Page 4 of Collide

So what if it was sleazebag central?

The best part was that I didn’t have to strip completely naked. I hadauditioned shortly after my eighteenth birthday fully prepared that I would have to bare all, so I was quietly relieved when Diana, the club’s owner, said it was my choice whether I kept my clothes on, flashed the boobies, or went full-frontal.

She was confident that whatever option I went for, I would bring in thecustomers. It was a no-brainer really, even if taking every stitch of clothing off got me a thousand dollars a night, if I didn’thaveto do it, then I wouldn't.

Angel didn’t know I worked at the club and if she ever found out,she’d be mortified. It would have been bad enough to know her sister danced around a pole, but could you imagine how embarrassing it would be for her if I stripped right down to my birthday suit? I couldn’t do it to the kid, she had enough trouble with the brats at her school as it was, if they ever got wind her sister was a stripper, it would be hell for her.

It was risky enough just working at the club each night, I lived in fearthat one of the pervy fathers of the kids she went to school with would come into the club and recognize me, but thankfully, it never happened, and Angel lived in ignorant bliss thinking I worked nights in the local supermarket.

Besides, my tits weren’t anything fantastic, unlike some of the girlswho worked in the club.

Don’t get me wrong, they got me some good tips, even hiddenunderneath fancy bras and nipple tassels, but they wereaunaturel, not big and juicy and well,fake, like most of the men wanted.

I’m sure if I had bitten the bullet and paid extortionate amounts ofmoney to get myself some fake titties, I would have got more tips but there was no way on God’s green earth I would have gone under the knife.

Not that I could have afforded it even if I did want to expand thegoods.

At that moment, Leandra burst into the dressing room lookingflushed. Her bright red hair was a mess, black mascara streaking underneath her eyes, and her lipstick smeared around her mouth. It didn’t take a genius to work out why Leandra looked disheveled.

On my first night of working at the club, Kendra had taken me underher wing and showed me the ropes, during which she informed me the girls could make extra money by giving the customers private dances.

Private dances usually ended up with the girls giving a littleextra,ifyou know what I mean. There was money to be made by giving private dances and there had been times when the fridge at home had been bare and the electricity cut off that I seriously considered offering the odd extra, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Call it a moral compass or some bullshit like that.

Not that I had anything against any of the girls who did, in a way Ialmost envied that they didn’t give a shit enough to go ahead and do whatever it was they needed to do to make ends meet. It just wasn’t for me.

Leandra though was quite simply a whore. She would spend mostevenings bouncing from one customer to the next, sucking them, fucking them, whatever it took to make as much money as she could in a night. All so she could blow it on whatever choice of drug was her favorite that night.

She and I had never particularly seen eye to eye, and we tended tokeep out of each other’s way. I don’t know what I did to piss her off but when I first started working in the club, she was an outright bitch to me, tripping me up on the club floor, setting clientele on me, and making snarky comments at every available opportunity.

It came to a head one night when I’d had enough of her nastyname-calling, and after she had purposely spilled a drink down my back, I snapped. In the changing room, I grabbed her by her throat, shoved her against the wall, and threatened that if she ever called me a name again or did anything else to piss me off, I’d rip out her silicone implants and shove them down her throat. She must have believed me because since then she tended to stay out of my way.

“Urgh, I just blew some guy whose come tasted like horseradish,”Leandra said while making a face of disgust. Kendra laughed and even I couldn’t help but smirk. “Seriously, I don’t know why I put myself through this shit,” she continued to moan, although the smugness on her face said she wasn’treallyall that put out by it.

“I don’t know why you do it either,” Kendra replied, and taking pity,handed over a stick of gum to her. Kendra was happy to take her clothes off but that was as far as she ever went these days now she had her little girl.

Leandra took the stick, gratitude shining in her eyes and quicklyshoved the gum in her mouth.

“This is why I do it, bitches!” she sang as she pulled out a wad ofcash from her ill-fitted bra.

There was easily a hundred bucks in her hands. Shame it wouldn’tsee the light of day outside of the club, Leandra’s dealer was normally lurking somewhere in the audience, waiting to pounce.

“Rather you than me,” I couldn’t help but mutter under my breath as Igot to my feet and found my aviator sunglasses to finish my look. I took one last glance in the mirror, making sure I looked sexy for my audience.

Over the years of pole dancing, my figure had become toned and Ihad firm muscles in my arms and legs that gave my body definition. I had always enjoyed dancing as a kid but had to stop when my mom became a junkie and spent my dance class fees on crack. It was another reason why I loved this job, I was making money out of a hobby I enjoyed and one I was good at.

Leandra rolled her eyes which with the smeared makeup made herlook like she had momentarily been possessed by a demon.

“Heaven forbid you should get down on your precious knees,Star,”she sneered as she said my stage name.

Yeah, Star was my stage name. It wasn’t very original but whenDiana hired me, she told me every girl had a stage name and most girls used the name of their first pet or something equally ridiculous. Given my first pet was a hamster called Harry, I decided to opt for something else.

When life had been better and both my parents had been alive, theyused to call me their little star, it seemed fitting to use their nickname for me as a stage name for my pole dancing act. I liked to think of it as a big,‘Fuck You’to them.

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly my dad’s fault he got murdered, sueme for being a tad bitter at him being taken away from us.

Deciding not to respond to Leandra, or Blaze as she was known as tothe punters, I left the dressing room and made my way down the dimly lit corridor toward the stage where I would be performing in less than two minutes.

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