Chapter 8
C H A P T E R
WHEN HONEY RETURNED BACK TO THE DRESSING ROOM AFTER HER PERFORMANCE, she didn’t expect to come back to a catfight.
Allison and Brittany swung their arms wildly, scratching and smacking each other until their hands made their way to each other’s hair.
Honey wished she could say she was surprised, but she wasn’t.
Fights broke out all the time here over the pettiest squabbles, and Honey did her best to stay out of it.
She had gotten into a fight or two herself, but when most of the girls realized that she didn’t swing wildly and threw her fists with the intention of making it really hurt, the girls knew to keep their snide remarks to a minimum with her, and generally left her alone, only dollying out the occasional smart remark and glare.
After working at Uptown, these girls were nothing compared to the girls back there.
Honey maneuvered her way around the crowd that gathered around the two girls, half of them watching for entertainment and the other half trying to stop the fight but too scared of getting hit themselves.
James was nowhere in the room, so she assumed he must have been out front, probably handling an unruly customer. If he were back here, the fight would end in an instant, with each girl wrangled on one side of his arms. And Roland, the other bouncer there, was probably out on the floor.
“Come on, girls! Let’s stop this,” Amber said as she hovered over them, attempting to part them, but jumping back whenever a manicured nail flung her way. “Allie, remember you have to perform after this. You’re going to be all scratched up on stage.”
“Tell this stupid whore to get off of me then!” Allison yelled as she tried to yank her hair from Brittany’s grip, but the blond refused to let go, just as Allison refused to let go.
Honey sighed as she sat down at her dresser.
She was tired after her performance, and her motto was to mind her business when it came down to matters that didn’t involve her at the club.
She started to gently remove the jewels off her eyelids, ignoring all of the noises and thumps, and she was doing a good job of it until her vanity shook and her tweezers fell from her hand.
She whipped her head and glared at Brittany and Allison, who were both now near her vanity. She could have stabbed herself in the eye because of them. Slamming her hand against the table, Honey stood. She had enough of this.
“Be careful, Honey,” Amber called.
Honey hovered near the girls and when she saw both girls lift their hands up, poised to strike, Honey grabbed their arms. Allison and Brittany both craned their necks to look at her.
“Get off me,” Brittany said as she struggled to remove her arm, but Honey only held on tighter because if Brittany hit her, she would hit Brittany back, and it would defeat the entire point of her stopping this fight.
“Let go of each other’s hair,” Honey said to them both. When she saw neither of them would let go, she sighed. “I saw hair on the ground.”
Both girls immediately released each other simultaneously as they groped their own hair, looking at the ground for any sign of their hair. Honey had lied, though. Though, it was possible that their hair could be on the ground.
“What the hell are y’all fighting for?” Honey barked, annoyed. “Both of you still have to perform, and now y’all both look as red as fucking apples.”
Allison glared at Brittany as she looked at her skin, which was all scratched up. Brittany’s friends gathered around her, helping her fix her hair, while Amber and Rachel stood behind Allison.
“Hello? What the hell is going on with you two?” Honey asked. Now that she was involved in it, she genuinely wanted to know the reason she nearly got her eyeball plucked out. It had better be a good damn reason, or she would smack both of them.
“Allison started it with her big mouth,” Brittany spat.
“No, you started it!” Allison retorted. “I didn’t even say anything to you. You were just mad that you saw me with Nikos earlier.”
Honey snorted. And there was the culprit behind all of this.
“Mad?” Brittany said as she folded her arms. “I wasn’t mad about anything. You’re the one overly excited for no reason when Nikos is just playing with you.”
“Nikos is playing with you. You gave it up so easily, and now he doesn’t want you anymore,” Allison said. “You’re just mad that he’s ignoring you.”
“Ignoring me? We just talked this morning. I have his number, unlike you, and he’s been to my place.”
“He’s been to mine too! You’re not special. He just likes me better than you.”
“As if he could ever. You’re not even a better dancer than me, Allison. The only thing he likes about you is those cocksucker lips of yours.”
“Fuck you, Brittany. He wouldn’t like a stick like you, which is exactly why he’s leaving with me tonight.”
“Well—”
“Just stop it!” Honey said, annoyed. Both girls looked stunned as they looked at her. “Please, get away from my vanity so I can fix it. Allison, go to Rickman and ask him to get you some ice so you won’t look so red when you go out on the floor.”
“What about me?” Brittany asked, looking mildly offended that she didn’t tell her the same.
“I don’t even like you,” Honey said, and Brittany glared before she walked away with her friends.
“Okay, Honey,” Allison said as she left the dressing room, and Amber followed behind their friend, not without shooting her a look of gratitude first.
The crowd dispersed, and everyone went to do what they had been doing before the fight broke out. Honey sat down at her vanity and fixed the items on top that fell. Rachel, another dancer Honey got along with, came over and propped herself alongside her vanity. Honey glanced at her.
“If you hadn’t been here, I’m certain it would have gotten worse,” Rachel said off-handedly.
Honey shook her head. “I just don’t get it. It’s like listening to teenage girls. I guess Antonis’s nephew is handsome but is he really worth all of this? Besides, I just saw him out there with Sweetie. He’s been messing with half of the girls here. He’s like a dog with a bone.”
Every time she saw the blond-haired man with ocean-blue eyes, he was with a different girl here.
If it wasn’t a dancer, it was a bottle girl.
If it wasn’t a bottle girl, it was one of the few female customers the club had.
He was a playboy having his merry fun and causing nothing but problems. She had barely spoken more than ten words to him, and already, she didn’t like him.
“Honestly,” Rachel started to say as she mildly winced. “I kind of understand them.”
“Are you serious?” Honey asked, scuffing. She expected this from Amber but not Rachel. She was one of the oldest girls here, in her mid-thirties, and she was usually the sensible one.
“He’s very handsome,” Rachel argued, and Honey sighed because she couldn’t deny that.
Nikos had wavy, floppy blond hair in a crew cut.
His eyes were incredibly blue, so bright and inviting that it made you want to stare at them.
Unfortunately, she knew that herself because she had accidentally locked eyes with him earlier while performing.
For a moment, she had genuinely been stuck, which was a first for herself.
She didn’t care for making eye contact with any of the men at the club, but for some reason, when her eyes accidentally landed on him, it had taken her a second to look away, which was unusual.
Honey guessed she could admit Nikos had a charming smile.
A few times in passing, she had seen him helping James and Roland with things too, so she saw his muscular body.
Now that she thought about it, it was no wonder the girls here were fawning over him.
He wasn’t her type. She had only dated Black men before, and the few exceptions had been Latino.
White men weren’t necessarily her cup of tea, but the girls here weren’t Black like herself.
All of them probably saw Nikos as their type, and it didn’t help that Nikos apparently was the son of a very wealthy man, from what Amber told her.
“He can be very persuasive too, and he’s funny.”
Honey arched a brow, wondering how Rachel knew all of this.
Nikos didn’t seem the type to waste his time on idle chatter.
Honey had a feeling that the only reason she had been able to escape Nikos’s persuasive conversation was because his uncle had said something to him about her.
Honey wasn’t arrogant enough to think that she could capture every man’s interest, but Nikos clearly didn’t have much of a standard and would fuck any woman with a hole.
Honey had practically seen him speak with every girl here except for her. She guessed that if he didn’t see bed potential, he didn’t see a reason for talking. Not that she minded it. It was already enough to deal with Antonis. She didn’t want to deal with his nephew either.
“And he’s really good in bed,” Rachel admitted, and Honey’s eyes widened.
“You too?” she whispered as she glanced around her, hoping that no one heard. The last thing she needed was for another fight to break out near her vanity, or she was certain that it would break this time.
“Honestly,” Rachel said as she glanced around. “The best sex I’ve ever had.”
“When?” Honey hadn’t even seen Rachel with Nikos. How many women had he been with?
“A few days ago, while we were in one of the backrooms,” Rachel said.
“I hadn’t expected it to be that good, but it was.
He’s a very attentive lover, different than most men.
That’s probably the reason that Brittany and Allie are acting like that.
Though I suspect it’s the money for Brittany.
Nikos might not necessarily flaunt his money, but it’s clear he has it.
His watch is at least over thirty grand, and they say he’s Aris’s brother. ”
“Aris?” Honey questioned as she tried to rummage her mind for a face with that name.
Rachel shook her head. “You weren’t working here when he was around. Aris is Nikos’s older brother. Aris and Nikos are the sons of Giannis Drakos. He’s a man with a lot of power in Greece and America. I heard he was a menace back in the nineties when he was here.”
“Like Antonis?” Honey asked curiously. She knew that Antonis was a part of some dark things, and that was why he had the money and power that he had in New York.
She tended to mind her business, not wanting to get caught up in things like that, so if the cops were to ever question her, she wouldn’t have any information to give them.
But after working here for over four years, she had seen some things—crates and packages floating around, people disappearing— things she didn’t want to see.
“Bigger than Antonis,” Rachel said as she glanced around, lowering her voice. “The reason that Antonis has this power is because of Nikos’s father.”
“Damn,” Honey said, shaking her head. No wonder Brittany wanted him. With that type of money, she would be set for life if she had Nikos.
“Wait. How do you know all of this?” Honey questioned.
“Hung out with Amber and Theo at the bar the other weekend. He runs his mouth when he gets drunk,” Rachel said, shrugging.
“I keep warning y’all not to mess with these men before you get caught up in something,” Honey said, shaking her head. “I don’t care how much money they have. They’re trouble and dangerous.”
People wondered why she wouldn’t give in to Antonis despite him being rich, but she didn’t care about how much money he had.
In all of this time of knowing each other, Antonis had proved that he only saw her as a doll that he wanted to own.
On top of that, the life he lived was dangerous and something she wouldn’t subject herself or her son to.
Though she was working here for money, she wasn’t that desperate for it.
She knew when not to touch the stove, and men like Antonis and Nikos were the flames on top of it.
“Maybe you don’t care about money, but what about sex?” Honey lifted a brow as she took her honey blond wig off, letting her real dark brown hair show.
“I’m telling you, Honey. You should just try it for fun,” Rachel said.
“I would never have sex with someone like him,” Honey said, frowning at the thought. “Besides, I’m not even attracted to him.”
“I thought the same, and then I found myself in a closet with him,” Rachel said as she winked at her before she walked away.
Honey paused for a second, processing that information before she shook her head.
She wouldn’t do anything with Nikos, especially not for a good time.
She believed Rachel, knowing that she wasn’t one to lie about things like that, but it didn’t matter how good at sex Nikos was.
She would continue to keep her distance from him and probably remain the only dancer here untouched by him.