“Customers almost started a fight about him. His repeat from Friday night and some new guy.” Rico gives him a nod, then disappears down the hallway, leaving me alone.
“Shut the door,” Vinnie orders.
I step into the office and close the door behind me, then lean against it. That seems safer than getting any closer to Vinnie.
“What have I told you about working here?”
“The customer is all that matters,” I reply, my voice shaking a little in the small space.
The light overhead flickers twice before buzzing back on.
“Sounds like you think you’re better than the customer.”
“I-I don’t. Things just got out of hand. One of the regulars grabbed me, and the guy he was with didn’t like it. That’s all.” I swear I can still feel Bryce’s disgusting hand groping my ass. I can’t believe the guy he was with stopped him. No one’s ever done that before.
“What have I told you about jealous customers?”
I swallow past the tightness in my throat. “Threesomes are popular for a reason.”
“Exactly. You should’ve gotten his friend included instead of allowing them to fight.”
I don’t respond. The stranger didn’t seem all that interested in me. He didn’t even look at me when I was dancing on stage. Vinnie believes we can get customers to do whatever we want just with sex appeal alone. Maybe that works on some people but not on others.
“I’m going to have to let you go,” Vinnie says after a minute of silence.
Panic stabs my chest. “What? No, no, you can’t do that. I need this job, Vinnie. Please, I’m sorry. I’ll be better in the future.”
“I need people in here knowing they’re going to get the fantasy they’re paying for. You let a customer down today, Sam. That’s not something I tolerate.”
My eyes burn, and I blink quickly to make sure the tears stay inside. How am I supposed to take care of Nathan now? Mybrother needs me to be the provider. I promised him I’d take care of him. This job wasn’t my first choice by far, but it came with a big paycheck.
Vinnie sighs. “Look, Sam, you’re a good kid. I’m not surprised you already have guys fighting over you. But that’s bad for business, you understand?”
I nod numbly. I’ve only been here a couple of months, and I’ve been grabbed several times, despite the posted warnings. If that guy had just stayed out of it, none of this would be happening.
“I could probably let you stay . . .”
Hope flares in my chest and look up to see him rolling a pen back and forth across his desk with the tip of his index finger.
“I could let you stay if you worked solely in the private rooms.”
My heart sinks. The private rooms are for stuff not legal on the dance floor. It took me forever to work up the nerve to do private lap dances; I can’t go in there and give random guys blow jobs. Not when I’ve never even had sex yet. I’d fuck everything up.
Vinnie watches me for a long minute. “Take the weekend and think it over. But keep in mind that just because I gave you a chance doesn’t mean anyone else will. Especially when Bryce starts telling people what happened today.”
“I understand.” It comes out quieter than I want it to. I can’t believe I lost this job already. Can’t believe I’m about to consider working as a hooker instead. I don’t have any moral aversion to it or judge people in that line of work, but it’s not what I want. I want to have sex with someone I care about, not some stranger for money.
But if I can’t find a way to make some fast money, I might not have much of a choice.
Three
Dalton
I got that dancer in trouble.
It pisses me off because I know I did the right thing by stopping Bryce.
After he left in a huff, I sent Arnie a text to tell him what a dick his friend was, then I took a chance and stood outside the side door. Something tells me that dancer isn’t heading out the front.
