Chapter Text
“Vivian!” A woman shrieked across the club, making the rest of her group look over and begin whooping and cheering for their friend as Vivian made it through the crowd to them. She had just got off the stage not too long ago, her body still shining with sweat that was seeping into her new top, making the fabric cling to her tits and darkening the pink fabric under them.
“Hey babes!” She called over the loud music, opening her arms just in time for the shrieker to fly into her arms.
“You were so hot up there!” Her hands were ice cold against Vivian’s hot skin and they found the way up under her crop top and over the skin of her back. Vivian huffed in shock and relief as her frigid hands cooled her down. “Looked like you needed a little help.” Her friend giggled.
Vivian smiled and laughed. “Like you wouldn’t believe. I could kiss you right now.”
“Come on now, Vivian.” One of the others said, laughing loudly. “Don’t threaten Hope with a good time.”
“What? Afraid I’ll take her away from you, Jesse?” Vivian taunted with a smile. Hope’s hands slipped from Vivian’s crop top but Vivian didn’t let go of her friend, pulling her to her side. “Or are you just being Jealous Jesse right now? Don’t worry you’ll get your turn with me too.”
Jesse rolled their eyes and raised their hands up in defeat. “Guilty as charged.”
“Ugh stop flirting and fuck already!” One of the other girls said after swallowing her drink, grimacing at the bitter taste and maybe a bit at the display.
All three of them laughed. They all liked to flirt but none of it was that serious. Vivian let go of Hope, who bounced over to Jesse to plant a kiss on their cheek. Vivian saw the tall red liquid glass on the table with the straw tip still covered.
“Awww, is this for me?” She asked, smiling when Hope nodded excitedly. “You shouldn’t’ve.” She took the paper off the straw and took a big sip of the sour cranberry vodka.
Hope grabbed her fishbowl of a white slushie from Jesse’s hand. It was half full and she took a few sips from it. Vivian now understood where the cold hands were from.
“Finish your drinks and lets get out of here!” One of the guys in the group said, finally turning away from the stage. His arm around one of the girls as she pounded back the rest of her glass, making a face as the liquor burned down her throat.
“Y’all can go if you want. I’m staying here and enjoying my drink.” Vivian said as she climbed into one of the tall chairs at the table. She sighed as she got off her feet for the first time that night, the side of her heel had been digging into the side of her foot all throughout her performance.
“Come on, Bec, I’ll get you a cab.” Jesse said, grabbing their phone and heading towards the exit, the others following and leaving Vivian and Hope together.
Hope kept her eyes on Jesse until they slipped past the doors. Then she turned to Vivian, a dreamy look in her eyes and a bit of lipstick on her tooth from biting her lip. Vivian laughed and rolled her eyes. “What is it now?”
“I just love when they take charge and take care of all of us.” She said as she hopped up into a now vacant seat at the table. “Makes me want to take care of them in thanks.” She wiggles her eyebrows.
Vivian laughed. “They are the dad friend here.”
“And boy do I enjoy calling them Daddy.”
Vivian about fell out of her chair in laughter. She pushed her friend a bit and rolled her eyes. “Hope! Jesus Christ!”
Hope beamed unashamed. “Like you never called someone Daddy.”
“Only my father when I was a kid.” Vivian dismissed before busying herself with her drink.
“Oh yeah I forgot. You keep things vanilla.” Hope replied, taking a big gulp of the slushie. “You know, its really surprising for stripper to be-”
“I’m not a stripper! I’m a performer!" Vivian argued.
“Right. A performer who dances on a pole, takes off her clothes, and gets rained on with ones at a strip club.” Hope explains with the roll of her eyes.
“Oh shut up.” Vivian laughed, getting a laugh out of Hope. “I’m not that vanilla. I’ve just been with vanilla men.”
Hope raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And why haven’t you told these men your fantasies hm? I can’t see any man turning down kinky sex with you.”
Vivian shrugged. “I don’t know if I’m ready to bring my fantasies to life.” She lied, knowing full well that men have turned down what she wanted and even left her for mentioning it. “Like what if they’re not as good as they are in my head?”
“There’s only one way to find out.” A man’s voice said from behind Vivian. Hope and Vivian turned to look at him.
He was wearing a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and most of the buttons undone to show off the shining skin of his sweaty chest. It was tucked into black dress pants.
“Ew. We weren’t even talking to you.” Hope dismissed the man, making a hand gesture to tell the guy to move along.
Vivian held up her hand to stop her. She looked at his face. He was clean shaven, angular cheekbones and a jutting jaw bone. He had blue eyes that reflected the colorful lights of the club. His blond hair was cut short on the sides and top longer and pushed to the left side. She watched him unashamedly take his time to look over her too.
His eyes lingered on the fishnets that encased her thighs and then her bare stomach. The black ruffled mini skirt didn’t cover much, just the important bits. She watched him read her shirt, a smile crossing his face as he sees “Titties and Kitties” with paw prints over her nipples. The tank top gave her a good about of cleavage but his eyes didn’t stay there long. He seemed to have decided to linger on her bare throat instead.
“Like what you see, beautiful?” He asked when he finally looked back into her eyes.
“Honestly?” She said, pausing to see him hanging on to her words. “You look like a basic cookie cut out white guy.”
Hope shrieked behind her followed by Jesse’s voice. “Oh shit.”
The man’s jaw wobbled like it would’ve dropped before he clenched his teeth. “You know, no one speaks to me like that.”
“Well they should.” She smirked.
“Oh really?” He asked, Vivian nodded.
“You really shouldn’t eavesdrop and insert yourself where you don’t belong.” Hope chimed in, the man barely spared her a glance. A bit busy with keeping eye contact with Vivian.
“I guess I should apologize for overstepping.” He said as he put his hand in pocket. “But I would like you to apologize for misunderstanding me.” He took out his hand and held out a black business card towards her. “I was just going to offer you the opportunity to find what you’re looking for.”
“As if you weren’t trying to hit on me.” She scoffed.
“I’m a club owner-”
“Not this one, I work here. I know the owners.”
He sighed. “Would you stop misinterpreting me?” Vivian looked down at the card for a moment, she could tell the card was for a different club, and so she waved to signal him to continue. “Thank you. I saw you perform. I wanted to talk to you about a job opportunity when I heard what you said. My club will be a safe place catering to that lifestyle, you could come by and see for yourself.”
Vivian gave him a look but before she could speak, he interrupted. “Just think about it.”
“If I take this card, will you leave us alone?” She asked. He nodded and they held eye contact for a moment, like they were both trying to figure the other out.
Vivian took the card from him. His face broke out into a smile. He gave a friendly wave to Hope and Jesse behind her before disappearing into the crowd.
“Well that was weird.” Jesse said, moving to stand between Hope and Vivian’s chairs.
“Yeah who does that guy think he is?” Hope agreed, taking another sip.
Vivian looked at the card. Bonding - restaurant and club said the front in white letters. She flipped over the other side where his name and email were listed. “James Herandale.”