I could tell by her tone that she was teasing, but I still found myself sitting up a little taller at the thought that Marx had enjoyed his time with me that much. I guess I had done something right after all.

“To your bright future, Aurora James.” Candy held her glass up. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.” I clinked my glass on hers and smiled wide.

Maybe I’d make it after all.

I was wrong. I wasn’t going to make it.

The light blue lingerie I had purchased was riding up my ass with each grind and turn as I danced on the platform. The lace abraded my ass crack and I feared the men would start laughing and pointing if I tried to adjust it. What did a girl have to do for a moment alone to pick a wedgy?

Candy sat in a man’s lap on the other side of the room, plucking cherries from a bowl and feeding them to him while alternatingly slipping them in her cleavage for him to pluck out with his tongue.

A girl I met for the first time named Destiny was dancing with Cherry on the opposite platform from mine. Both girls gave me the evil eye whenever we made eye contact.

When I’d shown up for my shift, I’d discovered the reason the lot looked empty. Dancers and customers parked in an underground garage, the entrance of which was hidden at the back of the building. If I hadn’t been having such a bad day, I probably would have found it nearly as fascinating as the secret door.

Sophie had been more distraught than usual when I dropped her off at Ruth’s house. Her crying and whining cost me precious time, and I ended up being fifteen minutes late, which was only added to when I couldn’t figure out the parking situation as quickly as I probably should have. Not a good impression when I had started only a few days before.

As the night wore on, my mood continued to plummet as song after song passed, and minute after minute droned on with not a single man approaching me for a service. I didn’t know if that was because I had spent most of the last three hours dancing up here or if it was because no one wanted me. The thought was unsettling.

I tapped a finger on the end of my nose to give Ghost the signal I was getting down. He nodded and then spoke into an earpiece. Next thing I knew Destiny was moving from her platform over to mine. When I passed her on the way to the stairs, she bumped me with her shoulder and gave me a sneer.

God, women could be so petty at times. Weren’t there enough men to go around? Seriously.

I made a quick stop in the restroom before doing a walk through the room. Before letting me loose that night, Candy had schooled me on the ins and outs of working the barroom since I had no scheduled Johns for the night.

There was always to be at least two girls dancing on the platforms at a time for the men who came in for a drink and nothing else. If we weren’t dancing, then we should be working the room.

Whenever a new client came in, we could approach them or wait to see if they approached us. Once the connection was made and they were ready for more… action… then Ghost or whomever was running the show would finalize the transaction and we would go back to our respective rooms. If the client was there for a threesome or orgy, we would take him or her into one of the half dozen VIP rooms in the back.

When I had asked about the exchange of money, Candy had laughed and waved me off, saying, “Unless the client leaves you a tip, you never see anything until Trixie makes the payouts. Before anyone can become a client, they go through testing for STDs and background checks. If they pass, then they either put down a retainer or have a card on file. Trixie takes care of all that behind the scenes.”

I found it all very interesting. It was such a tightly run ship. I wondered if Xavier was a control freak or just overly protective of us.

“And what about the secret door?” I had asked her before we both started our shifts.

“What about it?” She tipped her head to the side and blinked at me.

“Why so secret? It isn’t like everyone doesn’t know how to get back there.”

“We know how to get back there and sure the clients do too if they’re paying attention—which, by the way, most of them are too busy groping you to notice—but if the cops ever came, they wouldn’t know. What you see out here—” she circled her finger, indicating the main room “—looks like a strip club, or heck, even a gentleman’s club. No real sexual activities take place inside these four walls. That’s how X stays under the radar.”

It all made complete sense, and even though my gut tightened at the thought of getting arrested for solicitation, I was grateful for the extents Xavier had gone through to keep us all safe.

“Hey, sugar,” a younger man called out, stopping my progress circling the bar area. He was cute in a barely legal sort of way. With his crew cut hair and letterman jacket, he was the epitome of every high school or college girl’s dreams.

“Hey, handsome,” I said in a low voice, trying seduction on for size. A small part of me cringed at how silly I sounded, but the rest of me ignored it when the man’s nostrils flared and his pupils widened.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come down and talk with us lowly fools,” he said. His hands came out to rest on my waist as he pulled me between his legs. It was a presumptive move, but I allowed it, knowing there were eyes everywhere and if he so much as breathed on me the wrong way, he’d be out of there.

“I don’t see any fools here,” I flirted back, resting my hands on his forearms. “What are you in the mood for tonight?”

His right hand came up to my face, cupping my cheek while his thumb ran across my ruby red lips. “Been wanting to see these wrapped around my cock for the last hour.”

My breath caught and my tongue snaked out to moisten my dry lips. His meaning couldn’t have been more clear if he had spelled it out.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said in a husky voice. It wasn’t lust driving the lower tone, but rather my anxiety about giving him a blowjob. Every girl thinks she knows what she’s doing when it comes to sucking a dick. You never really have to worry that much if the guy doesn’t like it because either you love each other or you know sex is coming next. Except when he’s paying for nothing more than a blowjob. That’s where the pressure really came in.

With his fingers laced in mine, we crossed the room to where Ghost had been. In his place now was a short and stocky man I had never met before.

“Peyton,” the bouncer greeted my client and I cursed myself for being dumb enough to not even ask the guy his name before agreeing to put him in my mouth. I still had so much to learn.

“What’s up, Big J?” My client greeted the other man back. “Put a blowjob from Miss…”

“Aurora,” I supplied for him.

“Aurora on my account.”

“You got it.” Big J made a note on the tablet in front of him before doing the special knock on the door for it to open.

Once past the threshold, Peyton laced our fingers together again and followed me to my room. It felt like it took forever to get there, the anxiety and anticipation building to an almost explosive level.

If I weren't careful, I would start hyperventilating and end up choking on his dick.

Now that would be embarrassing.

With the door to my room shut, I turned on the side lamp, which cast a soft glow across the windowless room. Peyton crowded me against the wall, his breath sweet from the alcohol he was consuming. His hands ran down my back, around and up my stomach before cupping my breasts. His thumbs brushed my nipples until they turned into tight peaks.

When his head dipped and his mouth claimed mine, I welcomed the rough way his hands gripped my ass and pulled me tightly against his hard body. And boy was he hard. His erection bit into my stomach as he plundered my mouth with his tongue.