Nervously, I teetered over to the group. I’d been hiding in the back a bit, behind a velvet drape.
“This is Cleo,” she said. “Turned eighteen two weeks ago, dances like a ballerina. Perfect material for the Donkey Club, if you ask me,” she said conspiratorially.
I colored. I couldn’t dance at all, I had two left feet and had been a wallflower at my high school prom, literally sitting the entire night on the bleachers watching everyone else get jiggy. Why was my mom singing my praises?
But the guys didn’t say anything, merely looking me over, taking a swig of their beers.
“Boys, she’s a natural,” promised my mom. “Just give her a try, you’ll enjoy it,” she said suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows.
Give her a try? WTF, these guys better not touch me. My mom wasn’t pimping me out to these two losers, even if they had decent builds under their cheap suits.
But the men said nothing, instead appraising my curves, letting their eyes trail over my assets, lingering on my flat belly and big boobs.
Finally, Les replied.
“Ya think?” he said to the second guy.
“Sure, why not?” his friend replied.
I flushed. They were talking about me with me right there, and it made me feel like a speck of dust. But Jimmy turned to the girl spiraling on the stage in front of them and ran a finger in a line across her throat. The signal was unmistakable. The girl abruptly stopped dancing and slunk off, grabbing as many dollars as she could on her way out.
“What do you say, Red?” Jimmy addressed me abruptly. “Here now’s your chance.”
I gawped. He expected me to get up there and dance? Right now, in the middle of someone else’s set? I didn’t even recognize the music, it was some grinding heavy metal stuff and I usually liked Top 40 hits. But my mom shoved me into the spotlight, hissing, “Go!” fiercely.
“No Mom!” I gasped, trying to hide behind a chair even as my mom pried my fingers off the back. “No, what are you thinking?”
My mom just glared at me, her eyes fierce, her breathing coming hard.
“I’ve sacrificed so much for you, can’t you do one thing for me?” she hissed again. “Get out there! Make the most of what you have!” she commanded, glaring at me, hands on her hips.
And I almost cried then, hot tears rising to my eyes. But at the same time, I felt ashamed. My mom had done so much for me, worked as a cleaning lady as we tried to get by. And what had I done for her? Seduced my stepdad, that’s what.
And so I forced myself to get on the pedestal, hoisting myself up before looking around, unsure what to do. I looked at the two other girls still dancing and basically just tried to do what they did. I swayed my hips in small wiggles, kicked a foot out and tried to smile, still blindly looking out into the audience for my mom. I couldn’t see her, the light was too bright but I could hear her voice, hissing still.
“Dance!” she said. “Dance like you mean it!”
Like I meant it? Trembling, I tried to do a little more, swiveling a little, gyrating my hips, running my hands up and down my waist.
“Stop acting like you’re so innocent,” came Lorena’s hiss again. “Dance like your stepfather’s watching!” she commanded, and I almost passed out right there. Lorena knew? She knew about me and Drake? Oh god, oh no. But if she knew, then I might as well make the most of it. I closed my eyes, pretending that Drake was in the room with me, that it was just the two of us, his dark blue eyes leaving hot trails over my body. I blocked everything out and began dancing, just for him.
It was as if a light clicked on in my head, channeling the dirtiest moves I’d only ever seen on my laptop. Suggestively, I licked the pole once, and squatted, showing off my toned glutes, highlighting my calf muscles.
I noticed that the other girls were completely nude, and I toyed with my bra straps, softly stroking my shoulders, unsure about next steps. But my mom interjected again, her voice like a harpy, intruding into my dream.
“Take it off,” she hissed loudly from the sidelines. “Every single piece.”
Ugh, that didn’t sound good. But I turned back to imagining Drake. He’d told me that I needed experience, right? Well, I was going to get some right here, right now. So slowly, I slid the straps off my shoulders, and then unsnapped the clasp in the back, gripping the lace cups to my torso as a last ditch effort at modesty. But seeing my mom’s glare from the sidelines, I let the cups drop, exposing my Double Ds.