’t even have my life together.
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