Chapter 51

I spoke into the phone in my swank hotel suite. “Hi, I’d like you to send up the Christmas Dinner Roast Beef Special, please ... yes, I know it’s early, whenever you start making it ... it’s just for one ... mmm hmm ... cherry pie, please ... yes ... vanilla on top ... perfect. Oh, wait, can you send up a bottle of champagne? Whatever you think ... Dom Peri– ... sure, that sounds great. Better make it two. Can you send those up now? Thank you.”

I stared out the big window at the Dallas skyline. Low clouds blanketed the entire city, and snow flurries blew in the wind.

You got your white Christmas, after all, Grammy.

A part of my contract with Tony was that I would have my own security guard at all times when I was on the club premises. This was for my protection from the fans and also from Tony; I didn’t want any repeats of how he used to treat me. When I stepped out of the Uber, my old friend Andy was waiting for me at the back door. When he saw me, his face lit up. “Miss Jenna, it’s so good to see you,” he said. I ran up to him, and we exchanged a tight hug.

“It’s so good to see you, too,” I whispered.

He squeezed me even tighter, then responded, “I’m so happy to see you, little darlin’.” We separated a bit, but he kept his hands on my waist. “Just look at you now, a featured dancer. You hit the big time, girl! You’re the shooting star that I always knew you would be, honey.”

“Aww, you’re so sweet! But I’m just me, Andy. I haven’t changed, I promise.”

He smiled. “You were always my favorite, Miss Jenna.”

He’d always treated me so well, and he was so sweet and kind. I’d always thought of him as an uncle or maybe the older brother I never had. “I know I was, and I always loved how you watched over me,” I said sincerely.

“You were a little spitfire, a go-getter. We all lost something when you left, and this place feels just a little colder now without you.”

A little tear formed in the corner of my eye, and I quickly wiped it away. “Thank you ... for this ... for agreeing to look after me over the next three days.”

“It’s my pleasure, honey.” He took a deep breath and collected his thoughts. “Tony wanted to see you when you arrived. I guess we should get that over with.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Andy took me inside the building, and we made our way to Tony’s office. When he opened the door, I quickly realized that nothing had changed in the month since I’d seen him. His office still smelled like cigarettes and cigars. There were empty beer cans littered around the room and posters of naked women on the wall. The entire space just oozed seediness.

“Well, well, well, look at you!” Nobody could deliver a sleazy leer like Tony could, and I found I sure hadn’t missed that. “Thanks, Andy. That’s all for now. Jenna and I have some catching up to do.”

Andy didn’t budge.

“It’s in the contract, Tony. Andy stays by my side the entire time. Unless ... you want to void the contract, and I can go home. You’ve already got a big crowd out there; how mad will they be when I send out some tweets about how you prevented me from appearing?” My Twitter account already had 17,000 followers and was growing rapidly. Tony knew that I had promoted my appearances here quite heavily.

Tony glared at me, then at Andy. I could see the veins in his neck bulging as he clenched his jaw tightly.

No blowjobs for you, cowboy.

“Andrew,” menaced Tony. “You better think about this. I’m pretty fucking certain you’re going to be unemployed this time tomorrow.”

I turned to Andy. “How much do you make a year here? Tips and everything.”

He thought about it for a moment. “Probably about thirty grand, give or take.”

I stared back at Tony. “Atticus and I have talked about how we need a security officer out in L.A. Starting salary is seventy-five grand, plus overtime. How’s that sound, Andy?”

“Does it snow there, Miss Jenna?”

“Andy, today in L.A.? It’s sunny and 72 degrees.”

“I like the sound of that, Miss Jenna.”

Tony seethed at his desk. There was nothing he could do. He had already paid me a hefty retainer fee; he couldn’t tell me to go fuck off without losing a lot of money.

“Get the fuck outta my office, you goddamned cu–”

“Whoa! Don’t forget about the abusive language clause, Tony,” I said snidely.

He shut his trap and then waved us out of his office.

I’d contracted to work at the Rhino for eight hours a day for three consecutive days. I’d split that time up each night by dancing on the main stage four times, spending two hours in the booth Tony had set up for me where I could sell autographed pictures and posters and have a little meet-and-greet with my fans, and having six half-hour sessions in the VIP room.

My evening was a lot of fun but physically exhausting. I loved feeling the crowd’s energy as I danced seductively on the pole. They made me feel like a rock star; they applauded and whistled at almost any little move I made. It was also great meeting and talking with my fans in the booth while they purchased posters of me that I autographed personally for each guy ... and for another ten bucks, I would let them take a selfie with me. A few of the more ... ummm... nerdy ones could even recite my cheesy lines from my shoots word-for-word. It was sweet but also a little creepy. I was really glad that Atticus had prepped me ahead of time and prepared all the posters and signs for me. It felt really good having these guys fawn all over me.