The white LED lights hummed above us, and I toyed with the bat charm on my necklace as I watched Natalie and the schmuck behind the glass. Barb said he’d protected her in the beginning. I couldn’t help but wonder if it’d made her let her guard down, if only a little. If, in some sick way, he’d Pavlov’d her with safety.
My stomach twisted. I dropped the charm.
Barb pushed the harsh buzzer three more times and I almost jumped out ofmy skin. Each time was like the last– both humans would react, watch the door, and wait for what was to come. The first two times, nothing happened. The third time, however…
Color drained from the male’s face as the metal door creaked open for the third time. It hadn’t even risen midway when a hoard of fire ants funneled into the room.
“No,” he cried, tears mixing with the saliva stringing from his mouth. “Please, no more!” His nails scraped at the sealed concrete. It didn’t matter, though. The cuff on his ankle was a vice and, unless he wanted to cut it off, he wasn’t going anywhere.
“It’s a funny thing, the Pavlovian theory,” Barb mused. “The experiments change, but the concept remains the same. You use an experience mixed with an outcome to trick the brain into releasing the appropriate chemicals; whether it’s fear, excitement, arousal… safety.”
I could feel her withered stare burning a hole into my temple. I shifted on my feet and cleared my throat, trying not to shrivel under her scrutiny.
“Even security.” Her voice morphed from clinical to something more personal. Judgemental. “Onecouldbe trained to feel safe even in turbulent waters. All you’d need is someone willing to hand over a life jacket and assure whomever that the jacket would keep them safe from drowning, even though they leave out that you’re in the middle of the ocean, thousands of miles away from shore with no hope of survival.”
“If you have something to say Barbara, just spit it out.”
“You’ve been thrown overboard from a ship that was set on taking you to land by a salesman with a life jacket. If you haven’t figured that out, I can’t help you.
Barb’s words scraped down my sanity like a witch’s nails on an old oak tree. The feeling weighed on my chest, an anxiety that set my heart racing and my instincts on edge. Her stare was too pointed, and words too on target.
“Alright Batty Barb,” I grumbled, a touch more breathless than I would have preferred, but I had to get the fuck out of here. “Let me know how your diabolical scheme goes.”
“Probably not.”
“Save those eyeballs for me. Lucifer forgot to buy meatballs.”
I gripped the door with trembling hands and, as I stepped through, heard Barb whisper, “Hope you know how to swim, coullion.”
It felt like a hundred years had passed since I’d walked back to Luscious. Quite frankly, I’d forgotten that I had a day job.
Day job? Night job?
A job I didn’t mind showing up for tonight because in T–48 hours the entirety of my debt to Lucifer had to be paid. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
When I walked through the employee door, the strip club was in complete, chaotic disarray. Half naked women clomped down the hall in stilettos, frenzied lights flashed from the stage door and, above it all, was Vinny’s hellcat shrieking.
“I don’t care who’s up there, whose tits I have to flash, or what their job is in this fucking club, get them on stage now! I wanna see asses clapping and pussies speaking so many languages I gotta call a translator to get paid!” Vinny was red-faced and ready to blow.
“Fucks sake,” I groaned under my breath before flipping on the sparkle switch. “Vinny!” With arms wide open, I walked toward my boss, engulfed his sweaty back in a hug, and placed a kiss on either side of his salty, salami smelling cheeks. “You’re looking extra… flamboyant today.”
“Cut the shit and get naked, Ivy. Nova and Sapphire never showed and I’ve got a full house with no turn-around, no lap dances, and no fucking money streaming in.”
The fuck?
“What do you mean Nova and Sapphire never showed?”
“Wh-whadda-whaddya mean ‘what do I mean’?” His voice dripped frantic sarcasm as he fumbled over them just to taunt me; he was lucky I was too concerned to be pissed. “Exactly what I said. They ain’t here for their shifts and I’m not making money. So go.”
Thoroughly irritated and ready to wipe the floor with his fucking toupee, I stomped to the dressing room to see what the hell was going on.
Raven jumped when my reflection popped into the mirror beside her and demanded, “What’s going on? Where is everyone?”
“If I knew I’d have already dragged them here by the ear. Caramel, Sapphire, and Nova? No idea.”
“Carm?” I asked breathlessly. “Caramel isn’t here either? Vinny said–”
“Nope,” Raven answered in her thick northern accent. “First the twins, now them. We’re falling apart here.” She turned away and fluffed her teased hair in the mirror, spraying one last puff of hairspray before heading out the door.
