“Here you go, Passion.” The bartender, Sasha, handed me my first drink and sauntered off.
“Hey, Sasha. Let me get another.” I was gonna give ol’ girl the liquid courage that she needed to loosen her up. If she went out there lacking confidence, they’d eat her alive.
I took the other glass from Sasha and headed the lil’ way down the bar to the girl. “Here. This’ll help.” She looked up as I handed her the glass. She hesitated, but she eventually accepted it.
“Thank you. Passion, right?”
“Yeah, that’s me. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Ecstasy,” she stated. “Is it always like this?”
“For the most part, yeah. It’s cool. Sway may be an asshole at times, but he’s alright. As long as you making money, you won’t have any problems out of him.”
“I can do that. Thanks for the drink. I won’t be able to pay you back until the end of the night,” she offered.
“Nah, you good. Next bottle on you though.” I finished off my drink and made my rounds. I did a few table dances until it was time to do my set. I always loved getting on stage. It gave me a sense of control, the way I could hypnotize the audience with a sway of my hips that would have them acting like dope fiends. I loved it, and that was why most of these hoes were mad. I came in as the new girl and changed the game. The deejay played my set, and I made my presence on stage known.
I fucked it up as Ne-Yo and Juicy J told these niggas and a few bitches what they already knew. The difference between me and these other girls was that I made love to the beat, where they only tried to see who could shake their ass the fastest. I was in the middle of my routine when I felt eyes on me. I mean, all eyes were definitely on me, but this was different… familiar. I looked up after gliding down the pole and locked eyes with none other than Jersey. Without breaking his stare, I continued to manipulate the beat until the song was over and the floor beneath me was littered in a sea of green bills.
“Damn. I need to learn moves like that.” Ecstasy praised my performance as I retreated from the main stage.
“It’s all in the hips, boo.” I placed my hands on her hips and moved them from side to side, mocking my own movements.
“I can do that.” She tittered. “Let me go do some rounds. Sway won’t let me up on the main stage yet, so I gotta go hunt for mine.” She sauntered off to make a few table rounds, and I went straight to the bar for another drink.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that lil’ performance was for me.” I heard his voice behind me, prompting me to turn around. He was damn near on my back, making him extremely close to my front when I turned to face him.
“I didn’t even know you were here, so how could it have been for you?”
“You felt my energy, shawty. That shit was sexy as hell, though. You real flexible, I see. That’s a good asset to have, especially when dealing with a nigga like me.”
“Who said I was dealing with you?” I countered.
“Manifesting, sweetheart. You know, speaking the shit into the universe. Nobody never told you that the tongue is powerful?” He licked his lips after that last statement, and I had to get away from this man before I lost all my willpower to not let him bend me over this bar.
“If you say so. I gotta get back to work. I know you got some hoes waiting for you to pick them, and I don’t want no problems. Remember what happened the last time?” I raised my brow and waited for him to respond.
“Nah, ain’t none of that going on tonight. Come work my section. You can bring a friend if you don’t wanna come alone. You know I got you.”
“You tryna get me to be your private dancer or something?”
“Shit, you can be. I just wanna be ’round your sexy ass, and since you at work and shit, you might as well come let your boy run up a check.”
“Don’t be blowing your child support money on lil’ ol’ me.”
“You let me worry about that. Get one of the girls who ain’t hating and come on up.”
I watched him walk off and stood stuck for a minute. It was like this man appeared from some unknown part of the world and landed right in mine. I didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing, but I was compelled to find out.
8
Houston
I peeped the scene as my brother went down to the main floor. Niggas stayed on some dumb shit, but they knew not to fuck with us. There was always one though. That’s why I would forever have my brother’s back.
“You good?” I probed.
“Always, my boy. I went to go holla at my future wife. She’ll be up here in a few, and I requested she bring someone with her. I’on need y’all niggas gawking at her more than you already have.”