Bonus #1.1: On the Menu

Three years ago, I had everything.

I was in an elite university on a scholarship; of course, the poor don’t really catch such breaks, and I was on my way to a cushy job after graduation, then…it all slipped from my fingers.

"Beautiful."

Wanda utters as she puffs the curls of my reddish-brown hair over my shoulders to cover the excess of my breasts that the flimsy gemstone bra does not.

I am a dancer in the strip club, but on auction night, I avoid the stage and opt to waitress instead.

The auction is simple: a dancer dances on the stage, and at the end of their performance, they are ‘auctioned off’ for a private lap dance in one of the VIP rooms. I hate VIP rooms. Yes, there is security, but they still work under the sleaze Dominic, so of course, there have been cases of the dancers overdosing on drugs they were forced to take.

"Do you have to use the black eye contacts? Your ruby eyes are gorgeous?”

Wanda asks as she packs up.

“Plus, customers pay more for exotic messes."

Exotic messes.

I was once at the top of my class...and now I am an exotic mess.

“Yeah, well, just bid for me, okay?”

“Fifty k is my maximum, baby; I am as broke as you are.”

Wanda utters.

Fifty is good enough; not enough people participate in the auction when a lap dance request is just two thousand.

**

The silence is deadly, and the lights burning my body are drowning.

There are times I like the stage; it drowns everything: the noise, the thoughts and the desire to simply…vanish.

My body begins to move to the rhythm of the chosen song, ‘Where You Go’ by Kiana Ledé and Khalid, an odd song choice, considering it isn’t as raunchy as many prefer, but I like sensual types.

I can’t twerk like most strippers, but I can move my body.

I sway my hips to the steady beats as I run my fingers over the gems covering my breasts to tease the shade of my nipples before hiding them naughtily in a way that incites jeering.

With my back turned to the noisy crowd, I sashay to the pole that smells of sanitiser.

I give my body to the cold metal by rubbing against it sensually before turning to the crowd, smiling, and then leaping onto it.

After doing a few slow spins, I climb to its top, then lower my upper body as my legs hold me up so that I remain upside down, with my breasts spilling before correcting my pose, snapping a trinket out of place so that the gems can hang in an even more risqué manner to draw the crowd’s attention only, the already flimsy bra feels too loose that I regret my decision.

 A burn caresses my skin.

I hate that my eyes travel to their source in the VIP section; I don’t normally meet anyone’s gaze here. I prefer being in my own world, but…this one in particular makes my skin itch.

A stiffness finds me when my gaze meets familiar, intense blue eyes; I nearly lose my grip on the pole.

Adrian?

No way…not him…not the student president in the university that I-

Wait. He wouldn’t know a nobody like me.

That’s right…I was not the only one on scholarship, and student presidents are intensely busy, so there is no way he knows me.

With new confidence roaming my veins, my hips find their pace. This time, my gaze holds the blue of his as my fingers once again tease my frame before I spin on the pole and spread my legs, as once again I lower my upper body upside down. thank goodness for the reflective underwear I have on, yet still, I feel naked as he lifts his glass of alcohol and presses it to his lips. In contrast, his gaze still holds me, no, not me, my centre and my breasts.

The looseness on my gemstone-like bra persists until all its pieces fall on the ground for the delight of everyone watching.

Fuck.

I almost let go of the pole to cover myself, but…No, I do not wish him to see any hesitation, any doubt, anything within me…not that it matters.

The song ends, and I slide off the pole. Two dancers rush to me with a towel that the crowd jeers at.

“We’ll start the bidding at-”

“Fifteen thousand for them knockers!”

The blonde frat boy from earlier yells.

Right...I am still on the menu.

“Fifteen thousand going once!”

“Thirty thousand.”

Wanda’s voice reassures me.

“Forty thousand.”

The frat boys continue after discussing among themselves; no doubt, they would ‘share me’, and with their tact, I might leave with a bruise or two... I wonder if I am allowed to fight back or if Dominic will hand me my ass should I try.

Holy hell.

“Two hundred thousand.”

The club remains silent at the booming voice from the VIP section.

Adrian? Wait…two hundred thousand for an hour's worth of a lap dance? Is he crazy?

“Three hundred thousand!”

Wanda calls, and I almost smile until the words ‘eight hundred thousand’ follow from the VIP section.

My gaze moves to Wanda, but she shakes her head from side to side and mutters an apology paired with the word ‘expensive.’

“Sold to the gentleman in the VIP section.”

Fuck.

Eight hundred thousand…I have no doubt that he will expect more, far more than anyone should give.