Page 18 of Reckless Pawn

"The girls. We are the decoration and eye candy around here. Hence the closet of costumes. We've got girls to man the bar and serve drinks and me, Mandy, and Meg dress up the place and provide a little distraction for those who need it."

"Is that what the hostess does?"

"That'll be up to you. For now Eva is positioning you at the door as the welcoming committee. Once you get the hang of it and feel comfortable, you'll be free to figure out how to get our customers to part with their money any way you like."

I was starting to get the picture here. "You sleep with the customers? For money?"

"Oh, sweetheart." She grabbed my hand. "You are too sweet. We offer company to our customers as needed. Some of them see us as good luck charms and just want our company at the table. It's all about keeping them in those seats and betting their money. The more money they spend the happier the club will be. When you get to that point, your take home bonuses will reflect the level of money your customers spend. Most importantly, if they are too busy fucking the help, they won't be spending their money at the tables and that is bad."

"Ohh," Now I was embarrassed. I kept making assumptions before learning the facts.

"Of course, if a customer is super tense and having trouble opening up his wallet, no one is going to complain if you offer him a little help to ease his tension, if you know what I mean. Although it's definitely NOT required."

"Really?" I should not have been surprised by this. If there was anything this club was completely open about it was sex. As in they had it going on all the damned time.

Sasha shrugged me off and finished the short tour. She explained each table and what kind of games it hosted and handed me a paper layout of the room. "Memorize that so you know where to escort our guests as they arrive."

It was a straightforward grid in the shape of a horseshoe. She explained that they opened at eight p.m. but closing time was somewhat open ended in case certain games went overly long. But most nights they were out by two a.m. or so.

"Since we're the only ones working the floor, we also serve drinks and buss the empties as needed. If you could pitch in on that if you see we're all busy, that would be great."

"Absolutely," I said.

"Excellent. Other than that, you'll stay near the front door and keep track of which customer is where and when they arrived and when they leave. The club likes to keep a tight record of its guests."

My confidence was growing by the second as she finished her spiel. Nothing sounded too complicated and I was pretty sure I could get through the night without doing anything too stupid. "That sounds doable," I said.

"One last thing. Do whatever you want or need to in order to get your customers to part with their money. But remember one rule. Do not get involved personally with anyone. Emotional ties to any customer will end badly no matter how much you think I might be wrong." She glared at me with a hard look. "I'm not by the way. The club absolutely does not allow their girls to get involved with guests outside of the casino. You feel like getting laid for fun? I suggest you find a willing club member. Seeing how you look right now, even without one of the sexy costumes, I don't think you'll have any problem finding a willing partner. Just be careful there too. Rarely does one of our guys choose one of the club girls to become his old lady. So don't pin your hopes on that happening either or you'll end up like sourpuss Mandy."

"I'm not here to get laid so that's not going to be a problem."

Her eyebrow lifted and she looked at me cockeyed like she wasn't sure she believed me. "We've all heard that before. Just be careful and keep it business. Especially tonight."

"Why especially tonight?" I asked.

"It's your first night and you're pretty green. Some of our customers will sense that a mile away and want to see how far they can push."

"Oh." My palms started to sweat. I wasn't about to share my personal history with someone I just met so she'd have to take my word for it that I had no interest in sex or anything else with customers.

"Don't look so scared. It's rarely that bad. Most of the men who come in here are hardcore gamblers and don't need entertainment to loosen their wallets. And the ones that do are usually nice enough. You have any trouble let Eva know and trust me, she'll take care of it. That woman can be hell on heels if provoked."

I wasn't sure I wanted to know how Eva would 'take care of it’ but I said okay anyway. Sasha left me at the front door with my spreadsheet on a clipboard after wishing me luck.

So far I wasn't sure what I thought of this opportunity. Sasha and Meg were nice, Eva seemed indifferent to my presence, and Mandy defined hostility although she had nothing to fear from me.

I planned to do whatever it took to make this job a success, but nothing more and nothing less. I was willing to work hard and put in whatever hours they would give me. Maybe after a few days they would get used to me. Or maybe they wouldn't. I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as I heard commotion outside the door. Customers were coming in and I had a job to do.

I'd have to worry about my coworkers and their feelings later.

Chapter Seven

Izzy

Hours later I glanced at the clock to see it was two-thirty-five a.m. No wonder my feet were killing me. With guests coming and going in a steady stream all night, my shift flew by without a break. Now I really had to pee and I couldn't wait. There were only a few customers left and no one had come in since at least one.

Surely, I could go to the bathroom. I headed towards the employee break room and welcome relief. As I passed the bar I noticed a guest waiting with no server in sight. I waffled on whether to help him or not. I felt like I was going to burst. In the end, I stopped to help because I was hired to help out guests and I planned to do a damn good job so I wouldn't have to stay in that damned cabin forever.

"Can I help you with something?"

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