#Chapter 187 – Competition

I go on stage three times that night, and each time afterwards men beg me for a private dance. But I just laugh and shrug, telling them that’s not my style, but even as I say it I bite my lip a little, letting them think that maybe they can convince me. It works, too, because each of these men crowd the edge of the stage when I go on, throwing more money, desperate to show me how generous they are, how much more they’ll give me if I just dance with them when I come off the stage. After my third dance, though, I don’t come out again, not wanting to see any of those men. Instead, I tip one of the waitresses and ask her to go get Frankie, to bring him back here so that we can sneak out the back. When he comes through, he doesn’t look directly for me – instead looking around the women’s dressing room with real curiosity. “Always wonder what it was like back here?” I ask, laughing at him as I pay the matron at the back of the room for the outfit she sold me on credit and then handin