Page 1 of The Dollhouse

Chapter One – Zoey

The Dollhouse wasn’t where I thought I’d end up. If you would’ve sat me down a year ago, when I graduated high school, and asked me what I planned on doing with the rest of my life, I would’ve told you my grand plan.

Go to college, get a degree, have fun until adult life comes swooping down, bringing countless responsibilities with it. Wasn’t that the plan of every kid fresh out of high school these days? My ambitions were never great, partly because of my family. They had connections, you see, and they had money. Money which I refused to touch now on principle.

Oh, I was certain my parents wanted me to come home, but I wouldn’t. I couldn’t, not after walking in and seeing my then-boyfriend balls-deep in my little sister.

Running away was probably an overreaction; what I should’ve done was find a baseball bat, or even grab a knife from the kitchen, and make sure that bastard could never get his dick up again.

Couldn’t get a cock up when you didn’t have one.

I never liked the money, anyway. The power, the prestige… it never wooed me like it did my parents or even my friends. I’d known from an early age I didn’t belong with them, and what happened with my sister and Bryan was the icing on the inedible cake, the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

So here I was, the first night at my new job, at the fucking Dollhouse. A woman who lived in the same apartment building as me, Crystal—though I had no idea whether that was her real name or not—had told me her place of work was always hiring. I needed the money. I had been able to secure a small studio apartment by myself with the money I had stashed away, but I’d cut up my debit card, tossed out my cell phone and bought one of those cheap ones from the dollar store to replace it. I wanted nothing to do with my old life, but money was necessary to keep a roof over my head.

A few days ago, Crystal had given me a number to call, and so I did. Foolishly, I might add, before I knew what the Dollhouse was. By the time I realized it, it was too late. I already had the job, and Crystal was telling me that with my looks, I’d walk away with hundreds in tips every night.

Hundreds in tips every night could pay my rent within a few days, not to mention food for the month in just a few more. If I kept at it, I could save up, figure out what the hell to do with my life.

Or I could just spend the money on useless shit and never move out of that dingy, shitty apartment. We’ll have to wait and see what I’ll do.

The Dollhouse was a type of establishment that would force my parents to keel over and die if they knew their eldest daughter was working at it. All neon lights and booze, coupled with a stage and a pole. Yeah, it’s that kind of club. A strip club.

Technically, since I wasn’t twenty-one yet, I couldn’t serve the patrons their alcohol, but I could still take their orders and clean up, make nice to them, flirt with them while trying to ignore their erections. You know, the usual stuff.

The Dollhouse wasn’t my kind of place, but no place really was. One thing that made it a bit more bearable was the fact that it was currently run by a woman, Autumn. Somewhere in her forties with obviously dyed black hair, I found her kind of abrasive, but Crystal swore up and down she’d grow on me. I doubted it, but I guess we’ll see.

It was dark when I arrived for my first shift. I had to walk from the apartment building since I knew my parents would just be able to track one of their cars if I took one when I ran. That night, when I’d decided to leave everything behind, I rode on a bus for the first time.

And also my last time, ew.

I rode on a bus, I rented a cheap motel, dyed my hair to a color my parents would absolutely hate with their entire being, and went to a skeevy tattoo parlor and got loaded up. If pink hair and tattoos didn’t tell my parents to metaphorically fuck off, I didn’t know what would.

My mother and my father had known Bryan and Willow were together behind my back. How fucked up was that?

Ugh, no, I wasn’t going to think of them tonight.

Crystal’s shift had already started by the time I got to the Dollhouse. Music pumped through the speakers hanging on the walls, the lights dim as I entered. I headed to the side, through a door that saidEmployees Only. A small row of lockers where we could put our belongings during our shifts sat along one wall.

I chose a locker at the end, shrugging off my jacket and stuffing it inside, along with my phone. I wore shorts and a low-cut, spaghetti-strap top. The other servers wore less, but I was hoping since it was my first night, they would cut me some slack.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have a nice body. I did. My parents were always on about eating healthy and taking care of the temple God gave you—and then they went and hid the fact that my boyfriend was banging my seventeen-year-old sister. Yeah, they had their priorities twisted, didn’t they?

Autumn pushed out of her office deeper in the backroom, nearly giving me a heart attack. Her black hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, her dark eyes narrowing at me. “I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d show up,” she said, folding her arms over her chest as she walked to my side. She wore a tight suit and heels beneath her pants.

All I could do was smile, because I really didn’t feel like getting into detail about why I needed money right now. My regular paycheck would be two weeks behind, but the tips I got I could keep immediately.

She glanced in my still-open locker. “Tell me you brought something else to wear.”

I looked down at myself. I wore strappy sandals, shorts, and a shirt. The dress code wasn’t something we got into detail with during the interview—basically, Autumn had taken a single look at me and told me I was hired. My face was too pretty to pass up.

Autumn spoke, “Take off your shirt, at least. I hope you’re wearing a nice bra.”

“But—” Not sure why I started to argue.

“This is a strip club, honey, not a bar. Men come here and pay to see pretty girls like you either up on that pole or serving them food and drinks as they daydream about cheating on their wives,” she spoke matter-of-factly. “Take off the shirt, and switch into these.” She bent over, tugging up her pant legs as she slid off her black heels.

Autumn handed me her heels, and I saw we wore the same size shoe. Great. Couldn’t fight with my boss on day one, so I had to do it.

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