Man-Thief

Chapter 7

“I want her.” Ryan demanded

“It’s good to see you again here, Sir Ryan.”

“Yeah, yeah, I said I want her.”

“Who? Let me go get Betty for you,” Mama replied.

“No!! Her,” Ryan pointed. “The new girl.”

“The new girl, you say?” she asked, as if shocked.

“Oh, you’re serious. Well, would you look at that? I guess it’s her lucky day.”

“Yes, I am, Mama. What’s her name?”

“Natasha. She'll meet you in there in a minute.”

“Tasha, get off that stage! Come with me!” Mama called, breaking Natasha off the trance she was in while dancing. Surprisingly, Ivy loved it. Ivy loved being Natasha. She had never felt so wanted and adored the way they wanted her tonight. This made her scared—scared that she would love it too much and wouldn't be able to leave.

“There’s a very important man in the VIP section waiting for you. You have to be good, okay?” Mama warned.

“B-but I thought you said no touching.”

“Girl, what do you take me for? A pimp? I didn’t say you should prostitute yourself to no man! Go in there and dance. Whatever happens in there is none of my business; it’s solely on you. You allow whatever you want and don’t want, okay?”

She walked off, and Ivy shyly made her way to the section. A bouncer opened it for her. She saw a man man-spreading on the couch directly facing a mini stage. He looked at her, and boy, did he see her. He was wearing a mask too. She guessed he wanted to remain unknown—maybe he was married; who knows?

She got on stage and started to dance. The way he looked at her made her nervous. She had to remind herself that she was wearing a pink wig and a mask; no one would be able to recognize her. She hoped.

He suddenly raised his hand, gesturing her to stop and move closer to him. She got off stage and took little steps toward him.

He stood up and moved closer until they were practically breathing the same air, making eye contact. Those eyes, Ivy thought, looked like eyes that knew her—eyes that wanted today a lot from her. His hands moved to grab her neck when—

“St—”

“Ryan?” a voice called from behind, cutting Ivy's stop and Ryan from touching her. Ryan turned around.

“Oh, Ryan, there you are!” A man clad in an expensive black suit without a mask said. Ivy recognized him; she knew him. In fact, Ivy had slept in this man's house before—‘Alex.’ Shit, what was he doing here?

“Excuse me,” Ivy whispered, running out of there.

“Oh, I haven't seen that one here before,” Alex said as she disappeared from their sight.

“What's with the mask?” Alex asked as he took his seat. He called out for the bouncer to bring in some girls.

“I'm not in the mood for that,” Ryan said as he took his seat.

“You rarely come here. Why are you here? Cynthia ain't doing you too well?”

“To hell with Cynthia. She's doing too much—too clingy. She's not even my girlfriend. The girl I can't wait to bed and get off my head is that Ivy girl. I had her right in the palm of my hands the other night, but I didn't do shit.”

“And why is that?”

“If I had an idea, I wouldn't be here. I need to get everything off my mind. Besides, we need to celebrate—” Three strippers walked in.

“The shipment was a success, and I got you this.” Alex reached into his pocket and brought out a box.

“Don't tell me you're about to propose to me, Alexander. If yes, I'm not interested; no offense, I do the other gender,” Ryan grinned.

“Hahaha, very funny.” The girls began to dance. Alex handed the box over to Ryan as he opened it. It was a key.

“I bought you a Rolls Royce; it’s outside. Pick any girl; it’s on me.”

“Oh damn, thank you, Alex,” Ryan sighed.

“I'm not interested.”

“In what? The car or the girls?”

“When have I ever said no to a car? I'm not interested in the girls; you can have them tonight.”

“Your loss.” Ryan took his leave.

'What’s got him all edgy?' Alex thought.

With Ryan gone, one of the girls took the initiative to give Alex a lap dance. She sat on his lap as she started.

“I can give you a BJ right now, Alex, and make these girls watch. Are you into it? ‘Cause I'm down for it,” she said sultrily into Alex's ear.

“It's Mr. Donatello to you,” he said as he slid her off of him. Standing, he left the section, leaving the girls in awe.

“What did you say to make him angry? Bitch, we almost had him!” another girl said angrily.

---

“Oh shit, oh shit! What is Alex doing here? I really hope he didn't recognize me. What if he did? Fuck, fuck, dammit!” Ivy said out loud as she made her way to the girls’ dressing room.

Most of the girls were already seated, trying to change their outfits back to their normal clothes to close for the day. The girls, upon sighting Ivy, were cold; the way they all stopped talking when they saw her looked like they were talking about her. But she wasn't bothered; after all, she was new. She was probably just overthinking things. Ivy smiled as she saw Pundy cleaning off her makeup. She took a seat beside Pundy.

“Hey girl, you wouldn't believe it! What you said was true; it was magical! That stage is something else. My fear dissipated just like that. It felt like I really belonged somewhere. Did you see me?” Ivy ranted without reading the room.

Pundy looked at her with a hint of sadness in her eyes. “I saw you; we all saw you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Yep, and it ain't cool,” the other girls said.

“Uhmm, what did I do?”

“You were all over the place, stealing our men! I thought we were all in this together!” a girl said, whom Ivy thought was too young to be a stripper, but who cared? They were all too young to be in the club.

“Look, I get it, you're new here, but we are all here for a reason too, and that’s money. You can’t—you can’t—” Pundy couldn't find the right word.

Mama came in. “Where is she? Oh, there you are, girl!” referring to Ivy.

“Natasha, I do not know what you are doing, but keep doing it! You need to see the crowd out there. Here’s your cash—a total of five thousand dollars.” “ 'You need to thank Sir Ryan for that’” Mama whispered loudly

“Gurlll, I need to see you tomorrow, okay? Make Mama proud!” Mama handed Pundy another bundle of cash. “Share it amongst yourselves. You all should emulate Natasha here, okay, if you want to be making as much cash as her. I need a good sleep. Bye, girls, go get it!”

Ivy's eyes were clear now. She really could see where the hate would come from, but they were all missing an important piece—that this situation wasn't her fault too. It really did hurt Ivy; she had thought she had finally found a place, if not maybe in the future a family. But she was just being delusional as always. Ivy didn't want Pundy or the girls to see the tears that were about to drop any minute now. She carried her belongings, her money, and headed for the restroom where she could be alone.

In one of the stalls of the ladies' restroom, though she knew she couldn't hide there all day, it was almost 2 a.m. Probably she’d just wait it out until her shift was totally over.

She cried her eyes out when two girls came into the restroom.

“I cannot even have it again! I can't take it! That bitch has gotta go—like now!” a voice said.

“I know, right? I earned $300 today; I was expecting like a thousand with the crowd tonight, but no! She goes and steals them all like the thief she is!” another voice said.

“And what is with that ass, Queen B?” Betty said.

“I'm sure it's BBL. Girls do that these days,” Queen B replied.

“She better give me her doctor's contact before I throw her off a bridge,” Betty giggled.

“You know Ryan, right?”

“The boss?”

“No, like the second in command.”

“Oh yeah.”

“He rejected me today! I thought I had him wrapped around my fingers. He always called for me—always me—until that bitch came. She hadn't even spent three hours when she literally had everyone— I mean everyone—eating from the palm of her hands,” Betty said as she started to fake sob.

“Don't cry! Come on, let’s leave. It's 2 a.m.; are you hungry? Terry Eats should be open. My treat, okay?”

---

“Mama!” Alex called out.

“Mr. Donatello! What a pleasure to have you here! What would you like to have? Drinks on us tonight?”

“That won't be necessary. I saw a lady run off minutes ago. I'd like to see if she's available tonight. The ones in there are pissing me off.”

“Uhmm, what lady? Natasha?”

“I have no idea what her name is. She had pink hair.”

“Oh yeah, Natasha! She's really a star! Everybody—I mean literally everyone—wanted her tonight. Unfortunately, her shift is over; the girl would probably be tired.”

“Are you saying no to me, Mama?” Alex growled. There was a moment of brief silence.

“No, no, no, sir! Of course not! I'll get her!”

“Tell her whatever she has earned tonight, I'll double it.”