Paint Me Envious [2018] [P/UP]

-Prolouge-

The hazy, smoke filled air graced my blackened lungs and I nearly gagged for the third time that night at the disgusting mixed smells of piss and vomit.

I need a cigarette...

"Oh my god, did you hear about that girl that went missing a few days ago?" "Yeah, poor kid. The police think she might have been kidnapped." "Isn't this the same girl that was found in the sewers, like, a year ago or something?" "Yeah, I heard..."

I tuned out the girls talking around me as I finished working on my makeup.

Who honestly cared about some troublemaking teenager that probably just got mixed up with the wrong kind of people? I certainly didn't.

I had my own life to worry about.

"Anne, yer on in thirty seconds. Ya ready?"

I looked up at the butch woman with the clipboard in her hands that addressed me and sighed, standing on tall heels from my dirty vanity. "Yeah. Thanks Janet."

Janet smiled almost sadly and adjusted the mic on her headphones so that the rest of the crew wouldn't hear her. "I'm here for ya, girl. Ya know that, right?"

She rested a hand on the shoulder of my fake leather vest and I nodded. "Yeah. I know."

Janet nodded and began to back away, speaking out orders into her mic as if the moment between us never happened.

I took a deep breath as the lights began to dim and took my place in front of the sheer curtains.

"I know you folks have been waiting for her all night!" Mike—a bodyguard and announcer—called out. The regulars' voices cheered out in anticipation. "And here she is! Our very own Miss Jackson!"

More cheers.

My painted lips curled down into a frown for a split second before curling up into a seductive smirk as the music began to play.

'Climbing out the back door, didn't leave a mark. No one knows it's you, Miss Jackson.'

The curtains lifted and I stepped forward, still craving a cigarette. The crowds cheered even louder.

'Found another victim, but no one's gonna find Miss Jackson, Jackson, Jackson.'

I grinned and sauntered forward in time to the music, gliding across the stage until I reached the cold metal pole stuck at the end of it.

'You put a sour little flavor in my mouth now. You move in circles hoping no one's gonna find out.'

I wrapped a leg around the pole and spun, seductively smiling at the men that looked rich in the audience.

'But we're so lucky, kiss the ring and let 'em bow down. Looking for the time of your life (ain't always gonna find out).'

They cheered and cat-called, screaming my stage name as I stopped spinning to throw my vest to the audience, leaving me in only a hat, a fake leather one-piece, torn fishnet stockings, and my insanely high heels.

'A pretty picture but the scenery is so loud. A face like heaven catching lighting in your nightgown.'

I tossed my hat so that it would land in the lap of a gross old regular that I knew was loaded.