“Thanks. I hope you all have a great time tonight.”
I waved goodbye, and they gave me a round of applause and whistles. The bills slipped around in my shorts, and I headed to the bar to give them to José. He was serving a ton of people, so I had to wait, but it was no biggie. It gave me a chance to chat up some guys.
“Hey, Austin. Got bills you need me to hold?”
“Yeah. Here.” I pulled them out, and my eyes bugged when I unfolded them. In addition to the singles and a few fives his friends had given me, George personally had given me a wad of twenty-dollar bills that when José finished counting them, added up to $400. “Holy shit,” I said, stunned at the amount.
“Good job, man. Damn, this place is getting a better quality crowd lately for sure.”
“I didn’t even have to put out for him.” I thought I’d spoken softly enough that no one would hear me, but José grimaced.
“Does that really happen in the back rooms?”
At my arched brow, he held up his hands. “Nope. No way. Don’t want to know. I’ll just keep mixing drinks.”
“I’d better get back to dancing. Even though I’ve already made a ton of money, I don’t want to leave the guys a man short.” I patted the bar. “Catch you later.”
Many of the people I passed asked me for pictures, and it was kind of fun being a minor celebrity. They all seemed to know what I liked to drink and kept pressing margaritas on me from the waiters always circling around. After accepting two and drinking them really quickly, I refused the rest.
“Thanks, guys, but I gotta get back to dancing, or else the boss will get mad at me.” I left them and stepped back up on the stage, found Cort, and began to dance with him.
“Have you seen Frankie?” I looked but didn’t see my friend among the crowd.
“Yeah. He went in the back with some guy. Really good-looking, well dressed. Smooth, you know?”
So not Ed, the man from the week before. Cort and I ground against each other, giving a good show of it, but there was no sexual attraction between us. Cort leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Your man is back. The one with the hungry eyes.”
I stopped dancing and turned around to face my mystery man.
