Blindfolded Innocence (27 page)

"Guy in the bathroom.
 
Red shirt.
 
Just snorted something and placed the rest in his front shirt pocket."

"Kesha at Table 42 just accepted something from patron, looks like a roach."

"New dancer - what's her name - Misty, Majesty? - anyway, she's at Table 3 doing shots."

"Patron at Bartop 11 starting to get feely - watch him."

"Fight starting on top deck - level 2."

I could have stayed there all night, but Montana grabbed my hand and pulled me on, out to the hallway.
 
"They won't let us stay in there," she whispered.
 
"Says we are distracting."
 

"You guys are watched constantly," I whispered back.
 
"Doesn't it irritate the.. dancers?"
 
I avoided the word stripper, not sure if I would offend her.
 
She took a few more steps and I followed, her voice returning to normal volume as we moved away from HQ.
 

"It irritates the dancers that don't belong here.
 
Safirre is kind of the "good girls" club.
 
Management is super strict about three things: drinking, drugs, and sex.
 
We can't give blowjobs, let guys finger us, and definitely no sex.
 
Touching the tits is also supposed to be off-limits, but they let us have some flexibility with that if we want it.
 
A lot of good girls spend a few months working at a club, and get pressured into drugs cause like, all the dancers do it.
 
Here their constant monitoring keeps that off of the table."
 
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and pushed on a stairwell door.
 
We entered a no-frills cement stairwell, and started going up.
 
I trotted to keep up with her.
 
How the hell can she do this in those heels?
 
"I like it, 'cause I don't do drugs.
 
I'm here to earn money, and that's it.
 
I'm waiting to save up a butt load, and then move back to Great Falls, that's my hometown."

"In Montana?" I guessed.

"You got it sister!"
 
She reached the top of the stairs and opened the heavy door, trotting down the hall, and into an all glass cube.
 
This was the DJ stand, and a short Korean with spiky purple hair and headphones looked up at our approach.
 
"Hey Big M!" he said, holding his arm out for a side hug.
 

"Hey Danny," Montana said affectionately.
 
"This is Julia - she's Brad's date.
 
I'm giving her the grand tour."

"Mr. D's in town?" Danny asked, surprised.
 
Brad knows the DJ?
 
This is weird.
 

"Well - DUH," Montana said.

"He throwing an after-party tonight?
 
Nobody said anything to me about staying late," Danny said, looking concerned.
 
Montana turned to me with an expectant look.
 

"Umm…
 
I don't think so.
 
We just planned on stopping by, I think.
 
I’m the wrong person to ask."
 
I said, out of my element.
 

"Ah well - that's cool then.
 
It's my girl’s birthday and I got to swing by her place after work.
 
Should I do a shout-out to Mr. D?"

"No!" Montana said quickly.
 
"I think he's going low-key tonight.
 
With Julia, you know?"
 
she glanced quickly at me and then at Danny.

"Alright.
 
You got a song request?" Danny looked at me.

"Ummm… how about some Black Eyed Peas?"

He nodded enthusiastically at me.
 
"You got it babe.
 
You gonna get up on stage?"

"No - Julia's a good girl," Montana said.
 
I was getting a little sick of everyone talking around me.
 
I wasn't doing blow in the bathroom, but I didn't exactly consider myself a "good girl."
 
And what made Montana think she knew anything about me?

---

Alexis looked up at Brad.
 
His eyes still closed, he felt her head move and opened his eyes.
 
"What." he said, staring up at the ceiling.

"What's the deal with the chick?"

"Julia?
 
Nothing."

"You've never brought an innocent here before."

"I tried to take her to Zumanity, she wanted to do something different.
 
So here we are.
 
The girl's never been to Vegas."

"You've also never fucked me like that before."

"Sure I have."

"No, not that.. hungry."

"I'm horny Sarah.
 
It's been like two days.
 
That's all.
 
Don't try to psychoanalyze me."

"And don't use big words I don't know.
 
I'm just saying you seem different.
 
Maybe it has nothing to do with the girl.
 
I'm just asking."
 
She stood, pulling on her heels, and walked over to the desk, pulling out the top drawer and rummaging through it till she pulled out a cigar.
 
She clipped the end and lit it, drawing on it strongly.
 
She walked over to Brad and straddle him in the chair, holding the cigar to the side.
 
"You want to share?
 
I can smell it on you, along with her girly shit perfume."

He teased one of her nipples.
 
"You sound a little jealous, Sarah."
 
She slapped his hand away.

"FIRST, stop calling me Sarah - it's Alexis dammit.
 
Second, I don't care about you enough to be jealous.
 
I just don't know why you're wasting your time with that lily-white baby when we both know what you need.
 
And it ain't her."
 
He took the cigar from her and puffed on it, then passed it back.
 
She sucked it expertly, nothing like the tentative, fumbling puff that Julia had done.
 
Sarah sucked the cigar like she sucked cock - expertly and hard.
 
Just thinking about it was making him hard again.
 
She tilted her head back and blew a ring into the dark room.

"Does she know where you are right now?"

"No.
 
I assume you told Montana to keep her busy."

"I did.
 
But Montana's gonna run out of shit to show her."
 

"Okay.
 
Get off me. I can't get dressed with your sexy self all over my cock."
 
She giggled and flipped her leg over, standing up and walking over to her panties, soiled and wet on the floor.

"Goddamn you Brad, my panties are soaked.
 
I'm gonna have to change."

"Go pick something new out, tell Janine to charge it to me."
 
He pulled up his pants and buckled the belt, walking over to the window and looking out of it, leaning against the glass with one arm.
 
"How's business?"

She fixed herself in a small mirror hung on the wall.
 
"It's good.
 
Been really busy lately. Lunches are picking up and we're starting to stay busy till at least 5am most nights."

"You working lunches?"

"Only when money's tight.
 
I got a new car, the payments are a bitch, so I've been picking up extra shifts.
 
All the more reason I need you and little miss daisy out there to stay away from each other."

"Why are you so worried about her?
 
You've never cared about anyone else I've ever brought here."

"She's different than any other girl you've ever brought here."

Brad folded his arms and looked at her.
 
"I don't pay you your salary to fuck me."

"I know.
 
But that doesn't mean that my job security won’t change if there is a Missus in the picture."
 
He walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking at her in the mirror and nuzzling her neck.
 

"Stop worrying baby.
 
You know me.
 
I'm a bad egg.
 
No women worth her salt will keep me around."

She spun and grabbed his neck, pretending to throttle him with frustration.
 
"Good point.
 
What was I thinking?"
 

---

Montana and I made it back down the stairwell without turning an ankle, and took a back hallway to a door labeled “Dressing Room.”
 
Montana reached down to a keypad and entered a four-digit code.
 
There was an electronic click and then the door opened.
 

“For security,” she said, glancing at me.
 
The dressing room was big, much bigger than I would have expected.
 
There were 20 or 30 lockers against two opposing walls - the size of lockers that you see NFL athletes having on ESPN.
 
One locker was open and I could see three levels of hanging clothes, a few cubbies for shoes, and a second locked area where they probably kept cash.

The center of the room held a long, double-sided counter with mirrors on both sides, and rows of lights across the top.
 
Not the big round bulbs I would have guessed, but thin LED lights.
 
Montana saw me looking, and walked over to one of the seats.

“This lighting system is so cool,” she gushed.
 
You can push these buttons and change the color of the lighting - since the Club is sometimes lit in blue or black light, you can adjust these lights to match the Club - that way your makeup doesn’t come out looking scary.”
 
She pushed a few buttons, and the colors changed.
 
It was pretty damn cool.

“Hey M - Stop that!” A bleach blond girl wearing a leopard print teddy, sitting a few seats down, paused in her mascara application to glare at Montana.

“Oh chill, Heather.
 
I’m just showing her how it works.” Montana retorted.

“Why’s she back here anyway?
 
You know you’re not supposed to bring anyone here.”
 
I shifted nervously, not wanting to get involved in a catfight with these two.

“I’m ABOUT to talk to Sandra about it.
 
Why don’t you mind your own business, since you don’t even know what you’re talking about!”
 
Montana made a bitchy face at Heather and grabbed my hand, pulling me to the door we had just come through.
 
Other than Heather, the rest of the room was empty; most of the girls probably out on the floor.
 

We exited back into the hall and I breathed a little easier.
 
I hate confrontation.
 
“God, she is bitchy today,” Montana said, our heel clicks echoing in the empty hall.