Page 8 of Mace

I understand why she’s annoyed and frustrated. I did choose to take this on, and Ivy hadn’t been given that same choice, but life sucks and sometimes we all have to do things we don’t like.

“I know it’s shit—believe me, Ivy, I know that—but I need your help. I can’t do this without you. Toby isn’t ready to be left alone.”

Her eyes roll, and her jaw is so tight, it pulls her mouth into an irritated line. “I’m not staying here forever,” she says pointedly. “What the hell are you going to do with Toby then?”

I flinch, hurt battering down my anger even though it’s a fair point, but one I don’t have time to get into with her right now. I still manage to rasp out, “Have I made things so unbearable for you that you can’t wait to leave as soon as you turn eighteen?”

There’s a flicker of something over her face that could be guilt, but it’s gone so fast, I’m not sure I didn’t imagine it. “Just because you put your life on hold doesn’t mean I’m going to.”

Ouch. It would have hurt less if she’d eviscerated me.

Don’t take it personal… she’s a teenager, and you’re an adult.

“I have to go,” I say, my voice tight. I try to keep my hurt shuttered away, but I know I don’t succeed when Ivy rolls her eyes, though with less bravado as before. “If you need me, message. I can pick them up on my break. If it’s urgent, call Sam.”

I want to press a kiss to her hair, like I did when she was younger, but Ivy is no longer that little girl. I force a smile instead and sling my bag on my shoulder before grabbing my keys. As soon as I’m out the door, I put my game face on and head to work.

THREE

MAYLIE

It’sa twenty-minute walk to Temptation, but I do it in fifteen. By the time the bar comes into view, my legs are aching fiercely and I’m so winded, I’m wheezing.

I don’t stop to catch my breath as I lift my eyes to the neon sign over the door. Temptation is not a high-class establishment, and the clientele is mainly stag parties and out-of-towners looking to have a good time. We do have a few regulars, but they’re mostly bored, older men trying to recapture their glory days.

As I approach, Archie is standing in the doorway of the club, a cigarette clutched between two fingers, smoke circling around the tip. Despite the thick, woollen coat he’s wearing overtop his shirt and pants, he pulls his shoulders up to his ears, trying to ward off the cold.

I adore Archie. In fact, I adore most of the people working here, even the dancers, who I thought might be bitchy. Turns out most are just like me—girls with mouths to feed at home.

Archie’s huge smile tugs at his lips, breaking throughthat serious demeanour he usually shoulders when he’s looking for bad guys to toss out the bar, and he’s very effective at that, mostly because he’s fucking huge.

His shoulders are twice the size of mine, and I know his muscles have muscles. I don’t worry about him hurting me because the warmth he radiates gives the impression of safety, even though there is another side to him. I’ve witnessed firsthand the violence he’s inflicted to keep us girls safe, but I don’t think about that. Right now, I’m just relieved that someone is happy to be around me, and that for the next seven hours of my shift, I don’t have to deal with teen tantrums.

“Hey, Archie.”

He looks down at me because my head barely reaches the top of his chest. “Two minutes to spare, Maylie girl. You lookin’ to piss Sam off?”

I’m not, but I don’t have time to delve into the issues I have at home, nor do I want to. There aren’t enough hours in the day to get into my problems with my sister. Instead, I place a hand over my heart as I hurry past him. “Me? Why would I do that?”

He snorts. “You brought any of those brownies with you this time?” he shouts after me.

“No, I’m sorry.” The disappointment in his eyes is almost too much to take, and despite my lateness, I stop. “Oh, don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I just stole your puppy. I promise I’ll bring brownies next shift, okay? But I gotta go or Sam will kill me.”

Dragging one of the double doors open onto the main floor, I’m not surprised to see a hive of activity already.There are twenty tables and booths scattered in front of a large stage. In the light, everything looks different, but I’ve been here long enough to know that the dark in the room can be dangerous. No one has ever hurt me, but it’s not unusual for violence to occur once the lights go down and all eyes are on the stage.

Sam might cut corners with a lot of shit, but he hired a good security team, which is one of the reasons I’ve stayed working here.

As I rush into the room, Stella is already on the stage, practicing her routine. Her fingers wrap around one of the steel poles as her body moves in ways that shouldn’t be possible. My hips hurt just watching, but I’ve come to realise there’s a real skill to pole dancing. It takes so much strength and athleticism to swing around those things. Stella is one of the best dancers Temptation has. Her movements are graceful, and her routine is so fluid, it’s beautiful to watch. It makes me sad that in half an hour, she’ll replace her workout clothes with lacy lingerie that doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

But I don’t have time to put the world to rights, and even if I did, I wouldn’t. Life is hard, and everyone is just trying to make their way through it.

Instead, I give her a frantic wiggle of my fingers to say hello as I rush across the floor and through the ‘Staff Only’ door.

I’m sweaty and out of breath by the time I reach the dressing room. It’s a hive of noise the moment I enter, and the wall of perfume I walk into chokes me. Dancers sit at the dressing tables that line the full length of one wall, piling makeup on to their pretty faces or styling their hair into elaborate designs. Half-naked bodies wander aroundwith a confidence in their movements that I could never possess, no matter how long I do this job.

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