“Come on. It’s definitely you. I saw you there last week. There’s no need to be shy,” the man said. “Let me take you out to dinner.”
“No, thank you,” Rita said, trying to free her arm, and a deep frown settled on the man’s face, mirroring Rita’s disgruntled expression.
“I’m trying to be cordial with you, but you don’t have to treat me like a stalker. I know it’ll take much less than a date for you to take your clothes off.”
Rita’s eyes widened, and all the girls were rattled as they went over to help Rita. Nikos placed the bags on the bench, hoping no one would take them, but he needed his arms free just in case this turned physical.
Nikos approached the man, who was drawing attention to himself now that the other ladies surrounded him. Nikos could see people pulling their phones out, and he sighed. He didn’t need this to turn into a bigger deal than it was, despite this guy being a complete asshole.
“Hey, man,” Nikos said to the man, shoving him away from Rita. “Just walk away. She doesn’t want to go to dinner with you.”
“You’re her boyfriend?” the man asked, disgruntled. “Do you know what she does for a living? What are you, a cuck?”
“Ugh, you’re a disgusting asshole,” Sweetie said as she tried to get to the man, but Honey and Rachel held her back. Rita looked embarrassed as she glanced at the crowd that was forming around them.
“I’m disgusting? But you all are the ones showing your bodies for a few bucks—”
Nikos jabbed the man in his neck, causing him to choke on the rest of his words. The man grabbed his neck in shock, and Nikos grabbed him and pushed him against the wall, knowing it would take some time for him to catch his breath again.
“Be a gentleman, man,” Nikos said, disgusted by the words he just heard. “If she doesn’t want your number, you have to accept that. The next time I see you around any of the girls at the club, I won’t be so nice. Understood?”
The man’s eyes were wide and red as he stared at Nikos before he nodded. Nikos stood back and watched as the man fell to the ground. Sweetie squealed with excitement as she grabbed his arm and glared at the man.
“It serves you right for being an asshole,” Sweetie said before she snapped a picture of him. “I’ll make sure James and Roland never let you into the club again.”
The crowd dispersed as they walked back over to the bench where their bags were still untouched. Nikos glanced back to see the man had slithered away, probably embarrassed that that happened in front of so many people, but if he hadn’t been an asshole that wouldn’t have happened to him. He was lucky that he hadn’t done more, but there had been too many eyes on him, and he was pretty sure his uncle wouldn’t have been happy having to bail him out of jail over something like this.
“Nikos, you were so cool,” Sweetie gushed. “You really know how to fight.”
“Thank you, Nikos,” Rita said, blushing.
“No problem,” Nikos said as he winked at Rita. “Every princess needs their calvary.”
“What a jackass,” Amber said. “Are you okay, Rita?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “He saw me come out of the store, and he wouldn’t leave me alone.”
“Let’s go talk about this over food,” Allison whined. “I’m so hungry.”
Allison, Sweetie, Amber, and Rita walked arm in arm, leading them, while Rachel fell back a step to talk to someone over the phone. That left himself in the back with Honey, who walked quietly. She wasn’t nearly as talkative or as social as the other girls.
“Were you impressed?” Nikos asked coyly, knowing what the result would be, and when Honey looked at him, her face screwed in disgust, Nikos laughed. She was so easy to annoy.
Nikos sighed as he absentmindedly spoke. “That guy was an asshole, but I guess stuff like this happens when you have a job like this, and you have to accept it and not let it weigh you down.”
“A job like what?”
“You know, a job like this that lacks mora—”
Abruptly, Honey paused in her steps, and Nikos froze in his place.
“That lacks morals?” Honey repeated, frowning, and when Nikos realized what he said, he would have palmed his face if he could. He shouldn’t have said that in front of her. He had almost forgotten that Honey had the same job. For some odd reason, it had slipped his mind.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Rita is doing a job that lacks morals because she lives in a country that doesn’t have universal health care, and her father has lung cancer. She’s in that club every night trying to pay the bills off just so she can keep her father alive,” Honey said, and immediately, Nikos felt like an asshole, even worse than the guy back there.
“Every exotic dancer doesn’t have a sob story, but our job is a way to make money like any other job. Women should get the right to choose to do what they want with their bodies without being judged and harassed for it.”
