Page 7 of Loving Lex

It was the blonde from the stage, minus the mask and plus a black bandeau top. She slid onto the stool Bailey had vacated. Her smile as she looked back at me was genuine, and her eyes were kind. She was beautiful, I suspected, even under the heavy stage makeup. The bartender brought her a bottled water and a strawberry flavored Crystal Light packet.

“He keeps these back there for me,” she said with an impish grin. “I’m addicted to them.”

I nodded, gripping my glass to let the cold calm me. My hands were still shaking. “You were dancing out on stage when I came in,” I said.

“I was,” she said, preparing her concoction. She gave me a sideways glance. “And you’re... a duck out of water here. You okay?”

I dropped my head into my hands. “I give up. I clearly have no game.”

She laughed and nudged me with her elbow. “I’m Chloe,” she said. “Come on, I have a half hour till I have to go back into rotation; tell me your story.”

I did. The short version.

She paused and studied me when I was done. “Shay, if I tell you you’ll really be okay, and it’s not hard and not a big deal—especially out on the floor—will you believe me?”

My brows furrowed. “Why?”

Chloe tilted her head. “I started as a floor server,” she said. “Two years ago. I promoted into here for a very short stint last year, thinking it would be better because the clientele is calmer. And there’s clothing,” she added with a husky chuckle. “But the tips were half what I was getting outside, and there’s only three shows, so... I went back out until I got up enough nerve to audition to dance a few months ago.”

I grinned. “And that doesn’t bother you?”

She shrugged. “It was weird at first. Especially the lap dances, but you get used to it. Go somewhere in your head where you let the power take over, and then it’s kind of a rush. And the tips alone pay my damn rent.”

My eyes went wide. “Oh, wow.”

“Yep.” She winked at me. “But baby steps, grasshopper. Wait the tables. Get good at it. This place is reservation only, we don’t get a lot of assholes off the street because they can’t afford it. Our assholes are rich. And serving them topless can be a power trip of its own.”

Was I really considering this?

Did I have a choice?

“Are you working tonight at eight?” I asked.

She grimaced. “No. I have a test tonight—I take some online business courses, and there’s a final I have to take tonight—but who is Bailey putting you with?”

“Tracy?”

Chloe nodded. “She’s good, and she’s sweet. She’ll have your back. Just come try it. What will it hurt?”

I chuckled and rubbed my temples. “The things you find yourself doing.” Running a hand through my hair, I felt my breathing evening out. My nerves calming. Maybe I could do this.

Maybe I was insane.

But I was also fucking starving, and the aromas in this steakhouse were killing me. The very second that thought crossed my mind, a small sampler plate of kabobs and grilled shrimp landed in front of me. Bailey winked at me and walked away.

“Oh, my God,” I whispered. “I can’t pay for—”

“You don’t have to,” Chloe said. “Small meals and non-alcoholic beverages are on the house for employees.” She raised an eyebrow toward Bailey. “She must be pretty sure you’re coming back.”

I devoured that plate in under five minutes, probably looking like a cavewoman. I didn’t care.

“I have another set,” Chloe said, standing and tugging the glittery mask out of her bandeau and then taking that off with no modesty as if she were just shedding a jacket. “I’m off after that if you want to wait an hour. You can follow me to this little shop I like to go to forembellishments.” She wrinkled her nose with a grin.

“Okay,” I said.

Wandering out into the crazy like I knew what I was doing, I snagged a chair and watched. All of them. They rotated through the stages, some of them going upstairs for more advanced things, I assumed. Others, like Chloe, took a turn at the silhouette screens, her profile appearing to be completely naked behind the brightly lit opaque screen.

I watched the waitresses, too. It wasn’t peak time, so there weren’t many patrons, but I watched how the servers worked them. How the customers looked at the women. How they treated them. A lump formed in my throat as I thought of what I would do if someone my family knew showed up here.

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