Stardom

Backlash

The following week was hard as I continued to try and move past what had happened. But, thankfully, by the dawn of a new weekend the heavy weight that had been sitting in the pit of my stomach since the hotel, had finally begun to ease, allowing me to manage to spend time with Ross without having to fight the urge to be sick from my guilt.

"I wish you didn't have to work tonight," He groaned, wrapping his arms around me and placing kisses along my shoulder.

"Me too," I said honestly.

As agreed with Crystal, I'd cut back to my old hours at the club, even less actually given the fact that I'd been skiving for most of them the last few days, but tonight I had to head back, it wasn't like there was any sense in burying my head in the sand indefinitely. To explain my presence at home more over the previous days, I'd told Ross what I hoped to be the last lie that I'd have to tell. That the acting jobs I'd landed had fallen through. He'd been sweeter than I'd deserved after I'd told him, coming home from his shift with a bag full of my favourite treats from the store, before making me dinner and then staying up late with me whilst I perused the auditions lists online, helping me pick out possible parts to try for.

"Still, you're not going to be here anyway," I pointed out, turning around and playfully poking him in the chest where his LAFD logo was stamped on his navy blue t-shirt.

He rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Yeah but it's nice to get moments like this where I can sneak home for a minute to see you between shouts."

There was a loud shout from outside, followed by the sound of the truck horn and he turned toward the window.

"Looks like the moment's over," I laughed.

"Sadly so," He sighed, quickly kissing my forehead and retreating to the door with quick steps. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Stay safe," I said firmly, "I love you."

"I love you too," He beamed.

Blowing me a kiss, he slipped out of the door and I heard him scurry down the hall. Crossing to the window, I peered through the glass to where the ladder truck sat parked up outside, seeing Tucker standing beside it. I returned his wave as he glanced up and watched Ross running out the front doors, crossing the lot and leaping aboard before they drove off, not turning away until they were completely out of sight.

The club was jam-packed all night, a large stag party taking up most of the VIP area, whilst a large birthday party occupied the majority of tables surrounding the main stage. The bar was so busy even Charlie was serving drinks. The other girls and I were rotating between stage and private performances round the clock, and barely managing to get a single moment to take a breather in between. I was hoping to secure five minutes of fresh air after leaving the main stage when I found my path blocked by a man I distantly recognised.

"Well hello again," He smiled brightly, his words slurring slightly as he spilt a splash of his beer down his front.

"Hey," I smiled, attempting to hide both my revulsion at his drunken state and my inability to recognise him.

"I've been waiting for you," He continued, "I wanted to get another dance with you," He leant in, his lips close to my ear as he whispered, "I had lots of fun last time."

It suddenly clicked how I knew him and I shuffled awkwardly as I recalled the night we'd met, the businessman I'd danced naked for after my awful audition. It made me cringe as I looked at him now and remembered just how far I'd taken our one on one dance. I instantly wished I could say no, tell him to find someone else. But even though he was slightly worse for wear, there was no due cause for him to be removed from the club, and turning him down for no valid reason would only cause issues and attention where there needn't be any.