The Innocents by Ace Atkins Read Free Book Online Page A

bra-and-panty set she’d bought at the Victoria’s Secret in Tupelo. Only person to ever see her in it was Joshua and Joshua had been so thrilled about it he’d said she’d wear it on their wedding night. Which didn’t make a lot of sense to her since they’d been doing it all that summer. Like she could go back to being a virgin. Joshua was smooth, slow, and gentle. If he found out where she was working, it would damn near kill him.
    “I just need to make a little money.”
    “Yeah?” the woman said. “I told that to myself about twenty years ago.”
    “Is it hard?”
    “Sometimes,” the woman said. “You just have to set personal boundaries. Make rules for yourself and don’t break them. Like, can a man touch your titties? The law says no touching above or below the waist.But if you got a man you feel OK about, think he’s a good tipper, then it doesn’t matter much to me. Other thing is that men are always trying to kiss you. You can touch my titties all you want, but don’t you kiss me on the mouth. I don’t know where that nasty trucker mouth has been.”
    “Anything else?”
    “Don’t worry too much about your time on the pole,” she said. “You ain’t up there for no art project. Just shake it and twirl. It’s just a chance for the men to see what you got to offer. Trust me, honey, they’re gonna like you good. You don’t need to sell it. Just show it. You could bounce a half-dollar off that little ass.”
    “I used to be a cheerleader,” Milly said, smiling but not really feeling it.
    A black girl not much older than Milly walked into the locker room buck-ass naked and smoking a long, thin cigarette. “Y’all can have it,” she said. “Crazy out there tonight. Man tried to stick a beer bottle up my ass. Like I’m into that shit.”
    “We got a first-timer here tonight, Damika,” the woman said. “Trying to pass down a little knowledge.”
    “You tell her about the sell?”
    Milly looked at the black girl and stood up, taking off her T-shirt and jeans, folding them carefully and packing them in the locker with a pack of cigarettes, a pint of Jim Beam, and a small overnight bag filled with makeup. She dropped the romance novel on the floor with a thud.
    “It’s all about the sell, baby,” Damika said. “That’s where you make your money. Ain’t about nickels and dimes tossed to you on the stage. You got to get their fat, sweaty, nasty asses into the VIP Room. Or whatever Miss Fannie call it.”
    “Champagne Room,” the woman said.
    “Yeah, well, what the fuck,” Damika said. “Be cool about it. Butdon’t waste time on no deadbeat. You see a man ain’t interested or don’t want to pay, you move right on down the line.”
    “And be yourself,” the woman said. “Don’t be superficial. Men are dumb as shit. They can’t tell if you’re into them or not. You act like it and they believe it. Show directness. Confidence. Look ’em in the eye when you grind their lap.”
    “And don’t be asking them if they like this?” Damika said. “Or would like that? You’re not asking them. You tell them. Don’t say, ‘Would you like to kick back with me in the Champagne Room?’ Flirt with them, get them all horny, and just say, ‘Let’s go’ or ‘It’s time.’”
    “And after their first lap dance, drag your fingernails across the back of their neck, lean into their ear, and whisper you don’t want to stop,” the woman said.
    “Oh, hell,” Damika said, giggling. “Oh, hell.”
    “I just need money.”
    “We all need money,” the woman said. “You think this shit does it for me? Just don’t think you can start it and drop it. Money is too good.”
    Milly changed out of her threadbare panties and washed-out bra into the red silk satin. She pulled out a compact and mirror from her bag and started in on her eyes. She’d add some lashes, draw them up big and bold. It made her look older and fierce. She could use all the confidence she could get even if it was