She hadn't been dancing for very long, only a couple of months. Dancing - that's what they called it - but what it really was was crawling around on a dark stage and spreading her legs for a bunch of horny degenerates. Her real name was, Michelle, but here on the Millennium Club stage, she was known as Sinnamon, that's heavy on the "sin", she would tell the customers whom she thought would be the biggest spenders. With long, cinnamon-colored hair and her love of that particular spice, it seemed like a natural name choice for a stripper.
She told herself she would only do it until she could get back on her feet. That, however, was taking a lot longer than it was supposed to. She didn't come to L.A. to strip for Christ's sake; she came to act - along with thousands of other gorgeous twenty-something women. She found it impossible to get back on her feet, though, as it seemed like there was always some fucking thing that would suck her bank account dry. Her car was a money pit; rent was too high, as were her student loan payments and credit card bills. Hard luck seemed to follow her around.
Her parents had begged and pleaded with her not to leave Iowa until she was financially stable but she felt like she needed to get her acting career rolling; waiting would only lessen her chances of making it and dreams wait for no one. Her pride kept her from asking them for money and because of that she was now spreading her shaved pussy in front of a group of disrespectful businessmen looking for any opportunity they could find to tongue her nipples or touch her in places that were off-limits.
She didn't want to work in an all-nude club, but the guy who owned both the Millennium and the topless club she first went to insisted that all his girls started at the all-nude Millennium and worked up to the topless one. His clubs had the reputation of being the safest in town and they were the only one's she could see herself working in so she reluctantly took the job. The sad reality was that nothing else came close to paying the kind of money she needed to survive and her rent was due in two days.
Just as her last song was ending and she was feeling happy to get away from the touchy-feely assholes in front of her, the big sweaty one stuck a fat, nasty finger into her pussy while handing her a dollar. Before anyone knew what had happened, she hauled off and cracked him in the nose. Blood spewed everywhere. Three beefy bouncers were there in a flash. Sinnamon scooted away from the edge of the stage on her bare ass before she leapt to her feet and screamed at him. "Touch me again and you're dead, motherfucker!"
The businessmen were stunned and confused. Their pal was in a rage and bleeding all over the place. He lunged for her. A bouncer lunged for him. She took a step forward and kicked him hard under the chin. A bouncer jumped onstage and carried her off. She was ready to fight and tried to escape the bouncer's grip. The businessmen tried to explain that she'd just gone psycho on them and they had done nothing wrong. Even though the bouncers had not witnessed the finger insertion, the men were shown the door anyway. The whole incident lasted less than a minute and peace was quickly restored. Vinny Jr., the club owner, jumped up on stage, apologized to the crowd then offered up a free lap dance with the girl of their choice to anyone who wanted one. The music started up again and a new dancer took the stage. Junior headed backstage breathing fire.
Sinnamon had calmed down a bit and was looking unsuccessfully for something to cover her naked body with by the time Junior stormed into the room. He had a reputation for being protective of his dancers. No one ever fucked with his girls in or out of his clubs. Everyone had heard the rumors of his background but no one dared ask him about it. He had been linked to some torsos that had washed up near the Long Beach harbor but no one could ever prove anything. He was an intimidating guy who could usually keep his cool but now he was just plain pissed. He tried to hold it back. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he said through clenched teeth.
"He stuck his finger in my..."
"I don't care! You don't assault the customers, you let a bouncer handle it!"
"Fuck that! He had it coming!" She instantly knew that was the wrong thing to say. The girls never talked back. No one wanted to see what would happen if they did. He got in her face; she turned away ready to cry.
"What was that?" he asked in disbelief.
The first tears came. "Nothing... I'm sorry," she said.
He grabbed her by the chin and turned her head back to face him. "I ought to fuckin' fire your ass for that shit!"
"Junior, please... you don't know how bad I need this job." The tears flowed.
He softened. "Hey, hey, don't do that," he said as he wiped some of her tears away. "It'll be fine. I'm sorry he touched you, but it happens sometimes. You just have to try to let the bouncers do their job."
"I know," she said.
"Now go freshen up and get back out there."
She looked at him and slowly shook her head. "I can't do this tonight, I need to go home."
He slowly shook his head in tandem with hers. "Sorry, but that's not an option. I'm five girls short as it is."
"Junior..."
His voice rose again. "You heard me. Go freshen up, put on your little schoolgirl costume and get back out there. Don't make me tell you again." He headed for the door. "And the next time you go psycho like that, it'll be your last."
****
An hour later she was back on stage not at all into what she was doing. She was phoning it in and it showed. She couldn't wait for the night to end. Junior kept an eye on her. If she wasn't going to make an effort, he might have to have another chat with her.
When she finished her routine, she put her costume back on, took a seat at the bar and ordered a coke. After about five minutes, Junior walked up, leaned on the bar next to her and took a hard look at her. "Why aren't you working the room? Private dances are how we pay the bills around here."
She turned and looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Don't look at me like that. It's part of the gig, you know that."
"I know," she sighed.
"I just sat a group of conventioneers in the Rumpus Room. I want you to put on a happy face and go in there and show them a good time."
She knew there was no choice; it was either do it or get fired. She slid off her chair, straightened out her schoolgirl costume and headed for the Rumpus Room.
****
There were already several girls in there when Sinnamon arrived. The group of guys in the back of the room was monopolizing them, though, and the ones near the door were being ignored. They tapped their toes to the pounding rock music, drank and talked amongst themselves but looked really bored. They were all dressed in slacks and polo shirts. They seemed nice but then again, so did the assholes at the stage earlier. She hadn't yet developed the radar that dancers have to spot that kind of thing.
She approached one of them from behind. His buddies saw her coming and started teasing him about how the hottest one was coming for him and he'd better get his billfold ready. She put her hand on his shoulder and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "You ready for a private dance?" she asked just before playfully biting his earlobe.
He turned his head and a look of horror crossed both of their faces. "Michelle?" he said with shock in his voice.
"Uncle Bill!" she said with an equal or more amount of shock.
He wasn't her real uncle; he was her father's best friend of thirty-five years whom she had always referred to as Uncle Bill and was actually closer to than her real uncles. Her heart sank into her gut. She was speechless.
He leapt to his feet. "Oh my God! What th... What are you doing here?"
"I... I..." She couldn't get anything out.
"What... why?" His buddies laughed their asses off when they realized what the situation was.
She was too embarrassed and horrified to do anything but run for the door. She ran smack into Junior who was just coming in to check on the party.
"What the fuck? Where the fuck do you think you're going?" he asked, more annoyed than ever.
"I told you I can't do this."
"You know what? I've had it with this shit." He grabbed her by the arm and forced her out of the room.
