AllFreeNovel
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“What you do, you mean.” I swept my thumb over Electra’s bare shoulder.
She wore one of Ally’s scarves as a halter top. The one around her torso was violet. The one on her head was a shimmery silver that matched her eyes. She was beautiful, and I longed for my Nikon camera. I wanted to photograph her and my daughter. My new 520 lens would make them the primary focus, muting everything around them. My camera would tell the story of the turn my life had taken.
“Because Ally doesn’t dance at Fantasy. She only does costumes. Right?” I got my mind to perform the function of my new lens and aimed my honed gaze on my daughter.
“No, Dad,” Ally said. “I do costumes sure, but I also dance.”
My gut bottomed out. I didn’t like the idea of men looking at Electra while she took her clothes off, and I sure as hell didn’t want them ogling my daughter either.
“But I’m not a headliner.”
“You easily could be.” Electra shifted to look at her friend and missed the fact that I was seeing red. Steam was coming out my ears.
“I don’t want to be.” Ally poked her cheek with her tongue. “I like dancing, but I don’t live for it like you. I love doing costumes, and I like going on before you, but it’s way too much pressure to dance last.”
“Okay, hold up.”
I banged my fist on the table, clattering silverware as I laid down how it was going to be, while also thanking whatever lucky star brought Electra into my life that it had afforded me the opportunity to see her dance, but prevented me from seeing my daughter.
“You both need to stop dancing at Fantasy.”
“We can’t do that.” Electra shook her head.
Her satiny hair whispered seductively over the top of my hand. An image of her naked with those strategically placed pasties flashed into my mind. But I shook it away. I couldn’t get distracted.
“Why not?” I asked.
“My salary at Fantasy pays my bills, and I’m good at it. I love dancing.” Electra sounded and looked hurt. “I thought you were proud of me.”
“I am proud of you. I’m proud of both of you.” They were both strong and survivors in different ways, but they weren’t on their own anymore. “I just don’t want men looking at you while you’re taking your clothes off.”
Electra
“WHAT’S WITH THE worried faces, my precious darlings?” Jeremy asked.
Wearing a rainbow-striped smoking jacket, he was a whirl in motion during performing hours, but with his gossip radar on high alert, the makeup brush he had used on me went still in his expert hand.
“We can’t talk about it here,” Ally whispered.
Flouncing further into the dressing room, my bestie took the chair beside mine. Her diaphanous costume, what little of it there was, billowed around her.
“Anything can be discussed here.” Jeremy turned and shooed the other dancers out, then closed and locked the door. “Speak.” He pointed his makeup wand at me, somehow deciding I was the weaker link. “I command it.”
“Speak about what?” I played dumb.
In the other chair, Ally was wide-eyed beneath her cute kitten-eared headband. We had more than just Champion’s demand for us to stop dancing to keep secret.
“Electra, my darling.” Jeremy refocused on me and gave me an arch look. “I wasn’t born yesterday. You were in a private room with the sexy quarterback last night. The security cameras showed you getting in a limo with him later. And today, you and Ally arrived in his big honking SUV. So spill.”
“Oh, those details.” My eyes grew as large as Ally’s.
“I know everything that happens here.” He put up the makeup brush and moved over to Ally, dotting foundation on her high cheekbones with a flourish. “And what I know, Mercedes knows. There are cameras everywhere.”
“So, she knows Champion and I left together?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Is she mad at me?”
