Electrified (6 page)

Trying not to show how much the accent was grating on her nerves, Sienna maintained a neutral look on her face and answered, “I like more natural scents. Lily of the Valley…water.”

“Well, I got the water scent right here for ya. Thunderstorm. It smells like rain. Ya want me to add it to your bill for the wax?” More hip cocking, side to side.

Sienna cringed, even though she was trying hard not to show it. “I have an account here. Just have Penelope add it to my charge.”

“What do ya mean, an account? I don’t know nothing about accounts here.” Petal frowned and waved her hands in the air helplessly.

Taking pity, Sienna decided to step outside her comfort zone and explained softly, “Staci, my name is Sienna. Sienna Flower. I’m one of a few women with personal accounts here. Penelope does it as a courtesy to a few of her more frequent customers.”

“Oh! Oh my God! I didn’t recognize you with the hat and the glasses and all the clothes. Sienna Flower from the billboard!” Staci shrieked while jumping up and down.

“Shh, right. That’s me, but let’s keep it quiet. Staci, why don’t you send your calls to voice mail and let’s go have a cup of tea in the back.”

Staci stopped jumping, her eyes widening to the point she looked downright frightened.

“You’re not in trouble,” Sienna assured her. “I just want you to succeed here. I can tell you want to, but we have to chat about a few things so you can do that. I’m doing it as a favor to Penelope.”

Staci had frowned and took her bottom lip between her teeth, then said, “Is that going to be okay with Penelope?”

“Don’t worry about that, Staci. Penelope and I are close friends. I’ll handle this.”

Once they’d been seated at the table in back with some hot tea and sliced fruit, Sienna got to know Staci and shared a little about her own background.

Silence fell between them for a moment, as the girl digested what she’d told her, then Sienna leaned forward and said, “Staci, you could make a really nice life for yourself. I had a bad life and now I have a good one.”

Good, but lonely. So lonely, I’m taking you under my wing.

Sienna had omitted anything specific about Lila and why she ended up in Vegas. She simply left it at the two women sharing difficult upbringings.

With a compassionate expression on her face, she said, “I had a tough beginning like you, and I want to help you make something of yourself, so you can stay here and be happy, Staci. I was able to transform myself, and now I can help you.”

The young girl had just stared at Sienna. Most likely, no one ever had showed an interest in her, let alone someone she saw as a celebrity.

“You don’t have to dance if you don’t want to,” Sienna went on, “and I definitely don’t want to take you away from Penelope, but we have to work on your manners and speech. There’s a lot of money to be made here in Vegas, and opportunities are at your feet. Let’s help you take advantage of all of this. The first step is assuming the role of what people expect in Vegas. Anything but reality.” She tilted her head and looked at the younger, more naive version of herself.

Sienna decided helping Staci make it on her own in Vegas was a start at paying it forward in the same way Asher had taken her under his wing. The Electric Tunnel and its people—Asher, Mike, and Petey, who all gave her refuge when she needed it, helped her achieve success, and made her feel warm and welcome—were her current inspiration.

Staci probably saw her as a stripper with a heart of gold. The truth was that she was alone and craved a friend like a drowning person craves fresh air.

Sienna was an extremely giving person deep down inside, and Lila had never been able to fully express that side with all the beatings and lies she’d had to endure. Lila was someone who craved to love and be loved, something she never truly had. And since she couldn’t afford to fall in love now, Sienna chose Staci to be her family.

The two women had bonded quickly. Lila never had a sister, but always wished she did. Maybe if she had, she would have had someone to go to when she was secretly being abused.

As Sienna, her only family was Asher. These days she took care of Asher as much as he took care of her, but she had more love to give. Knowing she’d never get married again and have a family of her own, she saw Staci as a chance for her to take care of someone else, so Sienna took her under her wing.

Initially, Staci would spend time with Sienna at her house, or the two would meet for a quiet lunch somewhere way off the Strip. Quickly, the two women became as close as Sienna could be with anyone; like sisters, but Staci could never know about Lila. Sienna felt bad, as if she were lying by omission, but not only was it dangerous for Sienna to reveal her true identity, she didn’t want to involve Staci.

The less connection to my past, the better for everyone.

Soon enough, Staci became Petal. Ravyn Petal, the Electric Tunnel’s newest dancer. Petal still worked at the Cat’s Meow while she was learning to dance, until she earned herself the spot right before Sienna went onstage. Petal also happily did lap dances and trips to the private room with customers. Going onstage right before Sienna elevated Petal to most-wanted status, and she left the Cat’s Meow after eight months, since she was making big bucks at the Tunnel.

Sienna was proud of Petal’s success in making a new life, and taught her how to save and manage money. To Sienna, there was nothing to be ashamed of in developing a career as an exotic dancer. For many, it was more money and security than they could have imagined, and under her wing, the girl would learn to prepare for the future.

Sienna didn’t judge Petal for working the floor and doing whatever she did in the VIP rooms. She watched her lead the gentleman from earlier to the back area, his hand on her lower back, and she was smiling. With her soft raven-black hair flowing down her back and brushing against the small booty shorts she wore that revealed hints of the round bum underneath, Petal was now a confident young woman, very different from the insecure girl she had been when they first met.

The pair stopped to be vetted by the head bouncer that evening for the VIP rooms. After learning from Asher, Petey was as tough as nails when patrons entered the secluded area. Wearing his usual bad-boy getup, that was enhanced by his very muscular tattooed arms, he only had to focus his midnight-blue eyes on someone to instill fear, demand respect, and maintain decorum. Sienna watched him frisk the very willing man before arranging terms and explaining the code of conduct, taking his credit card for safekeeping, and opening a tab for time with her girl.

This was part of the life, and thankfully at the Tunnel there was absolutely no funny business when it came to the dancers performing one-on-one for the customers. With high-tech security cameras and the toughest bouncers in the business all over the club, customers couldn’t get away with anything raunchy or disrespectful.

Sienna had done a lot of lap dances—with no touching—in her short career on the floor before Asher had said it was enough. When Asher saw how customers gravitated to simply watching her perform, he determined there was no reason to ever place Sienna on the floor. When her stage persona clearly became the main draw to the club, Asher started paying her even better than he had been to simply dance.

She knew it was both a personal and a business decision. Asher was well aware how difficult it was for her to work the floor, but he also realized the benefits of Sienna dancing exclusively. Her shows brought customers back over and over again, while being good for the other girls on the floor. Following her stage numbers, the floor dancers were flooded with requests for lap dances. There was no denying Sienna was the draw, and limiting her to the big stage only amplified her pull.

Sienna never worked the private rooms, though. She refused to enter a space where she was alone with a customer, ever, even before she was famous. Asher understood this and never pushed it, even without knowing the entire reason. He seemed to sense that being in one of the rooms would push Sienna over the edge.

Years ago when Asher had first approached Sienna about getting on the stage, he’d rubbed his hands soothingly up and down her arms. “Sie, doll, you know I’m never going to make you go back there to those rooms, don’t you? I just think you should dance, and make more money. That’s it.” It was his gentle, assuring way with her that helped her find the path to a brand new identity, one that saved her life.

These days, there was absolutely no reason for Sienna to do anything she didn’t want to, now that she was an owner.
An owner.
It might not be what she dreamed of when she was a little girl, but she was a part owner of the Tunnel.

If my destiny was to be a stripper or strip club owner, so be it. Safety first.

Sienna was living life on her own terms, which was why she had no reason not to allow herself to head out early upon occasion. She was confused by her fixation on the dark-haired man, who only watched her and seemed immune to the sexual hum of the club, and she needed some time to herself, to appreciate what she did have and not what she was missing.

Like a gorgeous, dark, brooding hunk.

A
S
S
IENNA
exited the club Thursday night on Big Mike’s arm, unconditional love and affection emanating from the big bruiser in his running pants and matching warm-up jacket, she thought about her new family—Asher, Petal, Sydney, Penelope at the Meow, and her sweetie, Mike. It was more than she could ask for to have five people so intimately involved in her life.

Sienna had dreamed of having a big family with a bunch of kids when she was younger. When she ran away from the only family she’d ever known, she’d expected to be alone for the rest of her life, but she wasn’t. And for this, Sienna was grateful. The gang might not be much, but they were all she had.

Mike was the one who had surprised Sienna the most. He sort of crept into her life, and now was permanently fixed as her biggest fan and buddy. Not only did he take Sienna out when she needed to venture outside her house or the club, but he walked her to the club’s town car each evening.

Asher didn’t like Sienna driving herself to and from the club. When the billboard went up two years ago, he put an end to Sienna coming and going on her own. Tuesday through Sunday, Asher sent a town car to pick up Sienna, and then the same driver would return her home safely. Typically, Sienna found herself hanging on to the elbow of Petey or Mike, who escorted her out the well-lit back entrance to the Tunnel and deposited her safely into the soft, luxurious leather backseat of a town car. Like tonight.

The time each night when she was escorted out was special. It was something she looked forward to, relished even. It was a quiet moment when she truly connected one-on-one with another person.

As the town car whisked her effortlessly home, Sienna found her thoughts centering on Asher. She wasn’t stupid; she knew Asher provided this service more for his own peace of mind—and his sex life—than her general safety. He was a man, after all, and had his own physical needs. It wasn’t like that between Sienna and Asher, although many speculated it was, and sometimes, Sienna wished it were. She wouldn’t be forced to be alone for the rest of her life if she could be romantically involved with Asher, but their relationship was nothing more than a deep friendship, or brotherly love.

Asher would probably go for her sexually out of some weird sense of responsibility, but that wasn’t what Sienna wanted, nor would she ever force Asher into a life like that. She cared for him too much to allow him to tie himself to her out of obligation.

No one who
really
knew the two of them, which was maybe ten people in total, believed they were a couple. Only the media and the crazy paparazzi speculated, which was fine with Sienna. The upside of the rumors of her having a steamy affair with Asher was that they didn’t link her with anyone else.

Secretly, she liked this aspect of her relationship with Asher, even though it was false. Not having to publicly be linked with someone else was a relief. But if Asher actually met someone special, Sienna knew she’d easily give up the act.

He deserved that.

Like her, Asher had come from a shitty life. Although he didn’t publicize it widely, he wasn’t nearly as secretive about his past with everyone at the club as Sienna was. His mom, a showgirl who had never married, dropped a seven-year-old Asher off at a neighbor’s house one afternoon and never came back. With no clue who his dad was, the neighbors took Asher in and raised him as their own. At least his mom had taken a calculated risk in leaving him with people she must have known wouldn’t turn Asher over to the system, even though he gave them plenty of reason to do so once he hit his teens.

The couple, who both were lifers in the Vegas nightlife industry, ran a small bar and casino off the strip. They were decent people who never had kids of their own, but gave Asher as good a life as they were able. In turn, Asher could never repay them enough for keeping him out of the foster care system. He bought and paid for a luxury condo for the couple he thought of as parents a few years back, and they never wanted for anything.