“There you are, little booger,” I tell it with my head in my bag when I hear Razor chuckle. My head tips to the side. He really is handsome in that rugged kind of way.
“You keep lookin’. I’m enjoying the view.” He winks at me then pulls out his pack of cigarettes, something I usually find disgusting, but on Razor, it’s a whole other story.
I roll my eyes, make the call to Mack, only for it to ring three times before I’m sent to voicemail. I call again. There is no way I’m going to be stuck here, not when I was here last night, am scheduled for tonight, and I’m here now.
“Mack, where the fuck are you? You told me I could let Razor in and be gone. Well, guess what? That plan isn’t working, and if you’re not here in the next hour, you’ll have to find another dancer for the night.” I hang up on his voicemail, seething mad.
“Trouble?” Razor asks, a puff of smoke leaving his mouth.
“Not sure. He’s not answering, and you won’t let me leave. So, I guess we’re stuck like this.” I settle into the barstool behind me, thinking that I really should have brought my books. I mean, my bag is big enough to hold them, and if I’m not going to get any sleep, I may as well study.
“I guess we are. He’ll be here soon, knowing Mack. If not, we’ll figure something out.” He’s clearly not as much of a talker as I am. So, instead of trying to engage him in any type of conversation, I decide to check online what homework I have to do for this week, what tests are coming up, and my grades.
“Whatcha doin’?” Razor interrupts what I’m doing. My top teeth are biting my bottom lip, something I do when I’m deep in thought.
“Looking at what my schedule for school is going to be like next week.” I only work the weekends, well, plus Thursdays because wow, are those lucrative, and I’m no dumbass.
“School as in college?” Razor asks the question, but just then the back door is flung open, causing him to be up on his feet. I watch as he places his hand behind his back, seeing where he’s going, and I swear to God if I’m caught in a gunfight, I am going to lose my shit.
“Sorry I’m late. Baby mamma needed me to help with the little one. Apparently, she’s teething and wouldn’t eat or sleep. Made for a rough morning.” Mack comes barreling in.
“Fucking finally. Well, it was fun to chat and all, but I’ve gotta jet. Toodles,” I say while grabbing my bag. My only goal is to get home and pass the fuck out.
“Thanks, Raven,” Mack says.
“Later, spitfire.” Razor licks his lips, and I see the twinkle in his eyes. Yep, it’s time to leave before that man has me stripping out of my clothes for more than work.
Three
Razor
“Next time you can’t make it and have a dancer show up, I better have some type of fuckin’ notice. I’m not coming in here looking to get my dick blown off,” I tell Mack. He’s following me to the back office area.
“Sorry, man, didn’t think it was going to take that long.” He takes a seat in front of the desk while I walk around it to sit down, ready to get this taken care of.
“Yeah, anyways, catch me up. How many dancers do we need?” I ask him as I look at the books.
“Two, maybe three. Whatever you do, don’t piss off Raven. She’s the best dancer we have, keeps her shit together, even if she’s a lot to handle. You won’t hear a silent crowd when she’s here, and the money she brings in, it’s well worth it.” I take what he says into consideration already knowing we won’t be letting her go, not that I even thought of it.
“Who else is bringing in the cake?” I ask Mack.
“You’ve got Michelle, Lindsey, Jenna, Nicole, and Avery. Michelle and Jenna bring in the most after Raven.”
“Okay, so here’s what I want to do. We hold try-outs next week, see if Raven, Michelle, and Jenna are interested in making more money. We’ll need them during the day probably Tuesday and Wednesday. If they’re a go, it’s settled. Now on to the other shit at hand.” Mack gets uncomfortable with this side of things, as he fucking well should be. It’s his job to make sure our dancers aren’t using, and it shouldn’t have come from an anonymous call to the local police department that shit was happening in Diamond. We had a friend of a friend give us a call before shit went sideways, which is why I’m down here.
“You take care of those two that weren’t staying clean?” I ask, my eyebrow arched up, another fuckin’ thing with the dancers that got sacked. You wanna show more of your body besides your tits, you do it in the back room where the public doesn’t see shit. This giving sneak peeks to entice private dances doesn’t work.