Romance in Vegas - Showgirl! (7 page)

"You always do excellent work, Marie. I need
someone I trust down there."

It dawned on her then. Someone was on the
take, and he wanted her to find out who. "No problem. I understand
completely. When do I start?"

"How about Monday? That will give you a day
off. The shift is four AM to noon."

"Okay. I'll check with Stutgart and we'll
work it out."

"And Marie, it's just temporary. You
understand."

"Absolutely."

Dani had a bite to eat at six o'clock that
evening, but her usual appetite had left her in the afternoon. She
had pre-performance jitters, as she paced up and back in her
suite.

Her phone rang. "Yes?" she snapped.

Al paused for a minute. "Are you okay,
Dani?"

She ran a hand through her hair. "No."

"Talk to me."

"What if I screw up?" So badly they fire me,
although she couldn't say that to him.

"You won't," he said smoothly.

"Wish I had your confidence." She continued
pacing.

"Would you like some company?" She heard
someone in the background then, a shout then yells. "Football," he
said simply. "A few diehard fans in the penthouse here."

She had to think about this for a minute. Did
she really want to see him or would he just make her more nervous?
"I think I'll just stand around here and worry. Thanks anyway. See
you at the show."

A few minutes later, she answered a knock on
the door. A stocky grey-haired woman stood there carrying a tote.
"Remember me?" she asked Dani.

"No, I'm sorry. I don't."

"Charlene." She pushed into the room. "Al
called me. Said you needed calming down."

Dani closed the door, and smiled at the
woman. "I'm sorry, I was so preoccupied last night, but I do
remember your wonderful massage."

"Well let's go then," Charlene said
good-naturedly.

During the massage, Dani asked her, "How long
have you worked for Al?"

"Must be a million years now," she laughed,
"but seriously I worked on his father too, so it's been a while.
That means I can call him a jackass and he doesn't talk back."

"And what was his father like?"

"Very old school. And a mean, murdering
son-of-a-bitch who would stop at nothing to get what he
wanted."

Dani gasped at that and the brutal
honesty.

"It's the truth. And I see some of the old
man in the son. Al's not vicious, though, that's the difference. He
doesn't hold a grudge like the old man did. So, are you seeing him
socially then?"

Dani thought for a minute. "Not really. He
just asked me to dinner yesterday. And he gave me a cell phone,
which I thought was nice."

Charlene snorted. "Wants to keep track of
you, I'll bet my last buck. And he hasn't asked anyone to dinner
since his wife died a year ago. The way he looked at you last
night, I would say he's extremely interested."

"I just thought he was treating me the way he
treats all new dancers," Dani said slowly.

"He always has an agenda. He knows I can see
right through him, and he always seems to call when he's in a jam."
Charlene finished up and put her lotions away while Dani donned her
robe.

"That feels much better, thanks so much."

Charlene handed Dani her card. "Just give me
a call whenever. I don't sleep too well anymore, so time is not
really an issue with me."

Kim and Dani joined the other women before
the first show.

Dani walked reluctantly to her make-up area,
trying to remember what all to apply. First, she stroked on the
primer, and applied foundation, blending it with her fingers. She
didn't need concealer, so she applied powder.

For her eyes, she used the dark eye shadow
for dramatic effect with silver on the lid. She then lined her eyes
with charcoal liner.

False eyelashes were a bit tricky, getting
them to size right, but she ended up with a good result.

She applied blusher, lined her lips with
cherry red, and filled in her lips with cherry lipstick.

"Wow!" Kim said, as she came to see Dani's
progress. "let's get dressed...or should I say undressed," she
laughed.

The silver and gold spangled outfits were
similar to a bikini with a separate top and bottom. Yesterday,
she'd shaved off everything, as Kim told her not to leave a hair on
her body, just on her head.

They stood together before the full length
mirrors after strapping on the foot tall headdresses, complete with
feathers, and donning long matching gloves.

"So kid," Kim drawled, "what do you
think?"

Dani gave her a huge smile.

"That's the one, keep it on your face."

*****

"So," Tony asked Al, "isn't there a show at
nine o'clock?"

"Yeah."

"Are we going?"

"No, we'll go to the eleven o'clock show.
That's the one I usually go to."

"Okay my man, you just look nervous as hell,
just wanted to ask."

*****

Dani thought the first show went very well.
She tried to put her body on autopilot, and just recreate the dress
rehearsal they'd had earlier. She erred once then caught herself in
time so she wouldn't get too far out of step. She realized how
powerful her body was, felt the magnetism of the audience reacting
to her every move. As well, she wondered if they would really keep
her on at the casino.

And, while performing, she realized Nola was
right. There was an invisible barrier between the dancers and the
audience. They couldn't hurt her at all.

Adriene and Kim complimented her afterwards,
along with most of the other dancers.

And, as she looked in the mirror to fix her
hair, she realized she'd done it. She was a dancer after all.

Chapter 7

However, the eleven o'clock show was a
disaster.

At the beginning, they opened arms up in
their pose position, to thunderous applause. The theater was
packed.

Dani led the procession down the long steps
on the stage, and into the lower dancing part of the stage to the
sounds of a pounding rock song.

They danced for a minute or so then it
struck. Dani's heel broke off her shoe, and went flying offstage.
For a second she froze.

Then she really went on auto pilot. She took
off both shoes, threw them backstage, shucked off her headdress
also thrown now to the man offstage. Her hair flew out of the pins
and was long on her back. She heard cheering from the audience, and
it rallied her on.

After she'd thrown her gloves, she put on her
thousand watt smile while posing. Then she started moving to the
music. In her bare feet, she hunkered down, she shimmied and thrust
her hips back and forth, and turned several times. More cheers from
the audience.

But when she started whipping her hair back
and forth, until it was a cloud around her face, they really went
wild.

Her gaze caught that of snapping blue-grey
eyes. So, she danced for Al. Shimmy, thrust, hair flip back, forth,
with her hands out to the side then in front as she stepped
forward. She turned her back to the audience and grinned at the
dancers in front of her, all posing now, and ran her hands down her
legs until her hands touched her feet and her hair gathered on the
floor.

She repeated all the moves to fill in the
ruined routine.

When the song ended, Dani lithely ran off
stage, with a final whistle to the dancers, who followed her,
smiling and waving at the audience.

"Holy shit!" Tony said to Al in amazement as
they sat in the second row. "Who IS she?"

"The one I'm working on," Al said, without
missing a beat.

"Damn. She makes the blonde look like dog
crap. We still have that agreement to not go after each other's
women?"

"You bet," Al replied, as a smile played on
his lips.

Backstage, things were chaotic. All the women
hugged Dani, with the exception of Lorali who had a scowl on her
face.

Kim picked up the broken heel, and the other
part of the shoe then looked at them closely. "Adriene, Marie, look
at this."

But all the women gathered around Kim, who
said, "Right here. It's been tampered with."

Al walked up. "Let me see that." They saw his
jaw flex as he inspected the mangled shoe, and his eyes were steel
gray as they looked up. "If I find out who did this, there will be
hell to pay," he said.

Then to Dani, who stood breathless and
flushed, a softer look. "Are you all right then Miss Troubix?"

She watched him curiously. "Yes, sir."

"You didn't turn an ankle? You're not
injured?"

"No, sir."

"Your dancing was outstanding tonight," he
said as he smiled and looked down at her.

"Thank you, Mr. Scaletti."

"I'd like you to meet Antonio Barrelli, our
GM in Atlantic City."

"How do you do Mr. Barrelli?"

"I do just fine, sweetheart. Call me
Tony."

Dani wasn't sure why they were being so
formal all of a sudden, but she was just glad she'd made it through
the performance.

For some reason, she felt embarrassed now.
The man Tony, a little shorter and stockier than Al, was eyeing her
with interest. She turned back to her mirror and started taking off
her make-up.

In the reflection, she watched Lorali saunter
up to him and run a hand down his suit front. He bent down and
whispered in her ear while his hand came onto her derriere. She
giggled and slapped at him playfully.

Al took in the scene, she realized, as he
took in everything. He caught her eye, and his look was warm. Very
warm.

Back in her suite she realized that after
every performance she would probably have this deflated feeling.
She showered and washed her hair. Pouring herself a small amount of
whiskey, she sipped as she sat on the sofa, and felt the burn going
down her throat.

Her cell phone rang, and she had to hunt for
it, finally found it under a cushion in the chair. "Yes?"

"Do you ever say hello?"

She laughed. "I guess I don't. I'm spacing
out a bit, having a little letdown you could say."

"You have a right to do that. I'm sorry you
have this downside, though. You did a wonderful job tonight. I
couldn't have been prouder of you." He paused and said softly,
"What are you wearing right now?"

"My robe." But she began feeling warm at his
tone, which seemed to grow softer each time he spoke.

"Do you ever go without it? Just walk around
naked?"

She didn't reply. She couldn't reply.

"I liked seeing you the other day. Just
sitting there, sleepy-eyed with your panties on. And nothing
else."

Her breath came out in a long sigh. "Charlene
came today," she said in a shaky voice, trying to change the
subject, "She gave me a massage."

He laughed softly. "That could happen again.
Would you like me to trade places with Charlene? Mmmm?"

Dani didn't know what to say. Was this the
man who was so formal with her backstage? He had her confused.
"I...I think I'll turn in now, I'm really beat...Mr. Scaletti."

She thought she heard him laugh again as he
clicked the phone off.

Al looked at the phone and smiled. She was so
funny and sweet. He knew he'd ruffled her up a bit, but he thought
that was part of the game. He always hedged his bets.

In suite 310, Antonio strolled in with
Lorali. She turned to kiss him, and he hugged her hard then, kissed
her harder.

They collapsed onto the bed. "Take your hair
down," he said urgently, helping her. "I'd love to see you doing
that wild routine. Just for me."

"She just made it up," she told him sharply,
shaking out her shoulder length blonde hair.

He watched her. "Can't you make one up?"

"No."

He sighed. "I've got this urgent need."

"Now that, I understand," she said as she
unzipped his pants.

Dani screamed as the man grabbed her arm and
twisted it hard. His hands were on her now, roughly prodding. She
screamed again, then sat bolt upright in bed. Trembling and
sweating from the dream, she made her way into the living room and
sat on the chair. Such a long time ago, she thought, but still
alive in her dreams.

She needed to talk with someone.

When she called Charlene, the woman sounded
bright and alert. "Wow," she said, "I wasn't expecting to hear from
you so soon."

Dani was silent, as her tears began.

The woman continued. "I heard about your
peppy dance routine last night. And the shoe thing."

Blowing her nose, Dani said, "I kind of
improvised."

Charlene laughed. "I hear you turned on men
in other counties with that one."

Silent again, Dani dabbed at her eyes.

"What's going on?" Charlene asked
quietly.

"Nightmare."

"Can you tell me about it? I've got nothing
but time. I'm really hyper tonight."

Slowly, Dani began. "Two years ago, they put
me in a new foster home. I thought it would be better than the
other ones. And it was, for a while. The man was a construction
worker and his wife just stayed home."

"Go on."

"I started to notice he would drink beer a
lot in the evening. Then he'd look at me, nasty you know? Look at
my breasts all the time."

"Right."

"One night he came into my room. Sat on my
bed. I told him to get out. But he was too strong. He kept twisting
my arm telling me to be quiet. I was still yelling. When his wife
came in they got in an argument. I punched him. He punched me back
in the eye."

Dani sniffed again. "Then they took me to the
hospital because I couldn't move my arm. I got switched after that
to a different family...if you could even call it that. They all
just wanted the money they'd get for me."