I offer the bartender an awkward smile.“Same,” I murmur.Pretty sure I’d choke on anything bigger than a single syllable.
We sit on the swivel barstools and wait for our drinks when the spotlight flickers toward the main stage.
“Everyone put your hands together for the one and only Electra!”the emcee announces.
A woman in six-inch heels saunters onto the stage with a swagger I can't help but envy.Seriously.The confidence with every sway of her hips should be bottled and sold.If it was, she’d make millions.Nothing but purple lingerie and thigh-high stockings covers her perfect figure as she drags her finger along the polished pole in the center of the stage.She is gorgeous.
Jill sets a drink in front of me, and I flinch at the motion.Why do I feel like I was just caught doing something I shouldn’t?My drink.Right.I reach for the glass and take a long swallow.It’s official.I am way too innocent for this place.
“How are you doing?”Violet asks.
I try to keep my expression in check, but I doubt I look like anything other than a deer caught in headlights.I take another sip, hoping the alcohol will hit, and my awkwardness can finally take a backseat.“I’m great,” I choke out.
She bites back her amusement.“Sure you are.”
“Seriously,” I say.“I’m great.The drink is delicious, the environment is…” I look around the dimly lit space that looks straight out of a mobster movie, “super cool, and the only two workers I’ve met have been nothing but nice.”
“But,” Violet prods.
“No buts,” I tell her.“Honest.”Her eyes narrow like she doesn’t believe me.Then again, I doubt I sound very convincing.“It’s just…a little new,” I rattle on, “but there’s nothing wrong with trying new things.”
“Nothing at all,” she agrees.I don’t miss the smile peeking around her straw as she takes a sip of her own drink.
Darn you, Violet.You know me too well.
“So do you come here often?”I ask, hoping to keep the attention on anything and everything other than my inexperience.“It seems like everyone here knows you.”
“Not really.”Her glass clinks against the counter, and she swirls the straw until her ice begins to dance.“Every once in a while, when Lexie had a shorter shift, and I still lived with my dad and didn’t want to go home, I’d hang out here at the bar and chat with Jill.Sometimes I’d be in the back so I could do homework.”She glances at the girl on stage.“Most of the girls are really nice.”
I follow her gaze.The girl’s top is missing, and she’s upside down on the pole, her long hair hanging toward the ground in a waterfall of black.“I mean, if they’re anything like Lexie, then I’m sure they’re awesome.”
Her nose wrinkles like she tasted something sour.“Most,” she clarifies.“Might want to keep your distance from a few of them, though.”
My eyes pop at her candor.“Good to know.”
The spotlight spins around the room before landing on the stage again while a steady beat pulses through the speakers.Dang, she’s quick.Goodbye, pole, hello, kitten persona.On her hands and knees, the girl on stage crawls toward a gentleman in a black suit standing at the edge.Her gaze is so locked on him, part of me feels like I’m interrupting something.
Seriously, is it hot in here?
When he tucks a twenty into her g-string, I twist my barstool toward the bartender and give the stage my back in the process.Yup.Nope.Good for everyone else here, but this is not my cup of tea.
Drying a glass with a black dish towel, Jill looks me up and down with a grin.“This your first time?”
I swear my cheeks are on fire.Fighting the urge to touch them to confirm my suspicion, I reach for my drink again, and the straw swoops to the opposite side of the glass, making me feel like an idiot while probably looking like one, too.Pinching the straw, I bring it to my mouth one more time and take a sip.
Be cool, be cool, be cool.
After swallowing the liquid, I ask, “How’d you know?”
She laughs.“All first-timers have a look to ‘em.You ever think of dancin’?”
My eyes bulge all over again.What is it with everyone in here asking if I dance?“No,” I answer.“W-why do you ask?”
Her gaze zeroes in on my boobs playing peekaboo through the big V of the shirt Lexie bought me.
I look down, confirming it’s too dark to see any remnants from Ford’s mouth.
“Bet men would pay a pretty penny for those,” Jill starts.
