Chapter Nine
Icouldn’t believe it. It had taken me a good twenty-minutes to count all of the money I had made from my one dance. I’d counted it three times just to be sure that I wasn’t completely insane.
“Holy crap,” I muttered as I stared at the stacks of bills.
Nikki walked into the dressing room, her maid uniform slung over her wrist. Her hips sashayed. “I love Saturday nights.” She took a seat in the chair next to me, her arms dropping a huge pile of cash on the vanity.
My eyes grew larger. That was defintely more than what I made, and I’d made a lot.
Nikki had worked at the club for the last five years. She was still young and beautiful, but in many ways was an old-timer. It made her a crowd favorite. I knew I wasn’t going to make as much money as she did my first time out. Watching as she counted her bills, I couldn’t help but think about what I could strive to be.
“Are you alright?” Nikki asked, turning her attention to me.
I nodded. “I’m great,” I said. My voice sounded breathy.
Nikki smirked at me, but before she could say anything, Tommy stormed into the room.
“Ivy!” he barked out, causing me to jump slightly out of the chair.
Nikki grabbed her robe and pulled it close around her body. “Jesus, Tommy!” she yelled. “Fucking knock.”
Several of the girls grumbled something similar. Tommy wasn’t normally in the dressing room. Though the girls were strippers, they did so for money, and Tommy wasn’t allowed to have a peep show.
From the way Tommy’s cheeks reddened, he was embarrassed that he forgot the rules. I was too worried that I was about to lose my job. “Look,” I got up from my chair, “I know that you are pissed because of yesterday…”
Tommy’s eyes scrunched together. “What?” he asked.
I opened my mouth not sure what to say since he appeared to be so confused.
He shook his head. “Nevermind,” he told me. “I’ve got a client who is interested in you.”
I raised a brow. “What does that mean?” I asked. I wasn’t so naïve that I thought that Red’s was all dancing. The girls didn’t talk about it, but I knew that sometimes rich men paid for certain favors in the backrooms.
“Don’t look so doe eyed,” he growled slightly.
I felt my shoulders stiffen at his words. “I’m not going in the private room with anyone.” I might have decided to go topless and shake my tits, but I wasn’t going to fuck anyone for money. I couldn’t.
“It’s ten grand,” he said.
I inhaled sharply at the price. I’d made as much in my first dance, but there was no guarantee I’d be able to make that much again. There was no guarantee that I would even be alive tomorrow. The fear of that seized my chest.
“Do you think he’d go for twenty?”
Tommy’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. It was clear that he hadn’t expected me to negotiate with him. But if I was going to sacrifice the last bit of myself for money, then, it needed to be worth it. If I could make thirty grande in one night, I would have nearly everything that we needed.
“Ivy…” Nikki trailed off. She was behind me, and I knew if I turned around she would be looking at me with wide, worried eyes. “You don’t have to do this. You’ll make whatever you need dancing.”
“It won’t be enough,” I whispered. I hadn’t had a chance to do my own research on the treatment that was proposed for my brother, but I knew enough to know that one hundred grand was likely just the tip of the iceberg.
“This guy has money,” Tommy said, clearly seeing an opening that he could exploit. “A lot of it, and he requested you by name. I’m sure that I can negotiate higher.”
I swallowed heavily as I weighed my options. My heart beat in my chest as fast as a hummingbird's wings.
I wanted nothing more than to save my brother’s life, but the thought of having to spread my legs for money made me sick to my stomach.
“Ivy?” Tommy pressed. “Twenty grand in a night is more than most of the girls here make in a night dancing.”
He looked over at the stack of money on my vanity. “This was a good night. It’s Saturday. The men are drunk, and you’re fresh meat. It won’t always be like this.”