“This is why we’re always in here for hours because you always have to be fancy with it,” said her older sister, Olivia, who dragged her feet as they picked up groceries. Olivia looked much like herself, with caramel brown skin, kinky curly brown hair currently slicked back in a ponytail, and brown eyes. The only difference between them was that Olivia had taken their father’s tall height, playing basketball in high school when she was younger, while Honey had gotten their mother’s shorter height.
“And that’s why yours always go bad so quickly,” Honey said as they continued down the aisle. “You have to pick the ripe ones, otherwise, it’s a waste of money.”
Olivia rolled her eyes.
Unlike herself, Olivia was like most people with a nine-to-five, working as a sales associate at Saks Fifth Avenue, but today was her day off, so she had come out to spend time with her, even though she had already done her grocery shopping a few days ago. They had always been close as children growing up, so even though they were adults now with jobs, they still made time for each other when they could.
“So, are you coming to the annual family cookout?” Olivia asked as she tossed a watermelon in the cart without checking. Now, Honey found herself rolling her eyes. Her sister would never learn.
“Nope,” Honey said without thought because there was no need to think. She hadn’t been to the last six cookouts, and it would continue to be that way. She didn’t even know why her sister bothered to ask since her response had always been the same.
“Hope,” her sister said, exasperated, but Honey shook her head.
“I don’t want to spend my time around people who are going to judge me,” Honey explained, shaking her head. “If it isn’t going to be about Kai, it’ll be about me being a dancer.”
The last time she had made the mistake of going, she had to suffer through the stares and the whispers, and at the time, she hadn’t even been a dancer yet, but because of her young age, that was enough for the people she had known all of her life to judge her as if she were some stranger off the street.
It sucked that Kai didn’t get to be around all of his family members, but it was better that way. The last thing she needed was someone saying something to her son because then it would be a big problem, and she would be banned from the family cookouts after that.
“How long do you plan on dancing?” her sister asked curiously. “It’s been three or four years, right? I thought you hadn’t planned on being there long.”
It had been five years and counting since she became a dancer at strip clubs. Initially, like most other exotic dancers, she hadn’t planned on being there that long, but it felt that every time she stacked her paper up, something threw a wrench into her plans, causing her to have this job longer than necessary.
“And I thought you were going to open up your own restaurant,” her sister added as she tried to sneak candy into the cart for her nephew, but Honey swatted her hand and placed it back on the counter. “You definitely have the skills to do it.”
Honey sighed. “I’ve just been trying to save up as much money as possible, but it’s hard because Antonis won’t let me do anything besides perform on the main stage.”
“That annoyingly handsome boss of yours?” Olivia questioned, and Honey whipped her head to look at her sister.
“What?” Olivia said before she relented under her glare. “I was looking at his profile on Facebook. For an older guy, he really looks good. The salt and pepper look really works for him.”
Honey shook her head, exasperated. She didn’t care if Antonis looked good or not. Ever since she met him, he had been causing nothing but trouble in her life, making things difficult for her at her job. Sometimes, she wished he had never seen her perform at the club that night. Though Diamond’s club hadn’t been perfect, and she had had her fair share of problems there, Diamond at least didn’t act weirdly possessive of her. The bigger man had flirted with her a few times, but once she made her boundaries clear, he backed off. But Antonis was completely different. He didn’t care how she felt.
“I need to find a way to get him to allow me to work behind the stage,” Honey said, gnawing on her bottom lip. “If I did that, I could be finished with dancing by the end of next year.”
“Are you sure you really want to do that?” Olivia asked uncertainly, and Honey understood her sister’s apprehension. Unlike the rest of their family, Olivia had been the only one not to judge her and had stuck by her side despite everything. Even when Honey told her she wanted to work in the back, Olivia hadn’t judged her. But Honey knew her sister was worried, and Honey couldn’t blame her for that.
Working in the back was a completely different ball game than working on the main stage and doing floor performances. The veil between the dancer and customer was lifted, and there was no longer anything to separate them. She had dealt with handsy men before, but the moment she stepped behind those double doors, those hands would do more than simply squeeze her ass. Much more.
“It will get me money quicker, and the quicker I get the money, the easier it’ll be for me to pay off these damn loans and to save up for cooking school and my own restaurant.”
They continued down the aisle, dropping items into the cart until they made it to the register. While the woman behind the register scanned her items and bagged them, Honey glanced around herself, noticing a man who watched her with an interested eye. When their eyes connected, he smiled at her. Honey turned away and noticed that her sister had been watching the exchange. Honey withheld her sigh, knowing that Olivia was like a dog with a bone when it came down to playing matchmaker.
“He’s cute,” her sister said, nudging her, but Honey ignored her. For one, he wasn’t her type. She wasn’t a fan of his goatee, and she could already tell from his stance that he was the military type. With her line of work, it was easy to know who men were just from their clothes and the way they carried themselves. She didn’t need a drill sergeant in her life who didn’t know how to turn the military shit off when they got home in more ways than one. And two, she wasn’t looking for anyone. She already had too much on her plate. And then there was her final reason.
“When are you going to start dating again?” Olivia asked as Honey paid for her groceries, and they made their way out of the store. The bright sun beamed down on them as they crossed the parking lot to Honey’s car.
“That’s another reason I need to get money as quickly as possible, so I can get away from that club,” Honey said as she popped the trunk. “Otherwise, I’ll be alone for the rest of my life.”
Olivia quirked a brow, but Honey waved her sister off. Honey had made many complaints about her boss before, but she hadnever gone into the details about Antonis’s obsession with her, knowing that if her sister knew, Olivia would demand that she leave.
After getting the groceries into the trunk, Olivia pushed the cart back while Honey got the car started. She wondered to herself if Antonis would even let her leave the club. At this rate, it didn’t feel like it. As she put on her seatbelt, she wished again that she had never met Antonis Tsagkarakis.
C H A P T E R
5
AFTER PERFORMING, ONCE HONEY MADE IT BEHIND THE CURTAINS, she massaged her shoulders that ached from the tension on the pole. It happened every time she performed, but she would say that recently, it had been getting worse. Though she was still in her twenties, she wasn’t as young as she had been when she first started dancing.
