To Find a Queen

~ TWO ~

My night is almost over, and I cannot wait for a shower. Only two more hours to go. The amount of sweaty, grimy hands that have touched my skin tonight has been disgusting.

I’ve never seen Vinny’s so busy. I mean yeah, it’s a bonus in one sense because I’ve got twice as much in tips as I normally do, and there sure does seem to be a lot more ‘eligible’ men in here tonight; by eligible I mean slightly better looking than the regular slimeballs, but the regulars seem to be on edge and ‘claiming’ their territory with us girls. Their usual gropey hands have been extra touchy tonight. Yuck.

When I was at the bar earlier, I asked Scarlett, one of the bartenders, what was going on. Apparently, Vinny had some VIPs visiting and needed to impress them, so he halved the drinks prices and opened the back rooms to get more customers in. The back rooms were used for either illegal gambling, or ‘private dances’ off the dancers on the stage, depending on if you turned left or right through the red velvet curtain at the back.

She didn’t know who these VIPs were, but she said that Vinny had been extra on edge whenever she had seen him coming back and forth through the curtain, but hadn’t seen him in a while. Luckily, I haven’t had the pleasure of his verbal biting tonight, but if Scarlet says he seems even more on edge than usual then I’m praying I can carry my luck to the end of my shift and avoid him, as long as he stays back there with them.

I place the last drink down one of my tables and turn to head off to the next when Luke shouts at me from the curtain to the back.

Luke’s a big guy that Vinny hired as security for the club but he’s all brawn and zero brains so doesn’t realize Vinny is just using him as his personal butler and bodyguard. Luke seems to think that because he’s closest to Vinny he can ‘sample’ the girls whenever he wants. He tried it with me once, but Vinny shouted him away for something just as he got a bit too close for comfort. I’d been dreading the day he decided to try again.

I make my way over and nearly gag at the look he gives me as he drags his gaze up my legs and stops at my chest. He doesn’t speak for a minute and I’m about to turn and walk away when he finally says ‘Vinny and his guests want serving’

‘What happened to Lucy? I thought she was serving the back rooms tonight?’

His eyes snap up to mine. s**t, I should learn to bite my tongue. If there’s one thing men in this city hate, it’s a woman who doesn’t know her place, and my tendency to think out loud had landed me in more than a few tight spots over the years.

‘Not that it’s any of your business, but she had a bit of an, accident, and had to go home early, so they need someone to replace her.’

Shit. So much for my luck changing.

I glance back at the clock above the bar. Only one hour thirty minutes to go. You can do this Athena. My little pep talk does little to calm my nerves as I squeeze my way past Luke. I try to keep as much of my body as possible from touching his, but he moves so that I have to rub either my arse or my t**s against him as I pass. I choose arse, at least I can’t see his face that way even if I can feel his arousal as it brushes against me.

I internally shiver at the feeling and turn right, towards the gambling rooms, and make the short walk towards the biggest room at the back. If Vinny had someone he wants to impress he wouldn’t stick them in one of the smaller rooms. As I pass the doors to the other rooms I hear the usual sounds of frustration, delight and disagreements taking place. My mind only briefly wonders who the VIPs are, but I decide it’s not my concern and plaster my fake smile on once more as I knock on the door.