Page 8 of Come As You Are
Maria shrugged. “Won’t matter. The only time you need to know all that stuff Andrew’s trying to cram into your head is when we do a show, and even then it’s mostly me and the girls doing the dancing. You boys just stand around looking fabulous and give us something to play with.”
“Then why’s he making me learn it?” I tried not to let my voice sound so plaintive, but really, the dance stuff was kind of beyond me, and I was getting a bit fed up with Andrew yelling when I tripped over my own feet.
With a roll of her eyes, Maria said, “It’s his little fiefdom.” She leaned in so she could whisper. “Andrew’s getting a bit long in the tooth for dancing, but he’s been here longer than anyof the other boys so Olivia bumped him up to lead dancer and made him responsible for all of you.” Stepping back, she tapped her chest. “I still outrank him because I’m in charge of all the dancers, drag queens as well as go-go boys, but Andrew thinks it makes him something special, so I just let him strut about pretending he does more than me.”
“So, Olivia’s a good boss?” I asked, proud of myself for having an opportunity to ask something that might get me the information Orsino wanted.
“She’s the best.” Maria eyed me again, this time as if she was assessing me. “Girl’s had a rough time the past couple of years, but she’s making it work. The one thing I won’t tolerate is anyone doing anything that would make her life harder. If I catch you stirring up trouble or spreading gossip, you are going to be out on your ear. Do you hear me?”
I nodded and chose not to ask her any questions about the Grotto. It wasn’t the time.
From the club, I heard Andrew bellow my name.
“Looks like your break time’s over,” Maria said, and then chucked me under the chin. “Stop worrying so much. Olivia likes you. As long as you don’t do anything to fuck her over, you got both of us rooting for you.”
Feeling slightly better, I followed Maria back to the dance floor and tried my best to ignore Sebastian while following Andrew’s instructions.
A few weeks later,I felt secure enough in my place at Illyria to quit my bussing job. Maria’s prediction that the patrons would love my cowboy persona had proved true. At her suggestion, I’d tucked a dark blue bandana into my right rear pocket. I had no idea why it seemed to up my tips, but it sure helped. Adding what I made at Illyria to Stormy’s payment for what little info I’d been able to give her , I was doing okay and no longer worried I’d have to leave San Francisco.
Though I wasn’t sure I was learning anything useful, Stormy seemed to be happy with what I told her, so I figured I was doing something right. I still had misgivings about what I was doing. Everyone at Illyria was really nice, and no one had a bad word to say about Olivia. Some of the guys who had worked other clubs said Illyria was the best in the city, and I’d been lucky to get picked up without any experience.
Best of all, Sebastian had become my de facto guardian at the club acting as a buffer between me and patrons who sometimes got a bit more friendly than I liked. Illyria didn’t have a back room like some clubs did, though relationships between the dancers and customers wasn’t forbidden. Some of the boys had sugar daddies who’d started out being generous tippers who asked for a more personal arrangement. It was a fine line between flirting enough to get the best tips and not pissing someone off when you told them you weren’t available for private dances or parties, and it had taken me some time to figure out where that line was. Thank God for Sebastian and Festus.
Illyria’s bouncer especially seemed to have a sixth sense for knowing when one of us had gotten in over our heads and had saved me from an over-interested customer who’d waited until two thirty in the morning for me to leave and followed me to the Muni. Festus had been passing by on his way home, saw me trying to get away from the guy, and offered me a ride back to myplace, which I’d gratefully taken. He’d also informed the guy that he was no longer welcome at Illyria and said that he never forgot a face.
All in all, things were going well, and I was starting to feel settled. I had a more or less steady income, was starting to make friends, and actually enjoyed what I was doing. While I still wasn’t happy with the spying, I could admit to myself that the attention I was getting boosted my self-confidence by leaps and bounds. I’d never been around so many gay men before, and it was heady to know they found me attractive.
If I hadn’t been so hung up on Sebastian, I could have hooked up any night I worked at Illyria, but Sebastian still had a firm grip on my attention. Sometimes, I caught him looking at me while I danced, and I always smiled and added an extra shake of my hips along with a flirty wink. When I took a break, he always had a bottle of water waiting for me, the top already opened, something I hoped he did just for me.
Of course, though, just when I thought all was well, things fell apart. I got home from work one night after I’d been at Illyria for about a month and found that all my roommates had skipped out just before our next month’s rent was due. Not only that, they’d ransacked my stuff and left me with a pair of jeans and some ratty T-shirts. Thankfully, they didn’t get my phone because I always had it with me, but they did find the cash I’d saved up from my tips and Stormy’s payments.
That money had been meant to pay my share of the rent, and as I sat on the ruins of my mattress, I realized I was probably on the hook for the rest of it as well if I wanted to continue to stay in the same place. I didn’t have time to find three other guys to live with me, and I didn’t know anyone at Illyria well enough to ask if I could crash at their place. Besides which, most of the other dancers lived in similar situations as me and didn’t have the space to offer.
I didn’t sleep well that night at all. Too worried about where I was going to live, and too aware of all the sounds from the neighborhood with only me in the apartment, I couldn’t relax enough to fall into a deep sleep. When my alarm went off, I lay in bed and tried to figure out some kind of plan.
Things weren’t any clearer than they were the night before, but an idea came to me as I brushed my teeth. I already thought of Illyria as a kind of home. The people who worked there had accepted me in a way even my own family hadn’t. If I could find a space where no one would notice me, I could live there for a bit. It wouldn’t be permanent, just long enough to build up my cash again and ask if anyone knew of a place I could afford.
That afternoon, when it was time to head to the club, I packed up what little I had left and headed to Illyria with the intention of finding someplace I could hide after closing.
Olivia
I stared out myoffice window at the crowd dancing and grinding below me. It was a Friday night, and Illyria was packed. As usual. Which is why the numbers I’d been reviewing all day didn’t make sense.
The remediation for the health inspection had cost us a pretty penny, as had an emergency plumbing issue, which meant our reserves had been cut to almost nothing. According to Sebastian, we were still losing money on the alcohol even though he’d tried keeping a closer eye on the number of drinks being poured each night and what was being rung up, but even I knew that was a losing battle. I promised him I’d work a couple of shifts this week and observe the situation for myself. I hadn’t been able to tell if the flush on his cheeks was due to embarrassment or something else, and it puzzled me while I watched the club from my office.
The bar was buzzing, but Sebastian, Toby, and another one of Illyria’s bartenders were handling it easily. I smiled as I watched Sebastian flirt with the customers as he deftly mixed drinks, admiring his easy smile. Bastian the Bastard was in fine form this evening.
Turning my attention to the dancers, I stared at Vee as he swayed and swung his hips to the music. His costume was a work of genius, and I knew Maria had had a hand in it. The navy bandana hanging from his back pocket was the perfect touch. According to the hankie code, it signaled that Vee was a bottom, and it was like throwing red meat to a pack of wolves the way the tops, daddies, and Doms flocked to him.
Even the twinks were in love with him, and I couldn’t blame them one bit. There was something about his innocence and youth coupled with that beautiful face and body that drew everyone in, and he’d quickly risen to the top in terms of tips. He was still a bit awkward in his movements, but that only added to his charm.
No matter how many times I tried to look away, something always drew my eye back to Vee, and I had to be careful when I ran into him in the club during off hours. It would have been easy to fall for him, but I had too much on my plate at the moment to even think about dating or a hookup with anyone, let alone one of my employees. So, I did my best to ignore the way my click stirred to life between my legs whenever I was near Vee, or the way my nipples tightened, and my mouth went dry. Or the way my entire body thrummed with desire whenever we accidently brushed past each other in the narrow hallway that led to the dancers’ dressing room.
I saw Mal’s reflection in the glass as he stepped into my office and winced because I knew whatever brought Illyria’s manager upstairs wasn’t going to be good news. Since the day Sebastian had come to me about the issues with our liquor supply, Mal hadbeen keeping an eye on the stockroom like it held all the gold in Fort Knox. As far as I knew, there hadn’t been any more issues, but then Mal had been busy bringing Illyria back up to health code and overseeing the plumbing repair.
“I apologize for being the bearer of bad news,” Mal said, and I knew I’d been right to dread his appearance in my office.
“What is it now?” I asked. I kept my focus on Vee because the sight of him smiling soothed me.
