Aurora waved her off. “I’m not scared, I’m a realist. I know where I do and don’t fit.”
“Do you?” Synia asked, propping her hand on her hip. “Because you don’t belong at Splash. You belong in one of the skyscrapers downtown with an office overlooking the city. You know those firms with the owner’s name in gold letters behind the secretary's station. Stop talking yourself out of happiness. Were you happy with him?”
Aurora looked away. The answer was yes. But she couldn’t bring herself to say it because the reality that Khalif could possibly be hers was … heavy.
Synia hummed. “Mmhmm. You were. So until you go get your man, operation get you out of the strip club has commenced. Come on.”
Inside the club, the pair was met by Vick, his cloud of smoke, and his disapproving scowl. “Now does someone want to tell me why the fuck my two most requested girls went MIA on me last night? It was damn near a riot in here.”
“Vick, I already told you not to call me in if I’m not on your little schedule,” Synia replied. “I got shit to do that doesn’t require shaking my ass.”
Vick scoffed. “And what’s your excuse?”
Aurora looked at him oddly. “Excuse? Vick, please. I already told you not to call me in. If those niggas were about to riot, don’t have nothing to do with me. My patrons know when I’m here.”
Vick scoffed again, taking a draft of his blunt before blowing it out. “Go get y’all asses ready for tonight. Damn VIP is booked.”
Synia mocked him and rolled his eyes. “Nigga, you better say please ‘cause when we leave what you gon’ do?”
“Y’all ain’t taking your asses nowhere!”
Aurora smirked. “You need to stop challenging me the way you do. I’ll leave your ass right here.”
“And do what, live off your daddy’s money? Oh, wait,” Vick spoke with a condescending chuckle. “Ain’t none. Take y’all asses to the locker room.”
Aurora looked at Synia. “You know, if I were one to fight, I would knock his ass out. I can’t stand him.”
Synia pulled Aurora away. “Come on. You’re almost out of here. Can’t be a lawyer with a felony assault case.”
Aurora allowed Synia to pull her away. At her mirror, she made up her face, but unlike any of the nights before, she couldn’t focus on the task at hand. With every glide of her hand over her skin, she wished it were Khalif’s touch. The process of turning into Aura was becoming a task. A task that took more than an hour to pull off.
She took a look at the red set she wore, the lace mask over her eyes. Just enough showing to make whoever waited in the VIP want to touch but enough covered to silently refuse the advances.
Vick stepped in and called her by name. “Aura, upstairs to the private room. Don’t give me no lip either, this nigga dropped a bag for your ass.”
Aurora frowned. She heard the stories about the private room, typically, the dancers who went weren’t scared of the patron having his way. That wasn’t Aurora’s game.
Vick spoke again before she could object. “Biggs is going with you. I’ve given the nigga the rules. If he steps out of line, I’ll have his ass dropped.”
Aurora relaxed her shoulders slightly with relief. As she started past Vick, she mumbled, “I still can’t stand your ass.”
“The sentiment is the same.”
Biggs and Aurora started to the top level of the club in silence before Biggs looked at her. “How much longer you got in here?”
“A semester and a passed bar exam.”
“You scared of not passing?”
“…yeah actually. I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to.”
“If you ask me, you’ve been here too long already.” Biggs opened the door for her. “You want me inside?”
Aurora nodded. “Please.”
Aurora stepped in with Biggs behind her. Across the room, she spotted the man willing to spend too much money for a private dance. Khalif. Her breathing hitched slightly.
She turned to look at Biggs. “I’ll be okay.”
