Working Boy

Chapter 3

Chase followed Ken back down the corridor. They went past the posters once again, Chase making a silent comparison between the "Ken Doll" poster and Ken himself.

"So you're a dancer, huh?" He asked, scratching his chin.

"Mmhmm," he responded with a nod of the head. "I also help out the boss with certain things. I'm sorta his secretary," he smiled at him.

"I see."

They turned a corner and walked into a room that was labeled the "Dancer's Room".

The room itself was about the size of a hairsalon. There were mirrors on one side and racks of clothing on another. There were no dividers for privacy when changing, so some of the men went behind clothing racks to change. There was much chatter inside along with some clothes being thrown around. Chase instantly recognized the dancer he saw onstage pushing one of the guys into the open, naked.

"Ahem!" Ken cleared his throat to get their attention. However, they still carried on.

"AHEM!" He repeated, growing impatient with the loud noise.

"Oh, hey. What's up Kentucky?" Rodeo smirked, playing on Ken Doll's full name: Kennedy.

"Don't call me that," he demanded before continuing. "We have a new dancer-"

Chase flashed him a glare before Ken corrected himself.

"I mean, a potential dancer. He's gonna try it out for a night," he spoke, his voice as smooth as silk.

"So what does that mean for us? Where are we going to fit him in our schedule?" A larger, Native American male questioned.

"Well Chief, we'll just fit him in between yours and Tantalis' performance," he replied, going towards the little white board and making some changes. They usually kept a dry-erase board to remind themselves of the routine for the day. The male nodded and continued what he was doing, searching for clothes to wear.

"So, you plannin' on dancing, huh?" Rodeo asked with a raised eyebrow. He was wearing shiny, black latex pants now, making his way over to Chase with a whip in-hand. He put an arm around the taller guy, forcing Chase to have to stoop down to his level. "You got a name yet?"

"Um- no, not really," he responded, gently releasing himself from his grip. He never thought about having a name. Hell, he never even intended on dancing to begin with.

"Ah, it'll probably come to you. Or we can help you come up with one," the male suggested, smacking him on the ass, which earned him a frightened jump. "Nice ass by the way."

"Quit molesting the boy," Ken grumbled, putting down the dry-erase marker.

"Alright, alright, I'll let him get changed. Hey kid," he referred to Chase. "You're up in fifteen minutes. That means you have five minutes to choose an outfit and ten minutes to come up with a dance routine. Everyone make sure you find him a good outfit," Rodeo stated, pointing towards the racks of clothing.

"Isn't it MY job to tell people what to do?" Ken scowled.

"Nope. That job belongs to the boss," he snorted before going to a clothes rack. "Hey, I think you can borrow some of Lionel's things. Come over here."

The curly-haired boy went over to where he was and looked at some of the outfits. Most of them were skimpy- fishnet tops, thongs, and assless chaps. He just couldn't see himself wearing any of this stuff without making him blush.

"Do you have anything here that's at least halfway decent?" Chase questioned, rummaging through the clothes. Rodeo exchanged glances with Ken before giving him a deadpan expression.

"It's a f*****g strip club. Even if you do find something 'decent', it's gonna come off anyways," Rodeo stated, earning a slight wince from the younger male. "Here, lemme help you," he went through the clothes and picked out a black suede vest along with some distressed jeans. "What type of underwear are you wearing?"

"Huh?" Chase reacted, perplexed. "Um...boxer-briefs?"

"What color?"

"Uh." Geez, what color underwear was he wearing? He undid his pants to check for the color. However, Ken had already snook his way behind him, gripping his pants from behind and yanking it down, pulling the boxer-briefs down with it and exposing his trouser snake.

"H-Hey!" He yelped, turning a deep shade of red before retreating behind the clothes rack.

But it was too late. The boys had already caught a glimpse of what he was packing and was chattering like little girls.

Chase's facial expression went from one of embarrassment to anger in a matter of seconds. What the hell was wrong with them? They didn't need to see what he had. Hell, he wasn't even sure if this was his official job yet. He didn't know these people from Eve.

"At least we know the color of his underwear," Rodeo smirked, nudging Ken Doll.

"I'm leaving," Chase murmured, pulling up his pants and coming from behind the rack.

"Wait!" Ken hurried over to Chase, stopping him. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you."

Chase turned to go, but felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen. Can you please just feel it out? Just for tonight? I feel that you would be a great addition to the club," he flashed him a small smile.

The island boy narrowed his eyes for a bit, attempting to read him. The petite ginger seemed genuine. He sighed.

"Fine," he rolled his eyes, earning a brighter smile from the male.

"Great!" Ken clapped. "Now that you're staying, I came up with a name for you!"

"Already?" He rose an eyebrow.

"Mmhmm! Wanna guess what it's based on?"

"Uh," he was a little too frightened to guess, but instantly got the hint when the ginger's vivid, green eyes kept flickering to his crotch. He scowled. "Really!?"

"What? Oh c'mon, it's a nice size! Big, too. You can actually give Rodeo over there a run for his money. I mean-"

"Alright, I get the point," Chase interrupted him before it got too awkward. "So...what actually is the name you thought up of?"

"...Black Mamba."

"Ughhhhhh-" he groaned.

"It fits though," Chief, spoke up, nudging Chase as he went searching through the same clothes rack Chase went through. That must've been the Lionel they were referring to before.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah go put this stuff on," Rodeo shoved the clothing towards Chase.

He stood there clothes in hand, perplexed before he went behind a rack and started changing.

Soon he came from behind the rack. He had removed his shirt, so he was wearing nothing but the suede vest over his torso. The jeans felt snug against his lower body and clung to his hips quite nicely. The boys couldn't help but marvel at how nice his body looked. It was evidently muscular thanks to football practice, but not too much to where he looked like a complete Mr. Universe wannabe.

"Nice~" Rodeo applauded. "Turn around."

"O-Okay," he rotated around, stiff. His cheeks were a deep shade of scarlet now- he wasn't used to this type of attention.

"Ah, that fits very well," Rodeo nudged Ken, in which he nodded in agreement.

"Alright, great! How much time do we have left?" Rodeo looked up at the clock and frowned. "s**t, we don't have a lot of time." He walked towards Chase and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Looks like you'll just have to wing it."

"WING IT!? HOW!?" He exclaimed in the guys shushed him all at once. "Sorry..." He responded, meek. "But seriously though- how am I find go about doing this?"

"Well, first off you gotta loosen up," Chief pointed out, referring to Chase's hunched shoulders.

"Okay," He loosened up a bit. "Then what?"

"You dance! Utilize the stage! Interact with the crowd!" Ken piped up, dancing around the room.

"Yeah, what he said," Rodeo pointed to the ecstatic ginger before leaning in and whispering: "He really loves his job."

Chase chuckled in response before sighing. Well, he did dance a lot when it came to Carnival. He was also really good at rolling his hips. Yeah, he could do that. But what about the music?

"Alright. Very well. But what exactly would I be dancing to?"

"Up to you. What do you prefer?" Rodeo responded.

"Um...what about reggae?"

"Reggae? Hmm...never had anyone dance to that type of music before..." He rubbed his chin, pondering. "Hey Ken! What do you think of him dancing to reggae?"

"Reggae?" He c****d his head to the side. "Like Bob Marley?"

Chase facepalmed. Of course. That's what pretty much everyone who wasn't familiar with reggae music thought of.

"Noooo...Well sorta. There's different types of reggae. But that's DEFINITELY not the type I was thinking about," he chuckled a bit.

"I see," Ken nodded slowly. "Well I'm certain you would know more. Here," he went over to a little drawer and pulled out a Post-It note and a pen. "Write down the song you had in mind and I'll bring it to the DJ."

Chase took the items and wrote it down, giving it back to Ken.

"Thank you!" He smiled before leaving.

It wasn't long before Tantalis, the dancer that was onstage came through the door.

"Alright champ, get ready because you're gonna be up," Rodeo led him out of the room and towards the area backstage.

The area was barren aside from the thick velvet curtain that divided the backstage area from the actual stage.

"So when you enter, you're gonna enter through the middle," he indicated with his hand. "Your cue to go on is when the DJ announces your name and the music starts to play."

"Okay," he took a deep breath. His chest felt so heavy, he couldn't help but feel nervous. What if he messes up? What if the crowd doesn't like him? Oh well, he was going to have to cast those feelings aside.

"You're not gonna be up for no more than 2 minutes. Remember to carry yourself with confidence, charm, and sexiness. Got it?" Rodeo asked.

"Uh huh," he nodded in response, listening to Ken's suave voice entertaining the crowd.

"Good! You got this kiddo," he gave him a pat on the shoulder before leaving.

This wasn't what Chase was expecting. All he could do was peer out from behind the velvet curtains as bright lights lit up the shiny, navy blue stage. Surrounding the stage was a sea of spectators, whooping and hollering- waiting to be entertained by Damon's Paradise's newest dancer: "Black Mamba".

It was time.

As soon as he heard his name and the music starting to play, he stood up straight. He strutted through the those velvet curtains and was greeted by loud squealing as he flashed his pearly whites, his God-given dimples very prominent in his face as he began to gyrate his hips to the beat. He made his way to the very front of the stage, sinking down to his knees. Money was being thrown at him now, he could see the green notes littering the stage. He tuck his thumbs in the loops of his jeans, pulling it down just a little past his V-line. Some women had reached out to touch his abs. He rolled his stomach in-tune before he went forward on all fours to kiss one of their hands. He flashed a charming smile before getting up and pulling off the vest, throwing it into the crowd.

Although the crowd was going crazy, he couldn't help but feel his integrity slowly dying inside. If his family, or even his peers from school ever caught him doing something like this, he would be in so much trouble.

After what felt like eternity on stage, he was finally done- the DJ introducing him one last time before the next act, which was Chief. He went backstage and back inside the Dancer's Room where he was instantly greeted with praise.

"Holy s**t, man! You were f*****g amazing out there!" Rodeo put an arm around him.

"You did great, Chase," Ken smiled.

"Oh, uh...really?" Chase blushed rubbing the back of his head, bashfully.

Soon after, the workers came in with two large dufflebags and gave them to Chase before leaving. He wasted no time in opening them. They were both filled to the brim with money.

"Oh my gosh!" He couldn't contain his happiness. "Wait, aren't I supposed to give some back to the club?"

"Well, typically Boss collects 30% of your earnings. You take it home, count it, and take that percentage out for him and keep the rest. However, since it's your first day, he pardoned it," Ken explained, watching the boy rummaging though the dufflebag.

"Wow...It's so much," he murmured, looking at all the assorted values of money.

"So, what do you think, kid? Do you want to stay?" Rodeo sat beside him.

"Well..." Chase thought long and hard about this. He just made over $500 dollars off of a two-minute dance in one night. Imagine how much he could make in a single week! Yeah, sure it would require him to do some...unethical things, but it will certainly help pay the bills. He could probably even pay for his own schooling and still have some left over! And the timing for this was perfect. He'll just have to balance it all at once.

"I'll join," he stated, making his decision.

"Great! I'll have the boss bring out your contact!" Ken chatted excitedly, dashing out of the room.

"Welcome to the family, kid," Rodeo put his arm around him with a smile.

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! This one was the most fun for me to write so far. Well, don't forget to drop down a review!