“So is her dad a deadbeat or…” She trailed off, leaving it open for me to fill in the blank.

I sat on the bed and picked at the corner of the pillow in my hand. It was so humiliating talking about this part of my life. “My husband Kevin is in jail. He got hooked on drugs and no matter how many times I tried to help him get clean, it didn’t work. He blew through all our savings and took to stealing to get his fix. Long story short… he’s serving four years for robbery.”

“Shit. And I thought getting pregnant by my married boss was bad.” She shook her head and gave me a look full of pity, the one thing I despised the most about telling people about Kevin. “Do you go and see him?”

“No. Never. I don’t want Sophie to remember him in an orange jumpsuit with shackles. We decided that back when he was initially arrested. Besides, I warned him that he was going to lose us and it didn’t stop him from fucking everything up.”

“Sometimes the addiction is stronger than the person,” she sagely reminded me.

“I know. It just sucks, you know? Having your husband choose to stick a needle in his arm over spending time with his wife and daughter.” I felt tears prickling my eyes and took a deep breath. I refused to cry over this any longer. Especially with someone I just met.

“Yeah,” she said solemnly. “How about I show you around the place. Introduce you to whoever is around?”

“I’d like that.”

Candy jumped up and gripped my hands, pulling me from the room. I pulled back and locked the door, pocketing the key before rejoining her.

“Trixie warned you, huh?” she asked with a wink.

“Sure did. I’m not taking my chances. New girl hazing and all that,” I said cheekily.

“Yeah, well, in that case, you might want to supply your own condoms. The last new girl ended up pregnant when some of the other girls decided to poke holes in hers. Poor thing doesn’t know who the father is. We’re waiting to see what nationality the baby pops out.”

“Oh my God!” I said with a gasp, my hand flying up to land on my chest. “Are you serious?”

“No!” She let out a loud belly laugh, clenching her stomach and doubling over just as we arrived at the door leading out to the main room.

“Bitch!” I yelled, pushing her just as the door opened and Xavier prowled through it.

Just as all the other times I had seen him, I was instantly struck by his beauty. He was just so damn sexy. Every single one of my nerve endings began firing at the very sight of him. It was like being a hormonal adolescent all over again.

“Hey, X,” Candy greeted him.

“Candy.” He dipped his head in her direction before angling his body towards me. “Aurora.”

“Hey,” I said softly, tucking a piece of hair behind my ears. Something about being in this close of a proximity to him while in a narrow space had me feeling shy.

“You like your name?” he asked with a tilt of his head, and even that small movement had me staring at him in wonder, much the same way my daughter had earlier that day.

“I do.”

“Candy showing you around alright?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Good. I’ll see you two later.” I watched him walk down the hall for a second before turning back to Candy, who was looking at me with an odd expression on her face. She quickly closed off her face, giving me a tight smile.

“Let’s go.” She pushed the door open and led me into the main room. It was mid-afternoon, so the place wasn’t too busy. Only a table of four men, laughing and drinking while a blonde gave one of them a lap dance.

“That’s Brandy over there.” She pointed at the blonde grinding on the man’s crotch. “She’s one of my good friends. I think you two will get along nicely. Up on the stage is Kitty and Cherry. Kitty’s okay. A little touchy after her boyfriend comes to town, but other than that she’s pretty cool. Stay away from Cherry, though. She’ll eat you up and spit you out given the chance. I think the term ‘mean girl’ was invented to describe her.”

I looked up at Kitty with her curvy figure and tight afro, thinking she was stunning. Then my eyes wandered over to Cherry with her enhanced breasts and narrow hips. Her perfectly pouty pink lips curled in an evil looking smirk before she turned her back to us and focused on a newcomer who had just sat in a chair next to her platform.

Well alright, then. Seemed like solid advice to avoid her if her smirk was anything to go off of.

We sidled up to the bar where we each took a stool. I looked out of place in my shorts and tank top, sitting next to Candy in her emerald green silk bra and panties.

“What’ll you have?” she asked me with a raised brow.

“Just a soda. I have to go pick up Sophie from the sitter.” Ruth had been kind enough to watch Sophie for me while I came into The Den, even though she really didn’t want to encourage my working here. It was time I found a good sitter so I wasn’t imposing on Ruth’s beliefs and moral compass whenever she helped me out.

“Hey, Cheech! Can we get two cokes over here?” She called out to the Mexican bartender, who had an uncanny resemblance to Cheech Marin from the infamous duo Cheech and Chong. I assumed that was where the name came from. All he needed was a doobie hanging from his mouth and you would have to do a double-take.

“Coming right up!” he shouted from the other end of the long bar before going to work on pouring our drinks.

“Thanks, hon,” Candy told the bartender when he set our glasses down. “Cheech, this is the new girl, Aurora.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said while he appraised me with a flirtatious grin on his lips.

“Sure is, darling. Sure is.”

“So, when do you officially start?” she asked when Cheech went to get another round for the table of men with Brandy.

“Well, I guess I already did.”

“No. I meant when do you take your first John?”

“I did,” I reiterated. “Last night.”

“I was here last night. I didn’t see you.” She looked at me skeptically.

“Oh no. It was at his place. Mr. Marx. Do you know him?”

Candy choked on her soda, her eyes watering as she sputtered, “Marx?”

“Yeah. Why? Do you know him?”

“Honey, everyone knows Marx. He’s one of X’s best clients.” Her gaze narrowed and turned shrewd. “Why did Trixie send you there?”

“She didn’t. Xavier did.”

“No shit.” She leaned back on the stool and shook her head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. Do yourself a favor and don’t tell the other girls Marx was your first client.”

“How come?” I wouldn’t utter a peep about this if it meant turning the girls against me. I just didn’t understand why it was such a big deal.

“First of all, Marx is hot.” I nodded at that because he was, in fact, hot. “Second of all, Marx is a good tipper and is one of the higher paying clients, which means a bigger cut for the girl lucky enough to get assigned to him.” I nodded again because that did make sense. I had three thousand dollars to prove both of those statements were true. “Third of all, it’s easy money letting him tie you up while he gets off. It’s a lot easier than spreading your legs and humping up and down on some sorry loser, hoping you’re going to get off too.”

“Oh, I got off,” I informed her, choosing to ignore her description of what I had to look forward to working here.

“Wait. Marx actually got you off?” She set her glass down and leaned forward as if whatever I was about to say next was really important.

“Um, yes?” I squeaked out, afraid I had said something wrong. I barely knew this girl and I didn’t want to alienate her.

“Honey, he either did or he didn’t,” she pressed.

I sighed and took a sip of my drink before saying, “He did.”

“Well, shit!” She hooted and clapped me on the back. “Marx has gotten only one other girl off in the three years I’ve known him, and that was after she serviced him a handful of times. The rest of us get tied up and then sent on our way once he’s done. You, my friend, could become a legend. I’m glad I took the time to befriend you before anyone else did.”