Ruthless King

She nodded, feeling like her head was going to slide right off her neck. Urgh.

“You don’t look all right to me, darlin’. You finished for the night?”

“No, I’ve got one more set.”

“Nope. You’re finished for the night,” he said firmly as he took hold of her arm and led her down to the dressing room.

She was cold despite the fact that she’d been dancing for the last twenty minutes, and her wig was itching.

“Get changed, darlin’. I’ll arrange it so I can take you home.”

“What? No, I can’t go home.”

“Nyx,” a deep voice called.

She glanced over and she saw Santé striding toward her. As far as bosses went, Santé was pretty decent. Although she guessed anyone would seem good next to Margaret. The old bat.

“Yes?” she asked, her voice cracking.

Wow. Why did it feel like the room was spinning?

“I got a request for a private dance. Four times what we normally ask for the other girls.”

“Santé, you know Nyx doesn’t do private dances,” Keegan said in a deep voice.

“Four times,” Santé repeated.

Okay, so he was a better boss than Margaret, but he wasn’t perfect. Santé was all about making money. He treated the girls decently. But she knew he’d push to get the most out of them.

“I don’t do private dances,” she said firmly.

“Look, Nyx. You have to work with me here. I could easily replace you with a girl eager to give lap dances.”

“Then you should do that.”

It would hurt to lose this job when she was so close to being back in the black. It would mean probably six months of living lean.

But she didn’t give lap dances and wouldn’t be starting now.

“All right. I hear you. No lap dances. I had to try, right?” He grinned and winked.

She was too tired to deal with this shit.

“Go get ready for your next set.”

“She can’t go on, boss,” Keegan said.

“What? Why not?” Santé asked sharply.

“Because she’s burning up, and if I wasn’t holding her up, she’d collapse.”

“Hey!” she protested.

“Hey, what?” Keegan asked. “You telling me that’s not accurate?”

Jilly took a mental stock of what was happening. No, that was pretty fair.

“Are you sure?” Santé snapped out a hand and she shied back with a cry.