Depths of Depravity (11 page)

“
I’m still not sure about…”

“
Just try it, Harley. Nobody’s watching. Besides, we all had a first time. It only gets better from there.”

There was a part of me that actually wanted to get up on stage but I still needed to hear more encouragement from Sage. I nodded to her then slowly started to walk up on stage b
efore she stopped me.

“
Ah, your sweater, Harley.”

“
What about it?”

“
You’re not going to dance in that thing, are you?”

“
Well…”

“
Take it off. What are you wearing underneath it?”

“
Just my bra,” I said, embarrassed that I had just thrown it on when I headed into the office.

“
Perfect! You’re going to be wearing even less when you perform.”

I nodded then reluctantly peeled my sweater off. I tried not to look at any of the mirrors as I was now standing on the stage in nothing but a support bra and spandex. I did
just as Sage told me to do. I grabbed the pole and held it.

“
That’s it,” she encouraged me. “Get a feel for it. Move around on stage. Nobody’s watching you right now. Just try and get used to it.”

I followed all of her instructions. With the pole in one h
and, I slowly started to walk around the stage. I looked down at all of the empty seats in front of me. I started to giggle as I imagined a bunch of men shaking their heads at me, wondering what the hell I was doing just like I was.

“
All right, now you’ve got a feel for the stage. Try to do something else.”

“
Like what?”

“
You saw what I did. Pretend it’s like a wall. Or a man.”

“
A man?”

“
You’ve danced with a man before, haven’t you, Harley? I mean, like a regular dance. At a club or somewhere similar.”

“
Well, yeah—”

“
Treat that pole like it’s a man. What do you do? You grind up on him. Get real close to him. This is a prelude to sex. Don’t be shy. He likes you. He wants you. He’s there to take care of you.”

I tried my best not to laugh at Sage
’s suggestion. I looked at the pole and got up close to it. It still looked the same as it always did. I was trying to do what she wanted me to do. I started moving my body but I only moved in an awkward rhythm. This wasn’t a man. It was still just a solid, lifeless pole.

“
Stop,” she said.

I stopped dancing then looked over at her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“
I didn’t mean stop dancing, Harley. I meant stop thinking.”

“
Stop thinking?”

“
Stop worrying about technique. Listen to the music that’s playing. Do you think that girl on the other pole is trying to land all of her moves right? Do you think she’s worried about what anybody else is thinking? She’s simply moving her body to the music. You can do the same thing.”

I looked over at the other
stage in the distance. I watched as the girl danced around the pole for all of the men watching her. I was again reminded of the amount of control she had over all of them. Sage was right. I was thinking too much. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking. Maybe I was just hoping that there was someone like that inside of me, too.

I nodded to Sage and instead of trying to figure out what to do, I just listened to the music that was playing. It was a slow song. The bass thumped loud and reverberated throughout t
he entire club. I moved closer to the pole and pretended it was a man I was dancing with. I grinded up closer to it. I rolled and rocked my body toward it. I gripped both hands around it like I was placing them around a man’s neck. Slowly but surely, I could feel my body beginning to move to its own rhythm.

I closed my eyes. I could still hear Sage
’s voice but it was starting to become more distant. I spread my legs and pushed myself between the pole. I wrapped my legs around it and did a small spin around it. With my hands still on the pole, I twirled around and started to bend over. I bent my body over backwards and tried to mimic what I saw when Sage did it. She was right. The pole was able to hold me in position. I managed not to fall over and posed myself in a way I didn’t think was possible.

I didn
’t stop. I twirled my body around and leaned in close to the pole. I bent over and pretended that I was displaying my ass to an audience of men. I could feel their eyes upon me. I had their full attention. Their eyes were wide open and unblinking. It was like they were in a trance. They were at the mercy of my body and how I moved it.

I opened my mouth as I started to breathe harder. A thin layer of sweat was beginning to coat my body. I continued to writhe in
rhythm to the music. The pole was the springboard for every position I twisted and turned my body in. I walked around on stage and felt so much higher than everybody else. They all had to look up just to get a piece of me. It was like dancing on a cloud. Before I knew it, I could slowly feel myself beginning to get aroused.

Look at all of those men…
All of those eyes upon you… They’re all watching you… They all want you… They’re worshiping you…

The song came to an end. The sound of the DJ
’s voice woke me up from my trance. I opened my eyes and found myself back on solid ground. I looked down at the stage underneath me. The seats around the stage were empty. I was hugging the pole, my arms wrapped tight around it. As I slowly pulled away from it, I listened to the loud sound of clapping behind me. I turned around and saw that Sage was no longer my only audience. Some of the other women working at the moment had joined her and were applauding for some strange reason.

“
Great job!” Sage said to me. “I knew that you had it in you.”

“
I guess…” I mumbled sheepishly as I walked down from the stage.

All of the other girls smiled at me with approval before returning to tend to the few customers that were here. I took my sweater from Sage and quickly threw it back on. My
heart was still racing and I was trying to catch my breath. Now I was just trying to gather myself once again.

“
Now do you see what I’m talking about?” she asked me. “It’s not about putting on a fancy show. It’s about being yourself. The pole brings out whatever it is that’s already in you. That’s something I can’t teach. But if you keep practicing, the more you’ll see that side of you come out.”

“
I… I understand. But I still don’t think I have what it takes. I still don’t think it’s sexy.”

“
Hey, let our clients be the judge of that. You’ll see, Harley. You’re sexier than you realize. There’s just something holding you back.”

“
What?” I exclaimed. “What does that mean?”

“
Oh…” she laughed. “It’s nothing personal. It’s just… You need to give yourself some more credit. There are a lot of men in the club that want a piece of you. But they won’t get it. At least give them something to look at.”

“
Well, maybe one day. I think we’re a long way from me dancing in front of actual customers.”

“
You’re closer than you think, Harley.”

She winked at me and I began to blush. I sighed a deep breath then nodded to her, wondering if there was anything else for me to learn.

“Is that all?” I asked.

“
Just for today, Harley. You know that you’re free to stop by the club whenever you want to practice. It’s one of the perks of working here.”

“
I’ll… I’ll think about it.”

“
Busy, busy, busy. I know. Why would you want to come to Platinum if you’re not making any money? Are you coming in tonight?”

“
Yeah… Yeah, I’ll be here later tonight.”

“
Great. I’ll see you then. Nice work, Harley.”

I said goodbye to her and left the club. As I sat in my car and drove back home, I started thinking about what I just did. The feeling I had when I was dancing on stage was strange. It was a feeling I never ha
d before. My curiosity was getting the best of me. There was a part of me that was beginning to crave it. I enjoyed that sensation of knowing that there were men possibly wanting to just sit there and watch me. The lustful gazes of the men I imagined began to stir something inside of me. Before I could let those thoughts get the best of me, I shook them out of my head. I started to giggle to myself.

“
Stay focused, Victoria. There’s another story here. Keep digging.”

Chapter 11

I was still trying to get into the role I was supposed to be playing. Despite Sage’s attempt at getting another side of me to come out, I was still Victoria Hill. Harley was an alias I had used before but this was different. I still had only a few details about what my feature would be about. Right now, all I had on Platinum was that there prices were high. I still had to figure out why they were able to get away with it and why there were actually men willing to pay a premium.

I put all of my notes into fi
les on my computer. The audio had been transcribed and I had a rough draft of what I wanted to accomplish. I still had several weeks before I would have to put something in Mr. Kelsey’s inbox. As I got ready for work that day, I hoped that I would learn more about some of the clients, since I had already gotten to know a lot about the club’s business practices.

I hadn
’t yet taken Sage’s advice on buying a new outfit. I still had nothing but the same lingerie I wore on a regular basis. This was just another case of me still being unable to transition to the Harley that I needed to be. I grabbed another lacy pair of panties and a matching bra then stuffed them into my bag along with my digital recorder. I was intent on getting some answers.

It was a Friday nig
ht. The club was more crowded than usual. There were men practically spilling out of their seats. It was standing room only as they crowded around each of the stages. I was barely able to make my way around the crowds. I headed to the locker room and changed into my outfit after checking-in. If I didn’t make any money tonight, I still had my fee paid for courtesy of Luther’s generous donation just last night. With the club so packed, there had to be someone interesting.

I stepped out of the locker room and
eyeballed everybody in the VIP section. From across the main floor, I searched the expensive seats for anybody that stuck out to me. It was difficult to determine who was who and how much money any of them had. They all looked like they owned a skyscraper in the city and spent their time just counting their money.

As I walked through the club, I noticed that several men were staring at me as I passed by. I looked at all of them, blushing as they saw every piece of me. I didn
’t feel as shameful as I expected to. To my surprise, it was actually kind of exciting to know that these men were displaying some kind of interest in me. But I wasn’t here for their pleasure or even mine. It wasn’t necessary for me to play the role of Harley at all times.

Despite their t
horough examining of me, none of them bothered to come up to me. I told myself that I was a piece of merchandise that they were to bashful to come up and closely examine. No woman wants a man who doesn’t have the guts to step up anyway. I began to smile coyly at each of them when they noticed me.

Is this really happening? Do people think I actually look like a real stripper?

I was doing my best not to laugh at the thought. I decided to let myself enjoy the feeling of being watched. It was difficult for me to play the part and remain focused on what I was trying to do.

I walked closer and closer toward the VIP section. As I neared it, I was able to get a better look at all of the men that occupied this area. They were men of all shapes, sizes, ages and colors
. I walked near one of the booths and watched as one of the men enjoyed the company of a particularly beautiful young woman. The two of them weren’t saying anything to one another. He just had his arm around her while they drank long glasses of champagne and enjoyed all of the women dancing on stage. I walked by the next booth and observed a man who was enthusiastically telling a story to two dancers sitting across from him.

“
So Johnson in finance is telling me that he’s got London on the other line. They just heard about the bid I was offered and they were already trying to compete…”

I listened for a moment to the sound of him talk about companies competing for his latest software offering. There was no doubt that it wa
s about big business. The two women sitting next to him seemed to be thoroughly enjoying all of the details he was spilling. But I didn’t know if they were actually paying attention to everything he was saying or if this was part of the act. There’s no telling how good these women were at performing.

I kept walking by all of the booths, hoping that I would get the attention of one of the men and he would tell me something interesting I could write about. As I neared the booth in the corner, I searched for a
ny of the familiar faces I had run into previously. Luther told me last night that he was taking the night off. His friend Romeo was nowhere to be found as well. But as I neared the last man sitting there by himself, I thought he looked familiar. I took a step closer to him, narrowing my eyes so that I could get a better look at him. It was hard to tell what he looked like because the red lighting was so dim. The fact that there was a curtain covering half of his face didn’t help matters. I moved closer and squinted my eyes. The man sat there with his eyes locked upon one of the stages, his drink resting in one hand.

Is that…
Oh my gosh, I think it’s…

I didn
’t have much to go on. All I had were those distant photos Roy had taken and the images I pulled off of the Internet. But it was him. I had finally managed to run into the man I had been trying to get in touch with this whole time. It was Landon Schrader.

“
Hey, what are you doing here?”

I felt an arm fall across my shoulder. My entire body tensed up and I
jumped in my spot. I feared that I had been caught staring at the man that was my target this entire time. I turned and looked at the man standing next to me.

“
Whoa… Are you okay?” he said to me. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“
I’m fine,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief. “You just came out of nowhere, that’s all. I was surprised.”

“
Oh, I’m sorry about that, Harley. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Or maybe I did.”

He grinned and I bit my lips, shaking my head at him to try and hide my smile. It was a
lmost a relief to see Romeo’s familiar face in a crowd of strangers.

“
But seriously, what are you doing here?” he asked me. “You’re not supposed to be working tonight.”

“
What are you talking about?” I asked.

“
Luther isn’t here so that means you’re not supposed to be here either. He said you guys made a deal.”

“
Oh, is that what he said?”

“
Yeah, he did indeed. I tend to believe him. After all, he’s my friend.”

“
Well, your friend put it in much more eloquent terms than I would put it.”

“
What’s that supposed to mean?”

“
I… I didn’t think he was serious. I knew that he was interested in my company but I didn’t think that he wanted me to stay away from other men.”

“
Well, he did ask you out on a date, didn’t he? You can’t get more serious than that?”

“
How much did he tell you exactly?” I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow at Romeo.

“
He’s my friend, Harley. He tells me everything. We’re also business partners, so it’s understandable he would discuss this kind of thing with me.”

“
Is it? I mean, a date is kind of a personal thing.”

“
And his personal well-being directly affects our business. If you break his heart, he probably won’t work as hard.”

I started to laugh. The way Romeo spoke made it seem like even serious matters were something to treat ligh
tly. I continued to examine him with my eyes, still wondering what exactly he was up to.

“
So should I tell Luther that you broke your agreement, Harley?”

“
No. The date is still on. And I still haven’t spent any time with any other man in the club. I just got here.”

“
Good. And I’ll make sure it stays that way. Follow me.”

I took Romeo
’s hand as he led me toward his booth in the VIP section. I remembered that I was staring at Landon Schrader when he interrupted me. As if he was reading my mind, Romeo put me right in front of him.

“
Harley, I want you to meet another friend of mine,” Romeo said. “He’s business partners with Luther as well. This here is Landon. Landon, say hi to Harley. She’s Luther’s new… interest.”

Landon turned his head away from the stage and
looked at me. The two of us made eye contact and I had to hold myself back.

It
’s him. It’s really him. My story is right here in front of me.

I stared at him, trying not to reveal my hand.

Wait a minute. What am I thinking? He doesn’t know who I am. Why should I be worried?

I slowly started to smile at him as Landon continued to examine me.

“This is the new girl Luther is interested?” he asked Romeo.

“
Yeah,” he replied. “What do you think?”

“…
I don’t know yet.”

Landon
’s demeanor was somewhat alarming. He didn’t smile or show any other expression on his face. He was almost as cold and stoic as his security guard standing next to him. Romeo played off his icy attitude and started to laugh.

“
That’s Landon for you,” Romeo chuckled. “Sagacious even when it comes to analyzing strippers. Take a seat, Harley. Make yourself comfortable.”

I took a seat in the VIP booth right across from Romeo and Landon. The luxurious seats were more comfortable than I could imagine.

“So what do you think?” Romeo asked me. “Have you ever been in one of these booths before? They’re real nice, aren’t they?”

“
It’s nice,” I said. “I don’t know if it’s five-thousand dollars nice but I might understand why someone would want to splurge on a spot like this.”

Romeo burst into a fit of laughter. Landon continued to remain unmoved. I didn
’t have anything on the man. All I had was a hunch. But everything I could see about Landon was intriguing. I didn’t mind his seemingly arrogant demeanor. It only told me that there was something deeper to the man.

“
Money, money, money,” Romeo continued laughing. “That’s what it’s all about in here. Are you really unable to look past it, Harley?”

“
Well, that’s what this is about, isn’t it?” I said.

“
What do you mean?” he asked.

“
It costs you an extreme fee just to step into this place. Then you pay even more just so you can have the best seat in the house. You want to separate yourself from not only everybody outside but even the people in the club. You’re above all of the other patrons. I suppose it’s money well spent. There’s no point in having it if you can’t use it. But I know why you do it.”

“
And why’s that?”

“
Because you enjoy that feeling of power that comes with it.”

I stared at Romeo. He already had a smile on his face but
it was still growing wider. He started to chuckle as he turned his attention to Landon.

“
You hear that?” Romeo nudged him. “You’ve gotta like that. Now do you see what Luther was talking about? Straight-forward and honest. You’re a real keeper, Harley. Truly a diamond in the rough. I think Luther’s going to have a lot of fun with you…”

Landon shifted his eyes at Romeo, who began to stutter a bit over his words. He hid how flustered he was by taking a sip of his drink.

What was that? What did he mean when he said that?

“
Luther’s going to have a lot of fun with me?” I asked. “In what way?”

“
What I meant was—”

“
What he meant was that Luther has particular tastes when it concerns what type of women he spends his money on,” Landon interrupted Romeo. “This club isn’t solely about power and money. It’s about men simply having a good time. There’s no need to think too much about it, Harley.”

Landon stared at me, the expression on his face still calm and stoic. Romeo was still taking another sip of his drink. There wa
s a weird tension building up in the booth. It was obvious there was something they weren’t telling me. Now I just needed a way to figure out how to properly broach the subject without letting them know it.

“
So, you’re all in business together?” I asked. “What is it you guys do?”

Landon turned his attention back to the women dancing on stage. Romeo was more than happy to have this discussion with me.

“Well, Landon here is in robotics. Fancy technology here. He’s funding all kinds of new fangled contraptions. He’s sort of like a mad scientist. I work in software myself. My people program the things that Landon builds. It’s kind of like putting a brain in all of the things he’s building.”

“
And Luther?”

“
Luther’s probably more important than either one of us. He’s the mastermind behind it all.”