Stripped (16 page)

“Thanks, but just talking to you was good. I hadn’t
talked to anyone since this morning.”

“See you next time,” she said as she left the table.

She passed a table where a customer was openly dry
humping Sam in an effort to make the most of his lap dance. Abby sighed.
Nothing ever changed at Mickey’s. She had always thought that was what she
liked about the job – that it was predictable. But lately she was just
aggravated by it.

She found her phone backstage and her heart picked
up speed when she saw a message from Chris. He hadn’t called or texted after
he’d left her house last night, and she wondered if he was still angry. He had
every right to be.

Call me.

She stared at the message, wanting to call, but
knowing it was a bad idea. It was becoming clear how different the two of them
were. Abby knew Chris was somehow responsible for the restless, uneasy feeling
she had at the club lately. Before she’d met him, she’d never considered having
anything different. Anything better. And she knew that was a dangerous thing
for her to want.

Chris was contemplative as he ate the pastrami on
rye sandwich that had become his favorite at Dalton’s. Charlotte picked at a
sandwich across from him, waiting patiently.

“Why does it surprise me that she doesn’t trust me?”
Chris repeated Charlotte’s last question to him. “Because I’m trustworthy.”

“But how can she know that for sure at this point?”

“I’ve done nothing to give her any doubt.”

“Chris, after what happened to her, it makes
complete sense that she has trouble trusting men. She’s trusted you with a lot
already. Being sexually open to you, letting you find out what happened to her
– those things are a big deal. She is her sisters’ protector. You should admire
her for that.”

“I do,” he said. “It’s just hard, trying to be there
for her, really there, in the ways that matter, and getting rebuffed.”

“It takes time. Don’t be so impatient.”

“Hey,” Reed said, sliding into the booth next to
Charlotte. “Have you figured him out yet?”

“Still working on it,” Charlotte said with a smile.

“You look like shit, man,” Reed said to Chris.

“I feel like shit. This is where I have lunch with
Abby.”

“It’s funny to see you stressing over a woman,” Reed
said. “I don’t think it’s ever happened.”

 “There’s nothing funny about this. It fucking
sucks,” Chris said, glaring at him.

“Just smooth things over and apologize to her,”
Charlotte said. “You’ll feel better.”

“Why do I have to be the one to apologize every
time?”

“Just do it, man. Life’s so much easier when you
do,” Reed said.

Abby had just parked her car in the lot of Mickey’s
when her phone rang from inside her purse. When she pulled it out and saw that
it was Chris, she willed herself not to answer it. Things between them would
never end well, so it was best that they stayed apart. She closed her eyes,
pushing the button to answer the call in a moment of weakness.

“Hi,” she said briskly.

“Hi. I’m sorry I got mad at you. Again.”

Abby fought the tug she felt toward him, reminding
herself that they would always be too different for a relationship to work.

“Things with us happened so quickly,” she said. “I
think we both just got wrapped up in something we shouldn’t have.”

“Do you mean that? You wish we’d never gotten
involved?”

“No. But I’m never going to be anything more than I
am, Chris. I’m a cynical, defensive stripper with several people to take care
of.”

“Can you come see me here when you get off work?”

“No, you’ll just charm me with your massages and
sweet talk.”

“Is that so bad?”

“I check my willpower at the door when we go into
that sleeping room, and I don’t want to do that.”

“I’ll come see you at the club, then.”

“No! I don’t want you coming here. I’ll come there.”

“Good. Be careful tonight, okay?”

Abby rubbed her eyes as fatigue started setting in.
She wasn’t usually so tired on Saturday nights. She had taken a break, and sitting
down always made it harder to get moving again.

“Nikki,” Amber said, striding up to Abby. “Ron’s
asking for me, and he creeps me out. Will you come with me?”

“Sure,” Abby said, rising. “He always seemed pretty
okay to me, what’s bothering you?”

“He’s just really nasty sometimes. He tells me I’m a
filthy whore who needs to be taught a lesson and he talks about all the shit he
wants to stick up my ass.”

“That’s not so unusual here,” Abby said, laughing.

“I know, but he’s just…different.”

Ron sat alone, biting his nails nervously. He was a
short, stocky man with thinning black hair and dark, piercing eyes. Abby
wondered if his appearance was part of Amber’s fear of him.

“Hi, Ron,” Abby purred. “Amber and I are doing dances
together tonight, do you want one?”

“Sure,” he said coolly, his eyes on Amber. He
slipped bills to both of them and they started their dance to the slow,
seductive song Sam was pole-dancing to on stage.

“Tell me what a bad girl you’ve been,” Ron said in a
low voice to Amber.

“Oh, you already know,” Amber said, throwing her
bright red hair over her shoulders. “I’m a very bad girl.”

“You need to be disciplined, don’t you?” Ron asked,
his eyes glazed.

“I wouldn’t respond well to that,” Amber said,
grinding into him.

“I could make you respond well,” he said.

“This isn’t that kind of club,” Abby said with a
laugh. “We can give you directions to one, if you want.”

Ron shot her a dirty look.

“You’re not even worth disciplining,” he said in
Abby’s direction, sounding disgusted. “But Amber, I could teach you to like it.
To beg me for it.”

Abby rolled her eyes at Amber as Ron’s breathing
became clipped from his arousal. She looked away, wanting to stay unaware of
whether or not he came. Amber was on his lap, and Abby felt sorry for her.

She had never thought about whether stripping was
demeaning to her; it was just a means to an end. Abby would have done worse to
support Justin, Audrey and Sara. But lately when she watched the other dancers
do it, she saw it for what it was, and it bothered her more and more.

The song ended and Abby walked backstage, slipping
the bill Ron had given her into Amber’s box. She grabbed her phone, suddenly
missing Chris badly. Though she was going to see him at the hospital when she
finished working, she wanted to hear from him sooner. She typed out a message.

 What are you doing right now?

She waited, knowing he would respond soon. He did
within a few minutes.

Just finished with a stroke patient. Miss
you.

Abby smiled as she pictured him in his green scrubs
and white coat.

“Nikki, get that beautiful ass out to the floor!”
Mickey barked. “It’s Friday night, we’re full!”

Abby glared at him as she tossed her phone back into
her bag. The club was packed, and she knew she’d be busy all night. As she
headed toward a table of waiting men, she was stopped by a petite woman with
long, dark hair and a forlorn expression.

“Are you Abby?”

Abby bristled at the mention of her real name in the
club. She looked around to see if anyone had overheard.

“What do you need?” she asked.

“I need you to stay away from my boyfriend.” The
brunette’s voice was angry and accusing. Abby sighed, accustomed to such
conversations.

“Look, if you don’t like your boyfriend coming here,
that’s between you and him,” she said.

“He would never come to a place like this. What I
don’t like is you going to see him at work. Does he even know you’re a
stripper?” She looked around the club disdainfully.

Realization dawned on Abby.

“You must be the nurse Chris went out with before I
met him,” she said.

“We’re working through some issues.”

“I don’t think that’s how he sees it. And what are
you doing here? How did you even find me?”

“That doesn’t matter. The point is, I don’t want
some nasty stripper around Chris. It wouldn’t be good for him if people found
out he was taking a
stripper
into the sleeping rooms. It’s a hospital,
not a brothel.”

The words stung Abby. She didn’t want Chris’
co-workers to think less of him because of her.

“I’m busy,” she said, turning away.

“Leave him alone!”

Abby’s eyes scanned the room for Joe, and she found
one of the other security guards, Curtis. She raised a hand to call him over.

“She needs to go,” Abby said. She was met with a
dirty look from Kelly, but she shook it off as she walked to the group of
waiting men nearby.

The smile on Chris’ face as he came through the ER’s
double doors disappeared when he looked at Abby.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Can we go somewhere that doesn’t require going back
in there?” she asked, pointing to the doors he had walked through.

“Sure,” he said, leading her across the waiting room
to a hallway. “We’ll go to the cafeteria, it’s pretty dead by now. Are you
okay?”

“Someone gave me a hard time at work tonight.”

“Again? What happened?” Chris asked, stopping in the
middle of the hallway.

“No, not a customer. Your ex.”

“What -- Kelly? Oh, shit, Abby, I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, well, now I know why everyone in there stares
at me. They must all know I’m a stripper.”

“Fuck them if they have a problem with it. Who
cares?”

“She said it won’t be good for you if people find
out you’re having a stripper come see you here.”

Chris’ dark eyes blazed with anger.

“She’s a head case. I’ll file a complaint with HR
before I leave tonight.”

He resumed walking and Abby fell into step beside
him.

“How’s tonight here?” she asked.

“Steady. Hey, I’ve got a favor to ask. Reed and I
managed to both get next weekend off, which is rare. We want to go stay at his
parents’ beach house in Malibu.”

“You need me to take care of Molly?”

He grinned at her, looking confused.

“No, I want you to come with us.”

“Oh. Really? I have to work, though.”

“Come on, live a little. Take it off. We’ll have a
great time, I promise.”

“I have Audrey and Sara, though.”

“I’ve got an idea for that. One of the nurses I work
with has a daughter who teaches kindergarten and needs to make some money for
her wedding. I can hire her to babysit.”

“I don’t want to leave them with someone I don’t
know.”

“I know her, Abby. I’ve worked with Kim since I
started here, and I’ve met Amy several times. She babysits for some of the
other doctors here. She’ll come to your house if that would make you feel
better. You can call the girls as much as you want to check on them.”

Abby sighed, considering.

“When would we go?”

“Fly out Thursday morning and home Monday morning.”

“That’s a really long weekend. I’d have to take time
off both jobs, and Marla has a big presentation coming up.”

“Just think about it, okay? Do you want something to
eat?”

They had arrived at the cafeteria, and Abby scanned
the menu board. She didn’t usually eat after working at the club, but the smell
of cooking food was making her hungry.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“They make great omelets. Want to share one?”

“Okay. Can you get it without meat?”

“If you’ll come to Malibu with me.”

As Abby smiled at him, she saw two nurses in scrubs
looking at her and talking. She looked back at Chris, thinking that as long as
things stayed smooth with him, it didn’t matter if she was the object of
gossip. It wasn’t the first time, anyway. Growing up the way she had, she’d
been the object of teasing throughout high school. Girls could be so mean, she
thought, even once they became women.

“You haven’t seen Tim around again, have you?” Chris
asked.

“No, but I’ve got the girls under lock and key all
the time now. Why do you look like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you know something. Chris?”

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore, that’s
all I’m saying.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Abby hissed in a low
tone. “You make it sound like you killed him or something.”