Page 27 of Pushing Styxx
“Please don’t do schoolgirl.” I groan and flop down in my chair.
“Why not?” Trixie asks.
“Because . . .” I take a breath and let it out, knowing these three girls are friends of mine. They’ve unloaded the heavy shit in their lives with me before, and I can trust them with this. “Because my uncle tried taking my sister from school today and I’m more than a little freaked out.”
“He did what?” Diamond snaps, tosses the outfits as she stomps across the room, and drops to her knees next to me.
“He tried taking her out of school today. This is after he showed up at my house yesterday and showed up here when I got off work before that.”
“What does he want?” Sugar asks, her hand taking mine and squeezing reassuringly.
“Honestly, I don’t know. He keeps fighting me for custody, claiming I’m unfit to raise Promise.”
“That’s bull, and everyone knows it. That girl is amazing, all because of who you are and how you work your ass off to give her the life she deserves.” Diamond fumes, eyes narrowed on me. She’s angry, and I can see it’s on my behalf.
“What does Styxx have to say about this?” Trixie demands.
“He’s looking into my uncle, that’s why he didn’t bring me tonight.” I’m still not sure how I feel about him doing that, but I really don’t know if I should care. I get it’s invasive. It’s intrusive. His digging into my uncle goes against the grain, however, after what he did today, I’m done playing nice. I want to know what his endgame is here.
“Well, let him do his thing. He’ll take care of it, and you will be free and clear to not worry. You always take so much on,” Diamond murmurs softly.
“Let him handle this. You just worry about raising that kid.” Trixie adds.
“That’s right,” Sugar agrees. “You handle you and let that hottie do the rest. If these other bitches in the basic stripper room have anything to say about you getting with Styxx, then we’ll deal with them. They just don’t have what you got, and that’s magic when you’re on stage.”
“Sugar’s right. You got that magic when you’re dancing. Styxx saw something he liked and didn’t mind going for it,” Diamond states, getting to her feet. “Now, which outfits should I do tonight? The schoolgirl is out.”
Just like that, these girls have helped me calm my nerves and get us back on task of getting ready for tonight’s shows. I don’t know what I’d do without them.
If I have to deal with another basic bitch getting in my space, I’m going to lose it on one of them and end up losing my job in the process. I can’t afford to get sacked because of petty bitches who are not happy and getting their way.
I don’t know how many times I heard one of them call me a slut, a whore, easy, and a lot more creative words I don’t even want to think about. All because I was with a member of the Satan’s Keepers MC.
One more time, and I was going to knock the bitch who spoke in the teeth. I wasn’t one for violence, but I also wasn’t one for not sticking up for myself.
Thankfully, the night’s nearly over. I have one more dance, then I’m done, and I can get out of here and get home or wherever I’m going tonight.
I step out into the hall, prepared to go out on stage, when Mandy, one of the regular strippers, steps out across the hall, glaring daggers at me.
“I don’t know what Harvester sees in you, claiming you as one of the best dancers. You’re nothing more than a fat whore.”
At her words, I’m done. So done with the ugly words tonight. Stomping in her direction, not caring that I’m dressed in nothing more than a leather and lace corset and lacey cheeky panties. It was an outfit I’d ordered before opening night, and it finally came in yesterday. I had the perfect song picked for this outfit.
I stop directly in front of Mandy, bring my hand up, and slap the hell out of her. “You need to watch your mouth.”
“What the hell?” Mandy screeches, crocodile tears filling her eyes as she cups the side of her face.
“The hell is going on here?” Harvester’s booming voice bounces off the walls. Styxx was right behind him.
“She just slapped me,” Mandy cries, rushing to Harvester.
“Temptation?” My stripper name is said in question.
“Yes, I slapped her.”
“She had good reason for it,” Diamond says from the door of our dressing room at my defense. “All of them,” she points in Mandy’s direction, then the door to their dressing room. “Have been giving her a hard time all night. Calling her names and shit.”
“No, we haven’t,” Mandy protests, still crying.
