Page 5 of Collide

Diana allowed for a five-minute interval between each of the dancers,it allowed our guests time to get their drinks refilled or the opportunity to find one of the willing ladies to perform a private dance. The closer I got to the stage, the louder the hubbub got from within the club and the usual feelings of excited nerves fluttered in my belly.

The club was a popular place on a Saturday night and tonight was nodifferent. The chatter and catcalls from the audience echoed all around me, and I could picture the place filled to the brim as it had been on nights gone by. It seemed like no matter how poverty-stricken residents of East Bay were, they always had cash to throw at naked girls, even if it meant their kids at home went without. Some people have their priorities all wrong in life, I knew that more than anyone.

Club Sin was one of the biggest venues in East Bay. The stage tookup the entire length of the back wall, large enough so more than one girl could be on the stage at any one time.Every so often, we would put on shows where there’d be a few of usdancing provocatively together. Nights like that drew in a huge audience and I had on occasion walked away with a month's rent in just one night.

There were three poles positioned on the stage and the ceiling wasmirrored for optimum viewing, especially when those girls who went the whole hog and stripped right off were upside down on the pole with their legs spread eagle, which usually got the crowd going.

Beyond the stage and in the pit of the club were a number of circulartables to accommodate different party sizes, the bar ran the length of the club along the right-hand side and it was always manned by five girls who wore the clubs uniform- a black push-up bra, black pin-striped hot pants complete with braces, and a white necktie which wasn’t allowed to hang lower than their breasts. They spent the night walking around in white boots with killer heels.

I had done the occasional shift behind the bar andfuck me, did myfeet kill at the end of the night, I had a lot of respect for those girls, I wouldn’t have wanted to do their job night after night.

At the front of the pit and on each side of the stage were VIP booths.They were situated so that the VIP had the best view of the stage, but also the entirety of the club. They were expensive to hire but each booth received its own personal waitress who spent the night being felt up by their customers.

The best thing about waiting on the VIP booths was the waitressalways received averygenerous tip which more than made up for the groping.

To the left of the stage was a door which led to a small corridor andoff that corridor, that’s where you would find four small individual rooms, each one available at the right price for private dances, or you know, whatever else the customer was willing to pay for.

The club was kept in dim lighting in an attempt to create a seductiveambiance, but honestly? It was a sleazy place located in a shitty part of the city and most of the men that came here were sleazeballs who couldn’t keep their hands to themselves.

But hey, they paid my bills so who was I to complain?

I paused when I reached the stage, just out of view from the mainclub but I could see some of the VIP booths were filled, I guessed by the bachelor party. Kendra, or should I sayFoxy Brownwas right, it sounded busy out there which went in my favor, it would mean I’d likely get decent tips as long as I performed well.

I smiled at the thought, I’d wanted to buy Angel a new video game forher crappy, beat-up games console as she’d been feeling a bit down, and that girl wasobsessedwith her fucking games console, a new game was guaranteed to make her smile.

But it hadn’t been the best month, I had paid out for an appointmentwith the hearing specialist for Angel which had eaten into a huge chunk of my monthly budget.

She’d got it into her head she could get a cochlear implant so shecould hear, she had presented me with tons of research she’d done at the library and begged me to book an appointment with a specialist.

The kid never asked for anything, and I didn’t have the heart to tellher we’d never be able to afford the surgery even if she were eligible for it, but she was just so damn excited.

And so we went, only to be told that we’d be looking at a minimum ofthirty thousand dollars for Angel to get the implant. My heart broke when I saw the disappointment on the kid’s face and I wanted to do something nice to cheer her up.

A new game for her console might not have been a cochlear implant,but it would go some way to make her smile.

I’d been dreaming of the tips I’d hopefully be making after tonight’sperformances, I almost missed my introduction.

“Gentlemen, it’s my great pleasure to announce tonight’s next lovelylady,” Dion, the club’s Emcee, and Kendra’s boyfriend announced. He was greeted with whoops and hollers from the waiting crowd and credit where credit was due, Dion had a way of getting the crowd going. “This girl is something special, I’ll bet any of you chaps out here tonight would give your bottom dollar to feel her gorgeous legs wrapped around your head while you taste her.”

I rolled my eyes, Dion might have been a good emcee, but he couldbe so damn crude at times, it was almost cringey.

“Please give it up for our beautiful.....Shining.....Star!”

He motioned for me to come on stage before walking off in theopposite direction. The crowd clapped wildly, encouraging me to step onto the stage. As I did, the lights dimmed so low I almost couldn’t see the faces of the men waiting to see what I had to offer.

The audience fell quiet, aside from the odd muttering echoing aroundthe club. I quickly made my way to the pole in the center of the stage and stood with it behind my back, the cool metal pressed against my spine. I raised one arm above my head, the other down by my side and I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the moves I was about to put my body through.

The routine I was doing tonight was a regular one in my bag ofdancing tricks and I knew it better than I knew the back of my own hand.

I brought one knee up and placed the sole of my foot against the poleso my knee was bent, and then I waited for the music to begin.

Chapter 2

Kai

ClubSinwasnotthe sort of shithole I usually spent my Saturdaynight’s in, but it was the first lead I’d had in months and I personally wanted to follow it up. One of the sluts working in this joint knew something about my brother’s murder and I fully intended on finding out what she knew.

The chick dancing on the stage was average at best. Yeah, she knewhow to shake her hips and her juicy ass wasn’t at all bad to watch, but she was nowhere near the caliber of my girls in Sapphire, the club I owned in West Bay.

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