A tall African-American woman I knew as Shonda wrapped a feather boa around her neck. “Would you look at this stuff? Mmmm hmmm. I am liking this.”
The rest of the girls came around to view the items we’d pulled out, and I counted eight women. I sighed mentally. It might be enough for opening night, but some of these girls worked part-time. If Sofia and Martina didn’t show up, we were going to be in trouble.
Birdie called out. “Come around here, ladies. I got some things for you that you’re going to love. Thank you for texting me your sizes; it helped a lot.” She struggled with the second box and I rushed over to help her. She smiled at me and turned to the girls. “Who wants to see the cool costumes we got?”
A cheer went around and Lilah squealed out, “I’m so excited!”
Birdie took each costume out of the box one-by-one, handing them to the girls who they fit. Each girl received a different color corset-bodied one-piece with thigh-high fishnets, and one additional costume. They weren’t all the same. Some girls got a teeny-weeny sailor outfit, while some were made to be bunnies. Others were French maids, policewomen, cats, and we even had a Red Riding Hood.
The way the girls chattered excitedly had me biting my lip to squelch down my smile. I was happy that they were happy.
When Lilah held up a pastie and asked, “How do we put these on?” Birdie assisted, telling Lilah to take off her t-shirt and bra. Lilah grinned as she undressed, and the other ladies watched carefully as Birdie showed them how to apply the pasties by using the glue on Lilah’s bare breasts.
My phone vibrated in my pocket and I smiled down at the display.
“Hey, I haven’t heard from you in a few days,” I answered happily.
Alessio sounded a little shy. “Yeah, well, I’m taking enough of your time. I didn’t want to bug you.”
I grinned. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
He made a light grunt. “Not sure if I should’ve called or not, but after I spoke to Dad, he told me I should.” He was hesitating.
My smile dropped. “What is it?”
Alessio sighed. “Just had two of your girls down here asking for work.”
I closed my eyes. “Let me guess: Sofia and Martina, right?”
“Yep.” He went on. “We told them we didn’t need them.”
My brow furrowed. “Why would you do that? You had people approaching the club to steal our workers away from us.”
He clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Yeah, well, shit’s changed. We’re not doing that no more.” He stated, “Tell your girls they’re not welcome here, all right?”
A small smile graced my face. “Is this your way of telling me that you’re not going to fuck with my work?”
He stayed silent a moment before saying, “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
“Thank you, Alessio,” I responded quietly.
His reply was just as quiet. “You’re welcome, Mina.”
I immediately made my way to the bar and approached Sasha. “So I just had an interesting phone call from my brother.”
Sasha’s brows rose. “Why the fuck you telling me?”
I bunched my nose at him, and raising my hand, I poked him in the chest. “You know, you could be nicer to me. I have important information to tell you.”
He sighed. “Whatever. Shoot.”
“Alessio told me that Sofia and Martina were at Aphrodite’s Kiss just now applying for work.”
Sasha’s jaw ticked, but as always, he spoke evenly, “Fucking bitches. They’re fired. Soon as they come in, tell ‘em to come see me in my office.”
I nodded, perfectly happy with both girls’ dismissal. “You know we can’t work with just nine girls. We’re going to need at least three more at a full-time level.”
He glowered at me. “How the fuck do you know that?”