Synergy (3 page)

 “
You heard
from Trey
?” Keisha asked as she turned
back to the mirror to finish applying glue to her eyelashes. Dee’s
face darkened as she flopped onto the leather sofa
opposite.

“
No. Son of a
bitch won’t even answer my calls
.”

Dee
wasn’t with Trey anymore, and she hadn’t been for over a year but
she wanted her son to see his father, it was only fair to allow
that. Lately Trey had been avoiding her calls, not answering her
texts, and despite only living a couple blocks away, he was never
home when she practically knocked the door down. She was tired of
him messing her son around Tushaun was only two years old and
deserved better. Dee and Trey were only fourteen years old when
they met. From fifteen, they were an item. High school sweethearts
she guessed other people would call them.  They were, for the
five years they lasted, but as soon as Tushaun was born Trey
changed. He turned from a devoted boyfriend to a distant one. Then
there was the cheating.

 
As Dee drifted off into her thoughts, a
shout interrupted them.

 “
Dee
!” Evan shouted. Evan was the
manager of the club, a bald man in his forties.

“
You’re
up
.”

Dee
stood up and said goodbye to Keisha, thinking of Trey and his
bullshit the whole way to the stage. But as she took her place at
the pole and the spotlight shone down on her, her thoughts
evaporated with the sound of the music. Showtime.

Chapter 3 – Club X

Jason

When Tom
organised a night out for the two of them, he certainly didn’t
leave anything to the imagination. He had it all covered: food,
drinks, entertainment. Jason knew there was a reason he chose Tom
as his PA; and not just because they were friends. They’d started
out the night at this nice Italian place in an upscale area just
outside of the hotel. He’d never seen a menu so extensive; you
could choose from anything and everything. In the end, he ordered
pretty much half of the menu for he and Tom to try. They obviously
weren’t going to eat it all but he liked to be able to taste
everything. Money wasn’t an issue for Jason, and it wasn’t that he
was cocky with it; he just honestly didn’t even notice it anymore.
He wouldn’t think twice about going into a store and buying
whatever he wanted without looking at the price tags; he just knew
he could afford it. He wasn’t greedy with his money, he never had
been. He wasn’t born with money and growing up his family had
struggled a little, so he fully appreciated what he had now. He
regularly helped out at charity events and did everything he could
for his family. He had bought his mother a new house, cars -
everything she wanted. He had put his cousins through college, and
made sure no-one ever wanted for anything. Despite all that, he had
worked hard for his money, so intended to have some fun with it too
- after all, he could be dead tomorrow.

Once Jason and Tom had eaten as much food as they could
stomach, ‘leaving some room for drinks’ Tom reminded him, they
ordered shots from the waitress. After they were paid up at the
restaurant, they walked down the strip of bars where they ordered
at least one drink from each. Most of them were upscale places,
wine bars and such, and so their night started out quiet. They sat
on the bar stools and chatted about the day as they poured back
whiskey doubles and Jason signed a few autographs for fellow
customers who recognised him at the bar. They were all nice about
it - they got their autograph and left; they didn’t scream or pass
out, or hang around them all night, which was nice, he thought.
Jason was almost starting to feel like a normal person until he
spotted a girl outside of one bar taking photos on her iPhone,
shortly followed by a small crowd all following suit. Tom had
noticed too, and before long, he threw back the last sip of his
whiskey and stood up, pulling his phone out his pocket. As Jason
finished his drink and signalled for the waitress so he could pay
up, he heard Tom calling their car to come pick them up. That was
another thing  Jason missed, just being able to jump in a cab
like everyone else, but having their own personal ride was safer,
it seemed, so they always had a driver they could call to pick them
up and take them places.

Tom ushered Jason out of the bar, and the two were met by a
gathering of girls that had formed outside to gush over Jason and
ask for pictures and autographs. Usually, Jason would take the
time to do it, but tonight was supposed to be his night off.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t take the guilt he felt as he passed them
by, so he stopped Tom in his tracks. Tom raised an eyebrow,
wondering if he was actually going to stop and sign all those
autographs. By then he was feeling a little buzzed and wanted
nothing more than to move onto the next place before things got out
of hand. He watched as Jason pulled his phone out of his pocket and
handed it to him.

“
Take our
picture
,” he said, as he got in the middle
of the small crowd of girls and put his arms around one either
side. The girls squealed and beamed, looking like all their wishes
had come true, as Tom snapped a couple for good measure on the
camera, handing it back to Jason.

“
I’ll upload it
tomorrow
” Jason told the girls, and their
smiles told him everything, as he climbed into the back of the
car.

“
You’re too nice,
you know that
?” Tom
smiled.

“I know
” Jason drawled in his
southern twang. 
“I can’t take the
guilt man”

The two
of them laughed in unison before Tom told their driver their next
destination. Jason didn’t know where they were headed, but as they
drove, the streets got darker and dingier; there were fewer street
lights and more graffiti. After about a fifteen minute drive, they
pulled up to an intimate sized venue with a large neon sign that
read ‘Club X.’

“
This is
it?
” Jason questioned.

“
Don’t judge a book by its cover,
dude. Trust me, when you see the women you’ll change your
mind.”

Later
down the line, Jason would remember that line and smile.

As they stepped out of the car, they walked past the few
people still queuing to get in, and towards the large Hispanic
security man at the doors. Of course Tom had let the club know in
advance they were coming - that was a huge advantage of being with
Jason, you never had to queue for anything. The Hispanic man gave
them the nod and another smaller, light-skinned man appeared from
behind the doors and led them into the club to a section at the
back, presumably the VIP area. There was a bottle of Grey Goose on
the table, as well as champagne on ice and a couple of glasses.
Jason still found that crazy, that once you have money, you never
have to pay for anything, yet if you’re dirt poor, nothing comes
free.

 
They made their way into their seats, and
looked up to the girl currently sliding down the stripper pole. She
had caramel-coloured skin and dyed red hair, with a few tattoos
dotted around her body. There was one on her thigh, a few on her
arms, and a love heart on one breast. Jason watched her work the
pole, and though he appreciated her skill, there wasn’t really
anything enticing about her. He poured himself and Tom shots of
vodka and they clinked their glasses together before downing them.
He decided he was going to enjoy the night, despite Tom’s venue
choice.

As the
two of them watched the rest of the girl’s dance, they chatted and
laughed between themselves, before the girl left the stage and a
man’s voice on the microphone announced

 “
Now.... give a warm welcome to the
beautiful Dee!”

Jason
watched as a girl strutted up to the front of the stage. She had
dark cocoa skin, and long black curls that fell past her shoulders
and onto her breasts, which were pushed up to emphasize her
cleavage. He watched as she curled one leg around the pole and
twirled seductively around it.

“
Shut your mouth,
you’ll catch flies.
” Tom
joked.

Jason
snapped out of it and laughed along with his friend, but he
couldn’t take his eyes off of the girl on stage. Dee...

Dee

When Dee’s last dance of the night had finished, she headed
to the dressing room, pushing past a few drunks standing in the
doorway, one of whom leered towards her trying to get in her face.
Nonchalantly, she shoved him out of the way with one hand, sending
him stumbling the other way. She heard him mumble something but
ignored whatever he had to say, barging through the dressing room
door. She heard laughter coming from inside the beaded entrance,
and she knew the belly laugh was Keisha’s; no-one could mistake
that raucous sound. As she peeled back the beads, she saw Keisha
sitting on a chair in front of the mirror, reapplying her lip gloss
through bouts of laughter, with another dancer, Jenai, slumped on
the sofa opposite, a fat joint in her right hand.

“
Hola sexy
mama
!”  Keisha remarked, as Dee
entered the room and took a seat on the sofa next to Jenai, who
smiled her way.

“
What’chu guys
laughing at
?” Dee questioned, as Jenai
handed Dee her blunt.

Keisha
laughed once more, before spinning round in her chair to face them
.

“
Girl! You would not believe the hot
mess that is working here”

“
Who
?”

“
You know that new
girl...Raspberry Swirl or some shit
.”

It
wasn’t uncommon for girls to use a pseudonym to hide their real
identities. Dee personally thought it was pointless. When you come
from a town like hers, everybody knows everybody; it wouldn’t be
long before somebody saw her and spread it to the rest of the town.
The girls who usually used a pseudonym usually had a rich daddy who
was putting them through school. Anything they earned here was
their pocket money.

“
What she
do
?” Dee questioned, remembering the young
white girl with the strawberry blonde hair she’d seen on her last
shift.

“Little 
hoe-bag been working
here like, a week? She done gone home with a different dang
customer every night.  Think somebody need to explain to her
it ain’t that type of business.
”

Dee raised her eyebrows as she blew out a billow of smoke.
“
For real?”

“
For real. She
even tried to go home with Paul last night...and girls,
we 
know
 she definitely barking up the wrong tree
there”

Dee and Jenai burst into laughter. “
Want to say that a lil’ louder, Keesh? Don’t think Paul heard
you
.”

At that, Keisha put her hand over her mouth.
“
Shit. I ain’t supposed to say
nothing.”

“
We already
know
!” the girls announced
together.

“
Yeah but...shut up! Let’s get some
drinks.”

Just
then, Dee’s phone began to ring in her purse which was on the floor
across the room. Keisha, closest to it, opened up Dee’s purse.
Before she handed the phone over, she glanced at the caller
ID.

“
It’s Trey! Oh girl, pur-leazeee let
me answer it, I’mma go ape-shit.”

Dee held
her hand out and gestured for Keisha to hand it to her.

 “
No
Keesh.
”

Keisha
sighed and handed it to Dee.

Dee took
one last puff of the blunt in her hand, and stubbed it into the
ashtray on the arm of the sofa, before accepting the call and
putting it to her ear.

“
So now you call
back.
” She started.

“Yeah, now I call back, ‘cuz you done left 20 million
voicemails on here. The fuck you get off calling me a bad
father?”
 Trey’s voice shouted through
the phone.

“Maybe ‘cause you done ignored your son for months, Trey!”
she barked back. She felt the anger rising in her stomach like
verbal bile and her hands began to shake as she felt ready to
explode at his words.  Keisha and Jenai watched intently, not
speaking as they listened to the one sided conversation they could
hear from Dee.

“
There you go fucking exaggerating
again. It ain’t been months; it’s been a couple weeks, Dee. Stop
being such a fucking drama queen.”

“The last time you seen Tushaun it was February 5th on your
mom’s birthday. It’s now March 15th, so actually, it’s been over a
fucking month so don’t speak to me like I’m a fucking
idiot.”
Dee shouted, her voice rising as
the anger boiled inside her.