Claiming What's His (27 page)

             
The second room consisted of older businessmen who were surrounding the coffee table that was provided in each of the rooms with what looked like contracts in front of two of the five gentlemen.  Some business transaction was occurring between them and they chose the strip club to conduct their business.  Perhaps they were planning on celebrating afterwards by catching at least one of the shows.

             
Sam moved, but before she could get her hands on the third room, a hand shot out and pulled her through.  She stumbled in and ran into a brick wall called Alex.

             
Alex! 

             
Shit.

             
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, hoping that he didn’t catch on with what she was doing there.  She hadn’t told him anything about the plan, what she found out, or anything.

             
Nothing.  Zip.  Zilch.

             
But she had this hunch that he knew and that she was in a heap of trouble.

             
His eyes flashed.  “Surveillance on Lynn and her friends, not that you would’ve told me, right?”

             
Shit, shit,
shit!
  How did he know?

             
Sam opened her mouth, probably to make something up and shout at him, when he continued.  “Before you get worked up, Maggie was the one who told me the location of  this little girls’ night out before I went home this afternoon.  I know this isn’t your type of scene so I had to do
my
own investigation as to what you were up to and find out what you’ve been up to, which I did find out by the way,  and I even went ten more steps ahead of you and got a bug in the room that they’re in so you can now relax and not try so hard to get caught.  Besides, you were supposed to be in bed and come to my surprise when I called home, I got no answer, I told Corey to check in on you which he said I didn’t have to because you were at the diner.”

             
Damn.  He had it all figured out, didn’t he?  What could she do now?  He figured out what she was doing and he was ahead of her and bugged the section they were in.  But she had to do something to save face.  So she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

             
“I told you it was a girls’ night out.  Why would I be in bed already?  And how could you follow me?” she was still hissing like it was some secret.

             
“I assumed girls’ night was dinner and gossip and then home for you.  Guess I was wrong.  And, I’m here now, get over it.  And one other thing.”  And with that he sat down on the couch, pulling her down to sit on his lap where she struggled like hell for him to let go.  He didn’t.

             
She knew it was best to get it over with before she loses all her marbles with the situation.  “What?”

             
“Why in the fuck are you dressed like
sex-on-a-stick
?”

              Sex-on-a-stick?

             
“Sex-on-a-stick?”
She asked incredulously, not wanting to believe he actually said that to her.

             
His brow went up as if he asked, “Are you kidding me?”

             
Sam glared daggers at him until she heard another voice.  Another
familiar
voice.

             
“Hey, Sam.”

             
That was Nick who greeted her where she failed to see anyone else there but Alex.

             
She shifted her eyes in the opposite direction.

             
Nick, Corey, Matt, Dean, and Sean were there all with huge grins on their faces, except Corey pretended to be fascinated with the ceiling (she knew it was because he had given Alex details and he didn’t want to face Sam’s death glare).

             
Sam was screwed.  She sighed and muttered, “Hey, guys.”

             
Sam pushed against Alex, hoping he got the hint and let her go, but he wouldn’t budge.  If anything, his grip had gotten tighter.  Instead he pulled out his phone to call Maggie and asked if she and the others wanted to join him in the private section. 

             
Not surprising, they agreed.

             
Minutes later, all three girls arrived with drinks in their hands and they comfortably took their seats around the couch.  They instantly turned their head and saw where Sam sat and showed their shit-eating grins.  Char even threw in a wink, or two and Nat gave her smooches.

             
Yup, she was screwed. 

             
And the one thing Sam missed to see (thanks to her glaring at Alex majority of the time) was Char sitting in Dean’s lap the entire night.

*******

              Sam was backstage where the dressing rooms were and stopped in front of the door labeled
Dallas Dae
.  Star stickers and confetti were decorated around her name. 

             
Sam noticed that not all doors were decorated the same way.  Some had more stars.  Some had less.  Also, not everyone had their own dressing room.  Further down the hallway was a bigger room with about ten mirrors in them which told her that the less popular stars shared rooms.

             
The other stars didn’t seem to have such as elaborate identity the way Dallas Dae had hers. 

             
There was something she was hiding and Sam was determined to find out before the left Teasers tonight.  She needed to be sure. 

             
She lifted her hand up to knock but paused.  Would she open the door?  Should she just barge in and catch her in the act?  What if she was naked?  No, no, knocking would be good.  After all, the situations were reversed she wouldn’t want anyone walking in on her while she was naked.

             
Sam delivered a quick one, two knock and waited.  She heard rustling behind the door and a soft voice murmuring, “Okay, okay.”  She knew that voice.  But she still didn’t think it could be.  This didn’t seem like the type of job she would have.

             
Until the door opened.

             
The minute the door pulled back Sam’s suspicion on who she suspected was confirmed.  Dallas Dae stood there with her eyes widened in shock.  Clearly, she wasn’t expecting company, let alone Sam.

             
“Sum!”

             
“Hon, y
ou’re
Dallas Dae?”

             
Crimson crept up her cheeks as she tipped her head down to hide her embarrassment.  Then she stuck her head out, looking in both directions, it seemed, to be sure that the coast was clear.  Then she grabbed Sam’s arm and jerked her inside, nearly having her stumble in her heels, and quickly shutting the door behind her.  Then she began pacing back and forth in the confined space they stood in as if trying to figure out what to do or say.

             
“Hon.  What’s going on?  I didn’t know you were a stripper here at Teasers.  I didn’t know you
knew
how to do this sort of thing.  Is there something you want to tell me?”  Sam gave Hon the squinted eye look, hoping to see right through and figure out what she was thinking.

             
“Yah, yah.  I so shy, Sum.  Um…” Hon trailed off.

             
Sam saw Hon visibly swallowed, instantly knowing that she meant she was extremely embarrassed and uncomfortable about the situation. 

             
“Look, Hon.  It’s okay.  None of us are going to judge you just because you strip.  You’re our friend and we support you.”

             
Instead of being happy that the other girls would understand and be supportive, Hon’s eyes popped out and she frantically shook her head.  “No, no!  You no tell no one!”

             
“I can’t tell anyone?  Why not, Hon?” Sam asked.

             
“My familee no know.  You shh, shh.  No tell.”

             
It donned on Sam that it was possible Hon came from a somewhat conservative family that would frown upon their daughter stripping for any part of her life.  She couldn’t let them think that of her.

             
“Not even the girls can know, Hon?  Maggie, Nat, Char?”

             
Hon seemed to have been contemplated on it a bit before she shook her head and waved her hand between them.  “No.  My familee maybe hear.  No good.”

             
“Why do you work here if you don’t want your family to find out?”

             
Hon shrugged one shoulder.  “Good money.”

             
Sam sighed and nodded.  She heard a few years ago through the grapevine that any girl that worked at Teasers were making serious money, at least a thousand a night.  At one point or another during college, Sam and Maggie both joked that they were quitting school and going to work as a Teasers’ stripper. 

             
“Okay, Hon.  I won’t tell the girls.  But, if you want another job, you let me know and I’ll find you something.”

             
“Yah, yah.  Tank yoo, Sum!”  Hon jumped and grabbed Sam’s hand, shaking it vigorously.

             
“Um, Hon.  One thing.  I missed the second half of your show so I know this may seem odd.  How did you get your boobs looking huge like that?  Overnight plastic surgery?”

             
Hon blinked and doubled over laughing.

             
“No, no.  Vickie Seclet bla.  Make yoo boob
whoosh
!”  And Hon animated that with her hands pressing on her breasts and expanded them when she whooshed.

             
“Oh, nice!  But, I can’t believe you stripped naked in front of all those strange men while they ogled you and eyed you like a piece of meat.  I really don’t know how you do it,” Sam shared her thoughts.

             
Her hands immediately went to the belt of her robe.

             
Sam knew what she was doing, her eyes going wide, and she did not want to look at Hon’s boobs, especially when it was just the two of them and where she could turn as red as the cherry-red Ferrari.

             
Right when Hon went to pull her robe open, Sam whipped her head around and closed her eyes.

             
“Hon, what are you doing?  You do know you just tried flashing me, don’t you?”

             
“Sum, look,” Hon said.

             
Because Sam had kept her eyes closed and face averted, she moved her face around as if mentally looking at things on the wall.

             
“No, no.  It’s okay.  You don’t have to show me –”

             
And this was when she burst into her infamous Laotian rant (which
was
famous between Sam and Maggie since they witness firsthand how verbally vicious the woman could be).  Sam  envisioned Hon dropping her hands from her robe and waving her fists in the air out of frustration.

             
Sam knew plain and simple that Hon wouldn’t stop unless she had to caved.

             
She took a deep breath, internally rolled her eyes and muttered, “Okay, okay.”

             
Hon stopped.

             
See?

             
Sam slowly turned, still keeping her eyes closed.

             
“God, Hon.  Are you really gonna make me do this? 
Now
of any of those times when we’re
alone
in a dressing room where it’ll make me nervous and possibly freak out,
especially
if this is some type of turn-on for you to see me see you naked?”

             
What could Hon possibly be thinking at this moment?

             
Hon remained silent, but Sam still sensed her there with her robe wide open and her body naked.

             
Sam figured the best way to handle this was to quickly open her eyes and get this open with.  Kind of like the band-aid effect, without the physical pain.  She wouldn’t be more scarred (or possibly fascinated) with going faster or slower.

             
Her eyes popped open and she froze.  She froze because it wasn’t what she expected.

             
Sam’s gaze was stuck towards Hon’s breasts.  “That’s how you were onstage?”

             
Hon nodded.

             
“That’s how you were when you stripped down before you walked offstage?”