“Camden Snow sucks too,” she says, glaring at me.
I do. I so fucking do.
“Yeah,” Savannah says, her tone full of sadness, not anger. “I don’t know, Jose. I really thought he was it.”
The pain that’s been torturing me for days only compounds. I have to see her. I have to find her. I take a step toward Josie, ready to grab the phone to tell her I am it, that I’ll fix what I broke, but before I can, a woman on the other end of the call says, “Come on, Sav. It’s your turn for the glitter.”
“Oh shoot, I gotta go,” Savannah says. “Kacie’s waiting for me.”
“Wait,” Josie urges, just like I want to. “Whatever you’re doing, you don’t have to.” Her eyes are locked on mine now. We’re like-minded when it comes to this. Allies, even if she’s ready to dig my grave.
“I do, though,” Savannah says. “I need to fix this for myself. But I love you for caring.”
“I’ll always care, Sav.” Josie sniffs. “Be safe please.”
“Of course.” And then Savannah is gone.
The room falls silent, the two of us staring at one another.
“You know where she is, right?” she finally asks.
I nod, heart in my throat. “Yeah, I think so.”
“You’re going to fix this.”
Either that, or I’ll end up behind bars again. Because yeah, I know exactly where Savannah is. And I know what she’s doing to earn the money she needs to cover her rent.
And I don’t fucking like it one bit.
FORTY-SEVEN
SAVANNAH
I’ve never envisioned doingsomething like this for money. For fun? Sure. I have a blast on the pole when the only people watching are the other women in the class. And the idea of dancing in front of a group of hot men? Well, that never sounded terrible.
But this isn’t that. The men in the audience are strangers. Some are decent-looking guys in business suits—out with the boys, they probably tell their wives—but a larger portion are creepy older men. Then there is the handful of belligerent assholes.
This is night three, and belligerent assholes aside, it hasn’t been bad. And even where they’re concerned, the club has great security. They keep the patrons in check.
And this is temporary anyway. I’ll get through tonight and be done with it. I can see how tempting it is to do this night after night, though. I made two thousand dollars over two nights, and that’s without doing private dances. I told the owner I wasn’t interested in that. I’ll earn enough dancing on stage alone, and I’m not in the mood to be any closer to these men than I need to be.
I feel a little better after talking to Josie. It was a relief to getso much off my chest. I didn’t intend to word vomit like that before going on stage, but I couldn’t stop once the explanation started flowing.
Josie has no idea how much it means to me that she’s on my side. That she thinks my mom is as terrible as I do. That she’s pissed at Cam too.
Being disappointed by my mom is nothing new. She did exactly what she always does, so while it’s upsetting that she could so easily take my money like that, it’s not shocking. But with Cam? I feel like I’ve been flayed open. He hasn’t reached out. I really thought I was important to him. But with every day that passes, I’m more convinced that he really did jump into the relationship because of the bet. That it was all fake.
“You okay?” Kacie catches my eye in the mirror. Only then do I realize there’s a tear trailing down my face.
God, how embarrassing. I swipe it away quickly and then turn around to face her. Kacie is thirty, and she’s got the most beautiful thick black hair. She’s wearing a robe over her costume, which is red and sexy as fuck. We’re all wearing red tonight, since it’s February and the club is really embracing the month of love.
Gag me. Not a single person in this place cares about love. It reeks of baby oil, hair spray, and desperation, tinged with alcohol and cigar smoke.
“Just having a moment,” I say.
“If tonight’s really your last night?—”
“It is,” I say, lifting my chin. “After tonight, I’ll have enough to cover this month’s rent and next.”
