Page 21 of Song of Tenebrae

Sky walks around the room, handing out our time slips, and talking to the girls. She’s motherly with them, something I’m not, and it evens out our personalities. I’m the tough one, if you show up late, you’re docked, and if you fail to show up at all, you’re replaced. Dog eat dog world, baby. Tiny sits down in the chair beside mine and I can feel her eyes on the side of my face.

“How do you do it?”

“Do what?” I ask as I lean forward and brush mascara on my lashes.

“Cover up all your pain inside.”

You’re sad, you have a bottomless depth to your pain, and you’re weak.

Her words trigger a memory of Raiden and I am sucked back in time to when he cut me open and tasted my blood. He claimed he could learn all he needed to know about a person through their very life force.

“I don’t have much pain anymore, Tiny. Now, it’s all anger.”

“Anger is also pain, it’s just more deceiving. It’ll give you false strength and just when you think you’re at your strongest, it crashes.” The last part she mutters quietly and I can see her pain clearly on her face.

“Who is it?”

“Huh?” She raises her brow.

“Who hurt you?”

“It was a long time ago and I was angry too, until I realized I was just in a lot of pain. But,” she stands and claps her hands, “like I said, a long time ago.”

She walks back to her vanity and we both watch as a stripping duo walks out onto the stage together.

“I bet those two make a killing.” She smirks at me and I snort.

“You have no idea.”

It’s nearing my time to go out and I throw on a pair of assless chaps, reminiscent of the routine I made up during my time at The Temple. I have a cowgirl scene I want to do tonight, but I want to make it creepy, and witchy. The place goes dark just as I rise to my feet and I can hear the collective gasps around me.

“Not again.” I snap and feel my way out of the room. I head down the end of the corridor and stop at the fire escape door.

I open it up and look outside, sure enough, everything else is lit up like the fourth of July, except for The Sanctuary. This shit is suspicious.

“Sky!” I yell out and she appears in front of me. “Start moving the girls out here and I’ll go see the front.”

“I heard a lot of people leaving as I was coming back here. No one wants to stick around in a blacked-out strip club.”

“True,” I shrug even though she can’t see me. The girls come out of the dressing room one by one, dressed in proper clothing once again, and I watch as each one gets in their car. The bartenders are next and then the two men we hired as security.

“Everything is locked up, boss.” Omar says. He was the first person I hired and he was hired on the spot. He clocks in at six feet, six inches and he is wide. His accent is fading from years of being in the country but you can still hear the Saudi when he says certain words. “Should I stick around a bit longer just in case?”

“The front is locked up?”

“Yes, of course.” He nods and steps outside, “I watched everyone leave and Jay,” he nods to the other security beside Sky, “checked the place out.”

Jay nods and steps outside, too. He’s not a big talker but he does his job and he’s trained in MMA. No one is getting by him to any of the girls. His blond hair ruffles in the wind as he turns back and gives us a worried look.

“We’ll be okay.” I tell him and he nods.

They all get in their cars and leave the parking lot, save for Jay that continues to sit there and watch us. It’s admirable he cares that much.

“Fuck,” Tiny says as she stands with us, “it’s creepy in this place when it’s this dark. I’m going upstairs.”

I nod at her and watch as she opens the metal door to our left, using her phone as a flashlight. We watch as she climbs the stairs and close the door when she disappears.

“I’ll go give the front a quick look around.” I tell Sky.

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