Page 2 of Stripped

I left Charlie to his beer and his dark thoughts and got to work waiting tables. I fended off a few entitled a-holes, but it was nothing I couldn't handle with a little flattery and quick dodges.

I left the lights and noise of the club when things started to slow down after midnight and headed down a dark hall toward my office. I had an hour to get some paperwork done, maybe figure out how we could afford to keep the club open another month now that tourist season had ended. It helped that we were the only bar in town, but even our tourist season wasn't exactly slamming. People traveled to Aspens Whiten for guided fishing, hiking, and rock climbing trips, but we weren't what anyone would call the premiere place to go in a state filled with outdoorsy activities. In most cases, Aspens Whiten excelled at being the cheapest. In winter, the tourist stream dried up to nothing, since the closest ski resort was more than two hours away.

I'd managed to keep the club afloat for the past four years since I'd become its owner, but it was never easy and I usually got paid last. I glanced at the photo on the wall behind my desk and sighed. It was an image of a gondola on a Venetian canal, something I'd been dreaming of seeing in person since I was a little girl. I'd get there someday, but first I had to move to Denver to get a better paying job so I could afford the trip. And, before I moved to Denver, I had to figure out a way to save enough for a few months’ rent on an apartment so I'd be covered until I found a job.

I sank into my desk chair, a relic that literally sank almost to the floor. I cranked it up and focused on the books.

***

“Hey, boss lady,” said Roxy. She was wearing only a pair of panties, and looked to be in no hurry to dress. Roxy was my newest hire, a very young twenty-two, but she was smart and fearless. Her confidence was off the charts and she worked the pole like an old-hand. She had a degree from the local community college and no plan for her future.

“Hey, ladies,” I said. Alice was also in the locker room, washing off her mask. Carly, an aspiring artist, painted all the dancers faces with elaborate masks every night. Aspens Whiten was small enough that the girls liked to be somewhat disguised when they danced. I didn't bother with it, but I didn't blame them. When I'd started dancing there at 17 there'd been no face paint, and I'd had plenty of awkward encounters at the grocery store or the bank with men or their significant others who'd seen me dance. I'd heard all the lewd and cutting remarks and had grown a tough skin, but if there was a way for other dancers not to have to deal with that, I was happy for them. “I was planning to help close out, but the club's empty, everything's already done.” Not good for a Saturday, which should have been our busiest night.

Roxy grimaced. “Everyone was out of here by one,” she said. “I barely made a hundred dollars. I'm going to have to get a third job.” She shimmied into a tight sweater.

I sighed and sank onto the bench next to her. Zara walked in, wearing yoga pants and an over-sized sweat-shirt. She was a single mom to a five-year-old and working at The Booty Carousel to save for a bigger place than the one-bedroom house she shared with her mother. “You must not have been working it, Rox,” Zara said. “I made over one-fifty tonight.”

Alice, face clean and in booty shorts and a tight t-shirt, plopped down next to me. “The regulars give you extra because they know you've got a little girl at home.”

Zara shrugged, even though Alice's tone had been less than kind. “I'll do whatever I have to do to give her a good life. I don't want her to miss out on having the very best of everything.”

Zara spoke tough, but she'd sat in my office and cried before because of things other kids had said to her daughter about her. Zara had a decent day job, waitressing at a local diner, but she was also supporting her disabled mother, who could watch Zara's daughter but wasn't able to do much more. I'd encouraged Zara to take some online classes, or just get the hell out of Aspens Whiten, but she loved the mountains and wanted her daughter to grow up there. Plus, Zara's mother refused to leave.

Alice bent to pull on her shoes. What we called the locker room was little more than a supply closet with a bench, three lockers, and one full-length mirror. “I think most locals come here for the booze, not the dancing,” Alice said. “If there were any other bar in town, we'd probably be broke.”

And I'd probably have to close my doors. “Well, we are the only bar in town,” I said. “I'm sorry I can't bring in more customers or—”

“It's not like we can make more anywhere else,” Roxy said, with a kind smile. “And the hours are perfect for me.”

“We had more locals here last year at this time,” Alice said. “It's like half the town's found a new place to drink.”

“It'll get better,” I said, hoping I was right. I suspected we had fewer customers because the vamps had stopped frequenting my place. The vamps and whoever else they had enough influence with to convince to stop coming here.

“I'm out of here,” Carly said, poking her head into the locker room, her hair mussed, her lips puffy. I didn't know where she'd been hiding, but I had a pretty good idea who she'd been with when our bouncer, Zed, stepped up behind her.

“I'll walk her out, boss,” Zed said. “And come back in for the rest of you.”

“I'm ready now,” Roxy said with a wicked grin and a wink my way. She'd finished dressing while we were talking and was bundled up for the cold weather outside. “I'll walk out with you.”

To their credit, Zed and Carly didn't let on that they were the least bit disappointed to have their chance at a final good night kiss blown. Maybe they had plans to meet up later.

“I don't know why they act like it's some big secret that they're together,” Alice said, smiling.

“And I don't know why you all don't just tell them you know,” I said.

Alice and Zara laughed. “I caught them coming out of your office, last week,” Zara said. “They got flustered and said they'd been chasing a spider.” She shook her head. “Chasing a spider? Can you imagine?”

“Yesterday,” Alice said, “they were going at in one of the bathroom stalls. They weren't even quiet. I pretended I didn't know what was going on and asked Carly if she'd eaten something that didn't agree with her.”

That sent Zara into peals of laughter and even I smiled, though it was probably time I had a talk with Carly and Zed. They shouldn't be hooking up in my office of all places.

“Ready to go?” Zed asked, appearing in the doorway, smiling like he knew the joke was on him.

“Absolutely,” Alice said, getting to her feet. “You know, Zed, I've been wondering…” She stepped up next to him as Zara got her things together. “Are you seeing anyone? My sister has a huge crush on you and I'd love to set the two of you up.”

Zara snorted, but had swallowed her smile by the time she'd made it over to Zed and Alice.

Zed rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, well…I'm not really interested in a relationship—”

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