Part 1 - Chapter Six
Maria, Darlene, & Katy: Strippers
"Are you nuts?" Darlene challenged Maria.
"Maybe. Probably," she answered, smiling broadly. She was still completely nude.
"All you two see is a place about to go under, but I see possibilities. I like
it here. The people are friendly and every one of those guys..."
"Might rape you," Katy snapped.
"Would be happy to make sure we get home safely," Maria frowned.
"And if they won't, Rocky will," Kat assured the girl as she joined the group at
the table.
"I brought my birth certificate," Maria told Kat. "I know I have to prove that
I'm not an illegal alien or something. So, do I have a job?"
"I can't pay you."
"Well, I made... let's see... fifty-one dollars," Maria smiled. "And you can buy
me dinner tomorrow night.
"Is that little voice in your head talking to you again?" Darlene asked, her
brow furrowed into a stern frown.
"Yep," Maria giggled. "I'm going to work here at least one month. I've got to
work somewhere. I already quit my job at Roy's, and Brenda's moving in with her
boyfriend, so I have to make more money to live."
"You can't live on less then a hundred dollars a day," Katy informed the Latina.
"I made over fifty in a couple hours. I'll make more tomorrow and more the day
after that. Come on. Give it a try."
"No," Katy told her. "We need to find a place where I'm going to make good money
if I'm going to dance naked. I'm sorry, but I don't think we'll make much here,"
she told Kat.
Maria spoke up immediately. "OK. Give me a week. No, two. If you're not making
good money in two weeks, then we'll go some- place else. Look, guys. Kat's not
telling us we have to share tips with the bartender or bouncer, she's telling it
like it is. Also, guys talk. I bet a bunch more guys drop in tomorrow just to
see if the guys that are here tonight were telling the truth about the wacko gal
called Salsa. Bet me I'm wrong. I dare you."
"We agreed to stay together," Darlene reminded Maria.
"We can be together here," Maria insisted, pouting.
"We haven't even seen the dressing room," Katy snapped.
"We didn't need to," Maria said. "It's going to be perfect. I just know it. Kat,
can we see the rest of the place?"
"Sure." Rocky and Katina lived in an apartment carved out of the third floor
loft. "It's technically illegal. We don't have an occupancy permit but since
we're paying for the whole building and can't afford another place, we're making
do for now." The loft was divided into four apartments, one for Rocky and Kat,
another for Kit, short for Kitanalla, Kat's younger sister. The other two
apartments were vacant. One served as a huge dressing room and the other was a
storage area. Rocky installed the extra plumbing including multiple showers in
the dressing room.
While they checked the place, Kat told them about herself. She was twenty-nine,
almost thirty. Rocky was thirty-two and had spent two years in jail. He no
longer drank or did drugs and hadn't been in any trouble in more then five
years. They had two young kids, two and five. Kit was twenty-five, divorced, and
on her own with a four-year-old. They also met Shirley, Rocky's kid sister, who
was babysitting. Shirley was 18 and obese, over two hundred fifty pounds.
"You ought to start dancing," Maria told her. "It'll take the weight off."
"Me? Dance? Shit, girl, I'd drive their last customer out."
"No way," Maria insisted. "Most real guys like their women to be real. You don't
see any of us with boob jobs, do you?"
On the drive back home, Darlene and Katy grudgingly admitted that they, too,
liked Kat and Rocky. Neither was convinced that the club would ever make it.
Dwayne dropped Katy off at her apartment. Maria slept on Darlene's sofa.
--=*=--
At exactly five, Maria was standing at the door to 'Kit Kat's'.
Nine men waited with her. Only one had seen Maria the night before, the old man
who removed her top. Today, he was clean-shaven. "You ought to see this lady
move," he told the others. "Damn, but she's hot."
"Why, thank you," Maria grinned, giving him a kiss on the cheek. When a hand
goosed her, Maria whirled around. "Look, guys. I'm a dancer. I'm pretty liberal
and all, but I dance to make a living, OK? I am NOT a whore. Hands off. Once I'm
into the mood, I might allow a little touching, but that's my choice, got it?"
"She's like Kat," the old man said to the rest of them. "And the law says it's a
felony to touch if she don't want it. Sexual assault. You'd have to register as
a sex offender. And make no mistake about it, I'll testify against anybody who
puts a hand on her."
"Let's not get too extreme, sweets," Maria told him, giving him a friendly hug.
"Whoever it was, was probably just trying to pat my fanny and missed. By the
way, what's your name?"
"Tom," he answered. "And not one crack about Uncle Tom," he quickly added,
raising his cane at the other men threateningly just as the lock clicked and
Rocky swung the door open. Rocky's surprise was obvious as nine men pushed past
him and two white guys got out of a car at the curb to come inside.
"What time's the dancin' start?" one man asked. "As soon as you all have a
drink," Rocky grinned.
"Not two?" a white man questioned. "How much?"
"Depends on what you're having," Rocky answered.
"Not seven or eight or ten bucks, no matter what?"
"Nope. Our prices are posted."
The white man looked at the board over the bar and said, "All right!" He and his
buddy rushed to get a seat at the stage.
The other men, except Tom, also took seats along the stage. Kat wasn't down yet,
so Maria tossed her jacket and gym bag onto the bar, grabbed a pad and pencil,
and started taking drink orders by the stage steps and worked her way toward the
bar. She didn't need the pad. Seven draft beers, two Budweisers, and two
run-and-Cokes were quickly delivered. When she took the tray back to the bar,
she fished around in her bag and handed Rocky a piece of paper and a stack of
CDs. "Do you have a portable microphone?"
"A couple," he answered as he scanned Maria's note.
"I'll want one for my second set, OK?"
"OK. Ready to start?"
"Anxious. We don't want to lose any of our customers."
"Go for it," he grinned, turning to insert the first CD and punching in the
track that the note said Maria wanted.
"Not too loud," Maria told him. "You know, you need to put a couple speakers by
the door to attract people from outside so you don't have to turn everything up
so loud." She quickly skipped over to Tom as the music started, a slow Latino
instrumental. She smiled broadly as she approached him. Tom smiled back.
To begin her first full night of dancing, Maria wore a bright yellow halter top
with ties behind her neck and in the middle of her back, and a matching
wrap-around skirt. She squatted down in front of old Tom so he could pull the
ends of the bowknots. Maria cupped her hands over her breasts to hold the top on
when the straps fell away. She teased her little audience a bit before turning
to face the old man and lean forward. He turned his palms up to receive the
garment.
The soft, slow guitar instrumental suddenly changed tempo to a wild Latin beat.
Maria jumped around and shook her body with the beat, running her hands through
her long mane of shiny black hair. She danced along the floor beside the stage,
then turned and went back to old Tom to present the bow at her hip just as the
tempo of the music slowed again. Tom performed his duty, holding the end of the
bow so Maria could back away slowly and then spin out of her skirt as the beat
picked up.
Wearing only a neon yellow g-string and heels, Maria got into the dance,
circulating by each of the men and dancing for just him for a few moments before
moving on to the next customer. When two more men appeared from under the heavy
drape at the door, she gestured to them and smiled as she worked her way around
the low bar at the edge of the stage. Kat appeared just in time to take drink
orders from the newcomers.
When the first song ended, Maria asked loudly, "OK, guys. Your decision. Do I
get naked on stage or do I dance down here like this?"
"I heard you dance naked at tables."
"Oh, no way," she said with exaggerated seriousness. "That would be illegal."
Then she smiled broadly at the man and used a stage whisper to tell him, "But
maybe later, after nine or so, if there are no cops around, maybe." She
straightened again. "What'll it be? Naked on stage? Let me see your hands." Six
hands went up.
"G-string down here." Seven hands. "Music, Rocky."
And the 'Theme from Rocky' burst out of the speakers. Kat was busy with more
customers coming through the door. Maria danced wildly, spinning and swaying.
After each spin, she ended up in a man's lap. "I am _SO_ clumsy," she wailed
loudly, wiggling a bit as she got back up onto her spike heels, usually with a
helping hand from one or two of the men.
Just as 'Rocky' was ending, Maria mounted the stage and presented the bows at
each side of her g-string to men seated along the bar. They pulled until the
knots untied and the ends of the strings separated. When the front patch stayed
in place, she cooed, "Oh, dear. It seems that I need your help." She offered
another man the dangling string on one side. She clenched her butt cheeks around
the string up her backside and played tug-of-war with the man, giggling when the
patch of fabric pulled away from the two-sided Scotch tape she stuck to her
belly. To end the game, she bent at the waist, stepped over the elastic, and let
the man slowly strip the string out of her butt crack. The guy played along with
her games, sniffing at the string and patch of fabric, then letting out a long,
satisfied sigh. As a reward, Maria did her nastiest dancing for him, spreading
her legs and bending to display her freshly depilated pussy lips and asshole.
Mental Mistress made her do it. She used depilatory cream rather then shaving
her bikini line because after shaving, Maria got an unpleasant rash followed by
ingrown hairs and terrible itching for a week. She learned about depilatories at
GWU. Wanda recommended a brand that was long lasting. According to Wanda, the
hair that did grow back would be lighter and thinner, too. She had been
experimenting for a while, then just spread the cream everywhere early that
morning.
Some of the men commented about her bare mons. Maria wanted to hide, to cover
up, to... But MM ordered her to show everyone. "You have to save the Kit Kat
Klub," MM kept telling her. "Do it for the children, Kat's and Kit's. Do it for
little Benjamin so Katy won't have to work when he's older."
Since Kat was busy talking to a patron, Maria motioned to Rocky to put another
song on. He picked a short one. When it ended, Kat was waiting at the steps.
"What is this?" she demanded, holding out a card.
"When a business needs more business, a business has a sale, so we're having a
sale on table dances."
"You could have asked. You should have said something."
"There wasn't any time," Maria told her. "You had customers waiting as soon as
you opened the door."
"Well thanks," Kat grinned, hugging the naked girl before she ran to the middle
of the stage to begin her set.
Maria danced down the edge of the stage to retrieve her g-string. She borrowed
the man's finger to hold the strings in place while she tied a bowknot on each
side. "Thanks," she told him, kneeling at the edge of the stage so she could
kiss his forehead and so that he got a spectacular view of her erect nipples
dangling at eye level.
As soon as Maria descended the steps, several men held cards aloft. "I gotta get
drinks first," she called to them. "If you keep yer shirts on, I'll leave mine
off." Maria left her top in Tom's safekeeping and skipped to the door to greet
some new customers and to take their drink orders. When she returned with the
drafts, she saw Kit dancing at one of the tables. Maria headed for another table
where she had seen someone holding up one of her cards.
Maria danced enthusiastically for the whole song. When it ended, she was about
to move on when a guy at the same table produced a twenty-dollar bill and
slipped it under the elastic of her g-string. She made sure that he got his
money's worth, rubbing her hand over the bright yellow patch that covered her
pussy as she ground her body against an imaginary lover. It was her first,
official, paid-for-in-cash-at-full-price table dance.
Maria's feet already burned from running around and dancing in spike heels.
Mental Mistress demanded two hours in those heels and the tiny g-string. Maria
thought she would feel embarrassed by the brevity of the garment, just a tiny
yellow patch of fabric and thin elastic [Image] strings. What she actually felt
was elated, giddy, silly, happy, sexy, and brave. Everything was working, and
working faster and better then she hoped.
--==*==--
Early that morning, Maria woke herself with a dream filled with orders and
images of Mental Mistress still fresh in her mind. She even saw MM for the first
time, a domina in black leather bustier and leather shorts, black high-heeled
boots laced to knees. If only MM had a face.
Maria spent all the money she made last night, $25 for the setup and design, and
$25 for the box of business cards. The design was simple: a cat face on each
side, Kit Kat Klub in big letters, the address and directions, and 'GOOD FOR ONE
FREE TABLE DANCE' with a tiny disclaimer, 'one free dance per customer per
night', across the bottom. The Quick Print shop did them in only an hour.
Thank goodness, it was a relatively warm day. Maria put on the yellow
micro-mini, halter-top, and g-string that she bought weeks earlier. Slipping on
her jacket, she headed out, working her way toward Kat's place. She approached
men who ogled her and asked, "Want to see me naked?" Then she handed the man (or
men) a card and quickly moved on.
"This better work," she told MM aloud, feeling silly talking to an imaginary
domme. Cab fare for all the short trips was rapidly burning up her meager
savings but she couldn't walk far in the high heels. She visited malls, shopping
centers, and office buildings. She left a few cards on the bench at D.M.V. She
handed a card to each cab driver, and left another one on the cab's back seat.
Her last taxi ride dropped her off on a busy street just a few blocks from Kat's
club. She managed to pass out a dozen more cards before she walked to work,
escorted by two young black men. Their conversation was filled with sexual
innuendo, but they were otherwise perfect gentlemen. Both were still in the
club, seated at the stage, nursing their first drink. They were working class
guys like her father.
Even though her feet hurt, Maria had to keep smiling. MM's orders. She didn't
get a break for the first two hours. When she wasn't on stage dancing nude, she
was doing a table dance or acting as waitress. Tips for delivering beers, the
most popular drink, were small but consistent. "Keep the change." Fifty cents
here, fifty cents there, a dollar, then another. As the clock showed 7:00, Maria
felt good as she slipped $100 into the moneybag with her name on it. She handed
it to Rocky and asked that he keep an eye on it.
With her gym bag slung over her shoulder, Maria skipped up the two flights of
stairs to the dressing room. She stuffed her hair into a loose shower cap and
took a two-minute shower to remove some of the sticky sweat. She brushed out her
hair and made ponytails high on each side of her head, pulled on a white thong
panty and tank top. The top was thin, stretchy, small, and cropped so her
breasts held the hem of the top out. Even stern MM knew she would need a break.
For the next two hours, Maria was allowed to wear sneakers.
When she skipped back down the stairs, Maria saw more people coming in the door.
Kat was dancing on stage and Kit was delivering drinks, so Maria greeted them,
seated them, got their beers, and then took the card they offered and gave them
the free table dance. Kit was at the bar when Maria got back there. "I'm pooped
already," she sighed.
"Me, too," Maria admitted. "But I'm making pretty good money."
"Me, too. The free dances were a good idea."
"If I can just last the night," she grinned as she gripped the handles of six
mugs and hurried to deliver them.
"How about another dance?" the man asked, putting six dollars on her tray to pay
for two beers. Another dollar tip but she turned down the twenty.
"Can't. I'm up next. If you wait ten minutes, I'll come by. Otherwise, I can ask
Kat or Kit to come over."
"I'll wait," the man smiled.
Maria waited at the back of the stage next to the steps while Kat finished
dancing through the last song of her set. "I hope your friends hurry up," Kat
panted as she picked up her bottom.
"They said they'd be here by nine," Maria told her as she strutted forward to
start her set, shedding her top quickly. MM pointed out a vacant chair and Maria
had to step down from the stage to the bar to the chair and down to the floor,
dancing past every occupied table in the club and returning to the stage before
the first song ended. She shed her bottom as the second song started. Then MM
demanded that she show pink. 'Just showing my bald lips is bad enough,' Maria
complained to her imaginary boss. But MM wouldn't let her back out. MM wouldn't
let her put her top back on, either.
When Maria finished her set, she went to the table where the man had asked for a
table dance. He ordered two more beers for him and his buddy, "and a tall Coke."
Two more tables also needed refills. She dropped off the other drinks on the way
and finally made it back just before a new song started.
"Sit down. I want to see you dance without moving from that chair."
"Huh?" Maria was confused.
"Take a break," the man said, handing over a twenty. "I'll just stare at your
tits for a few minutes if that's OK." But he was looking into her eyes, smiling.
"The Coke's for you. I hope it's OK. Or would you prefer Sprite?"
"Perfect," Maria smiled. 'He deserves a show,' MM told Maria. 'Give him one
he'll remember.' 'How?' Maria asked as she sipped the coke, the ice pressing
against her upper lip. It was a hint. No. An order. She fished a crescent shaped
piece of ice out of the glass and wiped it across her forehead, down her cheeks,
around her throat, around her breasts, around and around her nipples, flicking
each nubbin with the chunk of ice until it was too small to hold and her nipples
were seriously erect.
'The song's not over,' MM growled into Maria's mind. 'Make love to your glass.
Lick it like it's a pussy. Suck on a piece of ice like it's his cock.' With new
orders, Maria made drinking the rest of the Coke an erotic tongue dance. Her
pussy had received signals from her cool tits and now the mental image of what
she was doing in front of strangers had her tingling under her thong. Damn, it
felt nice to relax and enjoy herself.
Maria suddenly realized that fact. "I really am enjoying this," she mumbled
aloud.
"So am I," the man grinned.
"Good," she smiled back. The song was ending. Mental Mistress was already
telling her to 'get back to work.' 'Slave driver,' Maria snapped at the
imaginary domina. She obeyed the order but not before she leaned over and put
the traditional smooch on the man's forehead. Her aim was true. Her nipples
grazed the backs of his forearms where they rested on the table, just like MM
demanded.
As she looked around, Maria saw bills held in the air. She yelled to everyone
that she had to take drink orders first. On her way to get the beers, she heard
a man telling Kat, "Do what she did." When she didn't understand, the man told
her about it.
"Well, she took ice and sort of made love to it and to her drink. She rubbed the
ice all over, on her nipples and belly and then she licked her glass and sucked
on ice cubes. Man was it hot."
"Like this?" Kat asked the guy. Kat's style was different. She cupped one hand
under her boob to hold it up high as she iced her nipple to erection. The guy
panted out suggestions as the chunk quickly melted, liquid dripping off her hand
and breast to trail down her belly. Kat made every sip of the coke a show in
itself.
When they met at the bar later, Kat asked Maria, "Are you sure you've never done
this before?"
"Yep, well, ah, nope. I mean, it really is my first time."
"That was quite a trick with the ice. The breaks are nice for us and the guys
love it. Got any more great ideas?"
"They're not really my ideas. Mental Mistress tells me to do things and I just
do 'em. I'll have to tell you about it some day."
"You do that. I sure hope your friends get here soon."
Maria nodded agreement as she headed back to deliver icy mugs of beer to two
tables, then did a table dance at another. When she finished that dance, she had
just two more songs before she had to go back on stage for another set. She
sighed. She was already exhausted but she felt good in the way she felt after a
workout at the gym during her final weeks at GWU.
Movement at the doorway caught her attention. Ten young men stood together. All
of the other men in the club were obviously well over 21 years old. Several of
these guys looked like teenagers. Because customers were already waiting at
opening time, Maria wasn't sure of the procedure for carding customers. She
wasn't even 21 yet, herself. 'Oh, well. I'll cope,' she decided.
"I.D., please," she said firmly. She looked at the men's faces.
They all looked at her exposed boobs. 'But that's why I'm here,' Maria reminded
herself as she checked driver's licenses and ID cards closely while pulling her
shoulders back to display her chest. All had profiles on their licenses and she
had to look closely at the dates. They were all 21 but barely. The fifth card
looked pretty good but she knew it was fake. Her brother had one just like it.
"Are you the designated driver?" Maria asked.
"Ah, well, I, ah..."
"I can't take a fake card," Maria told him. He finally looked up at her. "Let's
see your driver's license."
"I, ah... I don't have it with me."
"Don't try to bull shit me. Give."
"I guess I'll see you guys later," the young man said dejectedly. He put out his
hand for the ID card.
"Oh, no. I'm holding onto this. Now, as long as you're over eighteen, you can be
in here. You just can't drink. You can be a designated driver, but you can't be
designated driver unless I see a driver's license. So give." Maria extended her
hand, palm up, her fingers wiggling. The guy fished out his billfold and finally
presented his operator's license. "All right, William. Or do they call you
Bill?"
"Will."
"OK, Will. You're the designated driver. Now let's see yours."
The next young man presented his license and smiled broadly.
Maria looked closely. Then she looked again. "It's your birthday."
"And I'm twenty-one," he grinned broadly.
"Good. You're next." The last guy was almost twenty-two. They went to the far
side of the stage and pushed three of the little cocktail tables together and
arranged the chairs around the back of the row so they could all see the stage.
From under the elastic at her waist, Maria pulled out two of the 'FREE DANCE'
cards she had already cashed and presented them to Will.
"We have coffee, Coke, and Sprite," she told him. "And, as designated driver for
three or more others, you get one free dance as a reward."
"I'm a designated driver, too," a guy in the middle announced.
"Not one drop of alcohol, then."
"I don't drink much anyway."
"You drink nothing tonight," Maria frowned. "I'll bring your cards when I come
back. Now what do you want to drink?" They chose beers, six drafts, a Bud, a
Miller... and two cokes.
Back at the bar, Maria asked, "Do you have any tape?"
"Will masking tape do?"
"Perfect. And a marker?"
Rocky gave her a roll of four-inch wide masking tape. She tore off two pieces
and used the marker to print 'DESIGNATED DRIVER' in big block letters. She wiped
the sweat off of her breasts and stuck the tape to her boobs to free her hands
to carry the heavy tray of drinks.
Playfully, Maria stuck the tape labels onto the foreheads of the two designated
drivers, gave the second DD guy two cards, and served them their soft drinks
first, then circled the tables to set the beers down. A song was ending. It was
Maria's turn to dance on stage again.
She met Kat on the steps. "See the blond guy over there with the flat top
haircut? His name's Larry and it's his birthday. He's 21 today. We ought to do
something special for him."
"Let's bring him up on stage a little later and all dance just for him."
"Super," Maria giggled, quickly moving forward to begin her set. The clock said
it was already after nine. She was so busy that she missed the change and break
she had planned for nine o'clock.
She wondered where Katy and Darlene were or if they were even going to show up.
