Free Condemned (Beauty And The Billionaire Geek Book 2) by E.E. Griffin Page B

lied.
    “Wow, you are doing really well. I’m so proud of you.”
    “Thanks. How is Rose? I bet she’s getting huge.”
    “She cut a new set of teeth. Damien is getting up close and personal with sleepless nights.” She chuckled. Her boyfriend Damien was a good guy, but not her one-and-a-half year old daughter Rose’s father. “Everything is going great besides that. The dress store is booming, and the tattoo shop is too.”
    “I’m so happy for you Claire.”
    “I should probably go, Rose is terrorizing the dog.”
    I hung up and immediately felt horrible. I couldn’t tell Claire the truth about what I’d been doing. It wasn’t that I thought Claire would judge me, but Claire would try to take care of me. I wanted to take care of myself.
    Over the next week, I practiced with Bea and the troop every day. I’d become a full member and even contributed to the rent on the studio in Pioneer Square. It wasn’t a big deal for me because I was starting to make about ten grand a month modeling for Marcus. I’d been contacted by an agent, who was setting me up with other photographers.
    The night of our Halloween gig we got ready for our show in the back room of a small club Downtown. I hadn’t performed for an audience since high school. I knew I was ready but that didn’t keep me from feeling totally nervous.
    I put on my steam punk outfit with a tight corset, high heeled granny boots, and a frilly mini-dress that showed my garter belt and the top of my stockings. We had our faces painted like Day of the Dead skulls for Halloween.
    I had my hair in ringlets that tumbled from a flouncy bun on top of my head. It had so much hair spray and so many pins in it, it was amazing that it still moved at all.
    I watched from back stage as the first two acts preformed. The comedian was our MC. She was an overweight lady who was so funny she made everyone laugh until they cried. While she cracked everyone up, I peeked from behind the curtain into the audience.
    The lights of the stage obscured the crowd, but I could see the vague outline of Stacy and Billy sitting near the front row. I smiled, knowing they had come to support me.
    After the comedian finished, the magician went on and amazed everyone with her sleight of hand. She did some card tricks that made me wonder if maybe she did have magic. I couldn’t figure out how she did it.
    There was as short break before it was time for us to go on stage. I took a deep breath and squeezed Bea’s hand as the other girls and I crowded around the stage entrance. The lights went out and we trotted into position.
    A bead of sweat dripped down my brow, and I hoped it wouldn’t streak my makeup. I took a deep breath, while my heart thumped in my chest. Rob Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl” came on and the lights went up.
    In perfect sync, the five of us pivoted our hips toward the audience. Three of us moved back while the other two went forward. The two dancers in the front spun around and dove between the legs of the two girls at my sides. I stepped to the front and the rest of the girls followed my lead as I flowed through the provocative hip-hop movements.
    They surrounded me and I stepped on Bea’s knee to heft myself on the shoulders of our strongest girl. She held my arms from below when I jumped down to be caught by the girls underneath. We went back into a stomping rhythm, trading places between the front and back rows.
    With a swivel and turn, we pulled off our skirts and revealed the g-strings below. Two girls grabbed my arms while I flipped over backward, scissoring my legs and landing on my heeled boots.
    We danced into a line and, in sync, pulled off our corsets, flinging them off stage. All that was left over our pasties was the cropped shirt, held together with a small piece of Velcro. We formed a circle, linking arms and reached over to pull the Velcro off the girl next to us. We twirled around and pulled the shirt off, ending the dance, aggressively tossing our