CHAPTER NINE
Jess
The next day at breakfast, Nadine started up again. “Jess, I want to give you whatever you need. I know you want to go to college, and Reynolds and I want to take care of it. I’ll get you a car, too, and you can either stay here with us, or I can buy you a little house, and…”
I held up a hand. “Nadine. That’s too much.
I appreciate your offer. Truly, I do. But I stopped by West Bay University the other day, and they said as long as I could re-take an entrance exam and do as well as I did after high school, they’d honor my scholarship.
They still had everything on file.” I sighed.
“You know, I was all set to go there before poor Mom fell apart. She was strong for so long, but she just… broke.”
“I’m so sorry, honey.” She patted my hand and looked pained. “He was a real son of a bitch.”
“He was,” I agreed. “Anyway, the rest of what you were talking about, I want to earn myself. I appreciate everything, I really do…”
“I’m going to buy you a car.” Nadine got fire in her eyes and there was a set to her mouth that made my eyes widen. I’d never seen her look like that before except when she’d talked about potentially murdering Skeeter.
“Okay.” I agreed, suddenly realizing there might be another side to the sweet sister I’d gotten used to being around.
“I’d be happy to help you out, too,” a familiar, deep male voice said from behind me.
I turned to see Byron. I shook my head with a smile. “You’ve done enough already. I have an appointment to talk to Carmen and Nico today about a job.”
No one looked happy. Reynolds, Nadine, and Byron all had sour looks on their faces.
“As a hostess,” Byron said. It wasn’t a question.
“Sure,” I said, lying. I was a good dancer, and I liked it.
Plus, I already knew I wouldn’t have to do anything with the men unless I wanted to.
Which I didn’t. I’d had enough of that to last a lifetime.
The only time I wanted to go down on a man or have sex is if I wanted to be with him. Not because it was part of my job.
Nadine narrowed her eyes at me. I think she knew the truth, but she wasn’t going to out me to Reynolds or Byron.
“Good. It would cause a scandal if the sister-in-law of the mayor was a stripper,” Reynolds said, adjusting his tie.
Nadine rolled her eyes. “Please. You ended up married to me because you saw me as a stripper.”
Reynolds grinned and got a naughty gleam in his eyes. “Well, that’s true, isn’t it, honey? Maybe you should remind me of one of your routines before I go to work?”
Nadine giggled and ran up the stairs with him chasing her.
I cleared my throat and made a face. “Oh my God. Are they like that all the time?”
“Pretty much,” Byron winced. “They’re very… affectionate with each other.”
“I need to get out of this house,” I mumbled. I turned to him. “I’m almost ready to go. Is that okay?”
He nodded. “Anytime you’re ready.”
I rushed upstairs to brush my teeth, careful to avoid Reynolds’ and Nadine’s bedroom.
***
I had the distinct impression that Carmen didn’t like me. I knew she and Nadine were great friends, so I couldn’t understand why.
Unless it had to do with Byron.
Byron had looked uncomfortable when he dropped me off at Sugar. He’d gone to Saffron, the health club, to work out with Reynolds and Nico.
“So, you want to dance?” Carmen asked.
“Yes. Nadine wanted me to be a hostess, but I’m a good stripper. I’m not sure I’d be great as a hostess. I’ve never waited tables or anything.”
She looked at me. “What do you want to major in?”
I blinked. That was an abrupt subject changed. “In college?”
She cocked a perfectly shaped eyebrow at me. “Yes.”
“I’d like to go to medical school, so I’ll probably double major in biology and chemistry.”
Her mouth parted just a bit. “Oh. Well. I… didn’t expect that.”
I frowned. “What did you expect?”
She looked slightly guilty. “I don’t know. Something a lot easier, I guess.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I thought you of all people wouldn’t be that way.”
“What way?” She was back to looking down her nose at me.
“Look at me like I must be stupid because I’m pretty and have big tits.”
She coughed. “Uh, sorry. You’re right. I got sick of people telling me all the time that I was so pretty I didn’t need to work so hard in school.
I didn’t mean to do the same thing to you.
” She looked at her watch. “Nico’s going to come and watch you with me for a try-out.
He should be here soon. Let me see if I can scrounge up Leo.
He’s usually hanging around here instead of running one of his restaurants. ”
“I saw him sitting with your personal assistant.”
Carmen took a deep breath, like she was trying to be patient. “Of course he was.” She pressed a button. “Ardley? Is Leo out there with you?”
“Yes,” her PA sounded a little pissed about it, too.
“Leo, get your ass in here!”
The door swung open a few seconds later and her blond-haired, blue-eyed brother burst inside her office. “Carmen, you would not believe what Ardy’s doing.”
A small woman with lots of brown hair and large glasses came right behind him. “I’m not doing anything that I’m not supposed to do. I can’t say the same for you! Why are you even here?”
Leo gasped and put his hand over his heart. “I can’t believe you! You agreed that we could pick the fabric for the new hostess dresses together.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Carmen, he picked gold lamé. Gold lamé! The hostesses have always worn black. It’s kind of Sugar’s thing, right? I picked black leather.”
“She’s right, Leo. The hostesses always wear black. You know that. You also know it’s Ardy’s job…”
The woman gasped. “Ardley! It’s Ardley. I can’t believe you, Leo. You’ve even got my boss calling me that awful nickname. It makes me sound like a fast food restaurant.”
“Oh, there’s nothing fast about you,” Leo fired back, bending down to get in her face. “All of those clothes you wear weigh you down.”
“You’re a monster,” she hissed.
“Leo!” Carmen yelled. He whipped his head around with a smile.
“Yes?”
“Would you like to see Jess strip for a try-out?”
Leo dropped the folder of fabric samples he had in his hand. “God, yes.” He winked at me.
“Let’s go,” Carmen picked up a notebook and hurried out of her office. She mouthed ‘Sorry,’ to Ardley, and then was gone with Leo following.
I hurried after them. “Is there somewhere for me to get ready?”
***
My heart was pounding as I stood onstage and waited for the music to begin.
I was in Cayenne, the Salazar’s sex club.
This was not what I’d thought I was trying out for when I’d danced for Carmen, Nico, Leo, and Joaquin earlier today at Sugar.
Leo had apparently called Joaquin to come watch because he ‘knew he’d be interested,’ and he was.
He stared at me intently with those dark blue eyes of his, and it was difficult to concentrate on anything else.
But they’d thought I was so good, Nico wanted to use me to try something new at Cayenne. So here I was, dressed in basically nothing and made-up to within an inch of my life. I was used to dancing in front of people wearing very little except a ton of makeup on my face and hair spray in my hair.
I wasn’t used to the outfit I was wearing to be of the highest quality fabric, wearing Manolo Blahnik heels, and looking classy.
Madeline had picked my outfit, and Glory had done my hair and makeup.
I’d never looked better. I mean, I looked a bit slutty, but besides that I’d been surprised at my appearance.
I looked almost elegant. A weird thing to say about a stripper, I know, but that’s how I felt.
The hardest thing was that instead of a bunch of guys with barbed wire tattoos around large, beefy biceps, wearing trucker hats, and drinking copious amounts of beer, the patrons were…
incredibly different. There were some women, but it was mainly men who were staring at me curiously to see what I’d be doing.
They wore bespoke suits, had thousand dollar haircuts, and watches that cost more than my mother’s house.
And they were hot. Like, really good-looking.
I wondered if there was something in the water in West Bay, or if Nico had them go through plastic surgery before they could join his group of gentleman’s clubs.
Nico was suddenly beside me onstage. “Good evening. I’m trying out some new entertainment tonight. Instead of letting whoever is interested put on a show in front of the group, I thought I’d bring a new dancer to perform in front of you. So, tonight, we have Jess.”
With that, the music started up. It was nothing I’d ever heard before today.
He’d let me practice with it for an hour or so that afternoon, but it was still surprising to me.
It wasn’t so much a song as it was a sensual drum beat with a bit of background music thrown in.
It was very sexy, and it hadn’t been difficult for me to come up with a routine to go with it.
I started by wrapping one leg around the pole and pulling myself up with one arm.
I trailed the other arm free and spun around a few times before putting both of my legs tight around the pole and letting go with my hands.
I twirled a bit before climbing back up the pole and executing flips, turns, and dives in time to the music.
I wasn’t a trained pole dancer. I’d trained myself during the years I was with Gray Bones.
But the crowd seemed to love it. I’d caught the eye of Joaquin, Leo’s twin, and he’d been staring at me as if enraptured.
It surprised me. He seemed like the type of guy who’d done everything and seen everyone.
But he was staring at me instead of the woman who was half naked standing next to him. As I danced rocking my hips in time to the beat, I saw him grab the woman’s hand and put it on his cock. I’d had to force myself to keep a totally impassive face as she started jacking him while he stared at me.