No More Tomorrows

Chapter 12: Ruffles and Rhythm

"Girl when you walked in I was excited at the prospect of you but have to say the reality is even better. Your whole innocent vibe you've got going was hiding a certain kind of woman underneath. You've got beautiful rhythm and an inherent sexiness that just can't be taught. Those men are going to be throwing their money at you." 

I smiled at her as I stepped towards her desk to take a sip of water from the bottle she'd grabbed me halfway through our practice. Even though the circumstances were definitely terrible I had forgotten how much I enjoyed dancing. It had been forever since Grant had taken me out dancing and I missed it. I'd always enjoyed dance and these days it seemed the only kind I did was a little car dancing on my way to and from work. 

"Okay we'll run through it one more time from the top and then I think you should get changed. We've got about fifteen minutes until your soon to be ex will be done with his back room booking and I want your performance to be ready once they reappear. Just in case those boys are winding up for the night." 

Back room booking. Back room booking... 

Those words kept repeating in my head and made my stomach flip over. What was he doing back there? Was it as bad as I imagined or was he being the faithful boyfriend I'd always known him to be and I was about to embarrass him in front of his colleagues. I wish I knew.

Was I pissed he was in a strip club when he told me was working? Absolutely. Did that mean he was cheating on me? I didn't know.

"You've got that look on your face again." Bess had her arms crossed and was glaring at me from her spot at her desk.

Aidan spoke up then "you don't have to do this Emily. If you've changed your mind you don't have anything to prove here." 

"I haven't changed my mind. I was just thinking. I was wondering if me doing this is fair to him." Bess looked ready to explode at my statement and Aidan was looking confused.

"Look. I don't think I owe him anything after all his lies. Regardless of everything else he's clearly been lying to me for months on end. That is definitely not okay. But like you said Aidan, coming to a strip club isn't actually cheating. There's no touching." 

Bess's scowl slipped from her face and she was now looking at me with what could only be described as pity. Aidan couldn't even look at me.

"What's that look for?"

"Sweetie nobody goes into a backroom with the same stripper as many times as your man has  unless something is happening. Those girls are trained to lure men back there but most guys do it once or twice and then switch it up. They don't stay with one girl. Either because they get bored or they realise the cost is adding up. They realise they can't keep spending that sort of money without their girlfriend or wife finding out."

That gave me pause. How had he been paying for all those private dances? Had he been using our joint account? My money? Money I'd worked my ass off for. I'd never even thought to check his expenditure, just like he never checked mine. Our money was pooled and our bills came out of that account. We split the cost of everything. God I was gullible. Please tell me I hadn't unknowingly been funding my boyfriends strippers! 

"I checked the books while you were rehearsing and your guy has been taking Roxy into a private room twice a week for six months. That's a hell of a lot of one on one time that you never knew about. And I don't want to hurt you, but Roxy has been bragging to anyone who'll listen about her New Man. How he comes in multiple times a week and not only takes care of her financially, but also ensures she's taken care of in every way. You understand what I'm saying."

I didn't notice that Aidan had gotten out of the folding chair we were using for rehearsal. He was now holding me. I could feel myself shaking at the confirmation from Bess that things were exactly as bad as I thought and that the Grant I thought I was in love with maybe didn't even exist. 

After giving myself a few minutes to take some deep breaths and remember why I was about to do this, I gave Aidan's forearms a squeeze and stepped back. 

"Right I'm ready. Let's run through this from the top and then I'm going to need some place to change. I've got a pair of ruffle butt panties to shimmy down your stage."