If it worked once, then why wouldn’t it work again?
I smiled at myself in the mirror and pulled out a couple things from the bottom of the pile. I held up a black bustier with a black zipper right down the front and nodded my head. I piled it on the round ottoman in the dressing area and laid out black thigh-highs and garters to hold it up. Then I fished around until I found a pair of black panties with little patches of black lace all over them.
It was sexy as hell, it left a little to the imagination, but at certain angles, I had no doubt it gave a little peek. Then there was the zipper… I could have all kinds of fun with a zipper.
Next I pulled out a silver bodysuit. It looked like a simple one piece bathing suit except right over the breasts was purple star-shaped see-through material. It had a sheen to it, and when I moved the outfit, the stars caught the light and shimmered.
I wondered how revealing it would be, so I hurried and put it on, then turned to look at myself in the mirror.
Shock made me do a double-take.
The material was thick and tight. It held in all my curves, smoothed them out, and the soft cups acted like a push-up bra and gave me some hella cleavage. You could see a little bit of nipple through the stars, but I supposed it wasn’t totally embarrassing.
It was very high cut around the thigh and when I turned to look at my butt, I gasped a little because there was more see-through purple material back there. In the shapes of hands. It looked like someone was grabbing my butt.
“I want to see something!” Roxie demanded.
I pulled the curtain back and strutted out and put my hands on my hips. “What do you think?”
“I think you have to buy that,” Roxie said.
“Chiillld,” Honey sang, coming from the front. “I got something for that.” She appeared seconds later with a deep-purple wig. Before I could protest, she slid it down over my head, tucking my dark hair up underneath and smoothing it out.
She made a tsking sound when she pulled back to look at her handiwork.
I turned and looked in the mirror. The wig hit me at my chin and curled under slightly. There was a heavy row of bangs that fell just above my eyes. My blue irises practically glowed with all the purple around them and my lips seemed to look pinker.
Roxie appeared in the mirror beside me. “It’s perfect.”
“You don’t think the wig is too much?”
“Definitely not. Especially not with just the spotlight on when you’re on stage.”
I studied it a second longer and decided she was right. This wasn’t an outfit I would ever step outside in. In fact, I would probably bury it in the back of my closet until I had to take it to work, but this would be amazing on stage—because that’s where an outfit like this belonged. And it fit exactly the kind of look I was going for… not too much, but not too little.
I smiled secretly to myself.
Violet was going to be a tease.
6
Cam was climbing off his crotch rocket when I parked at the back of the lot like I did the night before. This time I made sure my headlights were off and stayed that way. Although, part of me was tempted to leave them on just so Cam would have to jump my car again.
Once I climbed out of the car, I reached into the back to pull out a canvas black duffle filled with my new items from Honey’s shop. I was pretty happy with the choices I made. A couple of them were a little more risqué than others, but I decided to try and look at it like a business, as nothing but a job, and hopefully that would make parading around in my undies more bearable.
Cam leaned against the side of my car when I shut the back door and slung the bag over my shoulder. It was the first time I’d seen him completely covered.
My eyes kind of missed the skin.
He was dressed in his black work trousers, black shoes, some sort of black shirt, and a black leather jacket. It was a motorcycle jacket with zippers on the pockets and a collar that slipped up around his square jaw.
His arms were folded across his chest and he looked me up and down. Suddenly, I wished I were wearing something other than a pair of light-blue cotton shorts and a striped baby tee.
At least my hair was done. I’d taken time to curl it after my shower and it fell in loose spiral waves all the way down to my shoulders. I decided to keep my makeup to the minimum because I figured no one would be looking at my face anyway. Just a coat of lipstick and some extra mascara would hopefully dress me up enough.
“Figured I’d make sure you remembered to shut off your lights and didn’t trip and fall on your way inside,” he said, watching me lazily.
“Ha. Ha,” I said, swinging the bag and hitting him in the middle.
He made an oomph sound and caught it, tugging it away and carrying it for me.
“We still on for tomorrow morning?”
“A debt is a debt,” I said, smiling.
“Want me to pick you up?”
“Sure, I’ll probably still be half asleep anyway.”
“You can give me your address when we get inside.”
I nodded.
“You ready for tonight?”
I let out a breath. My nerves had been building the closer the clock crept to seven o’clock. “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for this.”
“You know the guys here… they aren’t allowed to touch you. If any of them crosses the line, you yell for Ty or one of the other bouncers.”
“Okay.”
He stopped and grabbed my arm, pulling me around gently. “I mean it, Harlow. If anyone makes you uncomfortable, you yell. If you can’t find a bouncer, you yell for me, okay?”
It made me even more nervous, the warning of sorts he was giving me. “Have one of the girls been… hurt before?”
He let go of my arm and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “No. Adam has always been really proactive about keeping everyone safe.”
“Then why the need for the ominous warning?”
“Shit,” he swore and pushed a hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted you to know that…” His voice faded and then he swore again. “I just—”
“You just wanted me to know you got me,” I whispered, feeling my chest swell a little.
Relief crept into his eyes and he smiled. “Exactly.”
I felt my own lips tilt up. “Yeah, I know.”
Inside the bar, I wrote my address on a napkin and slid it across the bar as Cam washed some glasses and stocked the bar.
There was already a good crowd in here, and I knew by night’s end the place would be packed. With fifteen minutes until I had to be on stage, I went backstage and set my bag at my little dressing table. I unpacked my cosmetics and then pulled out the wig with the white mannequin head and set it in front of the mirror. It had been a gift from Honey. The wig was over my budget, but she made me take it, saying that it was made just for me.