And Ryn was like me. We got the job done, enjoyed it and put our all into it.
But Ryn had a man and was working on having another source of income. She was building her business flipping houses, and so far, she’d done well at it.
She had a plan.
Unlike the others (and I hadn’t told anybody), I’d taken a hit to my tips when we’d gone revue. Not much, but it wasn’t the same as before when it had been straight stripping with the occasional (but lucrative) lap dance thrown in.
I wasn’t Lottie or Hattie, and I didn’t have a backup like Ryn.
I couldn’t skip a dance a night for more variety in soloists.
I needed the tips.
This all on my mind, when Ian spoke again, I focused on him to see him studying me closely.
“Hattie’s gonna be gone soon, Pez. Sadie sold another of her pieces yesterday. And she just told me it looks like that show in Aspen is a go. She’s going to need more time in her studio, and she prefers being there. Not to mention, Ryn’s eventually going to make a move. You can’t dance all night and lay tile all day. It’s going to wear her down and I know which one she’ll eventually give up. I have to be ready. We’ll add to the ensemble. Good dancers, women with potential that Lottie, Hattie, Ryn and you can mentor so I can move them up when the time comes.”
Okay.
Phew.
Crisis averted.
Because Hattie’s talents didn’t only lie in dancing, she was a sculptor. She’d recently had a kickass show at Sadie Chavez’s art gallery, and it was kickass not only because her stuff was spectacular, but because she’d sold well.
And her art was priced in a zone where I couldn’t buy a thing.
In other words, her selling another of her pieces could mean thousands of dollars for her.
Like, five to fifteen of them.
“I’m all in when that time comes, Ian.”
“Everything else good?” he asked.
“I had the best date of my life last night,” I answered. “Which is weird, since the night before I’d had the best date of my life. And that was weird, because the night before that, I’d had the best date of my life and it was a phone conversation.”
A smile formed on his mouth, but when it did, it was me who was studying him closely because Ian was a cool dude, a good man, an awesome boss, a great friend, open, honest, approachable, and I didn’t think I’d ever seen him smile at me with a conflicting light in his eye.
A light that said he was happy for me, but something else was on his mind and whatever that was might not be great.
“Is everything good with you?” I asked.
“Perfect,” he lied.
And I felt my stomach squeeze, because that was totally a lie and I wasn’t sure Ian had ever lied to me.
“Sure?” I pressed.
He nodded.
“Sure,” he stated firmly. “I’ll let you get to your rehearsal.”
He started to move to go out the back door, but I caught him with a hand on his arm.
He looked down at me.
He wasn’t just all that stuff I’d said he was before.
He was tall, and immensely good-looking, with beautiful eyes, broad shoulders, gorgeous chocolate skin. On top of that, he dressed great, and he had an amazing manner.
It was kind of a miracle he wasn’t taken yet.
Then again, I wasn’t sure there was a woman in the world good enough for Dorian Walker.
Which was probably why Lottie (or none of us) had tried to fix him up.
It’d have to be someone special. A superhero.
A wonder woman.
“You know, if something’s up, I’m here to listen. Anytime, yeah?” I said.
His face relaxed, he looked and felt more like Ian, before he said, “Thanks, Pez. But really, I’m good.”
“To reiterate, offer’s always open.”
He bent down and kissed my cheek.
(See? Amazing manner!)
“Honest, I’m fine,” he told me after he’d straightened.
I nodded.
He went out the back door.
I headed into the club.
Lottie and Hattie were in one of the killer new booths that rounded the stage.
Ryn was on the stage with some chick I did not know, a satin rope suspended from the ceiling, and a big mat underneath it.
Oh man.
Ryn had said she was going to try an aerial dance, and here we were. She’d hired that coach she’d told us about and she was going for it.
Awesome.
I kept my eyes on Ryn as I moved to the booth at the end of the catwalk where Lots and Hatz were hanging.
“Yo,” I said as I slid in with them and watched as Ryn, one foot wound around the rope, the same with a wrist, did a backbend/splits maneuver that was damn cool.
I got a “Yo” in return (Lottie) and a “Hey” (Hatz).
Ryn came out of her position and her coach moved to her, so I looked to Hattie.