Free Leon | a Bad Boy MC Motorcycle Club Romance by Rose Cody Page B

little wave goodbye as she bites on her bottom lip and flips her hair off of her shoulders.
     
    “How’re the dollars tonight, Lil?” A girl asks, looking up from the mirror as she ties the top of her halter bikini around her neck. “Any big tippers I should look out for?”
     
    “I got a twenty from some bald guy on the left, so if I were you, I’d favor over there…” She says, her voice trailing off as she counts her tips. “Not that there were any bad tippers tonight, though…” She smiles as she walks over to her stop in front of the mirror and sits down on the spinning make up chair.
     
      Lily picks up her bag, pulling out her wallet and stuffing her tips inside before reaching for her make up wipes.
     
      She wipes the glitter and black line off her face, pulling her false lashes off as she leans into the mirror.
     
    “Maybe I should dye my hair red.” Her friend says, as she back combs the back of her head. “You red heads do nothing but collect.”
     
    “I just wish I worked tomorrow, too.” Lily smiles, glancing over at her friend as she preens before pulling up her own cherry curls into a messy bun on the top of her head and securing them in place with a hair tie. “Mama wants to get herself a trip to Barbados.”
     
    “You gotta save some for the rest of us, you know.” The blonde says as she gets up from her seat, leaning into the mirror one last time to check her make up before spinning around on her tall heels. “How do I look?”
     
    “Whorish.” Lily smirks as she watches the bikini glimmer.
     
    “Perfect!” The blonde says as she walks up the stairs to the stage. “Are you gunna watch my set, Lil?”
     
    “No way.” Lily says shaking her head. “I am getting out of here so I can go home and kick back for the rest of the weekend. I have some frozen yogurt sitting in my freezer and I can hear it calling my name already.”
     
    “Well, your loss!” Her friend says as she hears the DJ call her name. “Wish me luck!”
     
    “Break a leg, Emily.” Lily calls to her as she tosses her make up wipe into the little waste basket under the counter before kicking her heels off her feet and rolling her tired ankles around.
     
      She never imagined this would be her life, working night after night at night clubs and strip joints, especially not for this long. It’s not any little girl’s dream to dance nearly naked on a stage for horny men. But she had to. It was a matter of survival.
     
      Her mom died when she was only fifteen years old. Cancer. But it was quick. And with no dad in the picture she had no choice but to go and live with her elderly grandmother. The poor woman did everything she could to take care of her, but she was sick too and about a year and a half after she moved in, her grandma passed as well.
     
      After that, it was all left up to her. She needed money fast and without an education this was the best way to get it.
     
      Lily always promised herself that after creating a little nest egg she would get out of the game. Hang her heels up and go back to school to live life on the right path.
     
      But the money was just too good. Rent paid for a half an hour’s work. She’d have to be stupid to give that up.
     
      Ten years later, though? Ten years come and gone, hopping from club to club. Life should be better by now. Something else should have come along, but it hasn’t and maybe it never will.
     
      She gets up from her seat before bending over to pick up her heels. Lily walks them over to the costume box, tossing them inside before wrapping her arms around herself to unhook her sparkling bikini top as she walks back towards her seat.
     
      She stuffs it into her bag, grabbing her t-shirt from inside the disorganized mess before pulling the thin cotton garment over her head, sticking her arms through the arm holes before wiggling it down her back.
     
      Lily pulls out a pair of black leggings, scrunching them in her hand before