“I’ll try to remember that,” I say with a sheepish shrug.
He’s been nice to me too. I genuinely do feel lucky to have got a job here. Once he’s gone and the other girls have gone in back, Ellie finishes up her talk with Beast and heads toward me. I wring my hands together behind my back, trying not to show any fear.
Ellie doesn’t really appreciate anything but straightforwardness. She is no-nonsense, fair but easily irritated if someone is being dumb. I straighten my back and try to look like I’m not desperate. It’s a look I’ve perfected recently.
She leans against the bar and looks where there are still a couple of upturned chairs. Beast is setting them straight, the rest of the girls have gone in back. The other hot biker is back there too. Probably getting a blow job.
Oh, I heard him make that comment the other night. Foolishly, it was the reason I tripped and dropped the tray, up until that point, I’d had no mishaps that night.
“Floor is still sticky,” She taps it with the toe of her expensive shoes a few times.
“I’ll get the mop and do it again,” I tell her.
She blows out a heavy sigh and looks at me. Here it comes. There will be no tears. I’m not crying in front of anyone ever again. That can come when I get back to my shitty room where no one will hear me over the thumping music at all hours of the night.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she says, tilting her head to study me. “There is an empty slot for a dancer.”
Well, I did think about that earlier, but not that she was going to raise it now.
“Beast won’t let you take it. He’s made that clear. And it’s not just about our rules, Charley. It’s state mandates for anyone performing in a club like this. You have to be twenty-one. He won’t do anything to bring down sanctions or fines on Elegance. Before you ask, yes, you’re not old enough to drink alcohol, but he has ways around you serving it, so that isn’t the same thing.”
“That’s fair.”
“However, I have watched you practice. You’re very good at dancing. Don’t look too excited,” she cuts off what I was about to say. “Being a dancer and being a stripper are two different things. I know Beast makes everyone refer to us as dancers, but that is because he’s too polite to call us what we are.”
“If you think I won’t be able to do it-”
“It’s not that I think you won’t be able to. I know you won’t. I’m going to assume you’re not a virgin?” A shake of my head answers that intrusive question. “So someone at least has seen your tits. In an intimate setting, that is all fine and dandy, but shaking them around on a stage, with men leering at you, is the total opposite.
“When you start out at Elegance, you do a couple of sets three times a week. You don’t get to give private dances until you’ve been here a year. Anything that goes on outside of that is done on your own time,” she gives me a pointed look.
And it’s timely that she mentioned it, because the hot guy has come back into the room and gone to talk to Beast.
I’m still not sure she isn’t going to fire me, but I don’t think she would stand here telling me all of this just to ask me to leave.
There is no point arguing with her about whether I’d be a good stripper versus a dancer. The thought of it does terrify me, the problemis, I’ve had it in my head for over a year now that it is what I need to do to get where I want to be.
Dammit, I’m going to end up being a waitress. Unless I can prove myself. Well, I’m nothing if not determined.
“I’ve seen girls come and go over the years,” Ellie continues, her eye on Beast. “Some good, some terrible, some far better than this place.”
“Which one do I fall under?”
“Not sure yet. It’s not terrible at least,” she lets out another sigh. “You have what? Four months until you’re legally able to dance?”
“I’ll be twenty-one in December.”
“Hmm,” she fixes her hair and eyes me. “I’m going to give you the key to one of the back rooms. You can only use it out of hours and when there is someone else here to keep an eye on things.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask if she is serious but that sounds like something a kid would say, so I nod instead, trying to look as if this is something I am very grateful for, rather than jumping up down and thanking her. Ellie wouldn’t appreciate that.
“When you think you’re ready, Beast and I will watch you.”
That draws me up short. It’s more that he’s my boss rather than a man watching.
Ellie gives me a sad smile.
“It’s fine. I can do it,” I cut off anything she was going to say.
