Bird

xiii

"Papa pays commission to those that bring new girls in,after some time most of them end up quitting", she answers.
But if the pay is good, why do the girls here quit?

"Woah ",she doesn't look like she's had two kids, Papa said.

"See what I said?"Jane says and winks at me. Papa went around me eyeing me from head to toe giving me a similar gaze like Bernard used to. "Jane show her to the stage and we'll talk after her performance",he smiles and walks out of the dressing room.

"Just relax, you're a dancer", Jane says

"Used to be",I correct her and try to keep up in the highest heels I've ever worn. I'll see how it goes tonight and maybe I can make a payment on the loan and buy me some time.

I reached for a shot in the tray of a waitress to shake off the uneasiness as the promoter introduced me. Okay it's show time we need this money so we need to work hard.

I've been to a strip club , William owns a couple of them so this should be a walk in the park. I moved my hips, did a couple of binds and twists ignoring the disgusting hands of the customers and just thought of who I was doing this for.

"You were amazing", Papa said as I put the pillow case with the money I made. Maybe it's because I'm new but the crowd responded favorably to me.
"The club gets 40% of what you make and the rest is yours",he says, pouring the cash onto a table and a cashier starts running it through the machine to count how much I had made. After counting and getting his share was left with about £3000,it wasn't enough but it was still a good amount. If I could do this for a whole week I'll have enough for the bank. I was so excited my hands almost shook while I received the money.

" So what do you think Raven, do you want to join our family here at the strip club?", he said and put his hand on my shoulder. I was too excited to pay attention to It and just nodded my head as I watched the cashier leave the room.

"Of course I would love to Papa", I excitedly said.

" Then that's news worth celebrating", he laughed and walked to the bar and poured two glasses of whiskey."You have talent,Raven",he said, handing me a glass. I was pretending to take a sip because I didn't trust this man in front of me.
"You're not like these other women here Raven and I can make your life much easier, you'll be the star and I'll give you more stage time",he said and started rubbing my hands.

" I don't like you touching me", I say. But he ignores me. He continues to put his hand on my chest and I lose it hitting him with the glass on the side of his hand. "I said don't touch me!",

"You little bitch!"he groans as he falls to the ground with his hand on his head.

I grabbed my money and ran to the door but before I could open it he grabbed my arms and slammed it shut.
"You're not going anywhere. Trying hard to get after leading me on!",

" What do you mean leading you on! Let go of me you pervert!", I struggled in his hold. He pushed me to the couch and smacked me across the face ripping the two piece costume off of. Blood rushed to my head and my heart rate accelerated ,I was about to get assaulted in a filthy strip club office.

But this is not what I wanted.I had a look going on. I just couldn't give up like this.I took advantage when he loosened his hold to unbuckle his belt and I reached for the bottle of liquor and hit him with it again and he fell to the floor unconscious.
I took deep breaths to calm myself down wondering if I had killed him,I can't go to jail,who was going to take care of my grandmother and kids.

After calming my breathing,I got on my knees to check his pulse, sighing in relief when I found he was still alive.
I used my hands to cover my exposed chest,with only my lower half covered. I sauntered out of the office and into the dressing room.
The other dancers were changing and retouching their makeup, looked at me skeptically and some like they understood what had happened. It seems this was a common occurrence with new girls.

"What happened?", Jane asked. I looked at her and grabbed my stuff and entered the bathroom to change.
"Tell me what happened,Raven?"She asked again, yanking my hand,my eyes fell to her hand on my arm and back to her face and like my skin had scorched her hand she quickly let go of me. I walked out of the club and got into the truck to head home. All I wanted to do was to wash off his disgusting touch. I wondered why many girls quit and I think I know why.
My mind wondered that I sobered when I pulled through our driveway. I shuffled into the house and to my room. I sat in the shower, and let the hot water wash away all the dirt I felt sticking to my sink and I just cried.

"Mommy?"Merce cried out to me. I quickly put the bottle of antidepressants away.

"What's wrong,honey?" I say and walk to her.

"Can I sleep with you?",she asked while rubbing her eyes.

" Yes of course my princess",I carry her to the bed and pull her close to me taking in her scent,she always smells like peaches. I hummed and rubbed her back and soon I heard her soft little snores and knew she had fallen asleep.
I heard another soft knock and the door unlocked,Caleb walked in and joined the both of us in bed.

"Can I sleep here too?", He said when he was already in the covers and snuggling closer to us.

"Of course my love", I chuckle. And wrap my arm around him too. In the comfort of my children I forgot the traumatizing night I had and I finally fell asleep.