Chapter 3

Ember was changing in the back room. The smell of a million perfumes swam around in the crowded space. Women chatted around her but nothing was really said with any importance. What had just happened? No one had ever startled her while she was working a trance. Maybe it was time to leave again? She had gotten too comfortable. The problem was she like it here. The town was small and quiet. The beach was not a far walk so that you could always feel the moisture in the air coming off the ocean.

She had found this club tucked back in the old rundown strip. Robert was a good boss and he made sure the girls were treated right. He even let her rent the small house that use to be his mother’s on the edge of town for a next to nothing amount of rent. Confirming her belief that beneath his hard outside exterior he really was just a marshmallow inside with a soft spot for women on the run. She didn’t tell him what she was running from since she was sure he’d have to draw the line somewhere.

She avoided the other girls at work and didn’t really make friends outside of work either. They could never understand how she did so well on the random nights that she worked, especially week day nights. Ember always made sure to work the slow nights, she didn’t like the added risk of controlling a full crowd and she didn’t want to many people to remember her face. Some girls said nasty things when they thought she couldn’t hear that she had to be doing other things than just dancing to make that kind of money, but there were others that were just happy to see the busier nights. Because it seems like more and more people have been showing up lately. Word must have got out somewhere. Some of them thought something must be going on between her and Robert, since he was one of the only people she would really talk too, besides Helen. She didn’t want to leave.

Walking out to make her appearance in the bar area like promised. Every girl had to too. Robert and her had an understanding though that she would make appearances but she would not do any private or table dances. That was one of the reasons she liked Robert, he just went with the flow. The man that had startled her was back at his table with the small group of men. It looked like a bachelor party, but this man didn’t seem like he was in the spirit. His dark hair was pushed back in haphazard kind of way and cut just above his collar. Big wide shoulders were hidden in his jacket and long legs were stretched out in front of him like he was just waiting to jump up at any moment. His skin was tan from spending time outdoors and his face looked like it had been chiseled out of stone with that strong chin. A smile would probably make it crumble around it. It was strange though that she could see that he had a very high heat signature around him. Actually, all the men in his group did. Maybe they are extremely hot natured and used to cooler temperatures. It was hot in the little club and with those long sleeves he would be hotter. It didn’t look like he was bothered by the heat. He appeared cool and collected. Just a tad cranky spirited.