Miranda
We pull up to the back of Club Thrive in Stone’s truck. Shane’s, Logan’s, and Jonah’s cars are already here along with a few I don’t recognize. We walk up to the employee entrance and Stone bangs on the door so someone will let us in. “Logan, what’s up, man?” They shake and hug before Logan turns to me. He kisses me on the cheek and gives me a hug. He tells me it’s nice to see me and they both escort me to our VIP booth.
“Have fun,” Logan says, walking off with Stone.
“Hey, ladies.” I smile at my friends, hugging and greeting each of them. Everyone is here except for Lila.
“What time is your friend getting here?” Sky asks.
“We told her to meet us about nine-thirty—I really hope she shows. We had to convince her to come out,” Katie tells them.
“What’s her story?” Sadie asks.
“I don’t know a ton about her, but I know that she’s not dating anyone, and she was hanging with this girl who was supposed to be her best friend, but she treated her pretty crappy and was really just mooching off of her. When Lila asked for some of the money the girl had owed her, she freaked out on her and they got into a fight. That’s when Lila told her she was done and blocked her number,” I tell everyone.
“She hasn’t worked with us long, but she’s really nice. We thought we’d help her get into a better crowd.”
Sky smiles. “I guess we’ll all get to know her then. Let’s show her how real friends act.” I love Sky. She knows what it’s like to have no one. She lost her parents in a car accident, and since she had no siblings or other family, she moved here from the east coast to start over again.
“That’s an awesome idea.” I fist bump my friend. It’s our new thing.
The music kicks on, and a minute later Shawna is at our booth asking what we want to drink. We place our order and she takes off to get it. A minute later we see people flowing through the door, looking to take over some of the small tables that are in the area. I start looking around, knowing that Lila should be here any minute, but I don’t see her.
Shawna returns with our drinks and Sky asks how my meeting at the club went. Katie bursts out laughing. “You’re such a bitch.” I smack her arm.
“What?” Sky asks, and Sadie’s now on the edge of her seat waiting to hear what happened.
“The guy was a big nasty bastard that kissed her on the hand.” Katie tries to stifle her laugh but fails.
“The place is a dump. It needs some serious re-branding, but he says money’s no object, so I’m going in with all my ideas and we’ll see what he says.”
“Was he really nasty?”
“Girl, you should have seen all the food he scoffed down in the fifteen minutes I was talking to him, it was gross.” I shake my head, “He reminded me of one of those mafia guys you see in the movies.” They all start laughing. “He’s pissed,” I tell them as Logan approaches.
“Who’s pissed?” Logan questions.
“The owner of Vixen. He says you stole one of his dancers and that he was one of the top strip clubs in LA before Club Heat came along.”
“Let me guess…he thinks you doing some marketing for him is going to put him back on top?”
I shrug. “I guess so.”
“First, I don’t have any of his dancers that I’m aware of. Second, that guy is a dick and he loses dancers because he treats them like shit. Trust me, word gets out, and that’s why people aren’t going there. Be careful around him,” Logan warns before leaving us to our fun.
I sigh and roll my eyes because now I have to act like a professional around this prick and watch my own back while still doing a good job of making a sleazy guy look good.
“Look, here comes Lila.” Katie points out as Shawna walks her through the crowd.
“Hey, girl. I’m so glad you came.” I stand to give her a hug. “Lila, this is Sky, the owner’s wife, and Sadie, the head bouncer’s wife.”
They stand to give Lila a hug, and Shawna takes her drink order while we all take a seat. Sky asks Lila, “What’s your story?”
She sighs and tells them how she broke it off with her ex-boyfriend over a year ago and hasn’t dated since. She tells us that he was pretty rotten to her and that she’s been worried about getting into another relationship ever since. She met him through an online dating service and visited LA to meet him. Shortly after that, she found herself a job and moved here to be with him. “Come to find out he was dating like three other women while he was seeing me.” She shakes her head. “I was such a fool.”
“Nah, it’s all good. You never know, he could have been the real deal. You took a chance and it didn’t work out,” Sky encourages her.
“If anyone knows about taking chances, it’s Sky,” Sadie says. “This girl moved here from the east coast by herself to chase her dream of becoming a singer. She moved in with me and her dreams changed when she met Logan. Yours can change too,” Sadie adds.
Lila gives her a warm smile as Shawna puts her drink down on the table. “Thanks,” she says to Shawna, who nods her head and walks off.
“Drink up, we need to go shake our asses,” Katie shouts over the music. Lila downs some of her drink, and as we hit the dance floor, PitBull is playing. We all shout with excitement as we make our own little circle to dance in. Lila smiles as she dances next to us, and it makes me so happy. She really does seem like a good person and she deserves to be happy.
Some guy comes up behind Lila. He places his hands on her hips and starts swaying with her to the music. She turns around and says something to him and the guy walks off. We continue to dance through the next few songs and guy after guy approaches her. I mean, why wouldn’t they? She’s a beautiful blonde with bright blue eyes and she has a gorgeous figure. She’s wearing hip hugger black pants with a crop top that shows off her flat stomach and beautiful curves. I actually may be jealous of her figure. I wish I didn’t have to work so hard to maintain mine. I overheard Lila talking about how she’s naturally thin and can eat whatever she wants and never puts on any weight. Yup, I wish.
Sky leans in. “Come on, I need a drink.”
I take Lila’s hand and point back to the table. She nods and follows as we all walk back to our section for a round of drinks. The club is hopping as always on a Saturday night, and I have no doubt there’s a line down the street.
“Girl, some of the guys you were giving the brush off to, are pretty hot.” Katie fans herself.
Lila nods her agreement. “Yeah, I guess they were, but I don’t want to give the wrong idea by dancing with a guy in the club all night.”
“I get that, but there’s nothing wrong with dancing with one guy and then telling him thanks for the dance and let him know you’re dancing with your friends,” Sky says.
“Yeah, ya know, just a little fun.” Sadie wiggles her brows and we all laugh.
“Thanks, girls. I’m having fun, really I am.” She sinks back into her seat. “I used to be so outgoing and Jay screwed that all up for me.”
“Yeah, well, you have a new group of friends and we’re going to help bring the outgoing Lila back,” I announce with excitement. Lila laughs and shakes her head. She holds up her glass and cheers. “To new friends.”
Everyone clinks glasses and repeats it. ‘To new friends.’
When we get back out onto the dance floor, we see Stone, Logan, and Jonah out there watching the crowd, so we walk over and introduce Lila to them. They welcome her to the club and we form our dance circle right near them. Sky, Sadie, and I are purposely shaking our asses at our men, teasing them as we dance to Flo Rida. I suddenly feel some hands on my hips. I quickly turn my head and sigh with relief when I see it’s Stone. “Keep it up and I’m going to take you out back and fuck you in my truck.”
I grin up at him. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. You’re working.”
He groans at me. “No problem, wait until we get home. I’ll show you how much of a tease I can be.” I gasp and cross my arms over my chest.
“Why are you putting a damper on my fun?”
“I’m not putting a damper on anything.” He shoves his cock into my back. “You can dance with your friends, but you’re being a cock tease and I have the hard on to prove it.”
I burst into laughter. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” I kiss him and he walks off to finish working his shift.
“What was that all about?” Katie asks in my ear.
“Sexual threats,” I tell her with a dirty grin. Her eyes widen and her smile broadens. “He said I was being a cock tease.” She bursts into laughter.
We continue dancing. The guys aren’t far away, and every now and then we catch them watching us. They’re about to announce last call, so we decide to grab one last drink and chill while they close up. We all head back to the VIP booth, and this time the guys follow. “Having fun, ladies?” Stone asks as we take our seats.
“Of course we are. We know how to have a good time,” Katie eggs him on, wiggling her eyebrows.
“You’re a troublemaker. I may have to go report you to your husband,” he says with laughter in his voice.
“Are you talking about me?” Shane asks, appearing behind Stone.
“Yeah, you. Your wife is causing trouble.”
“Little ol’ me?” Katie bats her lashes at Shane.
“Now I know you are.” We all start laughing because he didn’t fall for her sweet and innocent face.
“Shane, this is our new friend, Lila. She replaced Evelyn at Millennium.” Katie points to Lila, who stands to shake his hand.
“Nice to meet you. Hope you enjoyed the club tonight.”
“I did, thanks. It was fun.” She gives him a small smile and sits back down as Shawna returns with our final round of drinks.
“Anytime. The ladies know you just have to give me a heads up and this section is yours.” She nods and Katie explains that Shane is the manager and that Logan isn’t usually here on a Saturday night.
“We’re going to get ready for closing. We’ll see you later.” Shane and the guys all walk off to finish up.
“Logan owns Club Heat too. It’s the newest and hottest strip club in LA. I run the promo for both clubs. That’s what got Vixen wanting to use us to run the promo for them,” Katie explains to Lila.
“Oh that’s cool,” Lila smiles. “You must be excited to do something different,” she says to me.
“Yeah, it’ll be a different experience, that’s for sure.”
Lila pulls out her phone, and it looks like she’s shooting off a text. “Ladies, this has been fun, but my cab will be here in about ten minutes. Thanks for inviting me out. I had a blast.” She sticks her phone back into her purse
“Girl, you’re one of us now.” I give her a fist bump.
Sky says, “Bring it in.” We all stand up and give one big hug, making Lila laugh again.
“Okay, see you ladies later. I’m going to go wait for my cab. Have a good night.”
“There are two bouncers outside, but if you’re not comfortable with that, we can walk you out,” Sky informs her.
“Nah, I’ll be fine.” She thanks us for a fun night and slips out of the booth.
“Later,” I shout back, and as soon as she’s out of earshot, Sky and Sadie talk about how much they like her. We had a great night and our mission to make Lila feel like she fit in was a success. Now if I can only complete my mission to stop Stone from teasing the shit out of me tonight.