Shortcake*

Chapter 26: The Strip Club Revelations

*Copyright: Stephanie Myrick, 2023. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*

It wasn't until they reached the third strip club that they found someone who worked in the strip clubs in the early 2000s. Dante was a former stripper and now owned his own club. When he recognized Link and Cleo, and Link gave him a brief rundown of why they were there, he immediately wanted to help any way he could and led them back to his office, got them bottles of water and sat them down on the couch in his office, promising to keep everything they discussed to himself.

Cleo pulled up a picture of Anthony on her phone and showed it to him. "This is my husband, Anthony. He would have come in mostly on Wednesdays in the early to mid-2000s."

Dante looked at the picture, and his face lit up. "Angsty Anthony! Yeah, he was a regular and used to sit in the darkest corner of the club. You're married to him?" He looked up at Cleo in surprise.

"Widowed, he died in 2016. He married me when I was eighteen." Cleo explained.

"Oh. Poor guy." Dante shook his head. "He struggled so badly with his sexuality. His parents sent him to a conversion camp when he was in his teens, and as a result, he couldn't act on anything. Nico took him under his wing, tried to get him to come to terms with things." He looked apologetically at Cleo. "I'm sorry, Honey, him and Nico were a thing... Like deeply in love with one another. Nico even stopped dancing for him."

"Nico was a stripper?" Cleo felt a little dizzy. She hadn't known that.

"Yeah, his grandparents couldn't afford to pay for his college, so he danced." Dante shrugged. Lots of people do it. I was surprised to see he was your hairdresser. He went to school for something to do with law."

"Paralegal. He went back to school in 2014." Cleo said faintly. "They were in love?"

"Oh yeah, big time. Anthony really came out of his shell when Nico started paying attention to him." Dante nodded, still looking apologetic. "Or at least Anthony was in love. Nico played his cards close, but he would get jealous if Anthony let other people dance on him or if he caught Anthony looking too long at other guys. Anthony used to come in all the time, but when Nico stopped dancing, he limited his time to Wednesday nights and eventually stopped coming in altogether."

"We moved to New York." Cleo explained. A lot of things were clicking rapidly into place for her, and she stood up, holding out her hand. "Thanks so much for all the information; it was really helpful." Link immediately stood up with her, and Dante followed suit, shaking both their hands.

"I hope I haven't gotten Nico in trouble." He murmured, looking a little concerned as he led them from his office.

"Not at all. Nico is my best friend, and if he was helping Anthony, then I'm very grateful to him." Cleo reassured him gently. "Everything you've told us confirmed things we already suspected. I'm just trying to close that chapter of my life completely, you know what I mean?"

Dante smiled, looking relieved. "Honey, if anyone knows what that means, it's a very gay man who was closeted for half his life before embracing who he is and coming into his own." He hesitated. "Do you think I could get your autographs?"

"Absolutely." Link grinned as Cleo dug in her purse the sharpie she kept there. To both their surprise, Dante pulled off his shirt, revealing a very muscular, tattooed torso and pointed to his left rib cage.

"Here, please." He looked delighted as both Cleo and Link signed their names. "I'm gonna make an emergency appointment with my tattoo artist for this afternoon. I've been a huge fan of Link's since Anomaly. I watch all your movies, and I'm now a fan of Cleo's because you killed it in Siren. The Little Mermaid, you are not."