“It’s getting late, and the park is going to close soon,” Honey said, glancing at her watch.
“Please! Just one more ride.”
“Only kids who listen to their mothers get to ride on my shoulders,” Nikos said, and immediately, Kai’s pleading stopped.
“Come on, kid,” Nikos said as he helped Kai get on his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“Yay!”
“Thanks, Nikos,” Honey said as they walked back to the car with Kai on his shoulder.
“You can thank me in other ways,” Nikos said suggestively as he winked at her, and Honey smacked his arm before they all settled into the car.
After fifteen minutes of chattering about all of his escapades, Kai had fallen asleep and slept for the entire drive back to their apartment. Instead of waking him, Nikos carried him upstairs and helped her put him in bed. She felt like she had been thanking Nikos for this entire day, but this entire day he had been doing things that she was grateful for.
“Thank you,” she told him as they left Kai’s room.
“No problem,” Nikos said as he headed to the door before he paused. Honey lifted a brow, wondering what else he had to say to her.
“Okay,” Nikos said.
Honey frowned. “Okay?”
“You can work in the back.”
Honey blinked, surprised, before suddenly, without thinking, she launched her body at Nikos and pulled him into a hug. Nikos hesitantly wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back. She squeezed him tight, so thankful that he was letting her work in the back. No matter how many times she had asked Antonis, he always said no, trying to coerce her into having sex with him. She had started to think asking Nikos was a waste of time too, but he was letting her now.
When Honey pulled back, there was an awkward air between them that Honey didn’t know how to dispel, but luckily, Nikos fixed that for them.
“Talk to Angela about setting a gig up for you there and tell her I approve,” Nikos said, and Honey nodded. He gave her a small smile before he left, and as Honey watched him go, she couldn’t help but be grateful that Nikos was the owner of the club now because today wouldn’t have turned out the way it had if Antonis had been here instead.
C H A P T E R
22
AFTER STANDING HALF-NAKED ONSTAGE IN FRONT OF MEN FOR OVER FIVE YEARS NOW, Honey shouldn’t be nervous, but she was. She was more nervous than she had ever been before as she anxiously stood in front of the mirror, looking at the outfit that her first client requested her to wear for tonight. It was a tight, power pink bodice with a white garter belt attached to pink boots. It was soft and virginal, something unlike the things she had worn before, and she didn’t like how it washed out her blond wig, but it was requested, so she went along with it.
After Nikos gave her the go-ahead, Honey immediately went to speak to Angela, who ran the exchange of pleasure thathappened in the back of the club. She joined the girls with their clients, and Angela had told her that this particular man had been waiting for her for a long time now, and he was very happy to learn that the rule about her had been broken— that she could never work in the back.
It was crazy to think that just a few months ago, she had been begging to work in the back, and now she was here, about to get her chance to make the money she needed in a small amount of time so she could fulfill her own dreams, and she had Nikos to thank for that.
When someone entered the dressing room, Honey turned from the mirror to see Rachel at the door. Rachel gave her a once over as she leaned against the door with her arms crossed.
“Are you nervous?” she asked. Honey wanted to lie and say she wasn’t, but she knew her voice would betray her just as the shake in her legs would. She was beyond nervous, filled with anxiousness that made her stomach tight.
“It’ll be nerve-wracking in the beginning,” Rachel admitted from her own experience. “And to be honest, the feeling won’t ever really go away, especially with new clients, but it’ll get easier.”
Honey’s stomach tightened more as she drank in Rachel’s words.
“You’ll have to learn how to harden yourself again like you did when you first started dancing. You’ll have to harden yourself even more and create thick layers of skin to do this.”
“But it’s worth it, right?” Honey said, wanting some hopeful words. After all, Rachel did it too and made lots of money from it. Most girls came here looking at the exit sign immediately, but Rachel wasn’t one of them. She knew what her good looks wereworth and wrung every last dime out of it without blinking an eye.
“The worth always depends on the person,” Rachel said, shrugging. “But I wish you good luck, anyway. Angela always tries to give newbies the easiest clients to work with first, so it shouldn’t be bad. It’ll just be a bit… off-putting.”
That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but she was thankful that Rachel was honest with her.
“Good luck,” Rachel told her as James entered the room.
